Tag / Heard Museum

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Travelling The 50 States – Arizona

Over my 47 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States.  I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we start today with the 48th state to be added to the Union: Arizona.

State: Arizona
Joined the Union: 1912
Visits: 2

Both of my trips to Arizona have occurred within the past seven years, first in 2015 and then again in 2018.  Both visits can also be connected to my job, either directly or indirectly.

In 2015, my first trip to Arizona was for a work recognition trip in March.  Staying at The Phoenician resort for three nights, we enjoyed the facilities (especially the pool), took a rafting trip down the Lower Salt River, and travelled to an offsite ranch for a farewell dinner.  Outside of the work-related activities, I also managed to sneak in a Friday afternoon trip to Sloan Park to see the Cubs battle the White Sox in exciting Cactus League action.   Rather than heading home, I extended my stay for a couple of days.

Saturday, after a trip to the airport to pick up a rental car, we headed to Camelback Ranch in Glendale to watch the White Sox take on the visiting A’s in another installment of the Cactus League.  Looking for some non-baseball activities, Sunday consisted of a lake cruise along Lake Pleasant while Monday started at Heard Museum, which claims to be one of the premier Native American museums in the United States.  When that turned into kind of a bust, we headed to nearby Chase Field for a tour of the home of the Diamondbacks.

I returned to the Phoenix area in 2018, following another work trip.  A conference in Las Vegas led to me stopping in Arizona for the weekend before heading home.  I again took in some Cactus League action, this time at Camelback Ranch and Peoria Sports Complex, seeing the White Sox, Cubs, and Mariners (twice!).  I also enjoyed a trip to the slot canyons and Horseshoe Bend in Page, followed by a quick trip to the Grand Canyon.  I also managed to see my dad for the first time in years (and, to date, the last time I’ve seen him).  He had recently moved to the Tuscon area and drove up for a quick bite to eat before going back home.

Will I return?  I have to assume that yes, I will return to Arizona someday.  Leaving aside any future spring training action, I do need to take in an actual game at Chase Field at some point.  I will also likely need to deal with something related to my dad.  So I’d say the odds are much better than 50/50.

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Vacation Recap – Arizona Part 2

cbrWhen we left of yesterday, the conference had come to an end and we had travelled to the airport to pick up the rental car.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that, from the time we got in line at the rental car facility to the time we drove away, would take an hour and a half.  That left little time for the day’s activity: a trip to Camelback Ranch in Glendale to watch the White Sox take on the visiting A’s.  Sadly, the White Sox would fall once again, and, due to an extreme lack of shade that seems to be due to the stadium’s orientation, we left early despite having wonderful seats just a few rows behind home plate.  After the game, we headed to the new hotel, which was quite a step down from the Phoenician resort, but Allstate was no longer picking up the tab, and enjoyed a nice swim to cool down.

Sunday had nothing really planned, so, after checking out a few fliers in the hotel, we decided to take a lake cruise along Lake Pleasant.  There were a lot of mountainous views and some educational talks about the history of the man-made lake and the Phoenix area in general.  Following the cruise, we returned to the hotel for another swim.

Monday saw the trip winding down and, again, there were no specific plans.  After hearing good things from some fellow travellers, we decided to go to the Heard Museum, which claims to be one of the premier Native American museums in the United States.  If this is true, it does not speak well of our nation’s collection of history regarding it’s native people.  After about a half hour, the decision was made to cut bait.  Next, we returned to a time-tested activity: baseball!  We headed to Chase Field, home of the Diamondbacks, for a tour.

chasefield-poolThe tour took us all around Chase Field, including a look into the famous pool out in left field, and then up to the suite level, and, finally, into the visitor’s clubhouse and then the Diamonback’s dugout.  All in all, a good way to spend an afternoon and I certainly hope to return one day to catch a game.  Hopefully, from the pool.

Following the tour, and a quick lunch at the TGIFridays overlooking the playing field, we returned to the hotel where I met up with a co-worker who recently moved out to Arizona.  This was followed by one last trip to the pool and then, sadly, it was time to return home.

Thankfully, the trip home was uneventful, unlike last year’s disaster.  The weather even cooperated somewhat, with temperatures in the upper 50s, so there wasn’t such a tremendous let down from the 90s we saw for a week.

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Fitbit Week 9

Week9_FBAnother pretty impressive week, with my first time crossing 10,000 steps twice in one week since late July and my trip to Minnesota.  Things got off to a slow start on Sunday as we traveled out to Lake Pleasant for a long boat cruise along the lake, followed by a trip back to the hotel for some exciting pool time.  Monday was the first 10,000 step day of the week, thanks to a morning trip to the Heard Museum and an afternoon tour of Chase Field.  Tuesday was time to return home, so its total was mostly made up of airport activities.  Wednesday was time to go back to work, so it was back to the afternoon coffee trips.  Thursday was the second 10,000 step day of the week, thanks to an afternoon walk around the campus while waiting for dinner.  Friday was Good Friday, so we got out of work early, but a trip out for dinner helped boost the total.  Saturday was the latest in a long list of disappointing weekend days.

Total steps: 47,535

Daily average: 6790.7