Day 36 & 37 & 38 - Thursday through Saturday 8/4/2005 -  8/6/2005 - Phoenix - The laptop rises from the ashes...

Day 36 - Goodbye to Blythe, CA, and on to Phoenix.  Since we were planning to get there late afternoon, we hung around the motel and Hunter had a morning swim.  I spent more time working on the laptop, and by now the alerts from the virus had disappeared and the only residual symptom was the occasional popup telling me that something on my laptop was trying to access the Internet (and some of these are valid, so that complicates the issue).  Even though the laptop is 95% functional, I've spent so much time working on it that the last thing I feel like doing is spending MORE time on it catching up the web page updates.  That will need to wait.

We get out of Blythe about 1pm, and get to Phoenix about 4pm.  I called my friend Craig to let him know we were approaching.  We finally got together later that evening.  Craig and Linda are great people and extended every possible hospitality for us.  We also had a chance to meet the irrepressible "Bongo".  Bongo is a Dachsund pup that Craig and Linda got several weeks ago.  He is all puppy, complete with "needle teeth", and boundless energy.  After listening to him bound across the wood floors, you realize why he is called Bongo.  

We went out for dinner and had Cajun food, and experienced Phoenix after dark (still hot!)

Day 37 - The first full day in Phoenix, we slept in a little, then met with Craig and went downtown for breakfast at "The Lux", a quaint little coffeeshop.  Downtown Phoenix is rather unique for a large city; you can actually drive downtown during the day with encountering bumper-to-bumper traffic.  Phoenix is chocked full of retro shops, and cafes catering to eclectic tastes.  Given the growth of the city, I'm sure this is a necessity given the diverse geographical backgrounds of its tenants.  After breakfast it was off for some shopping and chores.  Later in the day, we all went out for pizza at a restaurant that had been converted from an old house in the city.  The hot pizza, red wine, and good friends made for a wonderful evening.  After dinner, we Linda went home and the three of us went to "First Friday", an art show on the street in downtown Phoenix.  "Eclectic" is an extremely overused word in society, but  I'm not sure there is another word that would fit unless I create one that means "weird-people-expressing-their-artistic-talents-while-still-exhibiting-the-intoxicated- characteristics-of-normal-college-students".  Given the length of the that word, I'm guessing German may have a term.  Later, we dropped Hunter off at the hotel and wandered back to the pizza place to listen to a live band.  I guess the little bit of alcohol had tired us out, so we wandered a bit more and called it a night.

Day 38 - Another good night's sleep and breakfast and coffee at the Lux.  After talking with Craig, we decided to make a slight change in our plans.  The original plan was to all drive to Taos, NM today and camp near the base of Wheeler Peak.  After looking at the drivetime (10+ hours), I suggested we drive up to Flagstaff and camp just north of the city at Sunset Crater.  This would really help Craig, since he will need to drive back from wherever we will be camping.  We also opt to leave on  Sunday (tomorrow).  This gives us another day to kick around Phoenix.  After some morning exploring, we move on to a movie.  I can save everyone $8.00 by telling you the plot of "The Island".  Don't worry, I won't ruin the story, except to say that there isn't much of one.  The plot IS product placement.  As you watch the movie (set in the future), you are barraged by blatant attempts to market contemporary products.  Image seeing flying cars, but the majority of people still seem to enjoy the contemporary Chrysler Crossfire.  And in a world with full motion holographic imaging, people still play "Xbox".  This movie took "media whoring" to a new level.  

After the movie, it was a little relaxing (swimming for Hunter) and off to a wonderful Indian dinner.  After dinner, everyone was tired again (must be the heat) and we all crashed for the night.  We will leave tomorrow for Flagstaff.