... that will probably only make sense to me! But I will need them for scrapbooking the pictures later!
10/15/09 - Where we viewed the sunset at the Grand Canyon was Mohave Point.
The tree needles were from a juniper tree.
Other tree I photographed was a Pinyon Pine.
We met the shuttle bus at Yavapai Lodge.
10/16/09 - The Grand Canyon is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
Ponderosa Pine can reach 1100 ft. It's bark smells like vanilla.
The Banana Yucci plant (resembles the palmetto) grows fruit about every three years. The Indians used the sharp needle points and fibers to sew clothes.
Visited Moran Point.
It is 20 degrees warmer down on the Colorado River at Phantom Ranch.
Rangers have to rescue 350-400 people a year. There is a $3,000 charge for a helicopter rescue.
There have been 11 drive offs at the Grand Canyon since the movie Thelma and Louise, including one just in the last couple of months.
Visited Lipan Point.
The Grand Canyon is 14-18 miles across and over one mile down. It is 7000 feet above sea level. It is over 280 miles long.
The Colorado River carved the canyon. The river is 50-100 ft deep; 100-900 ft across; water is 47 degrees.
Visited Yaki Point.
North Rim is 1000 ft higher than South Rim (elevation).
Visited Duck-on-a-Rock and viewed Vishnu Temple.
Visited Desert View and climbed Watch Tower.
The Watch Tower was designed by Mary Colter. It is 4 stories tall. The top is the highest point at the South Rim.
Indians used these towers to keep a lookout for danger approaching.
10/18/09 - We got on the Apache Trail in Apache Junction, Arizona.
Saw Canyon Lake, Superstition Mountain, the town Tortilla Flat.
Area of the Lost Dutchman gold mine.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Dutchman%27s_Gold_Mine)
10/19/09 - Desert Botanical Garden
Exhibit: Chihuly - the nature of glass
Saguaro don't grow limbs until they are at least 30-40 years old.
Sonora Desert
Saturday, October 24, 2009
September 2009 Roundup
What books did I read this month? Shadowfires by Dean Koontz (Audio Book); She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb
Magazines? Guideposts; People
What movies did I see this month? Psyho (TV/DVR); Ocean's Eleven (DVD) (repeat); Horton Hears a Who (Netflix); Gran Torino (Netflix); War (TV/DVR); What Happens in Vegas (Netflix); Treasure Island (TV/DVR); Lara Croft Tomb Raider (TV/DVR)
TV Shows? 24; Leverage; America's Most Wanted; John Edward's Cross Country; The Cleaner; Dog the Bounty Hunter; Army Wives; CMT Insider; Oprah; Medium; Monk; Criminal Minds; NCIS; NCIS Los Angeles; Two and a Half Men; Community; The Forgotten; 48 Hours Mystery; The Soup; Chelsea Lately; Dateline on ID; Golden Girls; Roseanne; Bewitched; Raging Planet; The Vampire Diaries
What special days did I celebrate and how? Mom's birthday - She came up for a visit. We had ice cream cake and planned our trip to Phoenix; Carolyn's Birthday - we celebrated at SDV with cupcakes, singing and gifts
What illness or health concerns did I have this month? IBS - bad attack on the 28th; had some skin tags removed at the dermatologist
What fun things did I do with friends and/or family? Attended Scrapper's Dream Vacation (SDV) in Norcross with Carolyn, Christy, and Stacey; took Stacey to lunch for her birthday and went shopping with her afterwards; cropping at Archiver's with Carolyn
What new foods, recipes, or restaurants did I try this month? None
What special or unusual purchases did I make? A magnetic board and easel to use for scrapbooking
What were this month's disappointments? All the rain and flooding... I miss the sun! And I did not finish reading Moby Dick... but then NO ONE in my book club did!
What were my accomplishments this month? Getting my routines back in place
Magazines? Guideposts; People
What movies did I see this month? Psyho (TV/DVR); Ocean's Eleven (DVD) (repeat); Horton Hears a Who (Netflix); Gran Torino (Netflix); War (TV/DVR); What Happens in Vegas (Netflix); Treasure Island (TV/DVR); Lara Croft Tomb Raider (TV/DVR)
TV Shows? 24; Leverage; America's Most Wanted; John Edward's Cross Country; The Cleaner; Dog the Bounty Hunter; Army Wives; CMT Insider; Oprah; Medium; Monk; Criminal Minds; NCIS; NCIS Los Angeles; Two and a Half Men; Community; The Forgotten; 48 Hours Mystery; The Soup; Chelsea Lately; Dateline on ID; Golden Girls; Roseanne; Bewitched; Raging Planet; The Vampire Diaries
What special days did I celebrate and how? Mom's birthday - She came up for a visit. We had ice cream cake and planned our trip to Phoenix; Carolyn's Birthday - we celebrated at SDV with cupcakes, singing and gifts
What illness or health concerns did I have this month? IBS - bad attack on the 28th; had some skin tags removed at the dermatologist
What fun things did I do with friends and/or family? Attended Scrapper's Dream Vacation (SDV) in Norcross with Carolyn, Christy, and Stacey; took Stacey to lunch for her birthday and went shopping with her afterwards; cropping at Archiver's with Carolyn
What new foods, recipes, or restaurants did I try this month? None
What special or unusual purchases did I make? A magnetic board and easel to use for scrapbooking
What were this month's disappointments? All the rain and flooding... I miss the sun! And I did not finish reading Moby Dick... but then NO ONE in my book club did!
What were my accomplishments this month? Getting my routines back in place
Phoenix/Grand Canyon Trip, Day 7, Tuesday, October 20
Traveling day... we stuffed everything into our suitcases (I think Mom had to jump up and down on hers to get it closed and zipped!) and prayed they wouldn't be over the weight limit.
We left in plenty of time to get breakfast (Chicken Minis again! LOL) and drive to the airport. Of course, the time flies by. We turned in the rental van and caught the shuttle to the airport. We even had time to do some shopping when we got there! Got checked in fine (no overweight suitcases!!) and went through security. Sky Harbor airport advertises itself as "America's Friendliest Airport" and that is true... except for the TSA people. They seem to either be bored so they choose random people to harass (Mom's theory) or they are on a power trip (my theory). Either way, they are not friendly.
We made it through and found our gate. The seats were right by a large plate-glass window. I must have gotten too hot because I proceeded to get sick and have an IBS attack right there in the gate area! I was so terrified that I would be sick on the plane. I did that once on a plane to Sarasota, and it was miserable... and scary. I do not want to repeat that EVER. Finally after two trips to the restroom, cold, wet towels on my face and neck, and sitting away from the window, I felt better. I was fine on the flight home, thank goodness. That was a close one!
It was another smooth flight and we even landed in Atlanta 15 minutes early. We got down to the baggage claim, and our luggage was already going around on the carousel!! Unbelievable for Atlanta! We made our way to the shuttle bus, got back to my car, and headed out. When I called Tracy, he said he was cooking spaghetti for us! WOW! What a homecoming. I headed to the house double-quick!
I am glad to be home (as long as the sun will shine!) and the cats were very happy to have their mommy home. It is wonderful to go, and it is nice to return home.
We left in plenty of time to get breakfast (Chicken Minis again! LOL) and drive to the airport. Of course, the time flies by. We turned in the rental van and caught the shuttle to the airport. We even had time to do some shopping when we got there! Got checked in fine (no overweight suitcases!!) and went through security. Sky Harbor airport advertises itself as "America's Friendliest Airport" and that is true... except for the TSA people. They seem to either be bored so they choose random people to harass (Mom's theory) or they are on a power trip (my theory). Either way, they are not friendly.
We made it through and found our gate. The seats were right by a large plate-glass window. I must have gotten too hot because I proceeded to get sick and have an IBS attack right there in the gate area! I was so terrified that I would be sick on the plane. I did that once on a plane to Sarasota, and it was miserable... and scary. I do not want to repeat that EVER. Finally after two trips to the restroom, cold, wet towels on my face and neck, and sitting away from the window, I felt better. I was fine on the flight home, thank goodness. That was a close one!
It was another smooth flight and we even landed in Atlanta 15 minutes early. We got down to the baggage claim, and our luggage was already going around on the carousel!! Unbelievable for Atlanta! We made our way to the shuttle bus, got back to my car, and headed out. When I called Tracy, he said he was cooking spaghetti for us! WOW! What a homecoming. I headed to the house double-quick!
I am glad to be home (as long as the sun will shine!) and the cats were very happy to have their mommy home. It is wonderful to go, and it is nice to return home.
Phoenix/Grand Canyon Trip, Day 6, Monday, October 19
Our last day in Phoenix... and there was sooo much we wanted to do and see and knew there was not enough time to squeeze it all in. After much discussion, we finally came up with something of a semblance of a plan.
First of all, breakfast. Another Chick-fil-A morning! I do love those Chicken Minis! Then off to Wal-Mart to buy another memory card for my camera... since I had already filled one and the backup I brought wasn't big enough to hold more than 10 pictures!!! Then we had to find the Mail Plus store to ship stuff home. I went ahead and mailed the scrapbooking stuff I had purchased since I wanted to be sure the paper wouldn't get bent. Mom had a plate she wanted to ship home; she was afraid it would get broken in her suitcase. We prayed that with getting this stuff mailed, our suitcases wouldn't be over the weight limit!
Aunt Evelyn and Ted had indicated the evening before that they would go to the Botanical Gardens with us, but we knew it was too much walking and would be too hot for them. So we went ahead ourselves. We were right - it was a lot of walking and it was VERY hot. It was a nice place, though. I took lots of pictures of the desert plants... so very different from what we saw at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in March! They also had a Monarch butterfly house... I took lots of pictures in there.
We didn't linger at the Gardens... it was just too hot. Mom was even getting queasy from the heat. We decided to skip the zoo for the same reason. We started back across Phoenix to pick up Aunt Evelyn and Ted for an outing with them to the Challenger Space Center. Phoenix is a lot like Atlanta in that it takes quite awhile to cross town, but for a different reason. In Atlanta, it's the traffic; in Phoenix, it's just a long way across town! We only encountered two traffic jams while visiting... and one of those was due to road construction (also like Atlanta!).
While driving back, I got a phone call from ADT saying that the security alarm was going off at Mom's house! (Motion detector in the family room) We figured it was the cats, but told them to send the police over anyway. I told them "We are in Arizona; we're not going to make it!" So Mom tried to reach the lady feeding her cats. Couldn't reach her. Called ADT back and now the motion detector in the hallway had also gone off. We started laughing cause we could just picture her cats chasing each other through the house! Mom found out that the lady she left her key with had an emergency and had given the key to someone else. That person did not know to put the alarm in "Stay" mode so the motion detectors would not be activated. Someone finally went over and met the police and we thought it was all settled... until about 3 hours later when Tracy called to say ADT had called and Mom's alarm was going off AGAIN! It was a comedy routine, I swear! It finally got taken care of... but who knows what she found when she got home!
By the time we drove back, tried to find somewhere to eat lunch, and got gas, it was after 2:30 before we got back to Aunt Evelyn and Ted's house. (We did try Whataburger - pretty good.) This meant we were really late getting to the Space Center... especially since they close at 4!! We got over there and did a short walk through... Ted was really enjoying it since he worked for Boeing and worked on space ships... Aunt Evelyn, not so much. It was just too much walking for her. It pretty much worked out then. We went back to their house and took some pictures of all of us. Aunt Evelyn had pulled some pictures for us to look at. Unfortunately most of what she pulled was of Ted's family... and she wanted to tell us who every person was, their background, everything. I tried to lead her back to the Tapley family a couple of times, but she was having none of it! I finally got some pictures of her and Ted's wedding and one picture of her at 6 months old and counted my blessings that I got those. We went to dinner at a great Mexican restaurant (Ted almost licked his plate clean!! LOL) and then went over to Wal-Mart and I copied the pictures for Mom and me.
It was late by this time... 9 o'clock - so we took Aunt Evelyn and Ted home and told them good-bye. It wasn't long before Mom and I were asleep ourselves. We knew the next day would be a long one, what with the traveling and the time difference.
First of all, breakfast. Another Chick-fil-A morning! I do love those Chicken Minis! Then off to Wal-Mart to buy another memory card for my camera... since I had already filled one and the backup I brought wasn't big enough to hold more than 10 pictures!!! Then we had to find the Mail Plus store to ship stuff home. I went ahead and mailed the scrapbooking stuff I had purchased since I wanted to be sure the paper wouldn't get bent. Mom had a plate she wanted to ship home; she was afraid it would get broken in her suitcase. We prayed that with getting this stuff mailed, our suitcases wouldn't be over the weight limit!
Aunt Evelyn and Ted had indicated the evening before that they would go to the Botanical Gardens with us, but we knew it was too much walking and would be too hot for them. So we went ahead ourselves. We were right - it was a lot of walking and it was VERY hot. It was a nice place, though. I took lots of pictures of the desert plants... so very different from what we saw at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in March! They also had a Monarch butterfly house... I took lots of pictures in there.
We didn't linger at the Gardens... it was just too hot. Mom was even getting queasy from the heat. We decided to skip the zoo for the same reason. We started back across Phoenix to pick up Aunt Evelyn and Ted for an outing with them to the Challenger Space Center. Phoenix is a lot like Atlanta in that it takes quite awhile to cross town, but for a different reason. In Atlanta, it's the traffic; in Phoenix, it's just a long way across town! We only encountered two traffic jams while visiting... and one of those was due to road construction (also like Atlanta!).
While driving back, I got a phone call from ADT saying that the security alarm was going off at Mom's house! (Motion detector in the family room) We figured it was the cats, but told them to send the police over anyway. I told them "We are in Arizona; we're not going to make it!" So Mom tried to reach the lady feeding her cats. Couldn't reach her. Called ADT back and now the motion detector in the hallway had also gone off. We started laughing cause we could just picture her cats chasing each other through the house! Mom found out that the lady she left her key with had an emergency and had given the key to someone else. That person did not know to put the alarm in "Stay" mode so the motion detectors would not be activated. Someone finally went over and met the police and we thought it was all settled... until about 3 hours later when Tracy called to say ADT had called and Mom's alarm was going off AGAIN! It was a comedy routine, I swear! It finally got taken care of... but who knows what she found when she got home!
By the time we drove back, tried to find somewhere to eat lunch, and got gas, it was after 2:30 before we got back to Aunt Evelyn and Ted's house. (We did try Whataburger - pretty good.) This meant we were really late getting to the Space Center... especially since they close at 4!! We got over there and did a short walk through... Ted was really enjoying it since he worked for Boeing and worked on space ships... Aunt Evelyn, not so much. It was just too much walking for her. It pretty much worked out then. We went back to their house and took some pictures of all of us. Aunt Evelyn had pulled some pictures for us to look at. Unfortunately most of what she pulled was of Ted's family... and she wanted to tell us who every person was, their background, everything. I tried to lead her back to the Tapley family a couple of times, but she was having none of it! I finally got some pictures of her and Ted's wedding and one picture of her at 6 months old and counted my blessings that I got those. We went to dinner at a great Mexican restaurant (Ted almost licked his plate clean!! LOL) and then went over to Wal-Mart and I copied the pictures for Mom and me.
It was late by this time... 9 o'clock - so we took Aunt Evelyn and Ted home and told them good-bye. It wasn't long before Mom and I were asleep ourselves. We knew the next day would be a long one, what with the traveling and the time difference.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Phoenix/Grand Canyon Trip, Day 5, Sunday, October 18
After grabbing breakfast and a not-too-quick visit to the Goodwill store, Mom and I picked up Aunt Evelyn and Ted for a drive on the Apache Trail.
The trail is a drive through the desert, starting in Apache Junction (a suburb of Phoenix on the east side of town). It winds up and down mountains, past a beautiful lake, through Tortilla Flat and on to the Roosevelt Dam (though we didn't go that far). It was an absolutely beautiful drive. Around every curve was another vista to ooh and ahh over. I stopped so many times to take pictures! Canyon Lake was an absolute surprise. Even knowing it was there was no preparation for the amazing site it is! Perfectly blue, with boaters and skiers, and an overlook to take pictures from. Perfect! Ted seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself - he was snapping pictures himself quite a bit. Poor Aunt Evelyn, I hope she enjoyed it - she said she did, but she couldn't get out of the car at every stop. We drove to about 3 miles past Tortilla Flat and turned around. We wanted to return them home before dark. We stopped briefly in Tortilla Flat and bought some magnets and postcards. The town is really just 2-3 buildings in the old West style. A restaurant/gift shop and an ice cream/gift shop. It was amazingly busy this Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful day so people were out enjoying it, including us.
I took pictures of highway signs, the scenery, cactus, flowers, houses, you name it!
We ate lunch at Chili's before we hit the trail. Aunt Evelyn was very confused, thinking that the name "Chili's" and the commercials they have meant all they served was spicy food. But we reassured her, and she and Ted really seemed to enjoy their lunch. Ted can clean a plate! You would think he had not eating in weeks! Bless their hearts, they have been cooped up in the house for a year... since neither one can drive right now. Ted had Valley Fever earlier this year and it has a long recovery period. He is hoping to be cleared to drive again in the next couple of months. They have limited transportation to the doctor, pharmacy, and grocery store. Other than that, they are pretty much housebound. We did take them to the bank and the Sprint store when we got into town on Wednesday. And I can tell they are really enjoying these outings we are taking them on.
They insisted on stopping at their favorite restaurant, Coco's, for dinner. It seemed they knew everyone there and had missed them for the past year. After dropping them back home, Mom and I went straight to our motel, and I was too tired to even type this update! I fell asleep before 10pm and had to rouse myself enough about 10:30 to get up and take my contacts out!
The trail is a drive through the desert, starting in Apache Junction (a suburb of Phoenix on the east side of town). It winds up and down mountains, past a beautiful lake, through Tortilla Flat and on to the Roosevelt Dam (though we didn't go that far). It was an absolutely beautiful drive. Around every curve was another vista to ooh and ahh over. I stopped so many times to take pictures! Canyon Lake was an absolute surprise. Even knowing it was there was no preparation for the amazing site it is! Perfectly blue, with boaters and skiers, and an overlook to take pictures from. Perfect! Ted seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself - he was snapping pictures himself quite a bit. Poor Aunt Evelyn, I hope she enjoyed it - she said she did, but she couldn't get out of the car at every stop. We drove to about 3 miles past Tortilla Flat and turned around. We wanted to return them home before dark. We stopped briefly in Tortilla Flat and bought some magnets and postcards. The town is really just 2-3 buildings in the old West style. A restaurant/gift shop and an ice cream/gift shop. It was amazingly busy this Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful day so people were out enjoying it, including us.
I took pictures of highway signs, the scenery, cactus, flowers, houses, you name it!
We ate lunch at Chili's before we hit the trail. Aunt Evelyn was very confused, thinking that the name "Chili's" and the commercials they have meant all they served was spicy food. But we reassured her, and she and Ted really seemed to enjoy their lunch. Ted can clean a plate! You would think he had not eating in weeks! Bless their hearts, they have been cooped up in the house for a year... since neither one can drive right now. Ted had Valley Fever earlier this year and it has a long recovery period. He is hoping to be cleared to drive again in the next couple of months. They have limited transportation to the doctor, pharmacy, and grocery store. Other than that, they are pretty much housebound. We did take them to the bank and the Sprint store when we got into town on Wednesday. And I can tell they are really enjoying these outings we are taking them on.
They insisted on stopping at their favorite restaurant, Coco's, for dinner. It seemed they knew everyone there and had missed them for the past year. After dropping them back home, Mom and I went straight to our motel, and I was too tired to even type this update! I fell asleep before 10pm and had to rouse myself enough about 10:30 to get up and take my contacts out!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Phoenix/Grand Canyon Trip, Day 4, Saturday, October 17
Got up and got out of this town! Headed back to 100 degree weather in Phoenix, but at least they will have air conditioning!
We decided to drive back a different way and go through Sedona. Boy, am I ever glad we did. As soon as we got off the interstate, the scenery became breathtaking. We stopped at Oak Creek Canyon at a scenic overlook, and there were Indians selling jewelry. It was beautiful stuff, and of course, Mom and I had to buy some! And of course, we took lots of pictures of the view. In this area, there are plenty of trees with their leaves turning, and that made the view even more beautiful, if that is even possible.
As we continued to drive, we were going up a mountain and every turn brought some new amazing view to ooh and ahh over. We stopped as often as we could and it was safe. I took pictures of as many highway signs as I could... ones we don't have back east.
Then we came into Sedona. Traffic was backed up and the shops were incredibly busy, but we managed to find a parking space right on the street, so we decided to walk around for a bit. We had to say we had shopped in Sedona! :) We had lunch at a most excellent BBQ place. Then we walked and looked and shopped. There is a lot to do here, tours, etc. There is never enough time on a trip to do everything that looks interesting! There are a lot of art galleries here... but as I told Mom later, Sedona must not be the home to starving artists, but rather the ones who have made it and made it well! You can tell there is a lot of money here... the houses are huge and set on the side of the mountain. There is a lot of new age stores here, too. As a matter of fact, just this week, they had three people die in a "sweat box" as part of a new age retreat weekend. A sweat box is supposed to represent a spirtual cleansing... you go into this tent and they pour water over hot rocks to produce steam... and you sweat out your body's iimpurities. I actually saw Morgan Spurlock do this on his show "30 Days" while he was staying on an Indian Reservation. I don't remember exactly how long he stayed in there, but it seems like it was 45 minutes or so. The people who got ill and died in Sedona were in there for 2 hours! That does seem excessive.
As we left Sedona, we continued to stop at scenic overlooks and view all the beauty we could! It is red rock country (In Red Rock Canyon, actually) and after leaving the area, the regular desert mountains looked plain! Still pretty, but not as spectacular as they seemed just a couple of days before.
We stopped just before reaching Phoenix at a Pioneer Living History Museum... a recreation of a Pioneer village. We were disappointed because they were closing an hour early, so we didn't get to see everything. That ended up being OK actually cause it was very HOT (Phoenix hit 102 yesterday!) and the village wasn't as put together as we had imagined. Some of the buildings had been moved there... and that was all. They were gutted. No attempt had been made to renovate them for display. Many of the wagons sitting around were the same way... broken wheels, old lumber lying in them... What they had done was neat. And of course we took lots of pictures. I even used a hitching post as a tripod and got a picture of us together on the schoolhouse steps!
I have dreams of many scrapbook pages... some I can already see in my head. "Signs of Arizona" for the highway signs; Plants of the west (with all the pictures of cactus I have taken!); Pages upon pages of Grand Canyon pictures; even a Fall page with a picture I took of Mom in front of a tree in full fall color with orange leaves at Oak Creek Canyon. I hope these ideas will stay with me until next year when I finally get these pictures scrapbooked!
After leaving the pioneer village, we got caught in a good old Phoenix traffic jam. I think it was due to road work. This is another instance where my GPS has paid for herself many times over... we got off the interstate and she took us on a detour that got us right back on track on no time. We found our motel and checked in. Thank goodness for luggage carts and a/c!! LOL We went to dinner at Applebee's and had the nicest server... what a refreshing change! Then I was literally in bed before 10!! How can driving make one soooo tired?
And I will tell you that this desert air and heat does make you thirsty. I am chugging water and still I'm thirsty!
Now I'm caught up on my updates... even if I had to get up at 2 am (here) to do it! I guess I owe the drunks in the hall who woke me up some thanks for getting me out of bed to do this... nah, I don't.
We decided to drive back a different way and go through Sedona. Boy, am I ever glad we did. As soon as we got off the interstate, the scenery became breathtaking. We stopped at Oak Creek Canyon at a scenic overlook, and there were Indians selling jewelry. It was beautiful stuff, and of course, Mom and I had to buy some! And of course, we took lots of pictures of the view. In this area, there are plenty of trees with their leaves turning, and that made the view even more beautiful, if that is even possible.
As we continued to drive, we were going up a mountain and every turn brought some new amazing view to ooh and ahh over. We stopped as often as we could and it was safe. I took pictures of as many highway signs as I could... ones we don't have back east.
Then we came into Sedona. Traffic was backed up and the shops were incredibly busy, but we managed to find a parking space right on the street, so we decided to walk around for a bit. We had to say we had shopped in Sedona! :) We had lunch at a most excellent BBQ place. Then we walked and looked and shopped. There is a lot to do here, tours, etc. There is never enough time on a trip to do everything that looks interesting! There are a lot of art galleries here... but as I told Mom later, Sedona must not be the home to starving artists, but rather the ones who have made it and made it well! You can tell there is a lot of money here... the houses are huge and set on the side of the mountain. There is a lot of new age stores here, too. As a matter of fact, just this week, they had three people die in a "sweat box" as part of a new age retreat weekend. A sweat box is supposed to represent a spirtual cleansing... you go into this tent and they pour water over hot rocks to produce steam... and you sweat out your body's iimpurities. I actually saw Morgan Spurlock do this on his show "30 Days" while he was staying on an Indian Reservation. I don't remember exactly how long he stayed in there, but it seems like it was 45 minutes or so. The people who got ill and died in Sedona were in there for 2 hours! That does seem excessive.
As we left Sedona, we continued to stop at scenic overlooks and view all the beauty we could! It is red rock country (In Red Rock Canyon, actually) and after leaving the area, the regular desert mountains looked plain! Still pretty, but not as spectacular as they seemed just a couple of days before.
We stopped just before reaching Phoenix at a Pioneer Living History Museum... a recreation of a Pioneer village. We were disappointed because they were closing an hour early, so we didn't get to see everything. That ended up being OK actually cause it was very HOT (Phoenix hit 102 yesterday!) and the village wasn't as put together as we had imagined. Some of the buildings had been moved there... and that was all. They were gutted. No attempt had been made to renovate them for display. Many of the wagons sitting around were the same way... broken wheels, old lumber lying in them... What they had done was neat. And of course we took lots of pictures. I even used a hitching post as a tripod and got a picture of us together on the schoolhouse steps!
I have dreams of many scrapbook pages... some I can already see in my head. "Signs of Arizona" for the highway signs; Plants of the west (with all the pictures of cactus I have taken!); Pages upon pages of Grand Canyon pictures; even a Fall page with a picture I took of Mom in front of a tree in full fall color with orange leaves at Oak Creek Canyon. I hope these ideas will stay with me until next year when I finally get these pictures scrapbooked!
After leaving the pioneer village, we got caught in a good old Phoenix traffic jam. I think it was due to road work. This is another instance where my GPS has paid for herself many times over... we got off the interstate and she took us on a detour that got us right back on track on no time. We found our motel and checked in. Thank goodness for luggage carts and a/c!! LOL We went to dinner at Applebee's and had the nicest server... what a refreshing change! Then I was literally in bed before 10!! How can driving make one soooo tired?
And I will tell you that this desert air and heat does make you thirsty. I am chugging water and still I'm thirsty!
Now I'm caught up on my updates... even if I had to get up at 2 am (here) to do it! I guess I owe the drunks in the hall who woke me up some thanks for getting me out of bed to do this... nah, I don't.
Phoenix/Grand Canyon Trip, Day 3, Friday, October 16 (Continued)
Where was I? Oh yea, after the IMAX movie...
Mom and I decided to try out the local steakhouse for dinner. A woman seats us at the smallest table she can find... just drops the menus and walks away. I went to wipe out the seat and find that there is beer spilled on it. A boy who was cleaning nearby told us we could move over a table, but the sun was coming in strong on that one so we moved up two tables... still a small one, but fine. Then we waited to be waited on... and waited... and waited. Meanwhile a couple who had come in after us and were seated almost right across from us was waited on... for drinks and their meal order. Finally, the woman who seated us walked up and just said "You ready to order?" We kind of looked at her blankly, I guess, cause she added that our server was not there, but she'd take our order. (So why did she seat us where there was no server?) We placed our order. After delivering food to another table, she brought our drinks and Mom's salad. I then observed the woman go up to another table and greet those people nicely with "hello"! Did she take an instant dislike to us or what?! Then another woman leads a couple to one of the original tables we were at... again with the drop the menu and walk away. The couple remained standing, and we heard them wondering if they wanted to sit there since it was so close to the fireplace and it was warm. I spoke up and told them they may want to move anyway since we were told that there is no server for the area and it had taken us a long time to be waited on. Well, a man walked by who was either the manager or owner or something...he never identified himself, and spun around and asked me if there was a problem. So I told him everything that had happened thus far, and how the woman had told us there was no server for us, how long we had to wait, and further wondered if she had taken instant dislike to us. Well, he proceeded to inform me that if we had a problem, that was fine, we could leave if we liked, but we did not need to tell other customers about the problem!! I had to ask him to clarify if I had heard him correctly. I paraphrased back to him, "So are you telling us that we can just leave, but don't tell other customers anything?!" To which he replied, "No, but you don't need to tell other customers stuff like that." Mom and I both jumped up and began to walk out - the whole time this man is repeating that we didn't need to tell another customer anything! I told him that other customers deserved to know about their bad service. He said that our order had already been put in, and I said to that "Too bad, so sad." And we left.
Can you believe that?! That is undoubtedly the worst I have ever been treated in a restaurant. And I am not sure where things went wrong. While it is true that we now expect and receive very little customer service every where we go, this is an all-time low. This entire town seems to be there to serve Grand Canyon tourists. You would think they would appreciate the customers at least a little bit.
We ended up eating at Wendy's. The food wasn't great, but the guy who waited on us was super nice. That counts for a lot.
We went back to the motel; I was on my laptop all evening, and Mom watched TV. Went to bed, though the room was hot. That a/c wasn't circulating much cool air at all!
Mom and I decided to try out the local steakhouse for dinner. A woman seats us at the smallest table she can find... just drops the menus and walks away. I went to wipe out the seat and find that there is beer spilled on it. A boy who was cleaning nearby told us we could move over a table, but the sun was coming in strong on that one so we moved up two tables... still a small one, but fine. Then we waited to be waited on... and waited... and waited. Meanwhile a couple who had come in after us and were seated almost right across from us was waited on... for drinks and their meal order. Finally, the woman who seated us walked up and just said "You ready to order?" We kind of looked at her blankly, I guess, cause she added that our server was not there, but she'd take our order. (So why did she seat us where there was no server?) We placed our order. After delivering food to another table, she brought our drinks and Mom's salad. I then observed the woman go up to another table and greet those people nicely with "hello"! Did she take an instant dislike to us or what?! Then another woman leads a couple to one of the original tables we were at... again with the drop the menu and walk away. The couple remained standing, and we heard them wondering if they wanted to sit there since it was so close to the fireplace and it was warm. I spoke up and told them they may want to move anyway since we were told that there is no server for the area and it had taken us a long time to be waited on. Well, a man walked by who was either the manager or owner or something...he never identified himself, and spun around and asked me if there was a problem. So I told him everything that had happened thus far, and how the woman had told us there was no server for us, how long we had to wait, and further wondered if she had taken instant dislike to us. Well, he proceeded to inform me that if we had a problem, that was fine, we could leave if we liked, but we did not need to tell other customers about the problem!! I had to ask him to clarify if I had heard him correctly. I paraphrased back to him, "So are you telling us that we can just leave, but don't tell other customers anything?!" To which he replied, "No, but you don't need to tell other customers stuff like that." Mom and I both jumped up and began to walk out - the whole time this man is repeating that we didn't need to tell another customer anything! I told him that other customers deserved to know about their bad service. He said that our order had already been put in, and I said to that "Too bad, so sad." And we left.
Can you believe that?! That is undoubtedly the worst I have ever been treated in a restaurant. And I am not sure where things went wrong. While it is true that we now expect and receive very little customer service every where we go, this is an all-time low. This entire town seems to be there to serve Grand Canyon tourists. You would think they would appreciate the customers at least a little bit.
We ended up eating at Wendy's. The food wasn't great, but the guy who waited on us was super nice. That counts for a lot.
We went back to the motel; I was on my laptop all evening, and Mom watched TV. Went to bed, though the room was hot. That a/c wasn't circulating much cool air at all!
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