Road Trippin' USA: Beach and Baseball

Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet. The Bowtie brand aired that jingle back in the mid-1970s, tying together elements of Americana in one tidy bundle. Speaking of baseball, it’s almost spring training season for Major League Baseball, which is worthy of an epic road trip along the coast of Florida that could very well also include hot dogs and apple pie.

This time of year, you'll find miles of green Astroturf, junk food, and great baseball from Fort Myers to Dunedin and Orlando to West Palm Beach. Get your tickets and let’s get started.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21rUjwAn5GI

The spring training experience

Arizona hosts the easy-travel spring training season. Fifteen teams are based in the Phoenix area for spring training, and the longest distance between ballparks is 47 miles. Florida, on the other hand, hosts the other half of the teams in the major leagues and offers a beach route for hours of great driving from game to game. No offense, Arizona Cactus League, but the Florida Grapefruit League has you beat for opportunities to get behind the wheel to cruise.

One benefit of attending spring training games is that the ballparks are much cozier, because they’re using minor league fields for practice. The players are closer, parking is easier, tickets are (usually) cheaper, and the food is almost always a mini version of what they would serve in their big MLB ballparks. Think Old Bay-sprinkled crab fries (Philadelphia Phillies), Killebrew root beer (Minnesota Twins), and pastrami sandwiches (New York Yankees).

If you’re bringing kids, get tickets in an area where they can chase foul balls and home run balls. If an adults-only trip, make sure there’s shade because it gets warm in Florida, even in March.

Skirt the Atlantic Coast

There are a few ways to tackle the Florida spring training scene, and it depends on how much time you have. In 2015, my family attended eight games in six different ballparks in 13 days; it was tons of fun and turned out to be one of the best vacations I’ve ever had. If you like to stay moving, you can squeeze in more than we did or you can base in one city and immerse yourself in the culture of one team.

One way to accomplish the full tour is to start and end in Orlando. If you’re flying in from out of state, Orlando’s airport is large and contains a lot of Disney-loving people, but the rental car choices are plentiful and it’s a solid central point. In fact, the Orlando airport (code MCO) has three rental locations for Hertz alone. Bringing family? Get the Chevy Equinox. If it’s just you and one other person, make a reservation with Avis or Turo for a Corvette. You won’t regret it.