Recovering from vacation

We were on vacation from the 1st through the 8th out in Arizona so we could visit with my Mom and step-Father and my Gramma. We were originally planning to drive because of the current costs of flying but Julie was able to find a sale on orbitz.com where we got the tickets for about the same price as just the gas to drive out there (and don't get me started about gas prices.) The only problem with our tickets was that we couldn't select our seats when we purchased them as they were allegedly to be assigned at check-in. Oh they were assigned at check-in alright as all of us got separate seats on the plane. Luckily on the flight out to Phoenix the airline representative that was printing our luggage tags was able to also change our seats so that Julie and Grace could sit together and my Aunt and I could also sit together. Unfortunately on the flight home we weren't so lucky.

So we got out there Tuesday around rush-hour time and rented a car. I made a wrong judgment call and went the wrong direction on I-10 and wasted about 20 minutes, but we finally made it to my Mom's house. On Wednesday we took Grace to the park and ate at In-N-Out Burger, Thursday we went to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Globe which is one of my favorite places. On Friday we went to the Goldfield Ghost Town by Apache Junction. We went here because it sounded interesting, but I wanted to go because I've been wanting to go back to Jerome, AZ which was a copper mining town. I loved it years ago when I went and have been wanting to go back and show Julie and Grace but it's several hours from my Mom's house and it's just a big time commitment when your five year old gets bored quickly. This place is considerably closer and worked out really well.

On Saturday Julie and I got to go out on a date where I ended up buying a new cell phone since we had the time without Grace. I got the LG ENv (VX9900) and so far I really like it. Then we ate at one of our favorite restaurants before going to see a movie. Unfortunately it took a little too long for me to buy the phone (there was a slight difficulty with the "network") and then we tried to eat quickly, but we ended up getting to the movie theater too late to see the movie we wanted to see, "21." So we ended up seeing "Leatherheads" which was a good movie, but it was just basically a sports oriented love story.

On Sunday we ate dinner at Organ Stop Pizza (I just love that place) and then on Monday we went to the Arizona Science Center which was really cool and Grace just loved it. And then it was time to come home on the next Tuesday so that was our vacation in a nutshell. You know me so you know I'll be going into more detail than this, but wanted to put an outline here to start with.

One of the funniest things that happened on the trip to Phoenix happened at O'Hare Airport when they were first calling passengers to begin boarding. As you may know, they of course call first class passengers at the beginning of the boarding process and Grace turns to Julie and asks "Mama, Am I first class?" It was just the cutest thing. The flight out went pretty darned well and the flight crew was pretty into the whole "April Fool's" thing and kept everything light. The captain comes on the speaker and says we'll be departing shortly but that they've had an equipment problem in that they can't fill the fuel tanks completely we will still be leaving on time but this will affect how long it takes to get to Phoenix because we'll need to stop in Springfield and Oklahoma City and Las Vegas en route and who knows when we'll finally make it there. There were other things he said during the trip, but that was my favorite.

When we got to Phoenix and had our luggage we headed out to the car rental area which is quite a ways from the airport. Julie nixed the idea of renting a Hertz Shelby Mustang so we stuck with an Escape which was adequate for our needs and gets considerably better fuel mileage. Actually I tried to upgrade to a Freestyle because it seats more people and is a larger car but they didn't have any so we got the Escape. We had a choice between gray and white; I chose gray. I only make bold decisions.

We went to the park on Wednesday where they have a sprinkler area. We've never seen the sprinkler area actually be open because we don't usually go to Arizona so late; normally we're there in March. To our surprise the sprinklers turned on about 15 minutes after we got there. We let Grace run around in the water a little bit even though she just had her regular clothes on. She was pretty happy about that. They were installing shades over the playground equipment so that was closed for the day, but when we went back a few days later it was really nice as it kept the equipment in the shade so it wasn't too hot for the kids to play on and it was nice for me too as I didn't have to stand in the sun and watch her to make sure she was alright.

The Arboretum on Wednesday was great; just perfect weather. This place is like the combination of a botanic garden of desert plants along a hiking trail. It's really fun and you can actually learn a few things. The gold mining ghost town was different. The train ride was fun and informative and the food we ate was good. We didn't have time to go down into the mine itself for a tour but we checked everything else out. We weren't very impressed with the shopping; the things that were available for purchase didn't really entice us to buy anything. Grace got to ride a full-size horse named "Candy" though and she thought that was just the best thing ever. They offered horseback rides in the desert for reasonable rates, but you have to be six to do it so we'll have to bring Grace back next year. They just put her up on the horse's back and let her around the corral for a few minutes. But she got the biggest kick out of it; especially with her new pick cowgirl hat that we had just bought her. That was one of the few things we found worthy of purchasing there.

At any rate that day was certainly a success and I'm sure Grace would rate it as one of her favorites of the entire trip. Organ Stop Pizza is one of her favorites as well and she had a wonderful time there on Sunday as well. If you've never been you really are missing out. The pizza isn't "to die for" but it is good and the Wurlitzer is just so cool. I would recommend sitting upstairs however. Normally they are really busy and we end up having to sit upstairs because all the seats in the lower section are already taken. But since we came later this year more of the "winter visitors" have left to avoid the hot weather and we could basically have sat anywhere we wanted too. Now this doesn't affect the overall experience sitting downstairs as opposed to upstairs, but I'll tell you this: when you sit upstairs you feel you are part of the music more for some reason. The low bass shakes the floor and you just feel more immersed in the music and I personally enjoy it more; just my two cents.

On Monday - our last day in Arizona - we went to the Arizona Science Center which my step-Father has been apparently been wanting to take Grace to for years; I don't think I knew that before now. Anyway, the sad part is that my step-Father had the day off but was sick and couldn't really go with us. We saw the movie "Grand Canyon Adventure 3D: River at Risk." I have to say that short of actually going to the grand canyon, this movie is almost like being there it was really cool. It was narrated by Robert Redford whom doesn't really do a whole lot for me, but it was nice. The premise is what we've done to the whole area of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon and the effect that has had on both of them. I have to say I knew that the Colorado wasn't what it used to be but I had absolutely no idea the extent to which we had affected the entire region because of mans doing. It all starts up at Lake Powell with the first dam of the Colorado, the Glen Canyon Dam. This stopped all of the silt, salt and other material that the water used to carve out the grand canyon to no longer flow down the river. Then after Hoover Dam was built for Las Vegas to have water the river really declined. Down by the U.S./Mexican border the river used to be 200 yards wide and provide the fisherman of the village there with a living. Now it is a stagnant stream with no fish or anything of value to them. It's an eye-opening movie that really everyone should see; I obviously liked it.

On our trip home we returned the car right on time and they bused us back to the airport where we learned of our fate for flying home - we all had separate seats again. The difference this time was that the lady printing our luggage tags wasn't able to help us at all. She said we would have to discuss it with the agents at the gate. As soon as we made it through security (my Aunt got flagged for her C-Pap machine) and got to our gate I went up and requested that at least one of us be able to sit with Grace because she couldn't travel alone. They couldn't do anything at the time but said they would try and would let us know. It didn't sound very promising. So we all had breakfast as we waited. Finally just prior to boarding they called me up and said that they couldn't do much except give me a different seat that hopefully someone on the plane would want to trade me for so that Grace and I could sit together. She actually called was calling it something like trade-bait; a seat someone might be interested in so that it would entice them into trading with me. But then at the last second two seats were available in the very last row so Grace and I were "lucky" enough to sit at the very back of the plane. We left late because the plane was late arriving from San Francisco I think; so we weren't able to board the plane on time which obviously left us to leave later than we were scheduled to.

The flight itself was mediocre at best. The flight crew wasn't saying hardly a thing to us. They never came on the speaker and welcomed us aboard, no mention of expected flying time or a possible arrival time which would have been nice considering we were leaving late. They never even came on to mention what our cruising altitude was or anything like that. The flight attendants weren't very friendly either; about as friendly as the lady in front of me reclining her seat before we even took off and they feigning that it was broken when we were preparing for landing so that she didn't have to put it in the upright position - "God forbid." So during both flights of this trip I wasn't able to use my computer at all because when the seat is reclined my laptop doesn't physically fit between me and the reclined seat-back in front of me without angling it such that the keyboard is practically vertical which makes typing a bit awkward. I was at least able to set it up in front of Grace so that she could watch her Strawberry Shortcake movie which made her quite happy; until the battery was dying, but at least she was able to enjoy it for a while.

About an hour outside of O'Hare we hit the weather system that we weren't looking forward to upon arriving home; rain, wind and general ugly weather. The turbulence was so bad that the flight attendants said that they would be collecting everything they had given out and that everything needed to be put away and we all needed to be in our seats for the remainder of the flight. I've never been on a flight where they've done that; so it was a little nerve wracking, but we made it just fine. The only problem, and the only time the captain spoke, was as we were making our approach to O'Hare the air traffic controllers apparently "lost" us on radar. The captain came on and said that we were just in our flight pattern following the plane in front of us at the prescribed distance but somehow they "lost" us on radar and were forcing us to circle and land from the south. This added about 20-30 minutes to our flight and put us on the ground around 2:45 instead of 2:15. The good news is that we made it before the real storm started between 4:30 and 5:30 with a lot of lightening and just pouring down rain. In fact the rain we've gotten has begun the flooding around here as that was the lead story on the local news tonight.

So anyway, we made it home in one piece with all of our luggage and made it home before the storm; so bottom line - good travel day. Will we use orbitz.com again? Yet to be determined. One good thing about the flight home was that I was able to finish the book I was reading: "The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat" by Bob Woodward. You may remember the last book I read was about President Ford: "Write It When I'm Gone" by Thomas M DeFrank and that piqued my interest in Watergate so I'm reading up on that now. This book was really good although not as good as Write It When I'm Gone. Now I've moved on to "Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works" by Newt Gingrich. I didn't know what I thought of this man until I started reading this book. Wow! this book is an eye opener so far and I've only read a handful of chapters. So far - highly recommended.

Yesterday Grace had dance class and gymnastics and we had lunch with two of Julie's sisters. I think Grace was really happy to be back in the routine of her normal week but she was really tired. She was still tired today for preschool, but she was better than yesterday. I was the busy one today; I ran some errands while Grace was in school and then afterwards we took my rear bumper cover to the repair shop to be painted. Then we came home for a few minutes and then headed to the eye doctor as I needed my annual checkup. It's been seven years since I had lasik surgery and everything is still looking great. After that we came home and crashed; the unintended consequence of which was that we ate dinner at like 7:30 - too late for Grace really but at least we got through the day and almost the week since tomorrow is Friday...yea! Hopefully in the next day or two we'll be over the whole two hour time difference we had gotten used to in Arizona and start eating at regular times and sleeping longer.