My fervent followers must have noticed that I missed a blog update yesterday, so here is playing a little catch up.
I started off yesterday visiting the Phoenix Zoo. It was about 10 minutes from my hotel and sits pretty close to where Phoenix/Scottsdale/tempe meet. The zoo was alright. It had everything you would expect at a zoo- a lion, tiger, some rhinos and giraffes, but I wasn’t all that impressed. I mean the tiger and lion exhibit was like a ¼ of an acre. Not much of a habitat for the animals. Plus, there must have been thousands of kids. I had stop myself from being one of those people complaining about kids running around. Some were on a field trip, and others I’m not so sure. The zoo is also a major destination for new moms with the kids. There was even one group of women who would stop at each exhibit area and do cardio exercises while the little ones watched the animals. I naturally watched the cardio.
After that, I ventured down the road about another 10 minutes to the Scottsdale Mall. That’s a large mall. I got lunch at the food court, went into my first Neman Marcus store (where I touched a $3,000 Armani sports coat), walked the entire three story mall, checked out some of the men’s fashion stores, scoffed at how I could go to the vero beach outlets and buy almost the same stuff for ½ the price and became extremely tired by the whole process. I left the mall, drove around the town of Scottsdale before returning back to my hotel. I then called it a night (at like 4 pm). I did venture out of my hotel one more time that evening to cross the street to eat at a IN-and-Out. All they have are hamburgers and french-fries. But they do it very well, judging by my taste buds and by the large line at the counter and drive-through.
I woke up this morning and headed to downtown phoenix. I was surprised a little bit by the distance that downtown Phoenix was away from Tempe. It was more than I expected. I was, however, very pleased with the clean and walkable downtown area. Downtown has two of the major league sports venues right there. The Diamondbacks stadium and the Suns arena are 2 blocks from each other on the same street. I had a great lunch at a Friday’s in the baseball stadium. I got there right when they opened and got a table right on the window over the outfield. There was a crew spreading the dirt down on the outfield. Apparently every year the stadium holds a motor cross and monster truck show, which requires them to rip up the grass and then replace the grass when those events are done and prior to baseball starting back up. I stopped being a baseball fan a while ago, but if I lived in downtown Phoenix, it would be really cool to just walk to the stadium and watch a game.
I also want to say how impressed I am with the mass transit. Not only do they have an efficient bus system, but they have a very cool light rail system. I noticed it when I was walking through the ASU campus. I just assumed that it connected the campus with some of the surrounding residential areas. But the rail extends from downtown Phoenix all the way out to Mesa (which is the city on the other side of Tempe). That means a student at ASU could just jump on the rail system and get dropped off right at the sports venues and then get back on and be right back on campus without ever driving. Our inept and jackass of a governor should take notice.
Tonight I hope to garner the energy to venture out to either the Scottsdale downtown area or the Tempe downtown area. Both look pretty neat, although the Tempe seems more compact and walkable.
I was planning on visiting the grand canyon tomorrow and still hope to do so, but apparently a blizzard is blanketing the entire south rim with snow. I am following the road closure report and hope they don’t close the main entrance into the park. I have never driven in snow, and although I don’t have 4 wheel drive (if I had only gotten that Tundra 2 years ago, I finally would have been justified with the purchase) I do have 4 new tires. I think its been 15 years since the last time I touched snow.
You know your old when you visit the CVS next to the campus and stand in line with a bottle of fiber pills while the other (young) people in line are buying beer and condoms.
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