Tuesday

Oh my stars! An actual post that consists of more than: “I’m sleepy. I’m going to bed.” And now that we’ve established that point, let’s get down to brass tacks…

Today was good: I took the day off and got to spend it with Jess. We didn’t do much, but it was nice to have a common day off. Monday wasn’t bad, either. Not too much site-hopping and a good night at the bowling alley.

And now: The Arizona Trip
To say that I’ve been “to” Arizona, before this weekend, might be something of an overstatement… but not a lie. I have been there on a few occasions:

  • On stopovers/plane changes between here and the East Coast. In fact, my first visit to Utah was through Phoenix’ Sky Harbor Airport.
  • The fifteen minute stretch of I-15 that cuts through Arizona between St. George, UT and Mesquite, NV…. and, by extension, Las Vegas.
  • The trip to Four Corners, where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet at one point.

After this weekend, I can now add Arizona to the “States I’ve Visited for More Than an Hour” list. That’s right, girls and boys: Land, Julia and me on a road trip to The Grand Canyon State. Four days, two laptops, and more miles than I care to admit. The weekend broke down something like this:

  • Thursday
    • Work. 8 hrs. Yay.
    • Quick stops at Radio Shack (for an cigarette lighter adapter) and home (to get a few DVDs that I had forgotten).
    • Drive to Page, AZ
      • LONG drive.. about seven (7) hours. IF there had been a straight line route, it would have shaved at least an hour-and-a-half off of the drive time. But there are a couple of National Parks in the way, so…. long, slow drive.
      • Stayed up and talked to Julia, who opted to drive.
      • We arrived at Julia’s mother’s somewhere between 03:00 and 04:00 AST; Arizona (and part of Indiana) does (do) not change time for Daylight Savings Time.
      • SLEPT… for a few hours. Sleep was a welcome oblivion since I had been up since 9-something that morning. I. Was. TIRED.
  • Friday:
    • Woke up somewhere around 08:00 and then performed the necessary hygiene rituals and then…
    • Off to Tucson! I was only able to stay awake for about :30, and then the world faded into oblivion once more…
    • I woke up just outside of Flagstaff, about 2-1/2 hours later. We tooled around town for about :20 before we got serious and got back on the road.
    • We stopped in Camp Verde for gasoline and something to eat at the local Dairy Queen. This was something of an experience: Just after we walked in the door, three U.S. Marshalls (one in uniform, two plain clothes…. ALL with guns and badges prominently displayed) walked in. Everyone in the DQ looked a little nervous. They didn’t find whomever it was that they sought. On the other hand, I did see what was touted as the “World’s Largest Kokopelli,” so it balanced out.
    • When we got to Phoenix, I noted an inordinate amount of pink as a major color in the architecture and in the gravel in the medians. Odd. (More on this in Quotes of the Weekend, below.) However, I did have a BEST BUY sighting! Noah had a dove and an olive branch, I have Best Buy. Go figure.
    • Between Phoenix to Tucson, we passed a verdant orchard, which struck me as a little… odd… being in the middle of the bleedin’ desert!!! We also passed an airplane museum/graveyard in Pinal. And… we saw more pink architecture.
    • After getting to Land’s cousin’s and resting a bit, we made a Best Buy excursion!!! ~genuflect~ That was followed by a trip to Starbucks and dinner with Land’s family: Kendra (cousin), Jessi (aunt), Logan (cousin), and Don (uncle). We entertained each other with stories of each other’s families over dinner. A short while later, a few more family members arrived from California: Tenderly (cousin), Chance (her son), Brad (her husband) and Tambin (cousin). More family stories. Great amounts of laughter. Land’s family is not only entertaining, they are quite nice; I enjoyed getting to meet them.
  • Saturday:
    • Went to Kendra’s graduation ceremony. I witnessed two rather unusual things:
      1. One of the school’s deans, who was apparently retiring, danced (that’s right: DANCED – he got up and broke it down) around the podium before presenting his department’s candidates for advancement. He wasn’t bad, either.
      2. Students and guest threw tortillas, in a frisbee-like manner, throughout the ceremony. When I asked how/when this tradition started, no one seemed to know the answer. It was even more amusing that when one of the administrators asked that people desist from throwing them that a flurry…. no, a barrage of tortillas hurtled through the air.
    • Back to Kendra’s. We ate, talked and met other people.
    • BACK to Best Buy ::: bliss :::
    • Dinner
    • Back to Kendra’s and not too long thereafter, off to The Dreaming.
  • Sunday:
    • Drive back to Page….
    • We stopped in Phoenix for gasoline…. and Powerball. Go figure.
    • Since I was awake (and driving), I got to see all of the things that I had missed on the way down. Translation: “Rob became a tourist.” And like a tourist, I had to take pictures of just about everything I could.
      • Wupatki National Monument
      • Cameron, AZ and the suspension bridge over the dry bed of the Little Colorado River
      • The Grand Canyon overlook just south of Page; this is the North Rim of the canyon.
      • Glen Canyon Dam, also just to the north of Page
    • We drove back to SLC… and watched Bridget Jones’ Diary on the way. Cute movie.
    • And then, we were back.

And that was our interpretation of Smokey and the Bandit. Of course, we were not a black Trans Am and/or a semi with cowboys on it. Nor did we return with a truckload of beer. Bonus points if anyone can remember:

  • Where did they start?
  • Where did they have to go?
  • How much time did they had to complete the trip?

Quotes of the Weekend:

  • Me: Pink is not a construction color; it’s a decor color or accent.
  • Land: Natural resources have little to do with a nation’s prosperity; look at Sweden.
    Me: Sweden had ABBA…. they got lucky.

  • Dee and Land were talking about ecology and how man affects the environment around him. SOMEHOW, Land made a reference to elk and how they maintain a balance of available food and the size of their herd. He also noted that man was the only creature that could not only adapt to his environment, but also to enhance his environment. This led to the statement: Elk don’t have the sense to irrigate. When we mentioned this to Julia, on Sunday, she made an addendum to the comment: “Rabbits try, but they just don’t pee enough.”

And that also wraps up this post. Now, it’s time to wait for Morpheus to pay me a visit so that I can find a nice quiet corner of The Dreaming to inhabit until after sunrise.

Peace.