Uh oh, wonder if anyone is still reading my blog: it's been over a month since I last posted? How did that happen? Geez.
Kathy flew back from a short week in Anchorage on Saturday. She gave several presentations to a group of Mental Health professionals. Of course I should know more details than that, but I don't, bad husband! It was her first trip to Anchorage. All went well, and she felt she got her information across to her audience, so was a successful trip, and good addition to her resume. She had fun, too, going shopping with other presenters at real malls! As you might expect, her dogs were very glad to see her back. They feel like they have been sentenced to Dog Prison when I take care of them. Not that I cut back their diets to stale bread and water, but I, well, don't exactly lavish attention on them, and Kathy does. Some day I'm going to have my very own Cielo dog, Cielo being a wonderfully calm chihuahua who belongs to Faiths' Aunt. Faith's Mom has a good chihuahua, too, but for some reason I have lots of trouble remember her name. Anyway, sometime I'll have one of my own.
So Kathy arrived home on Saturday afternoon, and I flew out Monday morning, bound for the 13th Annual National Tribal Transportation Conference, held this year in Phoenix. This is a great opportunity for me to learn more about tribal transportation, the new MAP-21 federal highway bill, and network with other tribal transportation professionals and learn about their challenges and solutions, almost as important as the first two objectives.
My flight down went very well. From Ketchikan to Seattle, we were well above the cloud cover and in the life-affirming sunshine. From Seattle on down, it was clearer. The pilot pointed out Mt. Rainier, beautiful as ever, and Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Adams. I was able to sleep for a while, which is always a nice way to pass the time. Next, we passed over part of the Grand Canyon, another treat.
I'm not sure I've ever landed in Phoenix. I know I haven't been here in decades. I was hoping the rental agencies were located at the airport, but, alas, no, they are a ten minutes busride away. It's a huge complex, looks like an airport terminal itself! Here, unfortunately, is where I hit a wall (racing tie-in, get it?): my car was not ready, nor were the cars of several other, very unhappy travelers. NASCAR had just held a race at Phoenix International Raceway this past weekend, and apparently people were slow about getting their rental cars returned. I had a reservation, and it took me 50 minutes to get a car. Plus, they didn't have the one I reserved, so, damn the bad luck, they asked if I would mind using a Mercedes Benz E350 instead. Hmm, let me think, NO! :-) Not too shabby a car, not at all.
So, I'm in my third timezone of the trip, and it's dark, and I have a strange car, and I have to get to my accomodations. I'd printed out Google directions while waiting for my car, so had that, but I was barely down the road when it felt like I was off track. I decided to fiddle with the GPS unit. Thankfully, it worked, and I drove right to the resort, then end of a long day.
The place I'm staying, also not too shabby. It's a little village spread out across and built into a hillside, very nice. I'll post some pictures later this week.
Today I had time to visit the Northern Mountains Park Visitor Center, just across the road from my resort. The Center was closed, darn it, but while I was absorbing this fact, I was sure I heard a quail call. Keep in mind this is nothing but desert, with what few plants there are spread way out, offering little cover. I waited and listened, and heard more birdcalls I could't identify, but I really wanted to see a quail, so headed down the walkway toward where I thought the sound came from. Sure enough, there was a large covey of plumb quail somehow hidden, and disturbed by my getting close, they flew to another scrub bush about 20 feet away, and gave me a great look at them as they did. Quail! Wow, an actual bird! Life in the desert! Then, while absorbing this good tidings from nature, I saw another bird, very close, a cactus wren! These are very, very skittish in San Diego, and rare, and here were two practically at me feet! Wait, another movemnt in the bushes: a roadrunner creeps out into full view, not 15 feet from me! Wow, this is amazing: I would rarely see this many birds in such a short time and space in our POW Rain Forest, and here I was in the desert, surrounded! This little trip had been a very good decision, despite the Center being closed. Ahhhhh, nature.....
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the James Bond movies. FIFTY YEARS, can you believe it?! I remember going to see Doctor No, the first bond movie, with my Mom and Dad when I was 10 years old. Where did the time go?
That's enough catch-up for today. Oh, on the homefront, winter is arriving fast, temperatures having dropped ten degrees, then risen, then dropped again. Our green 'wall' of bushes have dropped all their leaves, so no wall between us and the little street, for a couple of months. The rain has returned; the dogs will have to be content with long walks every couple of days now, instead religiously every day. But, we've endured one whole winter here, we will do fine for this one. And then it will be spring, in our second year. I'm sure it's just around the corner. :-)
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