4.02.2005
i'm back, yo!
for all 3 or 4 of you who have been wondering, i'm back!
here's a recap:
sunday: drove up to San Jose and parked the car at the clarion hotel (note to burninators: we might want to do this for Denver - close by and good service) and shuttled to the airport. the security folks had a fun time examining my dad's CPAP machine and while they were doing so, instructed my dad that he was not to touch the bag. that reminded me of "NO TOUCHING!" from arrested development, and i chuckled, causing the inspection lady to give me stank-eye. after that lovely event we had a nice flight to Phoenix and then got our rental car. my dad navigated and we found our way to the hotel in Scottsdale. after getting our stuff up to the room, my dad figured we'd have enough time to drive down to Gila Bend to find the monuments that were put up in 1995 to mark the site of the relocation camps during WWII. took us about an hour to get there, and once we did we found out that nobody really knew anything about where the camps might have been located. one guy we talked to at a gas station thought he remembered hearing about it being located near an air force base...so we drove to the air force base and the lady there sent us back to where we were. after more driving around we decided that we probably weren't going to find it. so back to the hotel we went.
monday: my dad took down some phone numbers when we were in Gila Bend and called Monday morning. we were able to figure out that the monuments were about 20 miles away from Gila Bend in a town called Sacaton. not only that, but the monuments were located on an Indian reservation and there was a $100 fee to see the sites. but since my parents were both interned at the camps, the fee was waived and a very nice guy named Tony came to meet us in Sacaton. he drove us out to the sites of the two camps and trust me, without him there's absolutely no way we would have found these sites. the whole thing was pretty weird for me and i can't imagine how it felt for my parents. just knowing that they lived there for about 20 months was strange, and my dad later told me that he was just thinking of all that my grandparents had to go through. my folks were pretty sure that they recognized some of the mountainous areas - where they watched movies, where my dad went to catch toads and other critters, what the mountains looked like in the distance. it was very moving and i'm pretty sure very hard for my folks. Tony let my dad take a rock from one of the camp sites and now it's sitting on the base of a lamp that my grandpa made from ironwood while he was in that camp.
that was just the beginning of monday; the rest of the day was spent driving to the arizona sonora desert museum. looking back on it, this was my favorite stop of the trip. the drive through the desert just to get to the museum was amazing. all sorts of succulents lining the roads, and of course the awesome saguaro were a sight to see. my mom, being the lover of cactus and succulents, was going nuts. and it was very cute to see. the outdoor museum was really nice - all sorts of wildlife to see (the prarie dogs being my favorite) and lots and lots of succulents. we were fortunate to have good weather - warm but overcast, so no direct sun. we made it back to Scottsdale around 7 and then went to dinner at Don and Charlie's. this was a real treat: not only did i have a great filet but i also got to take in some of the sports memorabilia that lined every square inch of the place.
tuesday: hey, we came for spring training, right? after a stop (that was much too quick) at Taliesen, we headed to Scottsdale Stadium to see the Giants-Diamondbacks game. i love the stadium - every seat is so close to the field and the outfield grass seating is something i'd like to try some time. my boy Will had already left the D'backs' camp but i got to watch some of the Giants' young guys i'd been wanting to see. we had to leave after just 4 innings because we had to drive to Sedona, so that was a bit of a bummer. but what we did see made me decide that i definitely want to go back to spring training again, preferably a little earlier in camp, and for at least 4 or 5 days so i can follow the Giants around from one city to another. hopefully my bro will be able to come with me whenever i do go again.
so we headed back to the hotel and along the way i saw the sidewalk of burnination. drove around 2.5 hours up to Sedona and the view of the red rocks was incredible. we got there a few hours before sunset so the angle of the sun hitting the rocks was great. those rocks are really red, hence the name. :-) we had dinner at a place called Oaxaca and it was quite tasty. a bit spicy for me, but then again, what isn't spicy for me? if you're ever in Sedona, i recommend eating here.
wednesday: drove another 2 hours or so to the grand canyon and then waited in a line of cars for an hour just to get into the park. but wow, was it worth it! just the quick views we saw on our way to the lodge were great, but then we actually shuttled to a few stops and got wonderful views of the canyon. yup, it's pretty darn big. we weren't able to do much walking around because my dad's legs were pretty weary by this point, but i'm really glad that we were all able to see it. it was my first time there and my mom's first time there. my dad had been there when he was around 7 years old but didn't remember much about it. there was still snow on the ground in many areas so we tried to keep my dad as warm as possible.
thursday: drove to the east end of the south rim to get a view of the desert part of the canyon and then hightailed it back to phoenix to turn in the car and catch our flight. made it back to san jose, called our shuttle service (and it only took them 10 mintues to pick us up!) then drove home to Monterey. it's funny how no matter how great of a trip it was, it's always nice to be home.
i played the role of tech support on friday, setting up my mom's new computer and transferring all her files over, importing email addresses, etc. some of my parent's friends from college were driving through the area so they came over for lunch. it was nice meeting these folks i hear so much about. i guess i met them before, when i was 4 or 5, but i hadn't remembered them. it was pretty cute watching them all reminisce about the good old days.
so, phew. i'm back. had a great time and am looking forward to hockey tomorrow. woo!
here's a recap:
sunday: drove up to San Jose and parked the car at the clarion hotel (note to burninators: we might want to do this for Denver - close by and good service) and shuttled to the airport. the security folks had a fun time examining my dad's CPAP machine and while they were doing so, instructed my dad that he was not to touch the bag. that reminded me of "NO TOUCHING!" from arrested development, and i chuckled, causing the inspection lady to give me stank-eye. after that lovely event we had a nice flight to Phoenix and then got our rental car. my dad navigated and we found our way to the hotel in Scottsdale. after getting our stuff up to the room, my dad figured we'd have enough time to drive down to Gila Bend to find the monuments that were put up in 1995 to mark the site of the relocation camps during WWII. took us about an hour to get there, and once we did we found out that nobody really knew anything about where the camps might have been located. one guy we talked to at a gas station thought he remembered hearing about it being located near an air force base...so we drove to the air force base and the lady there sent us back to where we were. after more driving around we decided that we probably weren't going to find it. so back to the hotel we went.
monday: my dad took down some phone numbers when we were in Gila Bend and called Monday morning. we were able to figure out that the monuments were about 20 miles away from Gila Bend in a town called Sacaton. not only that, but the monuments were located on an Indian reservation and there was a $100 fee to see the sites. but since my parents were both interned at the camps, the fee was waived and a very nice guy named Tony came to meet us in Sacaton. he drove us out to the sites of the two camps and trust me, without him there's absolutely no way we would have found these sites. the whole thing was pretty weird for me and i can't imagine how it felt for my parents. just knowing that they lived there for about 20 months was strange, and my dad later told me that he was just thinking of all that my grandparents had to go through. my folks were pretty sure that they recognized some of the mountainous areas - where they watched movies, where my dad went to catch toads and other critters, what the mountains looked like in the distance. it was very moving and i'm pretty sure very hard for my folks. Tony let my dad take a rock from one of the camp sites and now it's sitting on the base of a lamp that my grandpa made from ironwood while he was in that camp.
that was just the beginning of monday; the rest of the day was spent driving to the arizona sonora desert museum. looking back on it, this was my favorite stop of the trip. the drive through the desert just to get to the museum was amazing. all sorts of succulents lining the roads, and of course the awesome saguaro were a sight to see. my mom, being the lover of cactus and succulents, was going nuts. and it was very cute to see. the outdoor museum was really nice - all sorts of wildlife to see (the prarie dogs being my favorite) and lots and lots of succulents. we were fortunate to have good weather - warm but overcast, so no direct sun. we made it back to Scottsdale around 7 and then went to dinner at Don and Charlie's. this was a real treat: not only did i have a great filet but i also got to take in some of the sports memorabilia that lined every square inch of the place.
tuesday: hey, we came for spring training, right? after a stop (that was much too quick) at Taliesen, we headed to Scottsdale Stadium to see the Giants-Diamondbacks game. i love the stadium - every seat is so close to the field and the outfield grass seating is something i'd like to try some time. my boy Will had already left the D'backs' camp but i got to watch some of the Giants' young guys i'd been wanting to see. we had to leave after just 4 innings because we had to drive to Sedona, so that was a bit of a bummer. but what we did see made me decide that i definitely want to go back to spring training again, preferably a little earlier in camp, and for at least 4 or 5 days so i can follow the Giants around from one city to another. hopefully my bro will be able to come with me whenever i do go again.
so we headed back to the hotel and along the way i saw the sidewalk of burnination. drove around 2.5 hours up to Sedona and the view of the red rocks was incredible. we got there a few hours before sunset so the angle of the sun hitting the rocks was great. those rocks are really red, hence the name. :-) we had dinner at a place called Oaxaca and it was quite tasty. a bit spicy for me, but then again, what isn't spicy for me? if you're ever in Sedona, i recommend eating here.
wednesday: drove another 2 hours or so to the grand canyon and then waited in a line of cars for an hour just to get into the park. but wow, was it worth it! just the quick views we saw on our way to the lodge were great, but then we actually shuttled to a few stops and got wonderful views of the canyon. yup, it's pretty darn big. we weren't able to do much walking around because my dad's legs were pretty weary by this point, but i'm really glad that we were all able to see it. it was my first time there and my mom's first time there. my dad had been there when he was around 7 years old but didn't remember much about it. there was still snow on the ground in many areas so we tried to keep my dad as warm as possible.
thursday: drove to the east end of the south rim to get a view of the desert part of the canyon and then hightailed it back to phoenix to turn in the car and catch our flight. made it back to san jose, called our shuttle service (and it only took them 10 mintues to pick us up!) then drove home to Monterey. it's funny how no matter how great of a trip it was, it's always nice to be home.
i played the role of tech support on friday, setting up my mom's new computer and transferring all her files over, importing email addresses, etc. some of my parent's friends from college were driving through the area so they came over for lunch. it was nice meeting these folks i hear so much about. i guess i met them before, when i was 4 or 5, but i hadn't remembered them. it was pretty cute watching them all reminisce about the good old days.
so, phew. i'm back. had a great time and am looking forward to hockey tomorrow. woo!
# posted by cheddah : 10:11 PM
