Finally, Phoenix!

I really wanted to write a "ph" instead of the "f" in "finally" but I didn't want you to get all judgey. I know how you are.

As  you saw from our ridiculously long journey, we FINALLY made it to Phoenix! And, no, that last part of the last post was not a lie... there was a water slide at the hotel. I feel I should pose this question now... We stay in pretty nice hotels on the road, but I don't remember or know of ANY decent hotels where I'm from ever having water slides. Is this new??? Is this common? Seems it sort of is. I don't mind it & plus it helps keep Cousin Carl happy and that's all I care about.

Since I'd craved a pool ever since San Antonio, I woke up and took my laptop right outside and got all of my work done in just a few hours pool-side. It's amazing what a great motivator sunshine is. I think about all the time I used to waste working in corporate America. Eight hours a day was definitely not eight hours of work (most days). Now, working for myself, I bang it out! Lesssfaceit... when you work for yourself, you are basically always working since the advent of the glorious iPhone, but the day-to-day stuff I need my computer for gets done pronto. I love it.

Anyway - Did I mention Cousin Carl likes water slides? OH! Right, I did. So, while I was in adult land at the regular pool, Carl & Zach stashed their stuff with me & ran off to the slide. After 15 torturous minutes of them being gone, I finally got up to see what all of the commotion was about. This thing was AMAZING. I nonchalantly brushed off the lifeguard who told me the slide rules. Who was I? I was certainly not going to ride down that slide.

That lasted approximately three more minutes.

I took my grown-up girl butt to the top of the slide, held my bikini top to my chest, and swished & swooshed all the way to the water-going-up-the-nose ending. It was SO.MUCH.FUN. So much, in fact, that I coerced Rp to finally come down to the pool & do it with me three more times. We then spent the rest of the afternoon saving ourselves from the heat by working on the lift from "Dirty Dancing" in the pool. I don't want to brag, but we nailed it. He made all of my 5 year old dreams come true. I was finally Baby.

My own personal Patrick Swayze and I realized it was indeed time for the show... so off we went. As he set up, I got a manicure (my favorite way to skip sound check) & thought of places to go for dinner. So really quick, before I go, I have a recommendation for you who live there or are traveling through! Wooo, we love recs!

We ate at a new restaurant in downtown called Blue Hound. It was actually sort of reminiscent to one you'd find in a boutique New York hotel. The food was.... good for the road, but didn't stack up the same way. That's not saying bad though! New York just has the best. Anyway... I digress. As Rp tends to do, he ordered almost every single vegetarian dish available. I would say, we enjoyed about 80% of them. The cheese plate was not their best effort (who throws a hunk of cheddar on a cheese board?); the flat breads were incredible; the cocktails were delicious; and the dessert hit it out of the park. SO, yes, this is definitely a recommendation! Hopefully they'll work out the cheese plate by next time.

menus/lighting

"caramel" popcorn: butterscotch w ancho chili/green salad & basil risotto 

brownies + nutella milkshake/cheese board

I think it's time to wake Patrick Swayze up, so off I go!

I'm getting some good questions, so keep them comin! I'll do a couple of posts for them.