Wednesday, December 21, 2005

hats Our hats sit on a shelf awaiting the trip home...

We left for Christmas with Ron's family today. Normally I like to travel at a time of day where there will be the least number of people and I can stay as relaxed as possible, which means early in the morning. If I am not sitting right next to Ron when he books the flight though, he books it sometime in the middle of the day so he doesn't have to get out of bed.

I don't like flying. Part of it is just basic fear of flying. I used to chant to myself "you are safer in an airplane than you are in the bathtub, you are safer in an airplane than you are in the bathtub," though now I just picture a science magazine diagram of arrows on a wing showing the air pressure. Really, once the plane is going fast enough, it -has- to fly. Really.

Ron on the other hand, loves to fly. I used to always sit on the aisle so I could go to the bathroom without having to bother anyone, but now I always end up in the middle seat so Ron can have a window. My favorite planes are the ones with a row of three seats on one side, and a row of two on the other, then we both get what we want. Actually, considering how jammed together we were today, this may have been one of those plane only with six seats rather than five. There seems to be less room in the seats every time we fly.

Ron also enjoys the big crowds and all the drama and pageant of humanity you find at the airport. Big crowds of stressed people make me feel like I am getting hit repeatedly in the stomach with a stick.

The flight itself was okay. Lots of babies and small children, but aside from the repeated and overwhelming wafts of poopie diapers, there weren't any problems. Well, except for the couple that decided to keep their two year old amused with a small portable DVD player which they played Sesame Street videos on without any sort of headphones so we all got to listen. I'm not sure what made them think it would be okay to invade everyone's aural space when we are already jammed together too tight to breath (I couldn't even type this on the plane...my elbows would have been jammed into Ron and the guy on the other side's ribs.)

During the landing I commented on how small the part of Phoenix that has tall buildings is. "It looks more like Spokane in size than a city bigger than Seattle."

"And the tallest building is older than me," Ron said.

"Wow! It must be on the national register of historic buildings."

Now, Ron has a habit of not really listening when I talk (and having met his mom and sisters, I understand why) so I he smiled and nodded in agreement.

Pause, 1, 2, 3. Dirty look. "I love you too dear...."

We arrived in Phoenix around 5:00 and I went to get the luggage while Ron went to get the rental car. He couldn't remember who he reserved the car through, so he just guessed. They didn't have a record of our reservation, so he must have guessed wrong. For some reason he was reluctant to wander from counter to counter saying, "did I reserve my car through you?" so he just went with the first one he tried.

We are now driving a powder blue Chevy Aveo. I pull my hat way down over my face and sit real low in the seat. Its really embarassing. It makes our Honda Civic look like a Z3 by comparison. I'll have to buy the Honda a nice gasoline additive when we get home to let it know its appreciated.

We were really hungry by the time we got to Ron's Mom's house so we went right out the door to dinner. Once again I was struck by how much easier it is to get good Mexican food in Seattle than it is in Tempe. My enchiladas had the pre-digested taste that you get in TV-dinner enchiladas and I think the salsa was Hunt's Fiesta Flavored stewed tomatoes. To be fair, it is that bad at chain restaurants in Seattle too, and Ron's family only goes to chain restaurants, so I actually don't know if there is any good food in the entire Phoenix metropolitan area. If lived here, I would be able to search out the small, owner run places that we love in Seattle, but I don't so I'm not.

Ron's Mom asked us if we had any plans for the week. Ron told her we were thinking of going out to Taliesin West since we had not been there before. "Oh, that sounds nice. There is a new Western store in Scottsdale too."

Right now I am hiding in the bedroom. Ron's Mom is chatting and Ron is reading something and saying, "hmm" or "huh!" in all the pauses. (He tries that with me, but I'm not a good Christian woman, so I call him on it...)

We are staying in his old bedroom, which is kind of fun, though most of his stuff has been gone for years. The bed is only full size which is a challenge, but I like snuggling, so that is okay.

More excitement tomorrow!

Wednesday, December 22nd, 2005

It is worse than we thought. By twilight, the car is powder blue. In the full light of the Arizona sun, it is Bridesmaid Seafoam green. Also, did you know they still make cars where all the other doors don't lock automatically when the driver locks his door?

Last night was difficult. The bad Mexican food did not rest comfortably, and Ron's mom keeps the house at 75°so we somehow had to be comfortable in a full size bed with me having an icky tummy's and Ron being too overheated to be touched. We finally figured out that since the door was closed, we could open the window without the heat kicking on, so that helped a lot.

Today was mostly running around getting last minute gifts. That is always fun. I had my mocha from Starbucks iced. Ron was appalled. "It's winter! You can't have an iced drink."

"It's 40° at home, we might as well be in Australia here it is so warm, and it is summer there!"

Navigating is fun since it has been long enough since Ron lived here that he is not sure what is still there or not. I try to help by assuring him that the place we are looking for is in a Southwest theme strip malls with stucco walls and spanish tile roofs. I'm always right!

We ran into ubermunkey at the Borders in downtown Tempe which was very fun. I am bad at recognizing people from their pictures, but he was instantly recognizable (and as cute as he is in his pictures, he is way cuter in person!)

We went to Serenity at the two dollar cinema tonight after dinner. We had not seen it yet, so that was a lot of fun. It is a really good movie.

That is it for now. More adventure tomorrow!