Mountainous

I took hardly any photos during my loop bus/light rail tour of Phoenix/Tempe/Scottsdale, which I found to be sleepy and marked by a handful of tall buildings, cars, what felt like 50 miles of strip malls, and very few people. Where are they all? I felt occasionally like I had been dropped into an empty city, not completely convinced of the over 4 million population. There certainly were enough miles and miles and miles of houses for all of them, but not much sign on the sidewalks or streets. The only person I saw near downtown was a chatty man resting at a bus stop, adding strips of colored duct tape to his weather-beaten scooter.

Clearly, discovering Phoenix will take several returns and a gas-efficient car.

I did find tacos! There were too many possibilities...I missed out on Juan's, with "cheap, really good tacos and margaritas," recommended by Tyler the shuttle driver. I did, however, eat Peking Duck, coffee-braised beef, and guac/cilantro pork tacos at the Taco Guild, housed in an old Methodist church with the announcement board still hanging inside. They boast multitudes of tequilas, and flavorful and creative but not too-cool-for-school combinations of taco fillings. And really friendly, accommodating service.

The mountains were easy to photograph and easy to love. Mark and I went on an explore for a day, one that included desert protrusions and mountain rims, a rain storm and lessons learned about taking pictures of the trail maps before heading out. We made it down the mountain with soggy feet 5 minutes before the sun dropped. The day also brought huge pies and cobblers at Miss Fitz's Cafe in Payson, Arizona. It was the kind of place with a joke-cracking waiter and a long-time cook whose daughter is the waitress, where homemade pea soup and chili were quickly consumed.

The end of the day also took us to Eric and Daphne's! We were happy with the chance to hang out for a couple of hours (and the perfect end-of-hike, rainy day beans).

On a different subject:
I don't think there are any real possibilities here, but I would love to talk to someone with real knowledge of and connections into the world of computers about recovering my blog. It ran from about 2002-2012 under a domain that doesn't exist anymore...if anyone has thoughts/ideas, please email me!
I'm sure if I ran for office, somebody somewhere would be able to dig it up.