Larry Hauptman —Observational Documentary Photographs
Phoenix, Arizona - 2018 - Trip Notes
Great sunsets
November 30, 2018 - Travel Day
Flying economy, very tight and hot in cabin the whole way. Bumped into friends at the airport who also were traveling on our flight and happened to sit in economy comfort, the row in front of us. They looked about as uncomfortable but got better better snacks.
Luggage and car were no problem and Google showed us the way to the Marriott Vacation Club, a place we exchanged for one of Linda’s weeks in Aruba. Still the exchange was costly but we were seriously impressed with the two bedroom accommodations. A bit of traffic noise out on our deck but sunset was beautiful.
And we checked in just in time for the resort happy hour which ends at 5pm. Happy hour is a small out of doors pool bar where this evening was their wine and cheese event. Not their best feature. The food was awful sorry to say. Still the room is nice and tomorrow is more opportunity to eat.
Pinnacle Peak was a beautiful hike
December 1, 2018 - Hiked and Ate
Slept in and then to breakfast and then grocery shopping. We picked a nice place that turned out to have great food, very organic but tasty. Getting there was rough. I was directed by Apple Maps and ended up in a ginormous shopping mall with curving roads and no matter which direction I turned I kept moving further and further from the restaurant. Couldn’t find a way out of the center no matter which way I turned. Finally stopped and switched to Google Maps and discovered I had been inadvertently going back to the resort. Finally thought we got to breakfast. Grocery shopping was easy and with a bit of risky navigating across many lane congested roads we made it back.
This area is absurdly congested with store and traffic. Linda thinks there’s so much traffic because it’s Saturday. Let’s wait and see if she’s right.
We chose Pinnacle Peak for our first hike. Not too strenuous, nice rocks, easy climb. Beautiful sunset that night. We chose to begin our happy hour dining at Blue Martini in a strange and interesting shopping area. So this place was picked because it was one of the only weekend happy hour places. Their bar menu of snacks and drinks was all half off. We got some interesting boutique martinis and lobster tacos with half a lobster tail in each. I got sliders made of tenderloin slices. Not bad actually really good.
Phoenix is where we discovered Happy Hours
December 2, 2018 -Hiked and Ate
Woke up late. Squirrelled away the morning and around noon we headed off for a hike in the Cave Creek area. Easy hike through desert hills and we probably should have stopped and gone on a different hike when we drove by the horse stable at the entrance. The trail was sprinkled with horse dung. As trails go, this one was mostly flat and uninteresting.
We capped the horse poo hike with a happy hour consisting of ok mojitos and a fried avocado egg roll and fried chicken dumplings and heavily breaded and fried calamari (could have been pig intestines for all we could tell). So we returned to our place sick.
Met lots of interesting hikers on our way to the summit
December 3, 2018 -
Woke up late again. Linda made eggs, yum. Packed lunch and headed off to Tom Thumb trail in Scottsdale. At the trail Linda noticed I forgot to bring a hat. This was a lot of uphill hiking, 1.2 miles of uphill. Along the way my camera strap broke, bad, bad. We thought the trail seemed a little steep and turned out to be classified extremely difficult. Gorgeous views as trail climbed. We got within two tenths of a mile of the peak and stopped for a snack and turned around and hiked back because it was getting late and we’re getting old. On the way back we stopped at Blue Martini for seconds on lobster and sliders.
One of Marcus Landslide trail's fallen mushrooms
December 4, 2018 -
Slow morning. Toast and eggs and initial pass through photos. Off to Marcus Landslide trail. An easy mile and half to an easy loop and back the mile and half. Scenic. The Sonoran desert is stunning at this time. Flowering plants and well arranged. This may be the most beautiful hike.
Another happy hour. This time the Barrio Queen for shrimp tacos and margaritas. Very excellent. A huge place with a 20 minute wait but two spaces at the bar where we settled in. They had operations down to an art. When we gave our name they took my phone number and texted our table was ready. Having informed the hostess we were at the bar earlier, I ignored the text only to get another one then a phone call. Our orders were brought by runners. The bar servers never left their station. Well run, good food and huge place.
Linda stops to take a call
December 5, 2018 -
Today we decided to hike Lost Dog Wash. After a slow start of course. Turns out "wash" means the dirt has been washed away from the trail and it is mostly stones, 1" to 3", depending on where you are on the trail. We figured the highlight would be Lost Dog Overlook, only we walked right past it without realizing it was it. Nice weather though.
Soaking up the Granja fountain spray
December 6, 2018 -
Rain forecasted today so after a lazy start we headed into Phoenix to see the Heard Museum, with its native american artifacts and art. We opted for the
Yua: Henri Matisse and the Inner Arctic Spirit exhibit. You know, you come away wondering why it was OK to appropriate most of the native american's homes.
Say Goodby to Marriott Canion Villas
December 7, 2018 -
Finish packing and off to the airport to turn in car and fly home.
