Road Trip: Phoenix

Yes, I just finished telling you about San Francisco, and now I have Phoenix adventures to share. We took our first road trip in the Avalanche. Great ride and the best gas mileage we've experienced going to Phoenix (we've only taken the Jimmy and Firebird, before). It was also our first time using the new dam bridge. It is pretty damn nifty. There is no creep and crawl as you wind down the mountain, no checkpoint. Nothing. You just cruise. And the cement walls are high enough you don't see the dam and you have no indication how high you truly are. Perfect solution for rubberneckers and those fearful of heights. Traffic flows brilliantly, until you get to Arizona, that is. Once you cross, you are forced to one lane and you crawl at 25 mph through the construction zones. Clearly, Nevada was on the ball, and AZ fell behind schedule. When all construction is complete it will save at least 30 minutes. More for those who regularly had long waits at the dam (mainly those visiting from AZ).

We stopped in Kingman for In-N-out. Then, pressed on. Thought we were making good time, that is until we got to Shane's and realized that we lost an hour. I completely forgot fall-winter AZ is an hour ahead of us, since they don't observe day light savings. That tidbit would've helped a ton, since I told my friend we'd be meeting we'd get in after 9.

All worked out, though, we headed to Scoreboards. Frank, Shane and I played a round of darts, I was terrible per usual and sat out after the warm up round. That's when Amy and Mike arrived, they live in Baltmore, but they were visiting Phoenix, as well. Great seeing them, we had lots of laughs and met lots of characters (like the guy who runs NJ). Drinks flowed, and it was last call in no time. Night could have been better if we didn't have to gag on this guy that reeked cat piss. It was bad. real. bad. Still, good times. I was wrecked by the time we got back to Shane's. I blame slammin' my last beer, because of last call. Needless to say I crashed hard.

I woke up with a killer hangover. The boys were A-OK. We went for breakfast at Nick's Diner. Ate terrible French toast, they had greek omelets. Went to a park for disc golf. I was still suffering from major dehydration so I didn't play, but the weather was lovely. It was nice just to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. While there, there was a guy who took his play WAY too seriously and he was killing me with his grunting. You could hear him clear across the park. He caught up with us on the 15th hole, and asked to play the next three with them. We got to witness him in all his glory. I don't know why they attract these weirdos but it never fails.

Next we went to Coasters and Castles for mini-golf. The have 4 awesome courses. By the time we started to play I had downed a few bottles of water and I was human again. They bet a quarter on each hole, at the end Shane owed Frank 75 cents. Fun time.

Mini-Golf At Coasters & Castles






Afterwards, I sought out Five Guys. With no help of onstar, their service is such shit. We knew it was bad in Vegas, and it's even worse in the PHX area. They kept trying to send us to Tempe. 25 miles away, we were less that two miles from one in Phoenix. We ended up calling to tell them to add the one we were at. Anyway, I finally had Five Guys. We made 800 jokes on the way, after we ordered, I swore the cashier told us to enjoy some penis while we waited. Excuse me? Oh. Peanuts. Of course, all burger joints have peanuts. A bit bizarre, but they were tasty. We all ordered a burger to our liking and we shared cajun fries. Burger was good, tasted like something you'd make at home. The fries were terrible. Not sure how they've earned such recognition. I like crisp fries, these were flimsy and greasy, and I wasn't a fan of cajun seasoning, either. I stand by In-N-out.





After, we went back to Shane's. I rested a bit while the guys talked Fantasy Football. They played Madden, and then we caught a movie. We saw Due Date. Parts were very funny, but it was so far-fetched that I couldn't buy it. I left saying, really? Total fluff, but did see a trailer for Hall Pass. That looks hilarious, they probably showed the best parts in the trailer, still it's the first one in ages I've seen that actually had me anticipating its release.

Ate some shitty mexican for dinner, it was late (after 10, ha) and most everywhere (except Jack-in-the-Box, joy) was closed. It curbed the hunger. The boys played another game of Madden. I caught up with some stuff online, then we crashed.

Sunday, we adjusted our fantasty teams and then headed out for Mr. Goodcents. They have footlong subs for $3.99 on Sundays. Such a value. It's become tradition. We ate and watched morning games until half-time and then we were off to the University of Phoenix stadium, which is in Glendale oddly enough. Even saw the Glendale Arena, which was one of the first projects I worked on start-finish. My name is on a plague somewhere there. That's probably the closest I'll ever get to it.

Game was Cardinals vs. Seahawks. We had no vested interest, just came for the experience. Seahawks crushed the Cards. The stadium cleared out in the 4th quarter, by the 2-min warning it was just us and 'hawks fans. Whenever Frank and I go to stadiums we have to try the specialty... here was BBQ, and cinnamon nuts. BBQ was weak, but the nuts were good.





















We caught a lot of traffic after the game, between football and NASCAR it was bumper to bumper. We got on the road toward home about 6, and got home just after 10. We stopped for In-N-out in Kingman again. I've had my fill of burgers for quite sometime.

Phoenix, it is always an adventure.