This was the last Thanksgiving week we ever left Austin to celebrate with friends or family. I don’t know about Somara but I’ve never found a compelling reason to travel during the worst and busiest week in America despite how cool this trip was. I try to avoid the flocks of sheeple, hence why we went to Vegas in 2006 after the holiday!
However, in 2000, I owed Somara a trip for the 1999 journey to get the rest of my crap in Raleigh. I didn’t really mind. I had only been to Phoenix a couple times and then, those visits were me just passing through to San Diego or Vegas. Somara had actually lived there in the Nineties when she worked for Motorola. Her sister was currently living on its West side so we had a place to stay. My friend Rad moved there in the mid-Nineties too, this gave me an opportunity to catch up with him after our last visit in 1995.
We loaded up my VW Golf with luggage, snacks and caffeine on the Friday before and headed out that evening. Austin’s location on the Interstate system definitely showed its weakness on this trip. Several hours were expended on lesser highways from Austin to Kerrville (home of Kinky Friedman!). Once you’re at Kerrville, I-10 is accessible and it’s a straight shot to Phoenix. The downside was the boring drive to El Paso. Hundreds of miles of nothing to see. Good thing I saw it in the dark. Here Somara transformed into the marathon driver again. I couldn’t stay awake after Junction or somewhere. She let me sleep in the backseat (something her truck lacked) and by the time I woke up, it was 6 AM and we were passing through El Paso; hard to believe it took almost an hour to get around. We probably ate something.
New Mexico blew by. I-10 just intersects the Southern portion. It took three hours tops.
Arizona was smooth. We arrived at Yvette’s place by 2 PM which was awesome, recuperating to enjoy the vacation would kick in on Sunday morning. The accommodations were tight since it was an apartment containing Yvette, her husband Lance and two small children; them being diehard Republicans as the 2000 election continued made it tighter.
Sunday was a trip to see this big-cat zoo Somara loved. The guy who ran it was creepy. He made numerous religious allegories to the lions and said Disney maligned hyenas. Probably read too much Narnia crap. I did see a black jaguar. Seriously, they exist. When the sunlight shone on his coat, you could see the spot patterns. It wasn’t a panther.
Monday we killed time at a nearby mall and took in a movie, one of the two awful Mars flicks out then: Red Planet. Besides being dead wrong on terraforming the fourth world (Dr. Plait explained it via his site), it survives in my memory thanks to an awesome song from the ending credits by Peter Gabriel (“The Tower That Ate People”). The evening was spent having dinner with Rad. I saw where he was currently working and we caught up.
On Tuesday Somara and I hit the road to Flagstaff for the southern end of the Grand Canyon. As my navigator, she led me through a more scenic route. I didn’t enjoy it much because I recall numerous precipices along the way; I’m a paranoid driver and afraid of heights. We unwound at the hotel watching cable and eating at the nearby Olive Garden.
Wednesday was the main attraction. First, I had to use the hotel gym’s treadmill. My self-discipline to run was stronger then. I didn’t get far that day though. Austin is around 800 feet above sea level. Phoenix is 1100 (Yvette’s place had no effect on me). Flagstaff is 7000 so my lungs were on fire within a couple minutes and I was in decent shape then! Still comical as it was painful.
Seeing a fraction of the Grand Canyon was awesome. The altitude was high enough for snow, something I never miss. We mailed off a couple post cards, took in various views and returned to Phoenix via I-17.
There was an ugly wreck backing up traffic on the return trip. It almost ruined our dinner plans with Lance and Yvette at some theme joint. We made it eventually.
Thanksgiving was pleasant. Kicking back, taking it easy. I had an engrossing string of Peter David-authored Star Trek novels to keep me entertained; Yvette didn’t have cable which made TV a bust. We had enough excitement earlier in the week anyway.
We split on Friday afternoon to beat the rush. I passed out again once El Paso was in the rear-view mirror. Somara’s endurance took over and before I knew it, I was awake enough to ride shotgun for the last hour. She didn’t let me drive because she wanted to maintain the adrenalin keeping we going. I was a tad groggy too. Arriving at our apartment shortly after 5 AM was sweet. We got enough sleep to use the remaining weekend to complete errands, unwind and brace ourselves for work and Christmas shopping in the upcoming days.
My overall impression of Phoenix remains positive despite the cold feet it gave me in 2005. We’re also glad we didn’t move there. It became an epicenter of the housing bubble with Vegas, Florida and California. I love to visit yet I hate how much driving you have to do for everything; might as well move to Houston where the food is cheaper. Somara being a former resident helped. She knew her way around and much like the mini-tour I gave her of Cary-Raleigh, NC; she had a couple favorite hangouts to share with me. Those are often the best vacations with friends.
As I write this, I recall I haven’t been there in five years. Maybe we should do a long weekend to see Rad. I’ve never met his two kids. Much like Steve B, Rad knows his superheroes so this makes him a cool dad in the eyes of his son Owen. Other attractions in Phoenix? I am not sure. Rad and his wife Kim have resided in Sun City for well over a decade. I would like to see America’s sixth-largest city through their eyes. Hard to believe that when my WWII-veteran friend Charles attended Army Air Corps training in the same place 70 years earlier it had a mere 65,000 people.