Two out of three isn’t bad

As planned, we had breakfast with Diane’s Dad and SO at The Good Egg on Grant. I had the Veggie Delicious again, and left happy.

We didn’t hit the road until nearly 11; XM traffic claimed that Phoenix had a “jam factor” of Green, so we took I-10 through the city instead of taking the bypass. And this time, all was well; we had an average speed of at least 70 through town, which is impressive considering the speed limit was 55 much of the way.

We thought it best to get through Phoenix before stopping for lunch, and so we wound up going back to Bamboo Inn in Goodyear for another pleasant meal. Then it was back on the road, this time with Diane at the wheel, while I juggled the AAA book, the map, the Entertainment book, and a random travel guide I’d picked up at a rest area to find a hotel for the evening. None of the hotels in the random travel guide appealed, and the Entertainment book didn’t seem much more promising, so I decided to go with a familiar name and called the Embassy Suites Palm Desert, who had a room available; we rolled in about 4:30pm Pacific Time (it’s always strange to have to reset my watch when I’m not flying!).

“Desert” clearly has a different meaning here than it did in Tucson. Everything is lush and green, and there are fountains everywhere (I trust that they recirculate the water). Even the humidity is fairly high, about 40% (versus 15% in Tucson).

We looked at the hotel restaurant, but nothing was terribly appealing (later, we found their Early Bird Special menu, which would have been perfect; oh, well), so we decided to walk around the area. We’d seen a shopping area at the intersection of Cook Street and CA 111, so we went there. There were a few restaurants to choose from, and we decided on Cafe Italia, based on their listing of a grilled salmon salad on the chalkboard outside. But when we got inside, that wasn’t one of the specials they listed; it turns out that it was a lunch special. They did, however, agree to make it for Diane anyway, and Jeff was eager to order the pasta. I didn’t know what I wanted and finally decided on the chicken picata. I should have had something else — the chicken came out swimming in sauce, and the potatoes were soggy. Diane and Jeff liked their orders, though, and I do have to say that the soup and salad were OK.

What was very definitely not OK was the restaurant’s gimmick — the waiters sing. We were treated to two songs; the first one was sung badly. The second one was sung better, but it was a stupid Christmas song. And during the rest of the meal, the piped-in Christmas music was quite loud (though not as loud as the live singing). Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the decor in the men’s room: although the main dining room looked very nice, with tablecloths and nice furniture, the men’s room was decorated in Truck Stop Classic, complete with a slightly censored version of this sign as well as this classic. I wouldn’t go back, and neither would Chef JoAnna, whose review I wish I’d read before dinner!

After dinner, we strolled around some more, then returned to our hotel in time to have a little fruit at the Manager’s Reception.

Tomorrow, we hope to make it all the way home; it’ll be a long drive (but shorter than the drive from Las Vegas), and we’re motivated. DirecTV is supposed to fix our satellite dish on Friday morning, and our housesitter just wrote me and said she’d hurt her ankle and the only doctor’s appointment she can get is for Friday morning, so if we’re not home, we’ll have to postpone the appointment. And that would be a shame, because there are probably some shows worth watching (or at least worth TiVoing) next week. Even if The Daily Show is in reruns.

Oh, and for those of you who are reading this trip report on a day-by-day basis, go back to yesterday; I’ve added some photos from our trip to the Desert Museum.

A lovely day for the desert, but check your search results!

We had to pick up our laundry this morning, and chose to combine that trip with a breakfast expedition to The Good Egg on Speedway. We succeeded on both counts.

After that, we were ready to go to the Desert Museum; I punched the name into the GPS and took the first hit of three listings. I wondered why the icon looked like the Mona Lisa, but I figured it was just the gift shop. And off we went, into the non-wilds of Northwest Tucson. As we drove, I started to get suspicious, because all of the information we had for the museum warned about the curvy road for the last few miles, and we were on straight, mostly four-lane, roads. Finally, we arrived at our destination: a shopping center, where one of the storefronts housed the Oro Valley Art Studio, part of the Art Institute of the Desert Museum.

So I went back to the GPS and tried again, this time verifying that the location I picked was on Kinney Road. 22 miles later, we were at the Desert Museum itself, right at the stroke of noon.

The weather was beautiful for a day at the Desert Museum — sunny but not hot. And we spent the rest of the afternoon there, leaving just at closing time.

A docent was kind enough to take a picture of all three of us near the beginning of the trail:

Of course, we saw plenty of saguro cacti:

The Museum houses animals as well as plants:

although not all of them are fierce:

I prefer the plants to the animals, though:

We didn’t quite see all of the exhibits today, but we came close. And I’d go back cheerfully.

But not on this trip; tomorrow morning, we leave on the first leg of our trip home. After breakfast with Diane’s dad and SO for breakfast at 8am, at the Good Egg on Grant. I really don’t want to face a long drive with only hotel coffee to go on.

A taste of Tucson

We started the day with the complimentary hotel breakfast; it was OK, but the coffee was insipid. So I suggested a walk to the nearest Starbucks afterwards, which turned into about a one-mile each way exploration of East Grant Avenue. We didn’t actually discover much that we hadn’t seen from the car (about the only thing that was new to us was the Fry’s supermarket), but it was nice to be able to stretch our legs.

After that walk, we moved Diane’s dad’s luggage to our room to wait until they could check in across the street, and then we went exploring. We went east first, out towards Fellowship Square to see what banks would be convenient (and, not incidentally, to find a service laundry for our stuff), and then we drove downtown to check out the historic districts and have lunch. The Tucson Visitor Center was very helpful, giving us several brochures (and giving us a huge “newcomer’s packet” for Diane’s dad). We explored the area around the original Presidio of Tucson, including a delicious lunch at El Charro Cafe and a long browse through the Old Town Artisans, especially the Old Town Pot Shop. I was amused by the Mexican-themed Judaica of Julie Szerina Stein, but not quite enough to buy any (though the Seder plates were tempting).

After that, we helped Diane’s dad and SO move into their temporary home-while-waiting-for-home, including a shopping trip to the aforementioned Fry’s and Trader Joe’s to stock their fridge. I am afraid they’ll be counting the days until they can move into their apartment — but in the meantime, they will be visiting relatives in the Mountain Time Zone as often as they can. Tomorrow, they were invited to go on an expedition to a local casino; we plan to visit the Desert Museum instead.

Dinner tonight was at China Thai on Tanque Verde. The food and service were fine, but unlike lunch, there was no sense of place — we could have been anywhere.

Moving is one detail after another

We spent much of today helping Diane’s father and his SO find a place to stay until their permanent apartment becomes available on February 1st. First, we went through the phonebook and did some Internet searching to find a short list of possible locations. Then, we phoned what looked like a promising short-term apartment, only to get an answering machine. So we drove over there; there was a note on the door claiming that the manager was “on the property” but could be paged by pushing a button. We pushed the button; it’s a good thing the weather was pleasant, because we waited an awfully long time before giving up.

After that, we took a tour of their new home, Fellowship Square, and then had lunch at Dragon Palace (chosen by using the car’s GPS to find nearby restaurants and then guessing), which was quite pleasant.

Then we visited the Extended Stay Tucson, conveniently located across the street from the Sheraton, in hopes that it might fit the bill. And it did.

So with a place to stay taken care of, it was time to continue celebrating; back to B’nai B’rith Covenant House for the second half of the birthday celebration. We were the last ones to leave, I think — and I think Diane’s dad is going to enjoy being in the same town as his sister.

We finished the day by getting a cellphone for Diane’s dad; this was more of a problem than it might otherwise have been because he uses hearing aids. The nice folks at the Cingular kiosk in Park Place Mall let us try many phones, taking them outside, and eventually he found an LG which works pretty well for him. We will have to call Cingular tomorrow and turn off all the junk services that come on “free trial”, like the Roadside Assistance plan, but other than that, I think he’s set.

Fortunately, we’d munched a lot at the party, because it was 8pm before we were finished with the phone. None of us were very hungry, so we got a pizza from Magpie’s at Shaw and Speedway. The pizza was quite good, and I wish I’d gotten a bigger pie. Maybe another night or another visit….

My first ninetieth birthday party

We only had 260 miles or so to drive today, so I didn’t think we’d need to wake up particularly early. And we didn’t. But I had forgotten that Arizona was on Mountain Time, so that meant we were an hour behind schedule even before we left the hotel.

The first part of the trip went very smoothly — the speed limit was 75mph, and traffic generally hovered around that figure. So when I saw the sign offering a bypass of Phoenix, I didn’t even consider it. I should have; soon after passing the sign, we were in bumper-to-bumper traffic going about 15 mph, with another 40 miles of Phoenix to go.

So we did the intelligent thing: we got off the road and had lunch at the Bamboo Inn in Goodyear. I wouldn’t make a special trip to Goodyear to eat there, but it was better than our original plan: Arby’s. And by the time we finished and were back on the road, the traffic was moving again, and we got to the hotel about 4.

Diane’s family was in the lobby, so we started catching up immediately; then we went to our room. Suite, actually, with lots of living space and a teeny-tiny bathroom. It could use a bit more sound insulation from the street, but it’s otherwise quite nice — nice enough that I decided to see whether the hotel would be more reasonable in extending our stay than the reservations agent had been. They were willing to give us two more nights at the same $79 rate, so, barring surprises, we’ll be here till we leave town.

I was wrong, though; the party wasn’t here. It was where Diane’s aunt lives, in the multipurpose room of B’nai B’rith Covenant House, a five-minute drive away. About fifty of her friends and family gathered and celebrated — and there’ll be more tomorrow.

We had wanted to bring a ninetieth birthday card, but we didn’t find any we liked. They all talked about “as you look back”, and Diane’s aunt is not ready to stop and look back! So we got her a 40th and a 50th instead. And, as it turns out, we were not alone — her son bought her three 30th cards for the same reason. I think Hallmark is missing a bet here.