Sun your buns in Arizona....

Eldon and I boarded the plane Saturday morning, our flight left Portland at 6:35am, so on little sleep, we headed out to Phoenix. Don't we just look bright eyed and bushy tailed?





We took the obligitory "from the airplane" shots as we left, and while flying over Arizona they mentioned the temperature was already 100 degrees. Eldon commented that the only people crazy enough to live in Arizona in the summertime had to be from another planet. That's when we took the arial shots of Phoenix and sure enough, the arrangements of houses resembled crop circles! A message to the "home planet" perhaps? You be the judge!


My dad and brother met us at the airport. I was really happy to see my dad. It's been way too long. I didn't even recognize my brother Keith. Four years from 9-13 is a huge change in the way a kid looks! I asked Eldon to take as many pictures of my dad and/or me and my dad as he could, because I don't have very many. He prefers to be behind the camera more than in front of it.



Before heading back to my dad's house, we stopped over so he could show me what he's been doing for the last year. He and some friends are building a MONSTROUS house for his friend Brandon and his family. It's amazing that this house was built from the ground up with pretty much only 3 men doing it. It really is going to be stunning when they're done. This picture doesn't even do the size of the house justice. It has an 8 car garage! Look at the size of the house in contrast to the vehicles in front of it.

We got back to the house and greeted Dawn, my step-mother and Eldon and I had a chance to relax for a few before I got REALLY ravenous. All I could think of was going to Bill Johnson's.

For those of you who don't know Bill Johnson's you have no idea how good it is. I also thought that Eldon would get a kick out of it's sawdust on the floor, gun-toting waitresses and terrific food. Yes, I said gun-toting waitresss. Try to get out of there without leaving a decent tip!

Keith REALLY enjoyed him some ribs.

Look at the amount of food on the table!

We finished up and went back to my dads. Eldon wasted no time getting comfortable on the waterbed and passing out. I joined him shortly after taking this.

When we got up, we went swimming... at 8pm. It was still around 75 degrees outside. The water was a little chilly, but it was still fun. We almost had to drain the pool to get Keith out though. I wouldn't be surprised if he would be one of those crazy people to join the "polar bear club". I thought Eldon was a water boy, but my little brother has him beat.

Sunday we had a really hard time trying to decide what to do. My dad mentioned a place called Jillian's. He heard it was something fun to do for 20 somethings, but didn't know much more about it. We went thinking it was going to be a lot of cool gadgets and things, but what it turned out to be was more like an adult Chuck E. Cheese.. complete with video games and a bar. Nothing like playing race car games with a drink in your hand, right? They had bowling and a dance club somewhere in there, but we didn't stay long enough to check much of it out. It wasn't what we thought it was going to be, so we left.

We saw this and thought of you, Ashlee!

With that sorta a wash, we went on a tour of one of the resort hotels my dad did some work at. This place was amazing. Just look at some of the cars they had valet parked in front of it.

While checking out the grounds, I couldn't help myself. I had to take this picture! Eldon and I thought of it at the same time, started laughing, and without a word, he positioned himself for the shot. It took my dad a minute to figure out what I was snickering at, until he saw the picture, and he chuckled as well. It's now obvious to Eldon where I get my sense of humor!

Hanging around all that water, the pools, the ponds etc, and standing in 100 degree heat, it was time to go back to the house and go swimming, while Dawn made some amazing chicken enchiladas for dinner. "Not bad for a white girl!" Eldon likes to launch me! It took several and I mean at least 20 pictures to get the timing of these two of me actually airborne.

My family's dog, Jasmine, a doberman/german shepherd mix has a few issues. She's afraid of water. He can't take her anywhere because she "doesn't want to go" and he won't bring her in the house because she refuses to take a bath. So, after dinner I told my dad I was going to take Jasmine for a walk. Eldon and I walked around and talked for about 45 mins, and by the time we headed back to the house, I was practically dragging Jasmine behind me because she was so exhausted. That's really odd for a dog who's only 5.

After the walk, we went right up to the front yard and I took the hose out. My dad was standing outside and his eyes widened... He says, "You're not seriously going to try to give her a bath right now are you?" "I'm going to give her a bath, yeah." I said. "Alllrigght." he said skeptically. She was so tired and hot, that she didn't fight me at all. He was flat amazed. It's one thing to tell someone you're good at something, it's completely another to prove it to them. Maybe I have issues, but I have a innate desire to make my father proud of me any time I can. This made me feel so good and accomplished to see him so surprised and pleased that I succeeded.

Monday was filled with a bit of stress as Eldon worried about getting his rental car and hotel set up. While waiting for Eldon to pick up his car, I happened to notice we were standing in the parking garage right next to K-9. Well, I thought it was amusing. I know, I'm a dork.

We managed to get that all taken care of and checked into his hotel. He was there, afterall for work, and he wasted no time getting his laptop set up in the room and logged onto the net. He's a computer junkie, we all know this.

We went down and checked out the hotel pool, and because of the picture we took at the resort, we couldn't resist doing an equally embarrassing one of me in a similar situation. Welcome to our OOL, notice there's no "P" in it... Lets' keep it that way!

We went swimming in the hotel pool for a bit, and got really silly. I'm no Phoebie Cates, but it was fun to pretend. :P

We found a pool noodle, and I was reminded of the church of the FSM, or Pastafarianism, and was even "touched by his noodly appendage!"

This is probably my favorite picture of Eldon from the whole trip. It's just adorable! Love the hair, love the sillyness. I just like it. It just makes me happy.

We decided to meet up with my family again for dinner, since the original plan was for me to leave Tuesday morning. I managed to make it possible to stay another day though. We went to Streets of NY, a fantastic sub and pizza place, where they serve drinks in GIANT pitchers.

Because of the 28 year fight between my dad and my mom... it had to come up. (Read my blog from Wednesday, March 08, 2006 titled I need a vacation.) Eldon finally got to take a look at the infamous "Clint Eastwood pictures". My mother gave me the frequent flyer miles to take this trip, stating the condition was that I bring those pictures back to her. I knew that wasn't going to happen, but since Eldon had to sit through the story from my mother, I thought it only fair for him to not only hear my dad's side of the story, but to actually see the pictures in question.

We said our goodbyes, realizing that my 13 year old brother is actually already taller than me! We went back to the hotel. The drive to the hotel is down a road filled with really seedy strip clubs, and being the connosieur that I am, we just HAD to go to one.

We ended up going to one that wasn't seedy at all. It was called Christie's and it was HUGE. It was really nice inside, and the dances... well, lets just say I've never had a dance like that one in Oregon!

Tuesday, Eldon had to work, so the plan for me was to lay out by the pool all day. Unfortunately, that got boring really quick, even with my nose buried in the fantastic book, Cesar's Way.

I called my dad and we decided to do something fun, just the two of us. We went Indoor Indy Go-Kart racing! That was a blast!

They even had full on racing uniforms to wear for the race. The karts were pretty fast, but they really let you drift around the corners really fast! Too much fun!!!!

When we were done, I decided to try my hand at climbing the rock wall. It's a lot harder than it looks! I learned need to work on my hand strength. Somehow, I believe it's much different than actually climbing a mountain. That almost seems easier. Maybe it's the fear of death. Anyway, I managed to get a decent ways up, but I didn't get all the way to the top. Oh well, it was worth the $5.

We had lunch at Denny's by the hotel, and there's a running joke about residents of Arizona that "The best parking is determined by shade.....not distance."

It's actually not a joke...

I went back to the pool to try to make it appear that I actually DID go to Arizona. When Eldon finished working for the day, we decided to go out to dinner. We came out to the parking lot of the hotel, and it was actually raining! It was a really nice wonderful warm rain, that only lasted about 10 minutes, but it dropped the temperature a very welcome 11 degrees down to 89.

We went to the Rainforest Cafe. I'd been to the one in New Jersey, so I knew what to expect, but Eldon had never been. More random silliness ensued.

Eldon liked our seats next to one of the many salt water aquariums. It made him jones for going diving again though.

We decided that since we went to a nice strip club the other night, it was our duty to check out a seedy one.. just for fun. We went to a place called Diamond Jacks. It was like walking into a rap video. I have nothing against black people, and when I lived in Arizona I noticed that out of everywhere I've lived, even the ones dressed like full on "thugs" were actually really cool, fun people.. but it does make you feel out of place when you are one of 4 people in the entire place that is white, and rap and hip-hop music is your LEAST favorite type of music. It was actually really fun there though.. and the drinks were strong and cheap. We had a really great time.

I thoroughly enjoyed my entire trip. I loved seeing my family, Eldon and I had so much fun together, I finally got to relax a bit from all the stresses of my daily life... I just loved it.