Phoenix, AZ

As I said in the last post, December 2008 turned out to be crazy busy. The third trip of the month took me to Phoenix, AZ. I was very excited about this trip because my awesome friend Elise attends Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. I rarely get to see Elise now that I live on the East Coast and as she will testify, I am horrible at keeping in touch with people over the phone (Elise, I promise that this is true for everyone, not just you. I am an equal opportunity ignorer). I have a wonderful friend, Suzette, who lives in Tucson, AZ – or so I thought. I was so pleasantly surprised to learn that she now lives in Phoenix and we were able to get together and catch up. What a great trip.

I booked a reservation at the Hyatt in downtown Phoenix based on the recommendation of my client. Supposedly the Hyatt was only a few blocks from the training location and it would have been an easy walk to and from the hotel. Well, at the last minute they changed locations and I ended up commuting everyday to Tempe. I’ll admit, I was tempted to change hotels, but once I get settled in I am loathe to leave. Also Hyatt Hotels are pretty nice. Plus, it was a reverse commute and I had a nice rental car, so it turned out pretty well in the end. I will say that I am disappointed with the Phoenix downtown area. Unless there is a basketball game going on, the place is practically dead after 5 pm. I didn’t enjoy walking to my hotel from the parking garage at night because the streets were almost as empty as a ghost town. To be honest, it freaked me out a bit.

Elise and I love to go out and eat and this trip was no exception. Elise and I planned on meeting after she was finished with school (she is working on her PhD) and I was finished working. Monday night we went to her favorite Vietnamese restaurant. They had some awesome egg rolls. After that we went to Cold Stone and had the best ice cream combo that was ever created: After Dinner Mint. It is Chocolate Peppermint ice cream with marshmallows, Oreos and chocolate shavings in it. So good, but sadly it is only available during the holidays.

Tuesday night Elise and I headed off to one of our favorite places to eat, California Pizza Kitchen. As some of you may recall (Mom you are probably the only one that remembers this) that I have been boycotting CPK for removing my favorite pizza, the Pear and Gorgonzola, from the menu. I am sure that the loss of my patronage did irreparable damage to CPK’s financials, but that is what they get for crossing me. I am so glad I gave CPK another try because PEAR AND GORGONZOLA IS BACK ON THE MENU! Shout it from the rooftops and everyone order that pizza because I don’t want to have to be without it again. Afterwards we saw a Christmas movie with Freddie Rodriguez in it – which was fine by me because he is super cute.

I also drove by a Costco Home store on Tuesday. Now this is not a Kirkland’s or a regular Costco Warehouse with furniture in it – this is a separate warehouse with just furniture and accessories. Why do we not have this in Virginia? I want one and I want one now here in Virginia and also one for my friends and family in California (my Veruca Salt impression). Costco, don’t hold out on me – share the joy!

I also found a Half Price Books in the Phoenix area – would it be a Jen trip if I didn’t visit Half Price Books? It was a nice shop and I was able to sell some books for a solid price and I loved browsing around the store. I really wish we had a Half Price Books out here in DC, think of all the money I would waste.

Wednesday night we just ordered Pizza Hut (with their yummy breadsticks) so I could do laundry at Elise’s place. I watched my first episode of Private Practice (yummy Taye Diggs) and Elise and I talked about our feelings and relationships. We love to talk about feelings and relationships.

I had demanded Mexican food while I was in Arizona. Elise knew of an excellent place called Ponchos. It was amazing food – their red sauce on the enchiladas had a hint of smokiness that was so delicious (chipotle powder perhaps?). It must be well known in the area because we had to wait 20 minutes to get in on Thursday night. Also, Bill Clinton ate there when he was president, and say what you want about Bill, but he strikes me as the kind of guy that enjoys good food. Elise and I took a picture in front of Ponchos so I wouldn’t forget all the places we ate while in Phoenix. I will say that this picture below is not very flattering of me, but I think it is totally hilarious. I am standing next to Elise and look at how enormous my head is in comparison to hers. What on earth happened to me? Is my parent’s house built over a nuclear waste disposal site? Has the military been conducting experiments on me? What caused me to grow this gigantic head – I know that it isn’t to house my gigantic brain. I think that radiation or nuclear waste is the only answer.

On Friday I met up with my friend Suzette for lunch at a sushi restaurant in Tempe called Ra. It was very good sushi – I especially enjoyed the tuna which didn’t have a fishy taste at all. Suzette and I met doing a study abroad in Madrid, Spain. We ended up assigned to the same house and just hit it off. Before this trip to Phoenix, I hadn’t seen Suzette since June 2001. I had so much fun catching up – it was as if only a few months had passed and not 8 years. Suzette is working on a MA in Accounting. What a savvy girl to get a degree in something practical and useful.

I booked a flight from Phoenix to Oakland so I could go home to Antioch for Christmas. A few hours before my flight left, I met Elise at a very popular restaurant called Oreganos. They have this cookie sundae that is out of this world. Essentially, it is a freshly baked cookie, warm out of the oven and still a little doughy, served with vanilla ice cream on the top. It was heavenly and if I close my eyes I can still taste it. Elise, I hope you will eat another one of those cookie sundaes in my honor. It was so hard to say goodbye to Elise, I wanted to pack her in my suitcase and take her on all my trips. Sadly, Elise has a dissertation to finish and loads of money to earn so she can buy me pretty things.

I have to admit that when I first arrived in Phoenix, I thought it lacked charm. Upon leaving, however, I began to see the beauty in the landscape. I sometimes wonder if I could live there long term, although I think I would complain endlessly about the hot summers.

I would also like to give a shout out to my friend Tina. Tina was in my class in Phoenix and we became instant friends. She is a super cool chic and I hope to see her again in the near future.

Next trip – Antioch, CA

Orlando, FL

Being a West Coast gal, when it came to visiting a Disney theme park as kids, the Davis clan headed 7 hours south to Disneyland. I had naturally heard of Disney World, but really had no interest in going out of my way to visit. Disneyland is enough for me, it being the original and therefore the best Disney theme park. Skip ahead to my early 30s and the time arrived for me to visit Disney World.

What prompted this visit you may ask? Work. I signed up to take an analytical investigation methods course so I could be a better worker bee. While I may sound flippant, I really appreciate that my company will pay for me to take training courses. The closest course to DC was in Orlando, so that is how I scored a trip to the happiest place in Florida.

December turned out to be a crazy month for me. I started off the month in Ottawa, headed down to Orlando, FL a few days later, then traveled directly to Phoenix, AZ for a week, flew from Phoenix to Antioch for Christmas and made it back to Reston in time for the New Year. I am still tired from those trips. It was quite an environmental shock to go from Ottawa (freezing cold) to DC (pretty cold) to Orlando (do I really need a sweater cold). Being a professional, I only complained about the climate change every 10 minutes or so. What willpower I have!

The course was very helpful for my job, mostly because it reaffirmed that I am on the right track and I have acquired a pretty solid foundation when it comes to link analysis. There were some very, very cool people in the class and I really enjoyed learning from them. You guys know who you are.

I got to spend a lot of time with Sloane, a fellow student, who is just awesome. Since her agency wouldn’t spring for a rental car (Bad Government! You don’t send a lone woman into a sketchy area of town without a rental car – it just isn’t safe) she and I would pal around trying local restaurants. It helped that we stayed at the same hotel, which was the Marriott Courtyard Orlando Downtown. The problem with this place is that the local police warned us not to walk around at night and there was no place to eat within walking distance anyway. Also, the beds were so hard only Seabreeze would have enjoyed them. I didn’t sleep well for 6 nights because of those stupid beds.

The first night we went to Boston Lobster Feast. I am not going to eat at a seafood buffet ever again. I don’t like seafood enough to make it worth the money and any seafood buffet is a total sacrifice for quantity over quality. I think I ate more chocolate soft-serve than I did actual food.

The next night we headed for Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney is an outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment center located at the Walt Disney World Resort. What I like about Downtown Disney is that it is free. Sloane and I decided to go have Cuban food at Bongo’s Cuban Café. I really enjoyed the food: tostones, flank steak with chimichurri sauce and a virgin strawberry daiquiri. It was also lovely eating outside (in December – Crazy!) and overlooking the lake. After dinner Sloane and I headed to the largest Disney store in the world and were totally overwhelmed.


Sloane and I also ate at a sandwich shop called Firehouse Subs. They serve some nice hot subs there and for those of you that like hot sauce, they have every variety under the sun. Lastly, before I took Sloane to the airport we ended our quest for a good Cuban sandwich at Vega’s. They were great sandwiches and cooked on authentic Cuban style bread. I am not a huge fan of pickles on my sandwiches, but the entire combination of mustard, bread, pickles, and pork all smashed together was absolutely delicious.

While in Orlando I learned a few things about crime. One, never travel on Orange Blossom Trail unless you are looking for transvestite prostitutes. Two, don’t murder your child. I bring this up because they found Kaylee Anthony’s body while I was in Orlando taking a course at the Orange County Sherriff’s Office. When I walked out of the Sherriff’s Office after class, the place was crawling with reporters and there were helicopters flying overhead. I even saw a CourtTV van in front of the county courthouse. It was a total circus. Now I am not qualified to say if she is guilty, but she totally is.

On my last day in Orlando, I decided to go to the Magic Kingdom – by myself. Now I have been to an amusement park by myself once before and I hated it. For some reason I thought that the Magic Kingdom would be different. I was so wrong. I was the only person by themselves that I saw the entire day. It was all adoring families together for the holidays and reveling in each others company. I didn’t want to miss an opportunity which is why I decided to go in the first place, but it was so depressing to be such a loser. It should be called the Suicidal Kingdom for Singles. I did have fun going on the rides and watching all the little kids dressed up as princesses and pirates but I still would have liked to have had someone, anyone with me. Plus I felt compelled to stay the entire day as I paid almost $80.00 to be all depressed. I may have been miserable, but I was bound and determined to get my money’s worth of misery.

On a final note, Disneyland is way better than the Magic Kingdom. Disneyland’s holiday decorations are far better and the Magic Kingdom doesn’t even turn the Haunted Mansion into the Nightmare Before Christmas ride. What’s the deal?

Next Trip: Phoenix, AZ