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So far the trip to Arizona has been good. It started out a little stressful, but then has continually gotten better.
The beginning of the trip didn't go too well. I arrived in Phoenix an hour late to find no parents (due to horrendous incompetence by Lisa of US Air they were stuck in Las Vegas), no rental car (parents had it), no hotel reservation (over an hour outside of town, dependent in rental car), and no luggage (lost in Boston despite my layover being late.) So I got a room close to the airport. It was a little plain (they didn't even have a complimentary toothbrush at the front desk) and depressing, but cheap.
The next morning mom, dad, and my suitcase came in and we drove down to Tucson. We spent the afternoon at San Xavier, a very ornate mission in the desert. It's a beautiful church and included an interesting video about its artistic restoration. We also climbed a nearby hill and looked at the desert. Then we drove around downtown Tucson which was pretty dead and uninteresting. With![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
toran's help we found some activity, but not much. We ate dinner at an Afghanistan restaurant. I thought the food was really good. My parents were ify on it, but their kebobs were okay. They weren't huge fans of sitting on the floor either.
The next day we spent at the Desert Museum which was awesome! We especially liked the hummingbird aviary, the cactus garden, and a special presentation of a family of Harris hawks in free flight. After 5 or 6 hours there we drove back to Phoenix to meet my cousin Heather and her husband Lee and check in to the time share. We went out for Mexican that night (to appease my dad after the Afghani food) and had our fill of cheap (but delicious) margaritas.
Tuesday we toured downtown Chandler (the suburb of Phoenix where we're staying.) It was fine. The Chandler city museum was more interesting than you would expect. We also stopped at a wine bar and did a tasting. Since there were 5 of us we shared and tried about 30 different kinds of wine. I was most amused by the wine-a-rita. A blend of wines colored green that tastes like a margarita (really it wasn't bad). I got a bottle of Royal Kir for New Orleans.
The next day we spent driving. We stopped at Casa Grande. They wasn't the most interesting ruins we've seen, but perhaps the largest freestanding ones. Then we headed to Biosphere 2. It was really, really facinating. The building, the project, all the different biomes. If you're ever in the area I would highly recommend it. That night we stayed in and I made my "famous" (aka stolen from Rachel Ray) chili.
Thursday at my request we spent the morning at the Phoenix Art Museum. The building was more interesting than the European collection. They did have a great education area and some really cool contemporary art. There was one installation where you walk into a dark rooom. All the walls, ceilling, and floor are covered in mirrors and the only light are from strips of hanging Christmas lights that slowly change color. You feel like you're in space. Then we went up into the mountains for a hike to Hidden Canyon. It was 4.7 miles and took us about 2.5 hours (with breaks). There were a couple of places where we had to squeeze through or slide down rocks so that was fun. We had dinner at Tina's Ethiopian Cafe. The decor was a little basic (we felt like we were in her livingroom) and we were served by Tina herself. My dad and Lee (who hadn't had Ethiopian food before) were skeptical, but they liked it. It was some of the best Ethiopian food I've had, plus Tina is really sweet.
Today we went to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West. We just made the 1.5 hour tour (they had five tickets left and there are five of us). It was also incredible. My parents who are starting to plan their retirement house in NH were especially interested. We spent the afternoon shopping at the "Fifth Avenue" shops. Basically a little shopping center with Arizona/tourist stuff. I bought a lovely silver and malachite necklace for myself and silver and onyx earrings for my sister. We also spent a long time in the cross-stitch store. I haven't done any since highschool but my mother convinced me to make a cactus scene for her. In exchange she's going to make me a quilt inspired by a Frank Lloyd Wright design. (She bought a book of quilting patterns at the FLW gift shop).
Tomorrow it's off to New Orleans. It's been great to spend this time with my parents and cousins. I've been jogging with my cousins or walking with mom and dad almost every morning. Sunday dad even jogged five miles with me. Of course tomorrow it will be great to see D. andgrumph! Pics here when I can figure out my dad's computer. okay, computer is super-slow. I'll post more pics next week once I get home to my beloved ibook.
The beginning of the trip didn't go too well. I arrived in Phoenix an hour late to find no parents (due to horrendous incompetence by Lisa of US Air they were stuck in Las Vegas), no rental car (parents had it), no hotel reservation (over an hour outside of town, dependent in rental car), and no luggage (lost in Boston despite my layover being late.) So I got a room close to the airport. It was a little plain (they didn't even have a complimentary toothbrush at the front desk) and depressing, but cheap.
The next morning mom, dad, and my suitcase came in and we drove down to Tucson. We spent the afternoon at San Xavier, a very ornate mission in the desert. It's a beautiful church and included an interesting video about its artistic restoration. We also climbed a nearby hill and looked at the desert. Then we drove around downtown Tucson which was pretty dead and uninteresting. With
toran's help we found some activity, but not much. We ate dinner at an Afghanistan restaurant. I thought the food was really good. My parents were ify on it, but their kebobs were okay. They weren't huge fans of sitting on the floor either.The next day we spent at the Desert Museum which was awesome! We especially liked the hummingbird aviary, the cactus garden, and a special presentation of a family of Harris hawks in free flight. After 5 or 6 hours there we drove back to Phoenix to meet my cousin Heather and her husband Lee and check in to the time share. We went out for Mexican that night (to appease my dad after the Afghani food) and had our fill of cheap (but delicious) margaritas.
Tuesday we toured downtown Chandler (the suburb of Phoenix where we're staying.) It was fine. The Chandler city museum was more interesting than you would expect. We also stopped at a wine bar and did a tasting. Since there were 5 of us we shared and tried about 30 different kinds of wine. I was most amused by the wine-a-rita. A blend of wines colored green that tastes like a margarita (really it wasn't bad). I got a bottle of Royal Kir for New Orleans.
The next day we spent driving. We stopped at Casa Grande. They wasn't the most interesting ruins we've seen, but perhaps the largest freestanding ones. Then we headed to Biosphere 2. It was really, really facinating. The building, the project, all the different biomes. If you're ever in the area I would highly recommend it. That night we stayed in and I made my "famous" (aka stolen from Rachel Ray) chili.
Thursday at my request we spent the morning at the Phoenix Art Museum. The building was more interesting than the European collection. They did have a great education area and some really cool contemporary art. There was one installation where you walk into a dark rooom. All the walls, ceilling, and floor are covered in mirrors and the only light are from strips of hanging Christmas lights that slowly change color. You feel like you're in space. Then we went up into the mountains for a hike to Hidden Canyon. It was 4.7 miles and took us about 2.5 hours (with breaks). There were a couple of places where we had to squeeze through or slide down rocks so that was fun. We had dinner at Tina's Ethiopian Cafe. The decor was a little basic (we felt like we were in her livingroom) and we were served by Tina herself. My dad and Lee (who hadn't had Ethiopian food before) were skeptical, but they liked it. It was some of the best Ethiopian food I've had, plus Tina is really sweet.
Today we went to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West. We just made the 1.5 hour tour (they had five tickets left and there are five of us). It was also incredible. My parents who are starting to plan their retirement house in NH were especially interested. We spent the afternoon shopping at the "Fifth Avenue" shops. Basically a little shopping center with Arizona/tourist stuff. I bought a lovely silver and malachite necklace for myself and silver and onyx earrings for my sister. We also spent a long time in the cross-stitch store. I haven't done any since highschool but my mother convinced me to make a cactus scene for her. In exchange she's going to make me a quilt inspired by a Frank Lloyd Wright design. (She bought a book of quilting patterns at the FLW gift shop).
Tomorrow it's off to New Orleans. It's been great to spend this time with my parents and cousins. I've been jogging with my cousins or walking with mom and dad almost every morning. Sunday dad even jogged five miles with me. Of course tomorrow it will be great to see D. and
grumph! Pics here when I can figure out my dad's computer. okay, computer is super-slow. I'll post more pics next week once I get home to my beloved ibook.
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If you'd been in the state for a few more days I would have suggested a road trip down through Tombstone and Bisbee. Bisbee has one of the biggest copper mines anywhere and gives neat tours.