Wednesday, Valentine's Day, Kala & I drove to Phoenix trading 3 hr stints behind the wheel. We went down to the desert a smidge early this year as her company's go-live at work is in April and she needs to be back in COS for the work up to culmination. We VRBOed a cheesy but satisfactory bed and shower condo in Old Town Scottsdale this year for its central locale and low burden on locals.
Thursday featured time with Marinick and Kesterson. Michael & I climbed the iconic Camelback Mtn from the Cholla TH. This is a rigorous and exposed hike with 1500 ft of vert over 1.5 miles with plenty of Class 3 moves over granite ~ it was a blast and provided great 360° views of Phoenix and surrounding towns. Below is a pan south and our hands on the missing benchmark @ the summit. The brown cloud of winter was evident. Kala visited Hoyt at the venerable Duck & Decanter (no pics). Afterward we met up with Michael & Maria for a great dinner and visit at The Gladly downtown. Delicious and wonderful discussions with our friends (no pics).
Friday after breakfast and sugarless coffee (more non-stocked items at the condo) we headed past McCormick Ranch where we held our wedding reception 43 years ago. Nice grounds which haven't changed much in those few years.
For this day's hike we chose to scramble around the Phx Mtn Preserve from our old neighborhood at 32nd St & Shea. We did a stout hike up & along one of the larger E-W ridgelines. We stopped at "Matt's Pk," up to the point where a young Matt used to hike, and then we climbed. The expansive views north were not as socked with the brown cloud. It brought back great memories of hiking and riding here, including those for Kala when she and Karen hiked with their young Matt & Jeff in backpacks. As we are early, we didn't see any desert bloom yet but the views were sublime on another great day. It was keen seeing ocotillos, saguaros, chollas, barrels, and hedgehogs again.
After hiking, we grabbed a good pizza and salad with David at a local spot and shared what old folks often do, tales of health changes. It was good to grab some time with our old friend David.
That evening we celebrated Karen's birthday with her and Jimmy... we started at the nice Blue Water Grill and got a fancy G&T for the birthday girl. Then we were off to Richardson's for dinner. This was Kala's & my favorite restaurant in Phoenix and a reprise was warranted ~ especially when combined with a night out with Karen. These days it is a mob scene with densely packed valet parking and tough reservation rules, but we were able to sit in the original bar area, as we often had. Great vibe, great friends, and great food, if not replete with big prices these days.
Saturday we went over to sister Letha's for a day of games, kibitzing, and walking. She showed us around her keenly appointed home with perfectly matching colors and accoutrements. We had lunch in, and we played a wicked game of hearts. The cats remained behind the scenes... fully hidden. We even introduced her to Torchy's, a site of which was nearby. It was great seeing my sister who seems damn good; she's a lil' devil though.
Sunday Karen had a big day planned for us ~ we started at the famous Olive Mill in Queen Creek, AZ. A solo artist was playing covers on the huge olive covered patio area and we enjoyed excellent brunch items while sampling plenty of their olive oils, hot sauces, and other wares. We even walked around and checked out the grounds and items growing. It was very nice. After brunch we headed out "in the vicinity," according to Karen, to the Lost Dutchman St Pk at the base of the Superstition Mtns and took and excellent hike up to some rock formations. It was a fine hike and I even toted a treat for the team. See Four Pks in the background, right of the jumping cholla ~ Kala & I hiked up and camped in the saddle to the left there 40 years ago... so cool. Great views all around ~ great time with great friends.
We headed back to Karen's for happy hour and a great steak salad dinner with stellar dressing (which we copied). We were fortunate to catch Jeff, who'd headed back early from his work site in Pinetop. Awesome.
Monday, President's Day, was spent with long-time great friends Steve & Anne. Steve and I played golf @ Foothills while the ladies did tennis stuff and walked the Gordon's neighborhood. All the quail, dove, and roadrunners seemed to have moved to Steve's Weiskopf-designed club. It took me 20 more strokes than Steve ~ but that's my game of hackery. I even had to wrestle an errant shot from a dead pile of bougainvillea & ocotillo ~ the pile won while I added blood to my golf towel.
We had a killer 2012 cabernet sauvignon after a nice lunch and ultimately headed back to Scottsdale for a dinner downtown at Citizen Public. That too was excellent. We caught up on so many issues with our great friends.
Tuesday we met up with my dear friend Swish. These rare encounters are always cherished. We've been close friends since meeting and forming the Becht Gang in our 'hood 60 years ago (no pics). Kala & I then jetted home for a change and saw a nice century plant in the courtyard shooting its 100 yr stalk ~ awesome. We headed north to the Scottsdale Fine Arts Festival... OMG 100 stellar current artisans, many from AZ and all from the west, convened to do work, show work, and sell work... one of the coolest displays of modern art we've attended (thanks MM). We had a blast reviewing the entire set of works ~ Kala even chatted up management and got our entrance comped. So, it was well worth the $0 we paid. We met up with M&M's artist friend Trevor Swanson of the AZ birds and landscapes.
After a trip around the canvases and sculptures we contemplated fire pits and water fountains but nah. We headed out for a brewery tour and a stop at Bianca for pizza Tuesday, a religion of mine, lest we replace that with taco Tuesday. What a blast at The Wren House (super good hazy named Spellbinder, best in the Valley IMO), Bianco margarita pizza, and (new to us) Goldwater Brewing (hazy IPA called Golden Fox), near the condo.
What an excellent spring stop in our old haunt ~ we always have a complete blast with our desert friends, and even immensely enjoy our simple outings together here. Tomorrow we head back to COS; it is time for Kala's software go-live and my spring skiing & fishing in the Rockies.
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