Phoenix

On Friday, October 26th, we took the 11:19 a.m. Delta flight from MSP to Phoenix. We'd gotten a cheap airfare ($238) and got a relatively cheap (for Phoenix, which soaks tourists with taxes and fees) car rental from Budget, a little black Nissan Versa.

After settling in, we found a coffee shop with WiFi, where we had coffee and e-mail, then took a hike in the Phoenix Mountain Parks, from the parking lot off of 40th Street, south of Shea. The temperature was in the eighties, nearly fifty degrees warmer than back home. The walk was beautiful and very pleasant, going up trail number 8 to a saddle, where there was a stone bench, from which we could watch the sun lowering itself gingerly behind Piestewa Peak. We walked back as the sun was slowly setting, and were surprised to find people just arriving and starting to hike. Curious, Mary Joy asked someone about this. They said that after sunset there was still forty-five minutes of twilight. I assume that Arizonans are used to waiting until the heat of the day is over before they go out and do their hiking. In the summer, when daily average high temperatures are over one hundred degrees, that would be very prudent.

For dinner, we went to Z Tejas, a chain restaurant that had been recommended that day by the barista at the coffee house across the street. It was a big restaurant-sports bar, with a young crowd spilling out onto the terrace. But we got a table inside and had a decent if not terrific meal--Mary Joy had trout amandine; I don't remember what I had. There was live music, a singer-guitarist who was singing Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" as we were seated, but later settled into a more folkie vein.

Then back to our apartment, and to bed.