So,
The family and I will be vacationing in AZ in April 2017. Exact location has yet to be determined by my wife. My question is, where is the best place where I can register my 11 year old boy for a week or two week long baseball skills camp? It also has to be close enough for me to harvest chips, golf, and allow my wife to torture me with day trips to outlet stores and the like.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks.
L
That might be a little tough for a baseball skills camp of that duration at that time. That's during school for us, and is the beginning of baseball season for most of the major programs around here. Normally ASU, Grand Canyon University, and the Diamondbacks all have some type of offerings, but that's one of the busiest times of the year for them. You could look at camps up in the Prescott area, but they won't have quite the same facilities, and it doesn't put you near a good harvestable casino.
Here's what I will say, though - if you're looking to harvest chips, you're looking to stay in the east valley - Fountatin Hills, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Maricopa. Your harvest targets for Paulsons are Fort McDowell (Fountain Hills), Harrah's Ak-Chin (Maricopa), and Gila River Casinos (Chandler). Best place for poker is The Arena at Talking Stick Resort. Unfortunately they don't have Paulsons there, but their poker room is far and away the best around. Maricopa is one of the state's many armpits, and that casino tends to let its chips get beat to hell before replacing them. I'd recommend the Gila River joints for harvesting. They all use the same chips currently. Fort McDowell is a consideration for fracs. They still have some on the table, but whether you can remove them from said tables is anyone's guess.
If you stay anywhere in the Phoenix metro area, you're going to be close to outlets and golf so that's not even a consideration. I echo what
@Big Jilm said re: going in March - that will probably me more preferable than April. You can get to baseball games cheaper and have slightly better weather. Still probably not much in the way of camps at that time, but if you can't have camps, at least you can have cheaper baseball and get free autographs. I'd generally recommend the Peoria Sports Complex and/or the one in Surprise for cheaper spring training games. The east valley parks have close to regular season prices for many of their games; there are still reasonable prices available at those two complexes. If you're looking to get tix for a marquis team, though, so such as the Cubs, at one of the west valley stadiums, do so well in advance - they'll sell out.
If you need any recommendations as far as places to actually stay when the time gets closer, let me know. I can also make restaurant reccomendations. So far
@Big Jilm has you started well. The Barrio Cafe is one of the most unique Mexican restaurants you'll ever go to in the middle of what I would call a "classy" barrio - calle 16. Tons of murals and Mexican culture in that area, and they have one of the best selections of tequila around. Of the two pizza joints he listed, Pizzeria Bianco would be my choice, although you absolutely don't go wrong with Pizzeria al Forno. These are Naples-style pizza joints, so if you're not a fan of that then a trip there wouldn't be advisable.
Also, no matter what, I recommend a trip to Essence Bakery. They have some of the best croissants and macaroons you'll find in the world, including France. The chef there was trained by a Jean-Louis Clement, one of only a few winners of the
Meilleur Ouvrier de France, and the exact recipe for her pastries are tweaked daily to account for temperature and humidity. They also have a full breakfast and lunch menu and nothing you get there is bad, but the pastries and sweets are where its at.
