June 2, 2008 @ 10:07
Scottsdale, Arizona - This trip got off to a good start because of the Air Canada factor. We didn’t fly Air Canada.
It meant a fast and efficient check in with a smile not a scowl, and a large luxurious jet with leather seats that were half-empty.
Me and my sweet had a whole row to ourselves. It got me to thinking about joining the mile high club but the blankets they provided weren’t big enough and to be honest, given a choice, Delyse would rather open the emergency door and jump out at 37 thousand feet.
I should mention that we did encounter one problem before departure. There were only three American customs guys on duty. It wasn’t the busiest day at Pearson, but three wasn’t nearly enough and it took us about forty minutes to get through.
Just another thing about the Toronto airport experience – from my experience – there’s always something. It’s seems you can blow through other major airports like Atlanta, Raleigh and Chicago without much of a problem, but Toronto always seems to throw you a curve.
Arrival in Phoenix brought another surprise of medium proportion. At the car rental desk it was brought to my attention that taxes on the PT Cruiser I was about to get would be forty seven percent.
“You’ve got to be kidding” said Fred.
“Nope, we’ve got to pay for all these stadiums somehow,” said the obviously biased car rental attendant.
“What do you mean” I replied.
“To build Chase Stadium for the Diamondbacks and the US Airways Centre for the Coyotes, the state of Arizona decided to institute heavy taxes on tourism to pay the bills and rental cars were hit really hard.”
In other words, hard working people on business or pleasure have to cough up more dough so guys like Randy Johnson can have somewhere to make twelve or thirteen million dollars a year. Another reason my interest in sports isn’t what it used to be.
Now here’s the hypocritical part.
I went to the Diamondback’s game yesterday. Whenever I’m in a city with major league sports facilities I like to check them out. Yesterday was no different.
Delyse and I headed for Phoenix about ten in the morning, parked the car for free believe it or not, walked around the quiet city for a couple of hours, then bought a pair of six dollar tickets that were remarkably good.
It was a fun couple of hours. It got us out of the 98 degree heat and into an air conditioned stadium that Skydome haters would probably hate just as much.
In Toronto, we have a closed stadium that opens for games. In Phoenix, they have an open stadium that closes for games. The heat is so punishing, they have to close it just before game time or nobody will come, but it makes for a weird feeling.
There’s bright sunshine and heat outside, but inside its dark and dank and cool. Again, all the things that Skydome haters hate, is provided at Chase stadium. But at least in Toronto, when the sun is shining, you can feel it.
We stayed until the sixth inning with the Diamondbacks enjoying a 5-0 lead, then headed back to the Scottsdale area to do a little shopping.
It’s the off-season in Arizona, so you pretty well have the streets and the stores to yourself. Not that it bothered me, because people tend to bother me a lot more.
The streets of Phoenix were like a ghost town and Scottsdale wasn’t much different. Literally, nobody on the streets, including a trendy little shopping area called Fifth Avenue.
We walked around for an hour so, headed back to the fine hotel we booked, had a swim and 16 oz Bud Lite, then headed for Delyse’s favourite American restaurant chain, The Cheesecake Factory.
If ever you’re down in the states you’ve gotta check one of these places out. There’s one in Buffalo near the Galleria Mall. I won’t get into a long description other than to say you don’t have to go beyond the appetizer menu. That’s all we ever order for dinner.
After dinner last night we stopped in a Walgreen’s to buy a couple of things, we got into a mild argument about the quality of fish oil on sale, and then headed back to our room where we crashed because we’re still feeling the affects of the time change.
Today we’re going to climb Camelback Mountain and then visit an area called Old Town.
Ya buggers.
Category: Stuff
Site Feed
Recent Posts, Recent Comments & Categories
