This past week was all right. Thursday and Friday were work days. After work, I went out to have dinner and do a little shopping, but nothing worth blogging. I will say this much, however: It looks to me that there are more Jack-in-the-Box restaurants here than McDonalds. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since their menu is more diversified than Mickey Dees. Plus, their breakfast menu is available all day long, which is the only thing I get from the arches these days.
I shall miss that smiling round clown face when I go home.
Oh, speaking of fast food places, I saw something I never would've conceived. There's a Sonic near here that doesn't have a drive in! It's strictly "eat-in" or "drive-thru". No carhops on roller skates delivering to your car window, but then, when the temperature is over 100 nearly a third of the year, it's somewhat understandable.
Saturday was a day to explore. Started off the day driving west to see the University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals, which I've heard is some sort of "football" team. This concept of "football" is something which I am not entirely familiar. I'd heard some of my fellow Pittsburgers refer to "Dem Stillers", but that could just be a group of thieves for all I know.
Wearing my Primanti Bros' shirt, I went there strictly to take photos of the place. I had heard of the stadium before, as it's the only one in the world with not only a retractable roof, but also a retractable field. This interested the geek in me, and when I learned that tours were available, I figured...I got nothin' better to do today. Let's check the place out!
(Okay, sarcasm aside, I do know who the Cardinals are, and, alas, what football is. The Cardinals are Julie's favourite team, and I know they played...and lost...to the Steelers a few SuperBowls back. I felt walking into "enemy territory" wearing a Pittsburgh shirt would make me a target, but the tour guide had been to the Burgh, and had tried Primanti's, and loved it. His wife is also a Steelers fan. I swear, I will never escape Steelers fans, no matter how far I go.)
The field is the big (pardon the pun) attraction here. It's natural grass, and can be wheeled outside to make it a true "multi-function" stadium.
Other highlights of the tour included the usual: Press box, suite, souvenir shop. Still, I liked visiting the place. It was better than I expected.
Then I went off to Phoenix International Raceway to get some pics and see what I can find for Julie. Even though she hasn't watched too many races this year, she still loves racing and her Dale Jr., and I wanted to visit the raceway to take some pictures for her, and maybe get her a souvenir. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. It was closed and I couldn't get inside. Took a couple pictures from inside the car, since it was yet another 100+ day, and I didn't feel like melting.
After that, it was back on the road for about an hour's drive to the other side of the county. I wanted to visit one of the local casinos, since everyone firmly believes I don't have an addiction. I had a little bit of money set aside, and wanted to go have some fun.
It took about an hour from the raceway for me to reach Harrah's Ak-Chin Casino and Resort. Now, there were closer casinos, like the one that's about five miles down the road from Kim's house. I could've gone there, but I not only wanted to go visit a casino, I wanted to go for a ride. I wanted to see outside the city, the desert, what it looked like.
I wasn't disappointed.
It's so vastly different from what I'm used to. Yes, I'd been in deserts before. I'd gone out to Vegas and Reno and California deserts, but this is farther South than I'd been before (New Orleans notwithstanding: There are no deserts in the Big Easy.) It was so barren and stark but so beautiful. And hot. Let's not forget hot.
The casino is outside a small town called Maricopa. It amazes me how people can survive and thrive out here, especially in such a small town. It goes to show the power of the human spirit, and all that.
After arriving and joining their player's club (something I learned years ago), I set out to play...anything but slots. I suck at slots. If I play a slot machine, I know I will lose, so I've decided they're not worth playing for me. I like video poker, keno and roulette.
When I went looking at the table games, I couldn't find the roulette wheel! I asked one of the pit bosses where their roulette table was, and she said "behind you".
It's digital. No human spinning the wheel. You sit at the console and play on your own touch screen. The geek in me was overjoyed, even though I was a bit embarrassed.
It was cool. For only a quarter a wager, I could play all night if I wanted. I stayed at the table until I dropped the money I put into it, which was cool, since I had a big win on the video poker machine earlier. I'd broke even, in my mind, and decided it was okay to leave.
Drove back to the hotel and stayed there pretty much Sunday.
Monday was back to work. After work, I went back out for another drive, and stayed out until dinner. After finished dinner, I went out and was greeted by one of the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen. Naturally, I didn't have my good camera with me. I took this with my cell's camera, but not even the best equipment could match the view. It was beautiful, and I was so thankful I got to see it firsthand.
Back to the room and work Tuesday. I haven't said much for the hotels where I've been working, but the room here at the Towneplace Suites is one of the nicest I've stayed. They're designed for long-term guests, with a full kitchen, sofa, chair and very comfortable bed. It's also a great value, but since they comp my room for work purposes, I can't comment too much. Still, if I was looking for a place to stay, I'd keep an eye open for Towneplace Suites.
(The proceeding paragraph is presented as an opinion and does not mean to plug the chain, unless it gets me more work when the next conversion is scheduled.)
And so ends my trip in Phoenix. As you read this, I'll be flying back home, after two long weeks of missing Julie. I talked to her about us maybe visiting here sometime in the Winter, since there are places I wanted to visit but it was just too damn hot to see. We'd have to save up for it, but if we do, it'll be sometime down the road. We've got a wedding to look forward to first.
Phoenix was better than I expected. I liked it here. It's a nice place to visit, but too hot to live here. Still, I like to think...we'll be back.
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