It seemed only fitting that Today’s Throw Back Thursday was all about one of the most relaxing and coolest vacations of my life; O’s Spring Training in beautiful Sarasota, Florida.

My parents are down there now and I’m crashing they’re pad and watching their wolf pack while they’re basking in the sunshine, wearing those flip flops and seeing them O’s.

It starts off with an early morning direct flight from D.C. to Sarasota. Their airport is about the size of a Starbucks; teeny tiny.

We grab our rental car and head to the condo in the tropical-like City of Siesta Key. As a quick pitstop, we head to this cool place set on this creek, where the food is good and the tone of the week is set.

When we arrived at the condo, we take it all in. The sandy white beaches, the sounds of the waves crashing, and the feeling of relaxation in the air. You can’t help but get there and your stress level goes from 100 to about 0. All of your worries are left on that plane and your life changes into nothing but peace for one week.

We spent most of the week doing just that. Relaxing, eating good food and just being happily content with not much of an agenda.

I have two favorite places in Siesta Key; the Daiquiri Deck and Captain Curt’s

The Daiquiri Deck is this cool bar restaurant where they have a boatload of daiquiris on tap and a slew of mixing options. Mom and I enjoyed a lunch here one day and it was pretty darn good. I got a crab cake, yep a Florida crab cake. It’s not the same thing as a Maryland crab cake but it was pretty delicious.

Captain Curt’s serves the best New England Clam Chowder on the planet. No for real, they enter it into contests up north, and they win. So buttery and delicious…

My favorite hang out in Siesta Key had to be the Martini Bar. It’s actually where I discovered my love for a good dirty martini. My dad has ALWAYS been a dirty martini drinker and when we came across this cool trendy martini bar, I decided to give it a shot. It’s just this cool place where you literally can get any type of martini you want, then go out to the deck and enjoy local music; top 40 songs, acoustic – on point. Talk about some good times.

Now, all of that relaxation was great, but the main reason for being down there was the O’s games. My parents had gone for the first time a year prior and they said “you HAVE to get to Spring Training Game, you’ll never believe it.” They were totally right.

We were suppose to catch three of the O’s Spring Training games, but one of them had been rained out. The other two were great.

The experience at these games is CRAZY. Spring Training is literally like MLB players on a Little League Field. Everything is casual and the players interact with the crowds; talk about a close up.

When Chris Davis walked out, my mom screamed “Hey Chris! Happy Birthday Buddy!” He waved his hand and screamed thanks. Then later on in the game my mom stood up and screamed “Chris! Me!” and he threw a foul ball to her like he was just playing catch. Relaxed, casual and pretty awesome.

The next game was pretty cool too; the stadium was empty and the ushers let me go to the first row behind home plate. I was literally a foot or so away from these major athletes that I am only used to seeing on TV or from the nosebleeds back in Baltimore.

I couldn’t help but just take it in and be in shock and awe. Even the announcers there are super casual. So is the Bird.

After the games we would go and grab a bite to eat. This was one of my favorite things. My family life has changed; I don’t live at home anymore, I don’t see them everyday but a big piece of me is the core of who they are. I have become my own person, but I will never forget my core. It was nice to take a moment from our busy lives and reconnect. Things maybe different now but not in a bad way; it just makes you treasure these moments even more.

I’ll remember this vacation forever and hope to go next year with them again.

What’s better than the Sand, the Sun, the Orioles and Baltimore all in one location? Summer’s almost here which means that Baseball Season is too; let’s get to Opening Day.

#SpenceDoesThrowBackThursday