I guess today would be as good as any to talk about my trip to beautiful Arizona. I left Boston Logan airport at two in the afternoon on May 23rd. Flying out of Logan wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, especially since I rode there via the Logan Express bus from Framingham. The security lines were long and alas, many people still didn't get the whole "liquid restriction" issue and had their expensive hand creams, lotions, and other cosmetics thrown in the garbage. Get a clue, people. If you're going to fly, read up on airport security issues. In fact, one of the security folks asked if they could use my quart-sized plastic bag with cosmetics in it as an example to the other passengers. I felt responsible!
After a very short layover in Hotlanta (thankfully, the guy with TB wasn't flying that day, otherwise, we would really have been in the "hot zone"), I flew to Phoenix. I arrived about twenty minutes early and Abby was waiting for me in the baggage area. Very sweet of her. We drove to Scottsdale and saw the valley of Phoenix at twilight. I had no idea all these beautiful mountains surrounded the area. As Arizona is on Pacific time during daylight savings time (they actually don't observe daylight savings, so they are on Mountain time in the other months of the year), I was pretty tired by the time I arrived in Arizona. So, we just ate some chicken and some great guacamole that Abby made. Abby works in a health food store, and she has a penchant for the best quality foods, which I have no obection to either. On Thursday, we got ready to drive up to the Grand Canyon (it's four hours north of Phoenix), but were delayed a little bit by her roommates, who were packing. However, that was fine and we got on the road at about one. The ride to the canyon was great; we were steadily climbing in elevation and heading up through the mountains. We stopped for a picnic lunch south of Flagstaff and proceeded on our way. I have to say that there is almost nothing on the way to the Grand Canyon. At least from between Flagstaff or Williams and the canyon. We took a very lonely road up to the National Park on the East side (this is the lesser road taken) and once we got to the park, we still had to drive twenty-five miles to the Grand Canyon Village, where our hotel was located. Our first sight of the canyon was great! We took two cars there and we immediately stopped and got out of the cars, and took several pictures. We checked into our hotel, the Yavapai west lodge, and then tried to catch the sunset over the canyon. It was getting dark, but it was still beautiful. No words or pictures can really describe the experience of the Grand Canyon; one just really has to go!
We had kind of an expensive dinner at the lodge afterwards and then went to bed. Abby's roommates, Tsahai and Richard, got up early to watch the sunrise, but Abs and I were much too tired. I kind of regret this because I heard later that it was absolutely amazing. However, we did start our day kind of early, we had breakfast again at the lodge, and then went on our merry way around the canyon. We walked a "Trail of time" which I didn't really understand other than that there were these markers going back in time many, many millions of year ago. We ended up walking to the larger part of the Grand Canyon village, where the El Tovar hotel is located as well as the Bright Angel Lodge. There was also a trail heading down to the canyon where people and mules can navigate. There is a famous mule trail ride that occurs everyday here; that really would have been fun, but the recommendation is that you book this journey one year in advance (wow!). I was wearing a v-neck t-shirt and got a little sunburned on my neck. I wore ample sunscreen on my face and arms, so otherwise I was fine.
Abby and I left the canyon between 2 and 3 and headed to the beautiful town of Sedona, which is south of Flagstaff. Again, it was kind of lonely road on the way there, but we did go through a beautiful area called Snowbowl, AZ, where there are several ski resorts, I believe. The drive from Flagstaff to Sedona was so gorgeous and almost didn't seem like Arizona, more like Colorado. It made me realize how diverse the landscape of the state really is. Sedona is the home of these beautiful red rock formations. Several western movies have been filmed here. We found a nice Mexican restaurant called the Oaxaca (apparently, it's a cheese as well) and ate on the second floor, which had open air seating. We walked around the town a little bit and took some more pictures. On our way back to Phoenix (or Phoenie, inside joke), we drove three miles out of the way to see the only Mcdonald's with turquoise arches. Apparently, the golden arches would have clashed with the scenery. Haha.
On Saturday, Abby and I drove to Old Town Scottsdale and walked around the area, which had lots of cute shops and restaurants. We ate at this Mexican/Cuban fusion restaurant, which was great. We had gelato for dessert at this great place, too. I had pistachio and Abby had mint chocolate chip. To me, gelato is way better than regular ice cream. It's less airy and less fattening, too. Of course, we went to a mall in Scottsdale, too. I bought some makeup at Sephora and Abby got some cool green flip-flops at J.Crew. Since Abby had to work overnight doing inventory at Wild Oats (where she is the supervisor and top conoisseur of the cheese counter), we got a pizza for dinner. While Abby was at work, I watched "Forrest Gump" (love that movie and Alan Silvestri's music; he also composed for "Back to the Future") and then went to sleep. I had a hard time sleeping because Abby wasn't back by 4 am from work and I was worried about her. The inventory took longer than she expected and she didn't get home until 11 am. We were supposed to go to a Diamondbacks game but that didn't really work out, however, this was fine. We were both really, really tired. I took a short walk around the neighborhood (because it was so hot, it was not that easy to be outside for a long time) and then Abby and I got ready to go out again. We drove down to this exclusive hotel/resort called the Biltmore and surveyed the area. Every U.S. president has stayed here since Herbert Hoover. Pres. Bush has stayed there thrice; our tax dollars are working hard for him. They had an amazing pool, complete with a movie screen, and I really wanted to go swimming! The hotel also had a life-sized chess board (and checkers) and a croquet set. We drove to downtown Phoenix and then to Tempe for dinner, where we ate at a Greek restaurant called "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and then we had more gelato!! My flight left at 11:45 pm, so Abby dropped me off at the airport and I was on my way back to Boston. Abby was a great host and I want to thank her so much for everything!
I really began to appreciate the western United States on my trip. Arizona is amazing and it seems like a great place to live.
I didn't arrive back in Boston until noon on Memorial Day and I hadn't gotten much sleep at all, so I was very cranky when I got back home. Sorry, Brian! That night, we had a small cookout at Gretchen and Andy's. I brought them a magnet and some grapefruits from the tree in Abby's backyard.
Work has been fine since I've been back in Massachusetts. On Thursday, I got a good review for my first month and a half, so that made me feel somewhat accomplished.
Wednesday night, we went to the Red Sox game and I made a sign in Japanese for Daisuke Matsuzaka, the new pitcher this year. We weren't on TV and the Sox didn't end up winning, but it was still really fun. It's very hard to get tickets to Fenway Park, because it's the smallest baseball stadium in the MLB, so when you do get tickets (any tickets), it's really great.
The weekend has been alright. On Friday, I went to Trader Joe's and bought some yummy food, including more gelato (this time, tiramisu). BTW, does anyone know of a good gelato place in the Boston suburbs? Obviously, there are some in Boston, including in the North End, but I don't really know of any in the Metrowest area. I also bought one of their grocery bags, which is really cute and of course, environmentally friendly. Lately, I have been thinking a lot about caring more for the environment and for myself. It seems that there is a correlation in Arizona between their beautiful environment and their appreciation of it and of salubrious living. I feel like out here on the East Coast, we are not as conscious of it (plus, it is so congested here), and in the midwest, it is even worse. I don't even have a recycling option here in Marlborough, and that makes me feel guilty a lot.
Anyway, yesterday I worked in the morning and then Brian and I went to Target in the afternoon and Keith and Sarah's for a lovely grilled cod dinner. I was and am always impressed by their combined efforts in the kitchen. Today has been somewhat of a lazy day. Although, I have been to the gym for the first time since I got back to Mass. Right now, I'm watching a marathon of Top Chef season one. Tonight, we are going to Framingham for Chinese food. Yay!
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