Red Rocks of Sedona

Driving north to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon was the start of what would be about 5 days of the most glorious car rides one can imagine. Rock formations began to pop up in the desert, all of them different shades of orange and red. Every five minutes Ch'nel or I would yell "Hey! Look at that!" or "Over there! Over there!" (not actual quotes, but you get the idea). We were making great time so we decided to pull off at Sedona and see the famous red rocks.

Excellent decision. Excellent, excellent decision. Mark it down on your "must see" list. We pulled into the park and began the always exciting task of snapping pictures while driving. There wasn't anywhere to pull off at this point but yet with every new turn a new view revealed itself, each more glorious than the last one. After about a mile the road disappeared and we were on dirt. I began to worry about the car, Rigby is not made for off roading by any means. As we bumped along we also took note of the giant houses that had been built along the rocks. Stunning enormous houses lined the road, each set at awkward angles so as to give them the best views. The land that there were on alone must have cost an outrageous amount of money, couple that with the size of the houses and I could only imagine who lived in them. I don't think even the queen of England could afford one of these houses.

Eventually we picked the right path and made our way to the official park where we could get out and walk. We pulled up to the ticket booth and prepared to pay our three dollars or whatever parking fee there was. As it was a state park we assumed our national park pass didn't work there. After I paid the fee I noticed a small sign in the window with a picture of the park pass on it. I inquired as to whether they do actually accept the pass. The woman angrily tapped the sign that said "We accept the following passes" only the national park pass had a giant X through it. Hey! Don't get huffy with me, I already paid my three dollars, I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to be missing out on a ice cream cone or something later because I wasn't smart. Rare instance of a bad attitude in the West.

The park was a lot of fun with lots of rocks to climb on, streams to jump over and otherwise gorgeous scenery.

We took a spin through the town of Sedona after we were through exploring the park. Very nice town, although creepily I would later discover that we were there on the same day as the sweat lodge deaths at one of the town's spas that later became national news.

We continued north to Flagstaff where we pulled up to my cousin Paul's house, our base for the next few days. We were met at the door by Paul's son Alex who showed us where to get settled before running off to join his friends. We assumed he was going to go do those things that teenage boys do, you know get drunk and high. Nope, he was going ice skating. Well then. He stopped right before he left to say "Oh....and don't let the dogs out of their crate". We looked down at the crate to see two tiny dogs, one peacefully sleeping in the back and the other starring us down with a look that would strike fear in even the toughest marine all while letting out a low constant growl. While the dog could fit in my hand....we decided that yes, it would be best to leave her in her crate.

Not very long after he left Alex came flying back in, apparently free skate at the local rink had been cancelled. Ch'nel and I were impressed that he hadn't used that free time to go get drunk and high. Neither Ch'nel nor I were hell raisers during high school, but we can only assume that's because we're lame. Clearly, every other high schooler out there is constantly drunk and or high in our minds. Alex ran out the door to go down the street for a "couple of minutes" and true to form returned literally a few minutes later. We were very amused by Alex and his honesty. It gave us back hope in those younger than us, hope we were beginning to lose after seeing the newbies at work in the summer.

Eventually the rest of the family, Paul, his wife Theresa and their daughter Maisie, returned home and we set about making ourselves at home. The dogs were let out and after barking at me for an hour straight Kina finally decided she was ok with me in the house. After a delicious dinner it was announced that it was almost time for the office. This got me super excited as it was the Jim and Pam wedding episode and I didn't think I was going to be able to see it. Ch'nel and I laughed a little too loudly at this scene

And would continue to quote it for the rest of the trip whenever there was a long boring stretch.

After The Office we stretched out on what just might be the most comfortable sofa bed ever and passed out. I was going to talk about the Grand Canyon in this post as well, but that really deserves it's own post. It's just that awesome. We'll do that tomorrow.

Getting Back in the Game

It's been almost a month since we've come home, which is actually not too hard to comprehend. I definitely feel like I've been home for a month. A threatening message was left on my Facebook wall regarding the state of this blog and to my horror said message was "liked" by someone else. Clearly there is a bounty on my head if I don't step my game up.

Where we last left off we had reached San Diego. San Diego, as you all may know, is on the absolute opposite side of the continent. We therefore have A LOT to cover.

After finishing our pizza sized pancakes we hopped back in the car and set out for Scottsdale, AZ. The drive through Southern California and Arizona was lovely. The desert is probably the region that fascinated me the most on this trip as I had absolutely nothing to compare it to back East. When we were in mountains I would think "Wow, this is just like New Hampshire...only BIGGER!" when we were in the Redwoods I would think "wow, this is just like down the street...only BIGGER" etc, etc. Driving through Arizona I could only stare and soak in the new experience.

I took a course on the American West last year and a recurring theme was the vastness of land out there (funny side note, I woke Ch'nel up because I was listing the themes of the American West out loud in my sleep one night. Apparently I did learn something in college.). It's no more true than in the southwest. Thousands of acres of land stretch on either side of the highway, bordered by mountains in the distance that you just never seem to reach. They are perpetually in the distance. At one point we pulled over to a rest stop (the only one for hundreds of miles around) which consisted of a bathroom and a memorial marker. The memorial was to a police officer who had been shot on the road back in the fifties. My breath was taken away as I realized how deserted the area was in 2009, I can only imagine how little traffic there had been in the fifties. It's a little morbid but I couldn't help wonder how long he had been there before someone discovered him. I wish I had written the name down to find out more later, but again, morbid.

Arizona also introduced us to a lifestyle that must be so common for their residents, yet so alien to us. Every hundred miles or so we had to slow down to pass through an immigration check point. We had heard about these stops but had no idea what to expect. As we pulled up the the first one Ch'nel was passed out in the front seat. I woke her up and told her to grab any identification that she had because I wasn't sure how intense these checks would be. I gave myself a quick pep talk about how this was neither the time nor the place to crack jokes so just keep your mouth shut and do what the officer asks. We slowly rolled up to the check point and rolled down our window. A friendly officer sauntered up to the window, looked at the mess in the back and yelled "JERSAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" Chiz and I were silent. How do we respond to that. After five seconds of silence we chuckled and I muttered "jer..sayyyy?" in response. The officer laughed and waved us through without any sort of check. Alright, spread the word, put Jersey plates on your car and you can smuggle as many immigrants through Arizona as you like.

We laugh it off and a hundred miles later get excited as we see another checkpoint approach. Sweet! We love checkpoints. We roll up, far more jauntily than we did to the last one, and are met by a rather stern officer. He stares us down as another officer takes a German shepherd around our car to sniff for god knows what. When he gets the ok from that officer the original officer leans into our car and says "Are you both US citizens?" We nod yes. He steps back and looks into the back of our car, which is covered in clothes and food and other stuff that could easily be hiding a person, before coming back to the window "And there is no one else in this car?" *head shake* "Alright, carry on". Far more intimidating that the first one. The idea that a whole section of the country has come to accept this as a daily part of life is mind-boggling. As we pulled away Ch'nel looked at me and said "What if I wasn't a US citizen but I never told you that? How pissed would you be if you only found that out at an immigration check-point?" I chose not to respond to that question, I felt a strong look conveyed my feelings on that matter.

We continued along our merry way into the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. I've always had mixed feelings on this region as I feel it's a completely inhospitable area that has been altered in a way to support development that will ultimately end up in a catastrophe of epic proportions. There are really just some places that aren't meant to be lived in, folks. The problem, however, is that I know a TON of people from the area including very close friends and family who claim the region is paradise. It's hard to argue when you've never been there, so I was eager to check it out.

We began to see signs of life as we drew closer to the cities. I was less than impressed as the signs of life looked just like New Jersey. This isn't a diss to NJ or AZ...merely an observation that NJ is more hospitable to this sort of development. I don't see this need to move west merely to build the same thing that you had back east. I was hoping that there would be something different about the cities. Also unnerving were the speed traps that were everywhere. Along the highways leading into the city were cameras with speedometers attached. I would later learn that if you went 9mph above the posted speed limit there would be a flash and a picture of your car would be taken and you would be sent a ticket. Arizona is a police state.

We made our way to Scottsdale where we pulled up to my Aunt and Uncle's house where we would be meeting them for dinner. They were out at Tai Chi but told us that the backdoor was open. We weren't exactly sure that this was the right house as there we couldn't find a house number. When we walked up there was music on in the house and I started to get nervous that we were about to break into the wrong house. We opened up the back door and I immediately began to search for a picture of the family that would confirm we were in the right place. Luckily, my Aunt has decorated her hallways with pictures of her grandchildren so we could all breathe a sigh of relief.

Ch'nel set to work trying to remember the names of all of my aunt and uncle's grandchildren, a game she had started when we stayed at their daughters house in Oregon. She was really getting quite good at it, much better than I was to say the least.

The family soon arrived home and my aunt started cooking us dinner while my uncle set to work quizzing us on the meaning of life. The actual meaning of life. He's a very philosophical man. My aunt joined us and began giving us a pitch on why we should live in Arizona. I had to admit her backyard was lovely, purple mountains in the distance, fruit trees in the side yard, the ability to eat dinner outside in October....it was very appealing. "We live where others vacation, how great is that" she closes her pitch with. That stuck with me, why do you want to live where you're supposed to vacation? Doesn't that take the joy out of it? Who am I to judge, though, maybe there is something to waking up to a yard full of lemon trees. Maybe I'm missing out on something, but despite it's beauty I'm still not sold on living in the southwest.

We realized that we had to get a move on as we would be spending the night with our friend Christina. My aunt refused to let us leave without getting a tour of their house, right down to the artwork in their bathroom. Ch'nel pulled out all the stops on this tour, referencing children and grandchildren as well as commenting on their wonderful pieces of wycinakni (Polish paper cuttings). Damn you, Ch'nel, damn you.

We said our goodbyes and set out across town to see Christina. We hadn't seen her since summer 2006, our first summer at CES. This was also the infamous summer when I didn't talk...at all. For some odd reason for an entire summer I showed up to work every day, did my job and said nothing. Now they can't get me to shut up. Driving over I realized just how weird this situation would be. When Christina last knew Ch'nel and I the two of us weren't friends. We didn't really talk to each other, we barely interacted, now we're driving across the country together? I can only imagine what must have been going through her mind when she heard we were stopping by. I wondered if I should retreat back into my silent self, the me that Christina was more familiar with, or go above and beyond to prove to her that I now was quite gregarious. Eventually I chose to be myself, surprisingly not one of my first two options.

All and all everything turned out great. Christina won our hearts over when she already knew quite a bit about our trip as she had been following our blog. That always made the trip recap easier, when people had done their research. After a bottle of wine and a couple hours of "remember whens" we turned in for the night. Christina unfortunately had to leave early the next morning so we said our goodbyes at night. She gave us a tip to check out South Mountain before we began our journey north to Flagstaff, a tip that we gladly took her up on the next day.

Navigating the streets of Scottsdale was a bit rough. After breakfast at Dennys we attempted to follow the GPS to South Mountain. A series of traffic circles and multi street intersections turned us around a couple times but eventually we made our way there. The views were really great. The area is vast, as we touched on before, so you can see quite far. Also interesting was looking down at the city it looks like one large city. I overheard the man next to me explain to the person he was with, however, that what I was looking at was actually three different cities. Phoenix was obviously the largest, then Scottsdale, then...something else that I now forget. I have no idea how they decide where one ends and one begins because from up there it all looks the same.

We came down from the mountain and began our drive north. Tune in shortly (and I promise, it will be shortly) to hear about Sedona, Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.