Month: May 2016

Sorry for confusing some people yesterday.  From the title of the post it seemed like yesterday was the last day of our vacation.  Actually that would be today and we fly home tomorrow.  By the title “Back to Reality” I was referring to leaving the incredible beauty of the National Parks and returning to the city of Phoenix.

Don’t get me wrong, Phoenix is a very attractive and clean city with lots of things to do but it is beyond me how anyone can live here.  For example the high temperature today was 91 degrees and it is only May 23rd!

I think the cactus say it all.  Doesn’t this cactus look like a hand giving you the single finger salute as you enter the greater Phoenix area?  This isn’t my photo (actually I don’t think it is was taken in Phoenix) but we saw others on the road similar to this.

Today we attempted to stay cool and went to the Phoenix Hall of Flame.  Doesn’t sound like a cool place but it really is.  The Hall of Flame is a firefighter museum.  We had a great time seeing numerous old time fire engines.  The most recent apparatus was from 1961 and most were much, much older.  They had many that had been drawn by horses and many others that were drawn by human power.  The units were all refurbished and looked beautiful.  We also learned a lot about the history of firefighting.  There was a section for honoring those who lost their lives in service and for those who had performed feats of heroism.  I even found an article (and picture) of one of my patients.

At night we got together with our daughter-in-law Robyn’s brother, Corey.  We met at Olive and Ivy, a restaurant in Scottsdale.  We had a wonderful night talking about Phoenix, family, movies, medicine and all sorts of other issues.  It was a great time.  And the meal was fantastic.  If you are in these parts I would definitely recommend Olive and Ivy for dinner (the Sweet Potato Cannelloni was superb).  It was the best meal we had on the trip.  Yes, even better than our meals in Mexican Hat, Page, Flagstaff and Moab as hard as that might be to believe.

Tomorrow we fly home.  Our next trip will be to visit David and Robyn’s family in June for David’s birthday.   I doubt I will be writing about that.  I will be too busy trying to beat my 7 year old grandson in chess.  After that we will be going to England and Ireland at the end of June and early July.  I will definitely write to you then.

Thanks for your comments and speak to you soon.

Today was a travel day.  We left Moab after breakfast and headed back to Phoenix for our flight home. We originally planned a night in Las Vegas but the thought of seeing all those neon lights after our trip filled with so much natural beauty left us lacking.  Instead we retraced much of our trip north including a stop in Flagstaff. 

My memory of Flagstaff, as a young boy traveling with my family, was that it was a real dump.  A place to get gas when traveling on Route 66.

Things have certainly changed.  We ate lunch at the Beaver Street Brewery in Flagstaff.  It is located near Northern Arizona University in a very lovely neighborhood.  Nearby is a quaint area known as the Historic District.   The restaurant was recommended by a friend but neither of us can remember who.  The food was very good as was the service and decor. Thank you to the person who recommended the place if he/she is a reader of this blog. 

We checked into our hotel and looked for something to do.  I told Patrice that the Diamondbacks were playing the Pirates today and she immediately started to grit her teeth and tighten her fists.  She relaxed when I told her the game was to be played in Pittsburgh.

Instead of more baseball we decided to go to a nearby movie theater.  We perused the list of available films and found “The Nice Guys” starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe. When we were in Moab we heard a film critic from Salt Lake City give a very critical review of the film.  He was talking about how inappropriate it was and how he was offended.  My immediate thought was this was a “Red State” commentary aimed at a “Red State” audience.  We looked at some other reviews and found a 8.1 out of 10 on IMDB and a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  With that in mind we raced to get to the theater.  After seeing the film I think I might need to move to a “Red State”.

The film ended at a little after 8:00pm.  We walked to two restaurants in the same complex as the theater and they were both closed.  Finally we found a place that was about to close but agreed to seat us.  Restaurants closing at 8 pm?  This town sure isn’t New York City.

We had one more day in this lovely city that is located along the Colorado river and very close to two beautiful National parks.  We missed a couple of sights in each park yesterday and so decided to make quick visits to both this morning.  We went to Arches first and saw Double Arch.

We then traveled back to Canyonlands National Park to take a short hike to Upheaval Dome which is best appreciated from the air.  On a very windy day we were happy to settle for seeing it from the ground.

We then ventured back into the town of Moab.  This is a very interesting town.  There are about 5,000 residents but you wouldn’t guess that from walking the streets.  The reason for this is the number of tourists in this town.  Arches has over one million visitors per year and most stay here in Moab.  All the motels have their “No Vacancy” signs illuminated.  The main street through town (appropriately named Main Street) is very crowded and crossing can be dangerous since it is actually State Highway 191.  There are lots of fine restaurants and all sorts of interesting shops.

Tomorrow we leave this little hamlet and head back to Phoenix as our trip will be coming to a close.

Today was our day to explore Canyonlands National Park.  It is about 30 miles from the town of Moab, Utah (Arches National Park is only about 5 miles away from Moab).  Canyonlands, as the name would imply, is famous for it’s deep canyons that have been etched out by the rivers in this area most notably the Colorado River.

I hope you appreciate the great personal risk I go through in order to provide you with photos of these areas.  I walked all over this park and put myself at great risk being at the canyon edge in order to get the right photo.  Here are a few.

These are just a few of the photos I took (at great personal risk) to satisfy the insatiable appetite of my audience.  I had to drag along a very reluctant Patrice looking for the right photo.

I hope you are satisfied.  Let’s see some comments on the blog!   Just a very few are showing me their love.

Thanks all until tomorrow.

This is Patrice now, Robert has left his computer.  Don’t you believe a word from that man. He wouldn’t go a step near the edge of these cliffs.  Look at this candid photo I took of him.

And check out this photo I took.

And that nonsense about him dragging me around?  Well we only walked about 10,000 steps today so I am off to the fitness center to get in a little more of a work out.  Meanwhile look at your self-proclaimed warrior.

C’ya

Today was a travel day.  We left Monument Valley early this morning and headed north for Moab, Utah.  We were told that about 13 miles north of Monument Valley was something known as Forrest Gump Point.  You might remember in the film, Forrest starts running from coast to coast and after 3 years, 2 months, 14 days and 16 hours he finally decides to stop.  If you want to see that scene you can click on this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKKmzmeU5-0 and you will see Monument Valley in the background.

Apparently tourists stop at this spot and take pictures of themselves with Monument Valley in the background at the same place you see Tom Hanks in the film.  The motion picture was filmed with the highway closed and Hanks was not in any danger.  What kind of fool would stand on the highway with cars traveling in both directions?  Only an idiot of course.

We next stopped at Mexican Hat to eat breakfast.  This is a very small town that is named after a local phenomena of the same name.  They have a hotel and a couple of restaurants.  I asked the waitress why do people come to Mexican Hat?  “They don’t” she replied.   Is there fishing nearby and people come for that?  “No”.  How about hunting?  “No”.  No one comes here?  “No”.  Okay, I will accept that.

One thing for sure we are in a Red state.  Trump should do well here.  The place is so Red they even think oranges are red.

We also stopped at Gooseneck State Park in order to see the San Juan River curving through the canyons.  There was a $5 entry fee to the park but Patrice saw a display of Navajo-made jewelry so the exit fee was much higher.

Well, we finally made it to Moab.  They put us in room #100.

We arrived in Moab early so we had time to visit Arches National Park.  The visitor center sells a CD that essentially gives you a tour of the park.  Fifteen thousand and one steps later we were on our way back to the hotel and ready for a good night sleep.

I took many more photos but I won’t bore you anymore than I have already.

Tomorrow we visit Canyonlands.

Today was our day to visit the classic formations known as Monument Valley.  Those of you who have followed my blog might remember that we recently traveled to Brazil and wanted to see Christ the Redeemer.  Unfortunately when we got to Rio the weather was awful and we could only view the statue from below the shoulders.  Well when we awoke this morning with saw this:

Our tour guide, John, tried to encourage us.  “Let’s go see some additional ruins, some other peaks and hopefully the skies will clear”.  We did see numerous interesting sights around the park and managed to do some walking and climbing that I didn’t think this old body could still do.  When we returned to the main attraction the weather had cleared somewhat and we did get a better view.  We left our guide and went for a late lunch.  After leaving the restaurant we noted it was much warmer and the skies had cleared significantly.  When we returned to the park we saw this:

After lunch we also saw this from the parking lot well above the valley.

We also saw this:

Tomorrow we leave for Moab, Utah.

We started our day with a tour of the Lower Antelope Slot Canyon.  For those of you who look to me for travel advice, if you have only time to do the Upper or Lower Canyons I would chose the Upper.  Both Canyons supply excellent views but the Upper Canyon is managed much better by the tour companies.  The Upper Canyon tour groups are smaller and less frequent, making the Canyon much easier to traverse, view and photograph.  The Lower Canyon tours are cheaper but have larger groups entering every 20 minutes.  This makes it much more difficult to get photos without someone else’s head or hands in the shot.  I did manage to get a couple of pretty good shots today but nothing compared to Leonard’s yesterday.

After leaving Antelope Slot  Canyon we headed north to Monument Valley.  I am sure many of you have been here.  If not in person, then certainly in the movies.  This has been the site of many motion pictures.  John Wayne was a regular here.  The hotel has a burger named for him and a salad named for his director John Ford.

Upon arrival we took the Majestic Tour company’s tour of the Mystery Valley.  This is not the main tourist area (that would be Monument Valley which we will tour tomorrow). Mystery Valley is the location of the ancient ruins.  We visited the remains of the Anasazi tribe.  The Anasazi’s were the ancestors of the Navajos and inhabited this area from about 400 – 700 AD.  We viewed ancient caves (man made) and petroglyphs.  The rock carvings have remained over 1000 years.  Some were paintings (see below).  How do these paintings last over 1000 years and Patrice and I need to repaint our home after 6?  I guess that is the price we need to pay for living near the beach.

Our guide is full blooded Navajo and his name is John (don’t you just love these traditional Native American names like Leonard and John).  He gave us a tremendous amount of information about the Navajo Nation.  I won’t bore you with details but I was totally enthralled.

Tomorrow to Monument Valley.

 

 

We awoke early in Phoenix this morning to find the temperature and climate fantastic. Apparently the secret of living in the Valley of the Sun is to be outside by 6AM and complete all your tasks for the day by 7AM.  The staff at the Springhill in Phoenix were fantastic and made our short stay very enjoyable.

As I mentioned yesterday, today we were going to Antelope Slot Canyon.  Good thing I posted a picture yesterday because the internet at the Courtyard by Marriott in Page, AZ is very slow and uploading a photo is not a possibility at this time.  I don’t know if things will pick up in regards to internet speed so I apologize for the lack of photos.

We were on the highway by 7AM heading north to Page, AZ.  We arrived in time to make one of their prime time tours.  First we were entertained by a young man who stated he was 100%  Navajo and he performed what he said was a Navajo hoop dance while wearing authentic Navajo garment.  I don’t think that would include the Under Armour board shorts protruding from his outfit.

Then we were off to the see Antelope Slot Canyon.  We were piled into vans similar to the ones used years ago to transport prisoners on chain gangs in Florida.  By contrast these had seat belts.  I guess they assumed you were traveling with a close friend because each belt was to be used by 2 passengers.

About 15 minutes later we arrived at the canyon.   Our guide was also of Navajo roots and his name was Leonard (what else would you expect form a native American?).  Leonard was very entertaining.  He spoke a variety of languages.  He spoke Navajo to the other guides but also conversed with tourists from China, Japan and India IN THEIR NATIVE TONGUE!. Leonard said he wasn’t fluent but he picked up a bit of the languages working as a guide the past 12 years.  I wish my Spanish was that good and I have been working on that for about 50 years.

Leonard also had an interesting manner.  He was very succinct in his direction (“no flash”, “no tripods”, “come here”, “stay”) and never used please or thank you but he didn’t seem rude or bossy.  He also commanded us to give him our cameras (“camera!”) so he could take pictures at the perfect angle.  It became very clear, very quickly, that this guy could take amazing photos.  After taking a few by myself I gave up and just became Leonard’s caddy for my camera.

That is probably more than you wanted to know.  I hope I can send some pictures tomorrow.

 

Time to say goodbye to Memphis and the BBQ Festival.  Today we flew to Phoenix to resume a tour that was interrupted last year.  Many of you know that in May 2015 Patrice and I were on the “National Park Tour”.  We had just left Austin, Texas and were about to tour a number of National Parks starting with Big Bend in southwest Texas.  Unfortunately I became ill with a kidney stone and we needed to go home.

Well now it is time to resume the National Park Tour and where better to start a National Park Tour than in Phoenix at Chase Field.  You might know that Chase Field is the baseball park where the National League Arizona Diamondbacks play their games so that meets my definition of a National Park.  The stadium is a marvel.  It has real grass (not artificial turf) and a roof that is retractable.  When the roof is closed and the air conditioning running (strong enough to control the heat in 2,500 homes of 2,000 square feet each) teams can play baseball while the outside temperature reaches over 100 degrees (today it only reached 93 degrees).  When the roof is open it is for sun light to enter the park to nourish the grass playing field.

I tried to take some pictures but you really need to be here to appreciate this place.

The game was great.  The SF Giants beat the Diamondbacks in a very well played 2-1 game.  I enjoyed the stadium and game and Patrice enjoyed her book.

Tomorrow we leave very early for Page, Arizona where we will tour Antelope Slot Canyon.  Below is a picture that I retrieved off the internet.  I am told by people who have seen it that it really looks like this.  I hope to confirm that myself tomorrow.

Robert

Today was the big day.  We arrived very prompt and early for our 8AM check in.

There was a little confusion yesterday when Patrice asked what time we needed to arrive and one of the organizers told us that, “Chicken’s at 8”.  Both of us were confused and asked for clarification, “Chicken?” to which she said, “No, chickin.  Judges need to chick in at 8”.  “OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH, you mean check in at 8?”  “Yes that’s what I said, judges chickin at 8”

So this morning we arrived promptly at 8 and received our assignments.  Judging is either “Blind” where you are given boxes of food and judge the quality or “On Site” where you go to the contestant’s booth.  On site seemed much more stressful to me.  Here a know-nothing like me goes to a cook site and meets someone who has been doing BBQ for 20-40 years.  Then I have to judge them?  Waiting for my name to be called I was praying for a blind judging assignment.  Well only fitting for a Jewish judge at a BBQ festival my name was called for on site judging of Whole Hog.

I nervously paced until my time for judging approached.  The teams spend large sums of money to produce these elaborately decorated booths and cook ribs, shoulder or whole hog.  I heard that some teams spend as much as $40,000 for equipment, supplies (including the pork), building and decorating the booth in addition to the entry fee.   One of the most popular booths was “3 Taxi Guys”.  This is their booth.

 

Finally my time arrived and I introduced myself to my first team, Rick and India from Macon, Georgia the owners of the “Dixie Que” booth.  They were very friendly and fed me some amazing pork.  It was easy to talk to them about their entry because it was incredibly tasty.  Rick asked me the question I dreaded, “How long have you been a judge”.   He didn’t seem to cringe when I told him this was my first year.  I returned the favor and asked if he owned a restaurant.  “No I sell toilets”.   At that point I didn’t want to hear any more about the cooking process.  As Jack Nicholson said in A Few Good Men, “You can’t handle the truth”.

I then visited the “Cotton Patch Cooking Crew” a team from Columbus, Mississippi who also produced some very fine pork. My final team was “PLP” from Nashville, Tennessee.  PLP stands for Peg Leg Porkers because their team leader, Cary, had a leg amputated as a teenager (due to cancer).  At first I couldn’t find their booth thinking that booth 237 would be located between 236 and 238.  Apparently there was a mix up and their booth had to be moved and they wound up in a non-booth area sharing space with the local news crew.  PLP didn’t spare any expense to decorate their booth.  Actually let me rephrase that, they didn’t spend anything to decorate their booth.  See below.

While they didn’t spend much on decoration their pork was fantastic.  After judging I took Patrice to meet the cookers and they were incredibly excited to see me.  Apparently they made it into the finals.  They could not stop thanking me.  They asked me to pose for a group photo.   The results of the final judging are still pending but I will let you know once I find out.

Tomorrow we have an early flight for Phoenix.  Enough talk about pig.  Now it is on to the National Park portion of our tour.