HOSA Hub of Social Activity Post 2

HOSA Post 2 June 11th 2016 

Guess what? This past Sunday I went on a little day trip. I went down to Tucson to visit family. My cousin Bre is moving to Michigan and my aunt had a dinner to send her off. I also made plans to go to Tucson for the 3rd and 4th of July. So I am going to put both trips on one post after that is finished. 

Today, I want to do a second HOSA post about an social activity that happened June 11th. It was the last Saturday before my sister, Caitlin, started working. As you may remember she just graduated in May from school. She already had a job at the time, but it started June 13th. So, earlier in the week I said we should get a drink on the 11th as a send off. That is what we did, we also invited Kelsi because when we went out over my birthday we said we should get drinks soon. 

So I tried to find a location that was centrally located between us that we could have a drink. I wanted to try a place we had not been to before. I used this app called Untapped, which I use to track beers and rate beers that I drink. I like the app because it helps me remember if I liked a beer and sometimes it helps me remember why I liked it. I think the app could be better because it doesn't suggest beers based on previous ratings, but I don't think there is an app that does that! Untapped does have a list and map of venues though. So with that I was found a tap room called Huss Beer Company. I think perhaps I was familiar with the beer from beer festivals because it sounded familiar, but I had never been to the room.

I was a little concerned because the location is in a business plaza, but when I went inside it was very nice. When I first went in the lights were mostly off and the lighting was from the windows. The seating was super cute. There are many tables and chair sets that are all different. There are also games that you can play, which I wanted to play, but never got around to it. 

I arrived first, a little early, and found a table for us. The bartender came right out to ask me what I wanted. I think usually people go up to the bar to order, but I think I had a look on my face like a lost dog while picking a seat! The bartender was super nice and friendly. And I ordered a beer called Koffee. I have heard of coffee flavored beer before but never tried it. It is so yummy. It taste like chocolate covered coffee beans, but without the chocolate. The coffee I drink at work tastes more like water and/or burned water with a hint of the coffee taste. So the beer had a more pure coffee flavor. It was so delicious that when Kelsi arrived she ordered one. Caitlin cannot drink beer. Huss had one cider and one wine on tap. She got the cider, and it looked like apple juice. We nursed our drinks and chatted for quiet a while. As the evening waned the house lights did come on so that threw the chill vibe off. Which was fine. People around seemed to get a little more chatty, and the group playing Jenga caught everyone's attention a few times. But it was all in good fun. At one point a herd of people came in to get handles of beers to go. It was quite the location.

So at the tap room you can order food or bring it in, but they don't have food there. Since we didn't know that, and we didn't know much in the area we decided to go south a few miles to get sushi at a place called Sting Ray. It is right next to Orange Theory Fitness off the I-10 and Ray. Caitlin and I go to the OT Fitness sometimes and every time I go in I just think about the delicious sushi while I'm running on the treadmill. But I had never gone to Sting Ray before. 

We arrived around seven and were seated quickly. We ordered other drinks. I was going to get another beer, but then Caitlin asked if they served Sake Sangria. They don't officially have that drink, but they did serve it. So I ordered one, Caitlin did too, but only after making sure that it was gluten free. Then we decided to split some sushi rolls. It was quite tricky because certain ones had gluten, and we removed one of the ingredients in one roll, but the crunchy roll we ordered anyway and Caitlin didn't eat that one. It could have been quite the issue with the waitress, but she was so nice about it. She was very concerned and she seemed like she enjoyed learning more about the menu items as well. What a great attitude! The waitress also reminded Caitlin of Julia Stiles, which she took well too and was a running joke all night. 

The sushi was very good, so was the Sangria. This will probably just make my treadmill thoughts even worse, but oh well. We spend a lot of the night laughing about the jobs, guys and life in general. So it was really a good Social Activity! I think it was a good send off for Caitlin, even if she had to go home before midnight because she is a real working adult now and she wanted to get a good night sleep--not the day before, but two days before her first day of work!

Daily Photo Lab

Daily Photo Lab. June 22, 2016

I heard a great tip about photography and travel today. The tip was that you should start taking pictures before your trips. If you get to your location with your camera still in the box then you can be sure that your pictures will not be as good. Now I have two cameras, one on my phone and a camera by Nikon called Nikon Coolpix S570. My cousin Bre who has a bigger photography passion than I do recommended it because it was an easy "point and shoot" camera. Which is exactly what I need. The camera is not right out of the box, however, there was a long period where I couldn't remember which cord I needed to charge the battery. I decided to figure that out a few weeks ago. So I finally charged the camera. The memory card held pictures from my picture to San Miguel! Which was you might remember was basically the first trip that I blogged about, at least the first one that I blogged about and finished! If you don't remember here is a link: Day 1 in San Miguel. It was in March of 2012. So that has been a long time for me to have a camera and to have not used it. Therefore, I must practice before The Journey, my trip to Ireland and the United Kingdom. So, I'm going to try to take a picture a day with both my phone and my camera. Hopefully that lasts. I will try to post the photos up, but may not be daily.

One more piece advice I heard was the best light for photos is in the morning or afternoon and not in the middle of the day. So I will try to take the photos in the correct light, but I don't know much about that. Maybe photographers can give me advice, after I have some handle on it!

Today's photos...

Photo of Jojo - with toy, Taken with Galaxy Phone

Photo of Unnamed Rooster, Taken with Coolpix

Day 2 Photo June 23, 2016

So on this day I woke up thinking that I should take pictures of things that people take pictures of while on trips. Most of the time people take pictures of their friends and family which is great, but on trips people tend to take pictures of buildings, landscapes, art, as well as family and friends! Therefore, I had that in mind and went to work with my camera. A dust storm came in at the end of the day, which made for cool lighting. So I took a picture of that. I also took a picture of a bunch of metal bugs. They are at the convention center. I have seen people take pictures of them before, so I think they are something travelers take pictures of. So I decided that I should as well. See below:

Dust Storm, ASU Downtown Phoenix - CoolPix

Giant Bugs, Phoenix -  Phone

Day 3 Photo June 24, 2016

This day I planned to take my camera to work so I could take a picture of my lunch. I know that people take pictures of their lunch especially while traveling. I knew I was going to eat with some of my friends at work so I thought it would be a good chance to practice take picture of food. However, I did not bring my camera, I did have my phone with me, but I decided against it. Food porn makes me blush! So, instead I decided to take pictures of art I have at my house. I know that people take pictures of art when they are on trips. So I thought I should practice. The lighting is okay, but I think the lighting on art that is on display will be better. I chose these arts because they are arts that I have think of as mine and not a hand me down of pictures that my parents didn't want anymore. I have a few other arts from when I was a child that I think of as my art, so perhaps I will do that another day!

Art! - Phone 

Art! - Coolpix 

Hosa - Hub of Social Activity Post 1

HOSA Post 1 - May, 29th 2016

Now that I have explained what the HOSA is I can start my first Hosa post. (Here is link if you missed: HOSA). I have been wanting to share this for almost a month, but I could not work out how to do so on a travel blog. I didn't travel anywhere, unless you count to my parents, which I don't count. If you do visit Phoenix ever, then you might want to partake, so there is trip related value to people outside of the area.

Anyway, for this first Hosa post, I want to explain what happened on my birthday this year. As I said I went over to my parents house first, in the morning. Let's skip ahead a little, because that part wasn't too interesting. I mean for me it was interesting because my parents gave me gifts. Also, my mom and I went to get pedicures. So it was fun for me, but not very interesting to read about.

The week before that was my brother's birthday and I suggested that we should try an escape room, but by that time it was a little hard to coordinate. So we decided to go for my birthday instead. If you don't know what an escape room is I'll explain. What happens is that your and your group are locked into a room. Inside the room there are puzzles and clues that you need to solve in order to find the key and escape. You have one hour to escape. Now, if you are curious the door to the room is not actually locked, but if you leave the room then you cannot go back into the room. Also, these are all puzzles and there aren't any physical obstacles. That would have been fun too, but I think I understand why they limit to just the mental games and puzzles. The escape room we did was called the Puzzle Room.

Let me back up, because part of the fun during the day, though maybe not fun for the driver, my Dad, was that on the way to the Puzzle Room, we had to pick up my sister, Caitlin, and my brother, Tyler. Separately! It was quite hilarious, though don't tell my Dad. He seemed a bit stressed. We picked up Caitlin alright, except that she was a little slow at getting in the car, apparently there was an emergency session of her putting a gift in a bag! Also, Caitlin had just spent the day-before and the morning-of driving in a Razor thru the desert. She had barely arrived back.

Then, we went to pick up Tyler. He suggested that we meet off the freeway at Southern, but I said, there is not an exit at Southern. But he was saying there was, and my Mom believed him, which is fine, but she has google maps on her phone, so she could have looked. Then, for whatever reason, my Mom said that we needed to get off the freeway early, drive through the speed trap that is Guadeloupe. Then he ended up meeting us at a different location! All the while we were all trying to give Dad direction. He did the right thing by listening to Mom, but that wasn't the fastest thing!

Either way it doesn't matter, because we arrived at the Puzzle Room in plenty of time. The door is unlabeled maybe to be mysterious, but there was a sandwich board out front so it wasn't too hard to find. My brother had purchased a groupon for the room and he did it for six people. There are only five of us, so I invited my friend, Kelsi, to come. She was the only one who had done an escape room, before. However, she had never been to the Puzzle Room before. She wisely made the decision to meet us at the Puzzle Room instead of getting a ride.

Since we had never been before, the moderator took an ample amount of time explaining the game, and fielding questions, but I think we were all still confused. Once we were ready to start the Moderator did this funny script about us being there to look at a place to open a coffee shop. He explained who the previous tenant was and why the room looked the way it did, then he left the room because he "forgot" something. Then on screen there was a silly video about being trapped by the previous tenant and if we didn't get out we'd be cursed! For Life!

Anyway, after that the time starts on the clock. I wouldn't explain all the tasks, because maybe you want to experience them for yourself. I don't want to ruin it. I will say that I learned a lot about my family that day. Like, we cannot count to seven. However, we can multiply large numbers easily. We also turned off the lights so many times, that I think it fits the definition of insanity. As in doing the same thing and expecting different results! I also learned that you can't just decide which letter goes to which symbol on a cipher, you have to have a clue! Finally, if you open locked boxes, make sure you take everything out of the box!

The Puzzle room ended up being very fun. I love it! It was hard at first, since we had never done an escape room before, we had to learn as we went along. We were pretty good at the puzzles, but we weren't as good at finding the puzzles. So in the end, we lost. We were so close too, the key was in our mitts, but we didn't have enough time to escape! So, now we are cursed! For Life!

The Puzzle Room is downtown, which is near where I work. So I know the restaurants in the area. After we were cursed, we decided to find a place to eat. I wanted to pick a place with delicious food, that is too far to walk to at lunch, and some place that my family had not been. So we went to Cibo. It is the best! The pizza is so good. It is in an old house, there are a lot of restaurants in old houses in Phoenix. As I said the pizza is very good, but the pizza is not served at lunch, during the week.

The only complaint about dinner was that the table next to us were a bit loud and the acoustics of that room made it a louder still. They didn't really bother me too much, but my parents are starting to get sensitive to loud restaurants. The outdoor seating may have been better, but my birthday is in May, and we weren't sure if it would be too hot so we sat inside. The pizza was just as good as I remembered it. They are 12" pizza, and you can share with another person, but I did not! We also had a birthday crepe, with Nutella and banana! Yum!

So, I think that's it for the first Hosa Post. The Puzzle room was fun, I can't wait to do a different escape room, hopefully this one will be more successful. Dinner at Cibo was delicious.

H.O.S.A. Hub of Social Activity

H.O.S.A. Post 

The last few posts, I have been trying to think of a way to incorporate some other events into my blog. Since the blog is about trips I wasn't sure if I should, but I really want to. I love creating posts and blogging events in my life, and those logs from relatives long ago. So I have been thinking about it for a while. I think I have it settled. I can write posts about events that are not trip related. I will call them HOSA posts. I have mention the Hosa before in Grandma's Cabin post. I didn't really explain what it is so I will do so.

It started many decades ago, in the early days of Grandma's Cabin. This may have been invented before Grandma's Cabin, but it's the first time in my memory. If it happened before the Cabin, it was probably at the original cabin,  named Zartacla and in Colorado, and reinvented at Grandma's Cabin.  Hosa is an acronym that stands for Hub of Social Activity. When I was younger I thought Hosa was a special way to describe the campfires that we would have a Grandma's Cabin, because this was the only time the word was used. This is despite the fact that I knew that Hosa meant Hub of Social Activity. In my defense at the time of creation of the word Hosa happened before I could read or write. So I couldn't really put together that the letter H in Hub was the first letter in Hosa and so on. 

Breaking Ground of Hosa - Picture by Megan 

I am not alone, many of us associate the Hosa with campfires even though we know the meaning of the word. As proof of this. My cousins decided to upgrade the Hosa pit over Memorial Day Weekend. Then posted online that they updated the Hosa pit complete with pictures. Which is proof the Hosa and campfire are interchangeable. Check out the pictures.

Upgraded Hosa. -- Picture by Megan
(People in picture, Carson and Karen)

However, Hosa also holds the original meaning, Hub of Social Activity. The family in Tucson have Sunday dinners together and use the word Hosa to coordinate them. I'm pretty sure of this, because when we are invited to Christmas, Thanksgiving and other holidays we coordinate using the Hosa extension as well. Therefore, it is acceptable to use Hosa for campfires and for other events outside of campfires.  

The Hosa is so big in the family that I even had t-shirts made one year for the Christmas gift exchange. I had my friend, Tracie help with design. The actual end result, I'm not sure was that great. I had never made t-shirts before, and I wasn't sure about the sizes or material. So I think I did a bad job about picking those, but I think the logo design is cute. I did an original sketch for it, but I haven't done art on the computer for a long time and I only did that for some classes. I really need to work on it. So Tracie helped me with that. I also came up with the catch phrase at the bottom of the design. HOSA -- Where All Things are Toasted. Which is much better than my attempt at humor on a t-shirt in March: So hungry I could eat a horse - Ancient Dothraki Proverb

So that is what the Hosa has been in the past. The Hosa posts will be more on the Hub of Social Activity side, because campfires over the internet isn't advised. Oops my dad joke's are showing! The posts will be about social activities I have in town. For people traveling around the Phoenix area, then this could be helpful for your trips, but for me they aren't actually trips. I will try to post one up later this week or next about what I did on my Birthday, and another about what I did last weekend. I think both activities are worth sharing, because I think other people should partake. Also, the main reason for this blog is so that I remember my trips, and I want to remember these activities. Therefore, I think Hosa posts can fit within B-dog's triplog realm. And it is decided.

Saving Money for the Journey

Last post, I wrote about my experience booking international flights. I mentioned that I originally felt that 2017 was the time for The Journey, a trip to the United Kingdom and Ireland, but I ended up planning a trip for fall of 2016. The one reason I wanted to wait was to save more money for the trip. So, how was I able to pay for the trip? The trip cost less than I thought, I found savings, and I dusted off the budget that put me through college!

The Journey cost less than anticipated:

First the cost of the Journey was less expensive than I originally thought. I know that going to Europe is expensive, but I sometimes think that milk is expensive. As in, I think it will be $4 or $5, but when I go to the store it is always around $2. Which, I think stems from a few times growing up, I would try to buy a candy or toy, and wouldn’t have enough money. Though, I don’t think anyone looked twice, it felt so mortifying, that I would rather have unrealistic ideas on the price of milk than to be out of money. So, when I thought about going to Europe I was of course thinking the price was two or three times the actual price! Since, the initial decision to plan the trip, I have worked and reworked a budget of expensive, I also add “crazy just-in case” scenarios into it. Guess what! It was at least half as much as I thought it would be.

Found ways to save:

Of course, the price is greatly affected by the time of year, room accommodations and meal plans. Which, I did my best to find deals. The main expense is the flights. If you take your time, however, you can find affordable flights. Sometimes the flights didn’t seem much more than flying to the East Coast. Keep in mind that booking international flights is done earlier than national flights. So that could account for the price comparison.

The second biggest expense could be the hotels, but we decided to look at alternatives like hostel international and airbnb. I originally planned the trip around hostels; mainly because hostel international has good tools and the hostels are centrally located. Also, European vacations often evoked the hostel image into the imagination. Overall the hostels probably were the most affordable, but we decided that an important part of the accommodations was the bathrooms. Since the airbnb rooms were still affordable and in our price range we determined to book rooms that way. In Cardiff, there weren’t very many airbnb rooms. So, we ended up finding a room at the Royal Hotel. I came across it when I was looking at for castles, and the hotel looks adorable. It was also in our price range. So that is the only place we are staying in a hotel.

The next biggest expense, will be food and alcohol. Although, the United Kingdom is no Italy or France when it comes to food, there are still many dishes that I would like to try. So, I don’t want to be too frugal when it comes to dining. However, there is still many ways to save on this expense too. First, some of our airbnb hosts provide breakfast, which if they do I will be eternally grateful for. Second, having a small lunch or snack will allow us to save on that meal. Now, for alcohol, I must admit I love beer. I hard alcohol and wine have a time and a place, but I like to drink beer as an experience in and of itself. I like both micro, and home brews and large brews as well. They each have their own feels and tastes. So I will be drinking on our trip, however, I have no plans to overindulge. I allocated a certain amount which I can spend every day and not spend more. The amount can be rolled into the next day however. I will see how this works. I have heard that in Europe beer is served warm, so perhaps I will save money because I wouldn't like it. I think I will be okay though. Having a beer served warm doesn’t sound as bad as having a beer go warm. I can't wait to find out!

We also have some tentative day trips, sights and tours that we planned. However, these aren’t nearly as expensive as I would have thought. Many of the museums are free to get into first of all. Many of the sights will have self guided tours, which can save some money. Like with food, I don't want to limit experiences because of money, so I have allocated a certain about for activities, but there wouldn't be any experiences that I will refuse because of money. Though if I am debating about whether to do something or not, then the cost might be the deciding factor.

Budgeting and saving for the Journey:

After realizing the true cost, and finding ways to save on the expenses, I had to set up a plan to save for the Journey. This wasn’t too difficult. It was only three years ago that I finished my bachelors. I was able to go to my first four years of school via my parents, however, I was woefully unprepared for college and after two years, I left it. I worked as a waitress for a while until a friend started going to school for an Associates in Paralegal Studies. I quickly followed, and that was the last of the four years.

Then, I started working and I went back to school for my bachelors. I had about $10,000 in savings at the time from a job I had in high school. So I used that to slowly work my way through school. I would pay for a semester and then try to replenish the savings during the semester and the summer. I did pretty well at this, but slowly it drained away and the last four semesters (I wasn’t going full time so I had many semesters) I would use a Visa card and pay that down as much as I could before the next payment. Perhaps, it would have saved me money if I got student loans, however, I didn’t know enough about student loans at the time so I didn’t feel comfortable with them. Also, having to pay 18% or more in interest is painful for me, so I knew that I would pay off my credit card as soon as possible. Anyway, the last payment of my last semester had me at $8,700 in debt which I paid off 13 months later. Because of this lifestyle of putting every extra dollar to pay for school I was able to reapply that to saving for my trip. Though perhaps, I am not as frugal as before.

The goal of saving for the Journey has made me tightened up some of the loose ends that I’ve developed. I use the 50/20/30 rule. That is 50% to needs, 20% to financial goals, and 30% for fun. Now that I am done paying for school my fun money has been used at coffee shops and shopping on Amazon. These are not bad things. However, I would much rather spend my money on experiences like trips or events than fancy coffees or graphic tees. So, cutting them out wasn’t too difficult. I use Mint.com to track spending and to remind me if I go off my budget, though I tend to use Excel to create the actual budget. I added the Journey in my goals last fall, and I love seeing the bar fill up. I really like the goals section of Mint. You can estimate trips this way. It will ask you how much for flights, hotels, cars, food and activities. When I paid for the flights I simply removed the flight from the estimate.

Even though I am saving money for the Journey, I am planning to use my credit cards to pay for the trip while I am there. This is mostly because of safety; I do not want to carry too much money in cash. I will pay off the balance after the trip. After paying for this trip, I have to start saving for a trip for fall of 2017. It will probably be about a week in Colorado. So I will probably continue to use these money habits for a while, though hopefully, I will not need to be as aggressive.

The Journey (United Kingdom and Ireland): Flights

This post is a little different. I don't have any new trips to log, but I am planning a trip this fall. I am planning to go to the United Kingdom and Ireland. We are calling it The Journey. I just wanted to write a little post about that.

About nine months ago, I was with a friend and she asked if I wanted to go to Europe. Of course I did! I didn't take it that seriously when she said it, but I emailed her a bit later and she was serious. At the time, I was thinking perhaps we could go in two years, then I could take my time saving and mostly because planning a trip to Europe seemed daunting! However, after some discussion the idea was that we should go as soon as possible. At first we set our sites to spring of this year, but later we changed it to the fall. We didn't really want to go in the summer for several reasons: the weather, the crowds, and the costs. So we determined that spring or fall were the best times to go.

I am glad we changed our dates from the spring to the fall, mostly because by the time we were ready to buy tickets I realized we missed the best prices! I had been keeping an eye on the prices for a few months at that point, they held steady for the most part, but went down at the end of October, mostly because I think more airlines set their 2016 schedules which added more flights and more competition. I was mainly looking at Norwegian, as well as a few sites like Kayak for prices. Then, in early November the prizes jumped up. Not a significant amount, but after seeing how low the prizes could get, I was a little frustrated. Luckily, we did decide to go in the fall, which allowed me to revamp my strategy. In February, I started looking at flights for the fall, using different scenarios for dates and destinations in order to figure out which was the best. We didn't necessarily want the least expensive flight, especially if they were 36 hours, but we did want to find a good deal.

I found a lot of interesting things. First, most of the best deals are out of airports on the East coast. There are some good deals from California, but for there are more deals and often better deals from New York. Also, if you try to get a flight from the West coast to the East coast, then to Europe, it doesn't save you any money and sometimes it is more expensive than flying directly.

By the end of March and beginning of April we had our dates set, so I looked up flights on Kayak, Google and Norwegian every day for a few weeks. I started to see a pattern. When the flights went up on the weekends, and then dropped dramatically on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I knew what my strategy would be. We were able to get good flights with one stop each way, one to Ireland and one out of London from United.

Anyway, I learned that it pays off to be vigilant, to have a plan, but also to be flexible, and don't wait too long to buy flights. Flights are still by far the most expensive part about The Journey, but they were much more affordable than I had thought, and well worth it.

Flagstaff and Beyond

Friday, May 13th, 2016 Phoenix to Flagstaff

Up in the morning bright and early because Jojo, my dog, put his face in my face and stared at me until I opened my eyes. He does that often. Got in some coffee, finished a puzzle and made some scrambled eggs with corn tortillas and salsa for breakfast. Yum! Dogs got some eggs in their bowls too, and I wonder why Jojo wakes me up.

Then, we headed out to Melissa and Bernie's (my parents) home. My grandma, Mary Lou, was scheduled to arrive at 11 from Tucson and we would all ride up to Flagstaff together. The occasion of the trip is that my sister, Caitlin, is graduating as a Doctor of Physical Therapy from NAU, after 3 long years of school and fellowships. So we have a celebratory dinner at 6 pm in the conference center of the Drury tonight. Tomorrow the Scotts: Jim, Karen, Carson, Megan, Bre and Paul (not a Scott by name), David Saegart, Mary Dillon and Tyler Emery will join us for the graduation and a celebratory family dinner in Flagstaff.

Grandma arrived a little after 11, but this was alright because the hotel, Twin Arrows Casino's check in is not until 4. Dad and I took my brother, Tyler's, car to his house  (my dad and brother had swapped cars and they needed to swap back, except that Tyler lost the keys to Dad's car. Therefore, dropping the car off and having Mom and Grandma pick us up was the plan). We arrived at the house about 10 minutes before Mom. So we started to walk back to the main road. I wanted the exercise, really I wanted to be doing something and not waiting. We didn't make it too far before we were picked up.

After the pick-up we stopped for coffee, Starbucks, and got onto the freeway to head to Flagstaff.

We have a tradition in our family, that when we go on a trip we sing this little jingle that goes: "Hey, hey we're on our way, we won't be back for many of day." So once we were on the 101 we sang this jingle. Grandma started adding lyrics to the song! Apparently, the song is an old song that Harry Bexaten sang called, Farewell Jamaica. My dad who had founded the tradition, may have forgotten this fact over the years. What a surprise!

I sent Caitlin and Dave, her boyfriend, a message when we reached the 303. They were about 30 to 45 minutes behind us, and they had traffic. Which we found as well in Camp Verde. There was construction on the bridge and it backed the traffic up for miles! One thing entertaining about the traffice was the onion truck in the lane next to ours. We judged all our progress on whether or not it was in front of us or behind us. When we got down to where the construction began we called Caitlin and they had passed the onion truck too. We told them that they should hop on and off the highway at Camp Verde to avoid that slowest part of the traffic.

After the construction we stopped off at the next exit to use the bathroom and to get a snack. We introduced G'Ma Mary Lou to Klondike Bars. She really liked them. So now I think I can bribe her to do things in order to get more Klondike Bars.

We made the rest of the trip without incident, but Twin Arrows Casino is about 20 minutes East of Flagstaff. The longest 20 minutes of the trip I think. Guess what Caitlin and Dave beat us to the hotel! They didn't get Klondike bars.

Because of the traffic, we only had about 45 minutes to get ready. So no naps! We got ready like Champs and all looked like we were put together nicely. So I don't think we embarrassed Caitlin too much. We arrived at the dinner on time, and were able to secure a table. Dinner was chicken Marsala with salad, desert and drinks. There were very interesting speeches, though some of the jokes were related to surpassing graduate school, and were probably better received by the graduates than by me. Guess what! They handed out certificates of completions and Caitlin's had someone else's name on it! They crossed it out and wrote hers in. She is expecting a corrected one at a later date.

After dinner G'ma Mary Lou, Melissa, Bernie and I went back to the casino. It was about 11 so we went to G'ma Mary Lou's room for a nightcap and some chatting. Then we retired for the night. The beds are very comfortable and so is the room, but one of the shutters has a broken slat and it let in a bit of little. Ah, well.

Saturday, May 14, 2016 Flagstaff

The broken slat in the bedroom is just so that when the sun rose over the distant mountains it was a bright slightly orange color in my eye. Luckily for me, I was able to move over in the bed and get a few more hours of sleep. I typically wake up around seven, so it wasn't surprising that by half after I was finally up. I put some shoes on and went downstairs to get breakfast with Bernie. We picked up Grandma Mary Lou from her room. We had breakfast in the little cafe there called Four Elements. The coffee was good so I had a few cups of that. Mom joined us before we ordered our food. I also ate two poached eggs, two pancakes and two sausages and two strips of bacon. 

Typically, I make poached eggs in a funny way where I crack the egg into the skillet and wait until it gets all white on the yellow yoke. Then, I pour a bit of water on top and cover. So, I don't think I have ever eaten a poached egg that is made in the traditional way. I liked the egg, but I am a little confused because I'm not sure if the egg is supposed to be taken out of the bowl of water or if it's supposed to be eaten inside. I did the latter, but I think that was in correct. 

After breakfast Melissa, Bernie and I brought G'Ma Mary Lou to the Casino to watch my mom play blackjack. There was a five dollar table and Melissa was dealt some really great hands and ended up winning thirty five dollars, but let it be known that she was only betting five dollars each hand for the majority of the hands. She didn't start to up her game until she won time and a half from a blackjack. She used to only bet the minimum for a long time, but she has recently started to add a dollar (sometimes more) to her bet every hand she wins. This makes for higher wins, if she wins, though it can feel like more of a hit if she loses a hand. She also has this rule that if she loses three hands in a row that she will leave the table. I think perhaps this morning she played more like her old self because her mom was watching her! 

Once she lost three hands in a row we went back to our rooms to get ready for the graduation which was at 2 pm. We needed to leave in plenty of time to get into town, park, take the shuttle to the dome and find the seats and the rest of our family. My mom was in contact with everyone driving up to Flagstaff that day. Jim, Karen, Bre and Paul left early and they had found a route around the construction, it was forty minutes out of the way, but saved hours sitting in the traffic. Carson and Megan also were able to take this route. Melissa relayed the information to David and Mary; and Tyler, but by that time there was traffic before the detour, or perhaps they had already missed the detour. 

Caitlin, the graduate, needed to be at the dome at 1 PM, so she was already getting ready in her room. We stopped in to give her presents and cards from G'Ma and me. She was very grateful and surprised! Also, she gave us a fashion show of her dress. Then, she promptly kicked us out, but we understood because it was already very close to when she needed to leave. 

I had brought a blue shirt and jeans to wear to the graduation, but the weather was supposed to be in the 70s so I thought that perhaps that would be too warm and decided to wear a blue dress that Caitlin brought up and said I could wear. There was a debate about the length of the dress, so I caught Caitlin at the very last minute before she had to leave and she approved. And since she was the one graduating, I thought that was approval enough.

To be honest, however, after seeing how cute Melissa and G'ma Mary Lou were dressed I was grateful that I had the option to wear that dress. 

My dad determine after last night that it might be beneficial to get off the freeway an exit early, Butler, and take that to San Francisco parking garage, where the shuttle was going to pick us up and take us to the dome. The decision turned out to be a good idea because Caitlin called us while driving and said that they were stuck in traffic on the freeway after Butler. She and another graduating doctor, had to get out of the car and walk down the freeway and to the shuttles on the south side of the campus. Luckily, the driver was Dave who didn't actually need to be at the dome until 2 PM. 

The shuttle system turned out to be a very successful idea and we were able to get to the dome with no trouble. Even G'ma could do it! The dome was already packed by the time we got there, but Melissa chatted with the volunteers and they said that we could sit down on the floor of the stadium if we took the stairs or the elevator down. So once we had an idea of where the stairs were we started for them. On the way we ran in to Karen, Jim, Paul and Bre! What a surprise! So, we all went to our seats together. Karen said that she saw Caitlin on our way down the stairs as the students were waiting in the stands to walk out. I didn't see Caitlin while I was walking down, but I believe her anyway. Our seats were right behind the orchestra. Which means we had very good seats! We had to split up because there wasn't enough room in one row for everyone, so I went up with Carson, Megan and Bernie to make room. Tyler and his friend Tyler; Mary and David were able to fight the traffic and make it, but I it was a close call! 

Selfie at Graduation

The ceremony was pretty nice, though as you may know graduations are not the most exciting events, and also the dome makes all the speakers voices echo, but there were some good speeches. What is important is that the speeches were not very lengthy! And it wasn't long before the Doctors of Physical Therapy were being called on stage to be hooded. When Caitlin went up, I spent a while cheering, then I tried to watch her on the stage, but I probably should have watched her on the jumbotron! After them, the masters and undergraduates were also called up, but they were not hooded, so it went much faster. Though it still took some time as there were so many of them. 

Once everyone was done and the streamer cannons went off, we had to wait until all the graduates left before we could leave. Let me tell you that almost everyone watching did not do this, but G'Ma said that we needed to. I agree, though I did stretch my legs a bit. 

Then, we went out to the grass, to find Caitlin, get pictures, and coordinate our plans for dinner. After we went to the restaurant. It was called Oakmont Restaurant. We had been to the same location for Bre's graduation, however, the name and ownership had changed.

The restaurant was nice, the menu was varied in the choices, and the food I had was good. I also was able to try some new beers while there. I really liked the Oak Creek's Amber Ale! I think some of the restaurants in Phoenix carry it, so hopefully I can have it again. 

Bernadette, Caitlin, Emy, Bre

When, we arrived at the restaurant Caitlin and Dave had already arrived and were waiting at the bar. I sat with them, and Emy, Caitlin's friend, joined us shortly after. Then, Bernie, Melissa and G'Ma Mary Lou arrived. Bernie and Mary Lou sat down next to a very nice man and G'Ma chatted him up! They talked about golf and politics! Bernie was also involved in these conversations; everyone needs a wingman. 

The bartender forgot that Emy and Melissa had ordered drinks, I guess he was distracted when he carded me! Also, since I ordered a drink for G'Ma while she was coming in, he didn't stop so that I could order my drink. That was alright because I reevaluated my drink and decided to get a beer. Yum! It  was still early enough for happy hour, and we were able to take advantage of that. Caitlin ordered nachos because they were also on the happy hour and we were all hungry. We had to move to our table before the nachos arrived, but they were still delicious. Our table was outside and there were very ominous clouds overhead, and it did get a bit misty for a few minutes out there, but by the time everyone arrived the rain had stopped and it was beautiful out. Though, I believe some people were a bit cold. 

While we were waiting for our food we noticed that on the golf course there were a bunch of groups taking pictures. The girls were wearing very formal dresses, and it took us a long time and a lot of debating to decide if these were for weddings or for a prom. We decided it must be for prom because they put masks on after a while. But the photos were very interesting, the photography even took a picture of them from below. Caitlin, Tyler, and Bre went down to the golf course to take some pictures as well, and scooped them out a bit more closely, so the prom was confirmed! 

Dr. Caitlin Emery, Tyler Emery

During dinner there were many conversations floating around the table. The table was very long and narrow so one end couldn't talk to the other, but that made the conversations flow even more. At one point, we made Caitlin take a shot of fireball, Emy had given it to her as a gift. Since we were chanting: Dr. Cait, Dr. Cait; drink, drink; and shot, shot. Caitlin had to take the shot, as the tables around us started to join in. She managed the shot in two swallows. Lot of cheers went out after that.

It was decided that the youths of the group which includes, Dave, Paul, Myself, Carson, Caitlin, Emy, Megan and Bre would go to downtown Flagstaff to celebrate Caitlin's graduation. The youths of Tyler and Tyler are currently too young to celebrate in this fashion. The mature adults meanwhile, went back to the hotel to have their own party, G'Ma made everyone drinks in her room, and they were up to no good!

The youths split up and were to meet at Emy's Hotel so that she could check in and also so she and Caitlin could change outfits. There was a big mix-up about where the hotel was located. Google Maps said it was on the Historic Route 66, but that is in correct it was on the other Route 66. Luckily, we were able to find it. Caitlin and Emy were ready quickly, though Caitlin had a bit of a time deciding on her shoes.

Then, we set up two Uber cars to pick us up. We went to Rendezvous which is in the Historic Hotel Monte Vista. This place was very cute, it served coffee and drinks, and there was a pool lounge and a cocktail lounge.

We sat on the couches for a while and had drinks and talked. I was able to see some photos of Bre and Paul's new house (possibly? not officially) and ask them about their move to Michigan coming up in June.

When Caitlin and Dave went to get another round of drinks, they did not come back, so we ended up going to hang out around the bar.

Carson, Megan and Megan's sister decided to go to the Lumberyard. Megan's mom was there and wanted to party! They were supposed to text us when they arrived at the Lumberyard because we heard there was a wait to get in. They never did text us, so I guess that means they were having too much fun and forgot!

The bar was very fun. Emy and I talked to Dave for a while. I learned that he really likes running! And it sounds like he is good at it. I also talked to some guy at the bar for a while because Emy said I should. I'm not sure which guy she meant. The guy I did talk to wasn't very good at talking, as in he wasn't asking any good questions, and I was leading most of the conversation. So, I think perhaps, I was talking to the wrong person! Ah well.

I did end up talking to this other kid a little while later. I think he was probably very young, as he acted a lot like my brother Tyler. He asked if I needed to see him later in case I wanted to smoke. I did not need to see him later, but I let him have my number anyway, because I didn't think that there was harm in it. Which, there wasn't of course!

After I returned from this very exciting conversation, we finished our drinks. Then, we walked down the streets towards Malloney's but there was a huge line, which we were not going to wait in. Then, there was a cover at the next place. We didn't really care about getting into a place with a ton of people, we just wanted to find a place with good music, where we could get a drink and keep talking. There was also a request for pizza of some kind. So we end up down the street McMillan Bar and Kitchen. It was really cool inside the seating and lighting was really nice. And the bar was working just fine, but there were a lot less people there than the other locations. We sat around a high top and chatted some more, but mostly about who is the bigger cuddler: Caitlin or Dave! The debate is still on going.

The pizza quest was on all of our minds by that point, but Caitlin cannot eat gluten, well she can, but she will be sick for several days afterwards. Dominoes has gluten free pizza which is known, and instead of looking for another place that may or may not be gluten free we decided to get pizza from there, take it back to Emy's hotel and eat it. There was a snag in the plan because the Dominoes wouldn't deliver to that side of town...so the plan was reworked. Caitlin, Dave and Paul would take their Uber to Dominoes and pick up the pizza and then meet us at the hotel. Meanwhile, Bre, Emy and I went back to the hotel straight away. While in the room we chatted some more, the topics were mostly silly by that point.

When the pizza arrived we all chowed down like we didn't eat dinner earlier in the night. There was little conversation though the pizza eating, and Emy set the television to Adventures in Babysitting, so that meant there was even less conversation.

With the pizza finished, it was time to start making plans to get back to the Twin Arrows. We were planning to taken an Uber, but because of the distance, and the late hour the fare would have been several hundred dollars. So we called Melissa to pick us up. Which she was willing to do, however after some debate we decided to see if a cab would take us there. They had flat rates and would take all five of us (Emy did not need a ride) back in one cab. So we told Melissa that she could go back to bed, which of course she did not do. Then, we waited for the cab, and waited and waited. Some of us ended up dozing, and some of us ended up sleeping, but the wait continued for over an hour. The cab did call at one point to say that they were coming, but after that there was no word from them for another 45 minutes. By that time, we determined that we could drive back ourselves.

So that's what we ended up doing, arriving at the wee hour of 4 AM. We were pretty beat at that point so the elevator ride to our rooms wasn't very eventful.

Sunday, May 15, 2016 Flagstaff to Phoenix

Despite the late night I woke up at about 7:30 AM. I attempted to go back to sleep, but could not. So I dressed and went downstairs to look for Bernie. I knew he had left earlier, and I thought I saw him put gym clothes on. I first checked in the Four Elements, but he was not there, so I went back to find the fitness center. While doing so I ran into David and Mary, and also Karen. They were coming down to breakfast, but they came with me to check in the fitness center for my Dad. He wasn't there! We decided that checking in the fitness center was as good as going to the fitness center for the day. Ha!

After that I decided to join them, and also Jim, Bre and Paul (who were on their way) for breakfast. I didn't bring down my purse, so I had to go back for that. I found Jim on my way back from that that task and we went down together. On my way down G'Ma called, I told her about breakfast and asked if she would want to join us. I also asked if she wanted me to pick her up, but she said she could find it. Which she did! But not before my Dad showed up. I guess he was watching someone in the casino playing blackjack in an unusual way like splitting 3s and etc. It sounded like the guy was very lucky despite his playing tactics.

The nine of us all ate breakfast. I had fruit and toast. The fruit was just as good as it looked on other people's plate the day before. The toast was just toast. The coffee was also refreshing. After breakfast Karen and Bre were leaving to get a rental car and drive to Durango, Colorado. While Jim and Paul were returning to Tucson.

I went back upstairs and tried to sleep a little more, but it wasn't working. So when my mom said that she wanted to eat, I went to sit with her. G'Ma, Mary and David joined us after a bit. Mary and David offered to drive G'Ma to Phoenix and then one of them would drive with her back to Tucson. So they stayed for just a bit longer before going. Melissa finished her breakfast, and then we, with Bernie, went back to the Casino. Bernie played a few hands, but lost three in a row almost immediately. He lost so quickly he made Melissa a little nervous. So she only bet five dollars every hand. Still she ended up winning again and she was up sixty-five dollars for the entire weekend.

After losing three hands in a row she cashed out, and then we went upstairs to get ready to check out. We stopped by Caitlin and Dave's room because Caitlin had two more cards to open and also to say goodbye to them. Then, we went to our room to pack up.

The trip down to Phoenix was much easier than the way up, though there was some traffic it didn't last too long. We also stopped at Melissa's favorite exit (Cottonwood/Camp Verde exit) and had mini Blizzards at Dairy Queen.