Last Days of AZ

We started Monday with a walk along the “Clean and Scenic” pathways in Scottsdale. 

Our walk turned into a 10 mile journey along the Hayden Greenway and the Arizona Canal which bisects Scottsdale at the corner of Camelback and Scottsdale roads, near this work of art known as Iceberg. 

But this long walk allowed us to have guilt free cherry pie for breakfast!

Monday night we had a wonderful Thai dinner with our friends Debi and Daniel who had hosted Mary’s retirement party last Friday.  Debi was one of the best of the many people who taught me, a newly graduated engineer, how to be a real utility engineer when I first joined APS.  And we all had a bunch of fun too!

Tuesday at 5:41AM we learned that the fire alarm system worked.   It was a false alarm but it gave all of us at the hotel an early start!

We used the early start to ride our bikes south to Tempe and then turn east to ride towards Sky Harbor Airport where we spotted many jets taking off against the backdrop of the Phoenix skyline. 

After about 15 miles we found ourselves alongside Central Ave. which runs north, right up the middle of Phoenix. We decided to go explore downtown a little bit. 

We road into south central Phoenix, near the old APS central offices where I used to work so many years ago.  The city has grown up a lot in the intervening 30 years since we moved away. 


Then we turned back east along Washington and wound our way back to Scottsdale and our home away from home. 

That evening we went to dinner with another very good friend, Bridget. Bridget lived just down the street from our first house in Tempe. Her son Kevan was one year older than our son Ryan who was born the year we moved into that house.  Bridget began watching Ryan and our daughter Michelle as toddlers while I was at work and Ang was earning her BSEE at ASU.  She was a wonderful 2nd “mother” for our kids and an excellent friend and neighbor. 

Wednesday was supposed to be our last day in Scottsdale but Ang apparently caught my cold and wasn’t feeling up to another bike ride, hike or big walk so we decided to check out early and head back to home sweet home. 

Scottsdale and Old Friends

Our weekend in Scottsdale was centered around reuniting with old friends from the 80’s when we first moved to the Phoenix area after graduating college.  Nothing says love from an old friend like James Gardner than a middle finger from his water glass during our lunch at David’s in Scottsdale.  James started work at Arizona Public Service in March 1982, about a month after I started there. 

And the Queen and purpose for our gathering was to celebrate Mary Field’s retirement from APS.  We had so much fun running around as a group of young professionals without any cares. Then we had to grow up. But we haven’t really changed that much so many years later. 

And Mary gets the honor of being memorialized on a cookie and eaten by everyone at the party, wonderfully hosted by Debi and Dan Sarceda. 

Two more from our club of crazies, Tina and Art, both enjoying life after retirement from APS. 

James and Angela on the edge of the gathering at Debi’s and Dan’s. 

Saturday we went for a bike ride along the Hayden Greenway south down to Tempe. This used to be the routinely dry Salt River bed which is now called Tempe Town Lake.  Just on the other side is Tempe, home of Arizona State University.  

Another view of Tempe as we cross over to visit the town and grab some nachos and beer. It’s amazing how much has changed since Angela graduated with her BSEE in 1988.  Only the old, white flour mill to the right of the picture looks familiar. 

 

Saturday afternoon we had another excuse to get together with some more friends at the Salty Senorita. 

Jack, another APS alum, is showing off his skill (and aging eyesight) by using his cell phone light to read the menu at a Sushi restaurant. 

Sunday morning after a group breakfast Scott Gudeman took us on a hiking tour on a small part of the beautiful McDowell Sonoran Preserve. 

Even though it’s not spring we saw lots of flowering plants.  The desert was amazingly green. 

Long views near the top of our 4.6 mile hike looking south towards Scottsdale and distant Phoenix. 

Scott,  Angela and James on a brief break. 

We’d forgotten about the beauty of the Sonoran desert and such a contrast to the more barren and red deserts near Moab and Monument Valley we’d driven through just days ago. 

Me and my sweety. 

And since I’m reminiscing, here’s another snapshot of me and my sweety circa 1983 at Brad and Linda Hibbard’s wedding in Phoenix. My, my, my, so much time has passed and yet it seems sometimes barely a blink of an eye.

James, Scott and I joined APS within a month of each other back in February of 1982.  We had the benefit of being hired with a bunch of other engineers, mostly transplants from the Midwest or Eastern US, that led to lots of social activities and bonds of friendship over 35 years later. 

Moab to Scottsdale

Today we drove from Moab to Scottsdale via this beautiful landmark called Monument Valley on the Navajo reservation in Northern Arizona. 

We headed south out of Moab on nice two lane highways.  In Blanding, UT before lunch we found this interesting work of art in progress.

We had sun all day, freezing temps in the morning with a little bit of fresh snow in the road at higher elevations and then finally low 70’s in the afternoon when we arrived in Scottsdale. 

I’ve been in this beautiful spot a handful of times over the last 10 years or so but it never ceases to awe me. And I usually end up thinking of an old John Ford Western (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RBHYJm775DQ), Easy Rider (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QMy3AbpkYvw) or the iconic Forest Gump scene when Forest decides to quit runnning and go home (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pKKmzmeU5-0 ). I think the dude in the middle of the highway is trying to recreate that moment.  I love the wide open spaces of the American West. 

Scottsdale, Our Last Adventure of 2018

The Brand Grand Caravan Touring Machine is loaded up and ready to head to Scottsdale for an early winter escape and a chance to visit some old friends from our lives in the 80’s living in the Phoenix area.  Bikes-check. Hiking boots-check. Trekking poles-check. Cooler-check....

Headed east on I-70 across the Rockies on dry roads with sunny skies into Utah before we turn south to Moab for the night. 

We took the “short cut” to Moab on the east side of Arches National Park along the Colorado.  Stunning views and empty roads this time of year. Loving every minute of it. 

We’ve been on this route to Moab many times over the last several years but had never taken the time to visit the Arches National Park.  This trip we decided to remedy that error. 

We had great light for many of the rock formation views from the lowering sun in the western sky.

 

Ang is all bundled up. The temperature was about 40 degrees but we had a pretty strong northern wind to face into. 

I’m sure there’s a good joke for this picture but  drawing a blank at the moment. Maybe someone will help me.  That’s Tunnel Arch in between my hands. 

At the end of our hike in the park our last arch is called “Landscape Arch”.  It’s about 200’ across and almost as high. Hikers used to be able to walk under the arch but in 1991 a huge hunk of rocks flaked off the right hand side so it was closed off for safety. It looks very spindly to us. A picture from here will be just fine. 

A great sunset after a great day. Tomorrow we head for Scottsdale.