Our week in Phoenix is over and we have made our way back to New England and now is the time to fill you in on the trip. Cheri and I were up early on March 6th to catch a 7 a.m. flight out of Providence to Phoenix (by way of Cleveland). We arrived in the early afternoon, commandeered a rental car, and headed out to Jess’ place in Anthem, AZ.
Jess and Maggie met us at the door and we settled in for the first of several relaxing afternoons. Of course we were still on East Coast time (I mentioned this in the previous London close out note) so we quickly tucked into a couple of sandwiches and beverages. We sat around and visited most of the afternoon. Jess spent some time preparing a nice lasagna dinner for us and prior to dinner Cheri and I took Maggie for a walk (while Jess went to PT).
The next morning we got up fairly early (okay I got up early and had my regular fill of coffee, but Cheri wasn’t too far behind). Knowing the we would be subject to various meals and beverages over the week, we decided to head out for a short run / jog (our first in quite a long time). After we got back we sat outside near the pool and visited and did a little computer work.
Jess soon joined us and we planned the day ahead.
Our First stop was for lunch at Chino Bandido, Mexican-Asian Fusion. Jess first heard of this place on Food TV’s “Diners, Dives and Drive-in’s” and had been there at least once before. As unusual as it sounds, we had a great meal. I had two different types of
quesadillas, one with jerk chicken and the other with spicy Mexican beef(manchuro?). I had jerk chicken fried rice (the Asian part of this meal) along side and would it have been complete without some refried beans on the side as well. The meal included free snicker-doodles or volcano cookies (similar to a lava cake only in a cookie form). We ended up taking back a half dozen of each for snacking on the rest of the week—remember the earlier comment about needing to run while we are in Phoenix.
Then it was off to Squaw Peak in the Phoenix Mountains. This is a popular spot for a hike up one of the peaks surrounding Phoenix and it being a Saturday the trail was a little crowded. On our other trips out here we have commented that it would be fun to go up some of these peaks and they didn’t look that hard. We found out that the view from a distance is quite different from the experience of this type of hiking. The lower portion are steps made out of the surrounding stones and switch back-and-forth up the edge of the mountain face.
After a short distance you start to go from steps to a more rugged path and the footing becomes a little tougher on the stone cut trail. The trail width you see in this picture is about three feet wide and the stone is somewhat chiseled into a pathway.
Here a Cheri and Jess at one of the outlooks on the way up and you can see Phoenix and the Southern Mountains in the background.
We did make it to the top and managed to get pictures of each of us up there.
It was a great to see Phoenix from this point of view and it certainly gave us a different perspective on what it takes to climb these little “hills” around Phoenix.
After getting back down off the Peak it was time to head back to Jess’ place in Anthem and get ready for supper. Andrew, who had been a part of the original three musketeers heading out to Phoenix, joined us for dinner and it was fun to share the stories of their time in the Southwest.
Jess and Maggie met us at the door and we settled in for the first of several relaxing afternoons. Of course we were still on East Coast time (I mentioned this in the previous London close out note) so we quickly tucked into a couple of sandwiches and beverages. We sat around and visited most of the afternoon. Jess spent some time preparing a nice lasagna dinner for us and prior to dinner Cheri and I took Maggie for a walk (while Jess went to PT).
The next morning we got up fairly early (okay I got up early and had my regular fill of coffee, but Cheri wasn’t too far behind). Knowing the we would be subject to various meals and beverages over the week, we decided to head out for a short run / jog (our first in quite a long time). After we got back we sat outside near the pool and visited and did a little computer work.
Jess soon joined us and we planned the day ahead.
Our First stop was for lunch at Chino Bandido, Mexican-Asian Fusion. Jess first heard of this place on Food TV’s “Diners, Dives and Drive-in’s” and had been there at least once before. As unusual as it sounds, we had a great meal. I had two different types of
quesadillas, one with jerk chicken and the other with spicy Mexican beef(manchuro?). I had jerk chicken fried rice (the Asian part of this meal) along side and would it have been complete without some refried beans on the side as well. The meal included free snicker-doodles or volcano cookies (similar to a lava cake only in a cookie form). We ended up taking back a half dozen of each for snacking on the rest of the week—remember the earlier comment about needing to run while we are in Phoenix.
Then it was off to Squaw Peak in the Phoenix Mountains. This is a popular spot for a hike up one of the peaks surrounding Phoenix and it being a Saturday the trail was a little crowded. On our other trips out here we have commented that it would be fun to go up some of these peaks and they didn’t look that hard. We found out that the view from a distance is quite different from the experience of this type of hiking. The lower portion are steps made out of the surrounding stones and switch back-and-forth up the edge of the mountain face.
After a short distance you start to go from steps to a more rugged path and the footing becomes a little tougher on the stone cut trail. The trail width you see in this picture is about three feet wide and the stone is somewhat chiseled into a pathway.
Here a Cheri and Jess at one of the outlooks on the way up and you can see Phoenix and the Southern Mountains in the background.
We did make it to the top and managed to get pictures of each of us up there.
It was a great to see Phoenix from this point of view and it certainly gave us a different perspective on what it takes to climb these little “hills” around Phoenix.
After getting back down off the Peak it was time to head back to Jess’ place in Anthem and get ready for supper. Andrew, who had been a part of the original three musketeers heading out to Phoenix, joined us for dinner and it was fun to share the stories of their time in the Southwest.
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