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I need a vacation from this vacation.
Mar. 22nd, 2005 09:30 pmSo we're down in legendary Tombstone. It's been a long day. I'm not that excited about writing but there's nothing else to do after dark here.
We left before I woke up, though they tell me I was in fact, out of bed and moving. The SECOND airbed they gave me ALSO leaked, so I stayed out on the couch where I'd fell asleep while on the phone. It actually wasn't that bad. Definitely better than the back seat of our rented Suzuki SUV where I spent many hours the rest of the day.
Today was the drive southeast, Phoenix to Tucson and Tombstone. First stop was the University of Arizona to scope out their dance program. Apparantly it has caught the attention of my sister as a good place to go next year, so we thought we'd scope it out. Nice place, very large, about 3 times WWU's size. Very built-in-the-60s architecture - odd for the state's oldest university. They had an Old Main, but it looked like a mexican business instead of an Ivy League hall of academia. Full veranda, long, low roofline. Very Spanish Frontier. We talked to the dance department people, who were very nice but very straightforward about how competitive their program is. We went through their little science museum thingy, saw lots of sparkly mineral rocks, went through their student union (which looked a lot like a mall from the inside). Talked about how strangely whitebread is is here. Both Whitney and I attend very Northwest universities and are accustomed to having 30-40% of the student crowd be Asian. There were practically no iPods. Everyone wore backpacks. They looked like the midwest and acted like a bland California. There was exactly one coffeeshop, and it was closed. Despite being southwest, nobody was dressed Cowboy or Latino. Neither of us knew quite what to think.
It's weird because both of us already have colleges, we know what we're used to and what we like about that, but this is all different! She'd have to feel like a freshman again, but in a program that is appropriately career-oriented. We'll see.
I passed through a coffeeshop on University Ave on the way back to the car, and there were about 5 people in the back with their laptops and newspapers, and I was like, what's up my brothers. Enough with that socializing, eh?
We intended to scope out some other stuff in Tucson, like the old Mission, but it seems the storefronts roll up at 4 there, so we chewed through traffic and headed out to Tombstone. There isn't much out in this corner of the state, mostly scrub hills, a prison, a bombing range, and white trash.
No, the bombing range and the white trash are not related as far as I can tell. The prison, maybe.
Nice-looking area though, some actual TERRAIN up here (for once). It's high desert, a little more rugged than the flat paradise of Phoenix. Tombstone itself has a weird character, see it has the actual history behind it but the people seem conflicted as to how to best take advantage of it. They re-enact its famous shootouts, but they do it on paved streets. Citizens of the town dress and behave period-appropriate, then take off the costumes and drive their SUVs back to their modern homes a few miles away. We're staying in a motel that's been here since 1860, but the original building comprises only 1/3 of the place. You can tell which part because its solid adobe walls are about 2.5ft thick. Sadly, we didn't get a room in that section. Not a bad place though. Big rooms.
We got here at just about sunset, and it was gorgeous. We went for dinner at the only place in the AAA book, which coincidentally was recommended by the hotel checkin lady. It was a western-food restaurant, steaks, biscuits & gravy, etc. We made the mistake of ordering Mexican food at this place, and were subjected to the horror of NIGHT OF THE COLD CHIMICHANGAS!!!! Feel the kiss of chilled beef! Wince in disgust at the bacon-flavored refried beans!
Of course, we wouldn't have had this problem had we followed Rule 2 of eating in strange places: never order ethnic food at a restaurant at which no people of that ethnicity are eating or, worse, cooking. This place was full of midwest whitehairs, we should've ordered steak or chicken. We'll have to find the dirtiest, brownest, no-hablo-ingles mexican place in the area to erase the memory of that freezer-fresh crap.
But hey, what's a vacation without a bad meal or two. Glad we got it out of the way on Tuesday and still have 6 days of delicious meals left.
So tomorrow we're going to see what Tombstone has to offer BESIDES bad mexican food, then when we get tired we'll hit the 3-hour drive back to Phoenix. I just found out we are not, in fact, going to Flagstaff, just Prescott. So the rest of the trip looks like Tombstone->Phoenix/Phoenix/Prescott/Phoenix/Phoenix->Home in day order.
It's early but everyone's tired. It's been a long day in a small car. At least the weather is flawless and the misfortunes are few.
Music: RJD2 - Take Da Picture Off
Mood: dry
We left before I woke up, though they tell me I was in fact, out of bed and moving. The SECOND airbed they gave me ALSO leaked, so I stayed out on the couch where I'd fell asleep while on the phone. It actually wasn't that bad. Definitely better than the back seat of our rented Suzuki SUV where I spent many hours the rest of the day.
Today was the drive southeast, Phoenix to Tucson and Tombstone. First stop was the University of Arizona to scope out their dance program. Apparantly it has caught the attention of my sister as a good place to go next year, so we thought we'd scope it out. Nice place, very large, about 3 times WWU's size. Very built-in-the-60s architecture - odd for the state's oldest university. They had an Old Main, but it looked like a mexican business instead of an Ivy League hall of academia. Full veranda, long, low roofline. Very Spanish Frontier. We talked to the dance department people, who were very nice but very straightforward about how competitive their program is. We went through their little science museum thingy, saw lots of sparkly mineral rocks, went through their student union (which looked a lot like a mall from the inside). Talked about how strangely whitebread is is here. Both Whitney and I attend very Northwest universities and are accustomed to having 30-40% of the student crowd be Asian. There were practically no iPods. Everyone wore backpacks. They looked like the midwest and acted like a bland California. There was exactly one coffeeshop, and it was closed. Despite being southwest, nobody was dressed Cowboy or Latino. Neither of us knew quite what to think.
It's weird because both of us already have colleges, we know what we're used to and what we like about that, but this is all different! She'd have to feel like a freshman again, but in a program that is appropriately career-oriented. We'll see.
I passed through a coffeeshop on University Ave on the way back to the car, and there were about 5 people in the back with their laptops and newspapers, and I was like, what's up my brothers. Enough with that socializing, eh?
We intended to scope out some other stuff in Tucson, like the old Mission, but it seems the storefronts roll up at 4 there, so we chewed through traffic and headed out to Tombstone. There isn't much out in this corner of the state, mostly scrub hills, a prison, a bombing range, and white trash.
No, the bombing range and the white trash are not related as far as I can tell. The prison, maybe.
Nice-looking area though, some actual TERRAIN up here (for once). It's high desert, a little more rugged than the flat paradise of Phoenix. Tombstone itself has a weird character, see it has the actual history behind it but the people seem conflicted as to how to best take advantage of it. They re-enact its famous shootouts, but they do it on paved streets. Citizens of the town dress and behave period-appropriate, then take off the costumes and drive their SUVs back to their modern homes a few miles away. We're staying in a motel that's been here since 1860, but the original building comprises only 1/3 of the place. You can tell which part because its solid adobe walls are about 2.5ft thick. Sadly, we didn't get a room in that section. Not a bad place though. Big rooms.
We got here at just about sunset, and it was gorgeous. We went for dinner at the only place in the AAA book, which coincidentally was recommended by the hotel checkin lady. It was a western-food restaurant, steaks, biscuits & gravy, etc. We made the mistake of ordering Mexican food at this place, and were subjected to the horror of NIGHT OF THE COLD CHIMICHANGAS!!!! Feel the kiss of chilled beef! Wince in disgust at the bacon-flavored refried beans!
Of course, we wouldn't have had this problem had we followed Rule 2 of eating in strange places: never order ethnic food at a restaurant at which no people of that ethnicity are eating or, worse, cooking. This place was full of midwest whitehairs, we should've ordered steak or chicken. We'll have to find the dirtiest, brownest, no-hablo-ingles mexican place in the area to erase the memory of that freezer-fresh crap.
But hey, what's a vacation without a bad meal or two. Glad we got it out of the way on Tuesday and still have 6 days of delicious meals left.
So tomorrow we're going to see what Tombstone has to offer BESIDES bad mexican food, then when we get tired we'll hit the 3-hour drive back to Phoenix. I just found out we are not, in fact, going to Flagstaff, just Prescott. So the rest of the trip looks like Tombstone->Phoenix/Phoenix/Prescott/Phoenix/Phoenix->Home in day order.
It's early but everyone's tired. It's been a long day in a small car. At least the weather is flawless and the misfortunes are few.
Music: RJD2 - Take Da Picture Off
Mood: dry
