Agnew's Mind He's got a long journey ahead of him.

Arizona: A to Z

    by Mike Agnew Jr.

So I recently took a trip to Tuscon, Arizona.  Pronounced Too-sawn... not Tus-can... that's in Italy... or so I learned.  Amanda's friend was getting married and so we figured it would be a good idea to bring a bit of Philly charm to the Copper State.  Also, Amanda was in the wedding so I had no choice either way.  I joke.  I was happy to go.  However, the trip coincided with some of the NLCS Playoff games.  This was the same case as last year.  I had to take a trip for work which led me to watch Games 1 and 2 of the NLCS alone in a hotel in Denver, CO.  Luckily both the Phoenix and Tuscon airports were lined with HD flat-screens all tuned to TBS.  Arizona... you had me at hello.

I would also like to thank Bill and Rocco for the 15 text messages I received once we landed.  (I could only wait for 10 before checking. Sorry for the blurriness.)

So here are some of the things you notice about Arizona right from the start:

It's Hot. It was 40 degrees in Philly the day we left.  It felt odd gaining 3 hours and 48 degrees just like that.  The sun is intense....the angry sun from Super Mario Brother's 3 comes to mind.  The difference between being in the sun and in the shade is about 10 degrees...no lie.

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It's Dry. Now, this dryness counteracts the heat....a bit.  Let me be clear.  It's still very hot but it's not that humid hot that makes many August days in Philly unbearable.  But the dryness gets you another way.  I noticed during my first daytime drive on Friday morning.  I was talking to Amanda and suddenly I gagged.  The back of my throat was instantly dry.  I reached for the bottle of water she said I would "need".  (I immediately regretted the scoff I gave her earlier when she purchased the bottle.)  You know that feeling that you get when you do a somersault in a pool and you get water up your nose?  You come up for air and have to do that weird back-of-the-throat cough.  Well, this is the exact opposite feeling.  It feels like your nose is drying from the inside out.

It's the Desert. Don't let the Walgreen's at every intersection fool you.  Behind that shopping center is the desert.  It's right there.  On many of our drives, I imagined the situation where we would run out of gas or break-down.  In every simulation, I died.  The threat was real.  You would find me just like they found Jin in Season 5 of LOST... sun-burned, dehydrated, and Korean.

I also realize that it's mid October.  Not the hottest time of the year but I can barely survive in the moments between turning the car's AC off and opening up the car door.  Amanda caught my preparation tactics...

So we flew in Thursday night.  We had Friday and Saturday mornings to spend sight seeing.  We decided to visit Mount Lemmon and Sabino Canyon.

Mount Lemmon is the highest mountaintop in the Santa Catalina Mountains. The best part about this Mount is the climb: the Catalina Highway.  This windy road takes you all they way to the top of Mount Lemon.  There are several places to pull over and take pictures or just admire in the view.  If ever there was a day I wish I had owned a cool motorcycle, this was that day.  I envied all the harleys tearing up the snaking road but my Mazda 5 did just fine.  We never made it to the top (a little over 9,000 ft).  We had to turn around to have enough time to make the rehearsal.  We made it to 8,000 feet and 6 miles from the town of Summerhaven, at the top.  But I was able to create a few panoramics from the pictures I took.

Sabino Canyon or as I pronounced it, Zhivago Canyon, is the canyon that runs between the Catalina Mountains.  It 's about about 3.8 miles long... or at least the road in the state park is that long.  Lots of people were walking, running, and hiking in the park by the time we got there.  There are trams available that give you a guided tour, about a 45 minute round trip.  We took the tram to the end and then hiked for about 3 miles (1.5 up and 1.5 back down).  The cool thing is that there are tons of paths to hike.  The one we were on would lead you all the way back to the entrance but you would be walking right along the mountains' edge.  Very cool.  Wish it was around the corner.   Funny thing happened in the middle of our hike.  We realized we were all alone and out of yelling distance to anyone.  It was dead quiet.  We started to recite the "What to do when confronted with a Mountain Lion" speech that the tour guide had given before dropping us off.  Don't bend over.  Don't run.  Maintain Eye contact.  Make yourself as big as possible.  Make deep slow sounds.  Luckily I'm half Italian and most of these things come naturally.  Luckily the only animal to cross our path was some 3 inch lizards.

Here are some pictures and clips from the trip.

At the reception...

On the flight home...

Interesting note: The Philadelphia Airport did not have one flat-screen tuned to the Phillies Game... instead... Sunday Night Football... 500 travelers were quite pissed.