Escape to Warmth

Ooh, pretty sunset... In the continuing saga of leveraging training seminars to visit different places, I spent the last week in sunny, warm Arizona while it was snowing in Sheboygan. Starting on Saturday the 7th, I flew out to Phoenix where I picked up a rental car and drove to Tucson for two days.

For those who don’t recall, Tucson is my birthplace but I hadn’t been there since I was 4. It’s about 100 miles south of the airport in Phoenix, but at 80 mph it doesn’t take all that long to get there. The rental car was a ’07 Dodge Caliber. It wasn’t bad. It was well-equipped for an entry-level model but could use some more power as it ran at about 3000 rpm at 80 mph on the freeway in level terrain. It was sprightly enough to get the job done, but those gerbils sure got tired running on their wheel.

While in Tucson, I had three goals in mind: visit the Titan Museum, the Pima Air Museum and see the sunset. I achieved all three. First stop on Easter morning was the Titan Museum that is about 20 miles south of town past the “Warning Strong Winds and Blowing Dust” signs. The Titan Missile Museum is home to the last intact Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile; one that my dad served on crew for while he was in the Air Force. It was pretty neat, although the really cool tour is an overnight that is only infrequently offered and definitely not on Easter Sunday. The highlight was getting to turn the missile launch key from the commander’s chair. For better or worse, nothing was smote in nuclear hellfire when I turned that key.

Next stop was the Pima Air Museum home to one of the largest collections of US military aircraft in the country. One thing did not occur to me; where is the best place to display aircraft in a dry, warm climate? Outside of course. What did I get? A sunburn as usual. The museum was pretty cool, but being Easter, the grill was closed so I was starved by the time I left.

Now I realize it may be a little odd, but I then drove past the first house I lived in and took a picture of it. The neighborhood is densely packed and sincerely lacking in grass which is overall a feature of the region. After a lot of driving around using the Force for directions as I did not have a map I found Gates Pass, a place known for its awesome sunsets (the first picture). I got there way early for sunset and hiked around progressively higher up the hills until I found a great vantage point where I captured several great shots. The next morning I drove back to Phoenix to return the car and head to class.

I was actually in Phoenix for “work”. Training, to be particular, this time I took People Management 2. Overall it was a good course with some entertaining role playing scenarios and good conversation with the other pros in attendance. My roommate was actually a guy from Pueblo, CO who I had been in class with before that I got along with well. One of the other guys in the class was also in a previous class and happened to have rented a car for the whole week. The other folks in class were pretty cool too. One of them was close to being smote with righteous anger by Thursday, but that was due in some part to my tolerance level being low with a lack of sleep.

As is becoming the case at training, I spent every evening out with classmates. The first night was class so we actually were free to roam for the first time on Tuesday and went out to the Diamondbacks baseball game with some great seats purchased by a classmate from the Chicago area. The next two nights were spent at the same bar with my roommate and other folks. The first night we stopped in downtown Tempe which is also the main street for Arizona State University. It was easily one of the neatest and coolest college main streets I’ve ever been to. Back to the bar, it was really rather unique with 4 separate rooms including an 80’s lounge, karaoke room, hip hop hot spot and, in the largest area, a country bar with a huge dance floor and lots of pool tables. The first night we were there all of the rooms were open and bottled beer could be had for a quarter a bottle and there were several amazing barmaids wearing some eye-catching outfits that kept me distracted all night long. The second night only the country part was open so a lot of pool was played and people watched. Suffice it to say I was not in very early any of the nights.

While I was at the seminar, the weather was mostly warm in the 80’s and arid with plentiful, invigorating sunshine. It actually took a few days for my body to adapt to the aridity of the air and drinking more water to counterbalance it. The weather felt great but I can’t imagine what 122 feels like in the summer. We did have a spot of less good weather on Thursday evening with a dust storm with 40+ mph winds followed by a rainstorm but it was nice again by Friday morning.

Returning home was much more interesting than necessary. The first leg from Phoenix to Denver was boring. It got more interesting in Denver. First they overbooked the flight and asked for volunteers to fly out on Saturday in exchange for a hotel room and free flight anywhere in the US within the next year. Great deal, so I was first in line for it. The only not so useful part to note here is that I checked my bag with my clothes and personal kit in it which meant I was stuck with what I had in my computer bag and the clothes I was wearing. I was told to wait until they boarded and I would be informed then if I needed to stay. Fine, so I sat around. About the time the plane was due to board, the mechanics went first. Almost 3 hours later they announced that the flight would be delayed another hour and that we volunteers were being taken up on our offer of seats. After a bit of work I arrived at the hotel assigned for an unexpected night in Denver. Disappointingly it was too late to do anything much by the time I got to the hotel.

When I got back to the airport in the morning I found that I lucked out in leaving when I did as they ended up canceling the flight completely so I was reunited with my fellow terminal residents briefly before my flight left. What I didn't initially think about after hearing that the original flight was canceled was that my checked bag was on that plane. Conveniently it arrived on the rescheduled flight into Milwaukee about 30 minutes after I did.

That pretty much covers the trip. There is more to tell with conclusions drawn and abounding deep thoughts, but I'll save that for the next post.