It has been a busy week!

September 3, 2008
Peoria, AZ

Whew! It's been quite busy over the past week, and I haven't had the time I'd wanted to keep the blog up to date. Primarily, that's been related to some picture-taking opportunities, but also to our first scheduled return to the Phoenix area.

Last week was hot at Lake Powell, hotter than I'd expected it to be. I wanted to get close enough to home so that we could make relatively easy trips back for Geri's dental work, but still beat the heat. I didn't do the right research when scheduling our stops, but we're definitely making the best of it.

We made a couple of day trips aimed at finding cooler spots, and were very successful. I also got some good photos, and that's the source for some of my delay in posting. I've been playing around with some new filters for the camera lenses, primarily a new circular polarizer (this filter helps reduce glare and enhance blue skies). As a result, some of the images I've captured are too dark, and require some PC processing before I can post them. I just haven't gotten to that work yet, so pictures will come later.

Last Wednesday, we drove south from Lake Powell, then west to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. This area is known for thunderstorms on summer afternoons and we saw some clouds building but didn't get wet. We found the 8,000+ foot elevations brought temperatures in the mid-60s to low-70s that were quite pleasant. We packed the pups and a lunch, and stopped to eat at a picnic area right along the Canyon. It was a nice trip, retracing our steps from a visit many years ago. For the return trip, we headed north from the Canyon into Utah, and then east back to Lake Powell. It was a long day, as we didn't get back home until well after dark.

On Saturday, we made another day trip, this time back into Utah, first stopping at Cedar Breaks National Monument, and then Bryce Canyon National Park. The geology and topography in these two areas is similar, although the Breaks is a natural amphitheater and Bryce is (duh) a canyon. Both are filled with rock features called hoodoos, vertical fingers of rock that have eroded away over time. We climbed higher on this loop, with Bryce topping out at 9,100 feet and Cedar Breaks around 10,600 feet; the temperature stayed in the low-to-mid 60s. The normal afternoon thunderstorms were forming as we left Bryce and we could see rain showers in the distance as we drove home.

Saturday night, the rains came to Lake Powell, after a long evening of a light show from the lightning in the distance. Since the forecast called for more rain on Sunday, we decided to move our trip back to Peoria up by a day, leaving Sunday morning instead of Monday. This was probably a wise choice, since we were able to get settled in and make sure that everything was OK with the house, and still have Monday open for any needed shopping, etc.

The drive from Lake Powell took a little under 5 hours, as planned, with a couple of stops for gas, food and "rest". It's pretty much a straight shot south from Page to Flagstaff along US-89 and then I-17 to Phoenix. It's a climb from 4,000 feet to over 7,000 near Flagstaff, then a drop to about 1,200 feet in Phoenix. Of course, this is spread over many miles, but you can definitely tell when you're going "up" or "down". There were storms around Flagstaff; we could see them in the distance as we approached from the north, then we got hammered for the first hour or so of driving once we got on I-17. We had rain so heavy at one point that I was glad there was an 18-wheeler ten car lengths ahead of me, because that was the only way I knew where the road was. Gladly, he actually stayed on the road! We ran out of the rain before we got to Phoenix, and it was just partly cloudy and warm (mid-90s, not 100+) when we got home.

Everything was fine with the house, which was fortunate given the holiday weekend. No exploding toilets when the water was turned on, and no issues with the gas. The A/C was reset from its 88 degree mark and everything cooled off nicely.

Monday was a day of running around. We did some shopping at Cabela's for replacement outdoor chairs and tables to keep in the coach; we'd seen some in CT and decided to pick them up before we head to the Balloon Fiesta. And, Geri had a chance to get a manicure and pedicure, since she was way overdue.

Tuesday, we started off at Geri’s periodontist. His task was to evaluate her dental implants for proper healing, and to “release” the first two to the prostodontist for installing the teeth. Fortunately, everything worked out very well, and we’re “good to go” for the first two implants. As expected, the second two implants need a bit more healing, and will then need to be “uncovered”. Apparently, on the “uppers”, they want the gum tissue to grow back and cover the implant for healing, something not needed on the “lowers”. We made the appointment for the “uncovering” in late October; that will need an additional month to heal before the process of installing teeth can start. I never realized how long this stuff takes!

Last night, we attended another baseball game, this time the local Diamondbacks hosting the St. Louis Cardinals. Although there’s a rumor that we jinxed the home team, we prefer to believe that they managed to lose “big time” all on their own. Chase Field is a beautiful park, though, and it was quite comfortable with the roof closed (95° outside and 77° inside at game time. The D-Backs lost, but it was a good game for the visitors; we were both surprised at how many St. Louis fans were in attendance. I suppose we shouldn’t be, though, since Phoenix is one of those places where “nobody is really from here”, with a lot of transplants. Fortunately, we had very good seats, about 30 rows up from the visiting dugout. We were also fortunate that the 20-something Cro-Magnon sitting in front of us with his pants hanging down left after the third inning, or maybe that he remembered to wear his “Superman” undies. Or both. Ugh! We really enjoyed seeing the “Cuervo Guy” hawking frozen Margaritas in the stands, and both commented on how much Al would have enjoyed the game and venue.

Today, we both had appointments with the prostodontist. Geri had her impressions taken for the teeth that will go on the implants, and that went very well. We decided to wait until we get back in October to have them installed, which will save us from having to drive back from Santa Fe later this month. I had my loose bridge re-cemented, and hopefully I’ll be able to get another year or so out of it before we have to rebuild it or move to an implant for me as well. I was worried that he wouldn’t be able (or willing) to do anything today, so I’d prepared myself, but it’s good to have it back in with something other than Fix-o-dent.

We’ve been eating well and enjoying the “wine box” since we’ve been back, shopping twice at AJ’s Fine Foods (our local gourmet shop). Monday, we had some nice steaks (filet mignon for Geri and porterhouse for me) and today we had some halibut fillets, poached with tomatoes and basil, with a creamy orzo with peas. Makes us anxious to get back for the winter!