Baseball is the game of choice for me. While pro football is exciting and the Minnesota Vikings remain my team, baseball and the Twins have become my favorite.

Baseball doesn’t provide the action that football does, but as I grow older that’s not so bad. The moments of inaction give you time to reflect on the direction of the game and other weighty issues, such as whether to wait for the hot dog vendor or make the trip up the stairs to the concession stand.

Baseball is a game without time constraints. The pace is deliberate and may be likened to one of the Beatles’ longer tunes as opposed to football’s heavy metal; more suited to the liking of an aging sportswriter.

Baseball is important to me and as I grow older and it appears that I will never head up a major corporation or be elected to office, its importance grows. As such, going to the Twins’ Spring Training in Florida has been my desire for several years. There have been two columns written about the Twins’ spring training. You may remember the last one on how to get to and spend a week in Fort Myers for less than a thousand dollars. But for all the planning and scheming, Florida and spring training has remained very elusive. Mostly because of the money involved. But I didn’t give up and continued to search for ways to meet my goal.

I researched all possible lodging. All the way from Sanibel Island to Florida interior homes, but spring training is during the high season and it’s very difficult to find something that was affordable.

Then working at a State Park reminded me that Minnesota had reasonable park cabins. What about Florida? I decided to find out, and they do. While Fort Myers did not have park cabins, Sarasota does and it’s only about an hour and a half to Fort Myers, down the coast from Myakka River State Park. And while it is a ways from the Twins’ Hammond Stadium, the park has other attractions, a tree-top canopy walk, a tram through Florida’s largest park, and an air boat ride to see wildlife, including alligators. Hiking, fishing and Ranger programs similar to Minnesota’s Naturalist’s programs. Not only that, Sarasota and the Gulf of Mexico beaches are only eight miles away. But best of all, the cabins are only $60 a day. Bedding, pots, pans etc. are furnished with an equipped kitchen, air conditioning, fireplace and a grill and picnic table off the back porch.

It seemed too good to be true. It was. They can only be reserved 11 months ahead and looking on the Internet, their reservation schedule for February of 2010 was filled.

I called the Florida DNR, talked to its assistant bureau chief who suggested that I call the reservation desk the first thing in the morning on Saturday for the week I wanted, when the 11 months came up. He didn’t hold out much hope as there are only five cabins and suggested that I might try an RV.

I got up early and called. Wonder of wonders, they had two cabins remaining unbooked. I gave him my credit card and we have a Florida destination booked for a week next winter. Now that’s a long time and it’s possible that some calamity might befall us, but perhaps the best thing about the cabins is that you can cancel for only $10. A win-win situation. The good Lord must have been looking down on us.