Austin to Phoenix to Tucson (via DFW)

Yesterday was travel day. I made it safely to Tucson, though I felt like there was a flurry of excitement to get me here. That's mostly how I seem to operate, as much as I try not to. Long story short, I slept in a bit in the morning, went running, had to run some errands before leaving, and then had about 15 minutes to pack. (Yeah, I guess I didn't actually pack the night before...) I felt kind of frazzled as I was running around, especially since I barely knew what I was putting in my suitcase. But I made it to the airport (Andrew and Margie are the best! Thanks!), and checked in at the kiosk with 2 minutes to spare before the drop-dead-30-minutes-before deadline. Whew. Of course, then my flight was delayed about 40 minutes, but that's beside the point. (Maybe I could have at least showered....)

I had a layover at DFW (though it was nonexistent since my flight was late), and then slept almost the entire flight to PHX. I arrived, got my bags, and rental car. Sometime on the shuttle to the rental car lot I realized that the folder of itineraries/maps/directions to everything that I had so meticulously printed off earlier in the week were not with me, and probably sitting on my bed still. I will ask Michelle to bring them when she comes out. (Hopefully this isn't the first she's hearing about that.) But the fortunate thing is, we live in the electronic age and you actually don't need any of that stuff to get get on a plane, rent a car, and check into a hotel. (As long as you have reservations, of course.) But I was still really, really annoyed with myself for forgetting them. Alas.

I was able to get my rental car, although the process seemed more hassle-filled than normal. Normally it's a breeze. But for some reason the Enterprise people in PHX wanted my credit card (even though it was direct billed; they never ask me for that in TUS), my email, TWO phone numbers, and on and on. Then they didn't even have a car ready for me. The guy was like, "Uh...well, you can wait a few minutes for a car to be ready or we can just put you in this mini SUV at no extra charge." I said I'd wait, given the price of gas and poor gas mileage of SUVs. He said the Jeep Liberty he had for me only got 2-3 mpg less than a car. Well, I decided to take it, mostly to just get on my way. But I'm keeping track so I can calculate my fuel economy when I fill it up next week.

Anyway, off to Tucson I went. The drive was about an hour and a half. I was still feeling a bit frenzied at this point, so I tried to use the drive to help me relax. It sort of worked. Eh. Well, I arrived at my hotel, checked in with no problems, ran to the Target nearby to buy a few things I'd forgotten. In the same shopping center as the Target I discovered an In-n-Out restaurant! This is exciting because In-n-Out is yummy, and I had no idea they had them in Tucson. Mental note to self.

I had to wait around a little longer to meet up with a post doc from University of Arizona to get my key to the Observatory. (Kurtis and I had arranged for her to pick it up for me since the office would be closed when I arrived.) Once I got that, I got ready to go dance. Yay!

Despite the best efforts of the construction mess that is downtown Tucson right now, I made it to the dance. (And I'm realizing I sort of know this city; I'm not an expert, but managed to create a detour for myself that worked.) The dance was at a senior center, and there were people of all ages there. And they had a live band and the music was good.

How was the dance? It was pretty good. There weren't a ton of people there, but enough that I felt like I danced a sufficient number of dances. There was one older guy that asked me to dance about 10 times. But I really didn't mind because he was really fun to dance with. (And not creepy or anything.) And usually after every dance he'd ask me if he was being too "rough" (as in flinging me around too much). I said no, and then he'd say something about how he "just really loved those big swing outs." It was really cute, actually. I know a couple people from the Tucson scene, but none of them were there, sadly enough. Next time, hopefully!

Following the dance (which ended at 11:00), I went to ... dun dun! ... In-n-Out for dinner. Yay! (I'd barely eaten anything all day!) This is me enjoying my dinner, post-dance, back in my hotel room.


This morning (Sunday) I made it to 9:00am church, which might sound surprising given I went to sleep at about 2:00am. But I didn't sleep very well post-5am, so getting up wasn't too much of a problem. The building was really close to my hotel which made it nice. The talks were all about the Proclamation on the Family, and I'll spare the details of the high councilman's talk in which he kept saying things that probably offended half the ward. Alas. But I did find this display on the bulletin board:


I refrain from commenting.

I got checked out of my hotel, and then drove 10 miles out of my way to get chicken friend chicken and biscuits and gravy from Cracker Barrel. I saw it on my way down and couldn't stop thinking about it. :) I probably would have gone last night if I didn't have to wait to get my key.

Then up the mountain. Here I am and here I will be for the next 3 nights.