Ten on Tuesday: solo travel edition

1. I’m back from a weekend visit with my dad in Arizona.
2. As nice as 85 degrees feels in late October, especially when I’m looking up at palm leaves ruffling in the breeze, I’m glad to return to wearing sweaters.
3. Phoenix Sky Harbor airport is not appropriately air-conditioned — especially for this middle-aged woman. The only time I felt cool enough was when I was standing in front of a giant fan while I was being patted down for security.
4. Note to future self: do not wear cute tops with bling on them when flying, or you will have to be patted down/around/over/under in front… and in front of many people. (This happened flying both directions because those were the shirts I had brought for the trip.)
5. Arizona drivers are capital C, capital R, capital A, capital Z, capital Y. That’s right: C-R-A-Z-Y. And I’m not talking about the old, retired folks!  Speeding from red light to red light, weaving around those [very few] of us who are obeying the laws, taking tailgating to a higher level… with all of that going on around me, I had no trouble staying awake while driving. Fear for my safety kept me alert and defensive.
6. Kia Soul is a great car for a 5’10” woman. It also handles really well on Rollercoaster Road in Tucson. However, I never did figure out how to adjust the balance/fade for the speakers. (What’s with that? Those controls are obvious and intuitive on my Kia Sedona.) 
7. When playing “Go Fish” with Dad, who has Parkinson’s, it’s best to look away while he rifles through his cards and to pretend that he has never played the game in his entire life. (He has, but he doesn’t remember it and it would be sad to remind him of this.)
8. Happy hour at the hotel isn’t much fun when I’m alone, although I’m not sure if this is because I’m not there for fun or because I don’t have a friend/spouse with me — or is it because I am getting old? I only had one of my two free beverages each night.  Eating alone is best done with a book, but if it wasn’t for the need for nutrition, I would probably skip the entire event.
9. Sometimes, it’s awfully nice to have a king-sized bed and ALL the pillows. I didn’t wake up with sore arms or sore shoulders or a sore back.
10. While I need my alone-time on a daily basis, I also need to spend time interacting with other people. After 48 hours of being on my own — and with none of my hobbies available — I found myself becoming rather bored.

Now it’s your turn… 
Do you ever travel alone? Do you enjoy it? 

Ten on Tuesday: Spring Break edition

1. It’s all about FAMILY. Family in the vehicle on a journey of 2,000 (or was it 3,000?) miles… family at the terminus… family visited along the way.

2.  Did I mention it’s a long drive? Our minivan now has over 107K on the odometer. A few hours of time were put in behind the wheel by the resident teenager driver-in-training (45 minutes of which was 75mph in a strong headwind between Flagstaff and Phoenix, poor kid). EB helped out for an hour or so but he preferred looking at the scenery. I drove a few hours each day but SuperDad put in the bulk of his time in the driver’s seat.

historic minivan

3. If you want to sleep along the way, I can recommend listening to the audiobook of Walden by Henry David Thoreau. The combination of prose and narrator’s voice conked me out multiple times. I had no idea that Thoreau had written a lullaby.

4. Strangely enough, Machiavelli’s The Prince was more engrossing although ultimately it also lulled me to sleep.

5.  If it is an audiobook, do I still underline the title or should I use quotation marks?

6.  For the safety of the passengers when I was driving, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, episodes of “Car Talk” and my Rush Permanent Waves CD were put into play.

7.  The desert in springtime is lovely.

8.  The desert is actually quite lovely any time of year.

Zion National Park

9.  My older brother, his lovely wife, and two of their three kids were also visiting in Tucson on spring break. The 8 of us might have been a little overwhelming all at once, but my father and his wife seemed to enjoy having us there.
It’s all about FAMILY.

Clockwise from top left: posing with my dad and the book I made for him, my almost-twin brother with Dad, 4 cousins, me with my sweet SIL, my niece with Grandma, 4 cousins with Grandpa

10.  On the way home from Tucson, we had a brief visit with my sister and an overnight with SuperDad’s younger sister and her family. Our final stop matched our first stop: my dh’s parents live just a couple hours away from us and they kept the dog occupied and content for the week.

Reflecting on last weekend

My little P&S camera arrived safely at my house on this afternoon — O happy day!
To celebrate, here are the “best of” pics from last weekend.

Above the clouds

Sunset from the plane — one of two benefits for the plane being 3 hours late (the other was my free glass of Merlot)

One of the other residents offered Dad the use of this patriotic “campaign” hat, so I snapped a photo.

[Click on any pic to embiggen]

Back-lit Saguaro

I drove this road each morning: speed limit 25mph for good reason! It is residential, with twists and turns much like a roller coaster after the large initial drop.

Saturday evening softened light

Happy to be out on an adventure — I pushed his wheelchair down the long driveway (walking backward where it was steep) then across the road and up a steep driveway to get to one of the other houses in his facility. The caregivers there were surprised and pleased to see him. Everyone was surprised that I was able to manage the hills/wheelchair/dad/myself all on my own.  He’s a big guy and I won’t say it was easy, but he had the difficult job of holding his feet up enough to not drag when we were traveling faster than a snail’s pace. We stopped many times to give him a break. Next time, we’ll need to figure out some sort of sling to hold up his legs and feet.  He can’t use the foot pegs that most people use on wheelchairs; his legs are so long that his knees end up in the air in a painful position. Normally this is not an issue — he shuffles his feet along to assist in propelling the wheelchair, which works well indoors or on smooth pavement, but it is very difficult on uneven surfaces.

taken at Catalina State Park

Catalina Foothills

Saguaro provides a home for the birds

Sunday evening sky

Breezy Sunday Sunset

Desert in bloom

While on spring break a few weeks ago, we ventured as far south as Tucson, Arizona. To my knowledge, no one was blinded by my white legs — although sunglasses probably helped with the glare.

Truthfully, I doubt anyone was looking at my freshly bared skin because the desert was in bloom.

prickly pear cactus

The bees have been busy

The blooms above are seen on the stalk of the spicate group of the agave plant below.  (In the background is a paniculate agave.) These are known as Century Plants because they take 50-60 years to grow, then in the course of approximately 3 weeks, they shoot up a stalk and bloom in a matter of days, before the entire plant dies.

If you want to feel international, go to a tourist destination where you will hear multiple languages. Luckily, the language of flowers is spoken everywhere — especially in early April at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson.