Vacation part 1 - Phoenix

Even though I got back Monday, it's taken me this long to "recover" from vacation :) I actually did have a cold most of the time I was there, but I didn't let that stop me - can't waste a vacation!

The vacation started Tuesday (2/5), when, after work, I drove up to Roseville to stay over night at my wonderful cousins' house - they live about 20 minutes from the airport and are always so generous in letting me stay there and giving me rides. Since it was "Super Tuesday", I spent most of the evening watching the incoming results of the elections - which didn't really decide much, but were interesting to see. I was disappointed that I didn't get to participate in the caucus - I have never done that since I've lived here - but the timing just didn't work out.

Wednesday morning at 5AM, Andy drove me to the airport. I always like to have extra time in case security is slow, but there were no worries that day - I was drinking my Caribou at the gate by 6:00. The flight took off promptly at 7:00, and landed at 9:30 (Mountain time) in Phoenix. The pilot announced that it was currently 44 degrees - kind of a surprise since when I left Minneapolis it was 22. But it was still nicer - sunny and warming up. I took the shuttle to the car rental depot - Phoenix has this awesome setup for rental cars, all in one big huge multi-level building, and at least with Hertz, all I had to do was go to their level, get in the car, and drive away (they check your ID at the gate). The car was a Pontiac G6, which I should not be allowed to drive because it makes me want to get one :) (but probably not practical in Minnesota winters).

After that, it was off to Peoria, to visit my friends Dave & Sharon. I worked with Dave for 9 years at IBM, and him and his wife moved to Arizona to retire (their 3 kids all live there now too). They live in a great retirement community in the Northwest part of the Phoenix area, complete with golf course, club house, pool, etc. They took me to lunch at the club house, and then off to do some hiking in the White Tank Mountain Regional Park. It ended up being a really nice day for hiking - high 50s and sunny. Sharon made a wonderful dinner with all my favorites (Dave learned most of my picky food preferences over the years). In all the between times, we caught up on IBM gossip and happenings, as well as what was going on with family and personal lives. As much as I miss them, I'm also very happy for them - they have a great setup and are close to their kids. Thursday morning we went to Thunderbird Park for some more hiking - getting warmer that day and still nice and sunny. We stopped off for lunch at B.J.'s Brewhouse in the Desert Ridge shopping center (one of my FAVORITE places in Phoenix, a huge outdoor mall area that I like to go to when I'm there).



After lunch I hopped in the car and headed down "the" 101 loop freeway to "the" 202 loop freeway toward Mesa to visit grandma (more on the "the" freeway joke later). I think half the fun of going to Phoenix for me is having a car and driving around everywhere - they have one of the most fascinating road systems, at least to me, and I just love exploring and finding stuff. The rental car had a built-in GPS navigator too which made it even more fun - sometimes I'd program in an address and see if the way I chose was the way it chose. Anyway, I got to grandma's around 2:00 after stopping off for some coffee. Grandma spends her winters in a wonderful retirement park in Mesa, and has been doing this for many years (over 20 for sure). I love to visit and love to see how active and fun everything is there - I actually hope some day I will have the opportunity to live somewhere like that when I retire - it is almost like a giant college dorm except everyone has a trailer or RV instead of a room. But there's always things going on - swimming, cards, music concerts, shuffleboard, and whatever other groups people form to do things. Grandma and I spent the afternoon catching up and talking about family news. Her friend Dick joined us for dinner, which we picked up at Marco's Pizza near the park. We ate and chatted some more - Dick being from Nebraska, we chatted about the Huskers, and we all put in our opinions on Shaquille O'Neal who just joined the Phoenix Suns.



Friday morning, while grandma was at a doctors appointment, I drove around Tempe, where Arizona State University is at. I went and found a nice Starbucks next to a park and had coffee and read the paper outside (even though it was only about 55 degrees it was still nice!) Grandma and I went to lunch at the Red Mountain Cafe. We then went down to watch a shuffleboard tournament - Dick plays a lot of shuffleboard, and even though he was out of this one, it was interesting to watch. They take their shuffleboard very seriously! Afterwards, we spent some more time talking until about 5:00, when I got back on "the" 202 and then "the" 101 to head to Scottsdale to meet my friends Jill & Andy (and their new son Ethan) for dinner at their house. I had never seen Ethan so I was excited to see him. It was fun to catch up with Jill and see how they are doing - and Ethan was non-stop entertainment too :) They have a nice house in a great new part of Scottsdale right next to the mountain.

Saturday morning it was time to return the rental car and take the short plane ride to San Diego. Fortunately the flight was at 10:00am, so plenty of time for sleeping and coffee :) This time it was good I got there early though, because even with about 2 hours to spare, I barely made the plane - Phoenix security is not as well organized or fast as Minneapolis. But I made it.

"the" freeway joke - it must be a southwest thing, or maybe a coastal thing, but everyone refers to their freeways as "the" and the number - "the 101", "the 5". I just find it amusing, it's as if their highway 101 is THE highway 101, better than any other one. They also name sections of their freeways, which I actually think is cool - "The Agua Fria Freeway", "The Red Mountain Freeway". I think we should start doing that here - 52 could be "The Mayo Brothers Freeway" or "The Zumbro Freeway" (a lot of times they use landmarks or rivers). Of course then things like I-35 in Northern Iowa would be named "The Bunch of Flat Land Freeway"...maybe not such a good idea :)

San Diego to come in part 2....