Arizona

Flying out was hell. There was a massive traffic backup on the Turnpike, so what was normally a 30- to 45-minute trip turned into a 90-minute trip. Then we had to send one of our bags through the machine three times. Yes, we had a lot of electronics, but I'm still not sure why one pass an a manual bag search wasn't enough.

Even with a luggage shelf on the wheelchair in the terminal, having two carry-ons and two bags was a problem getting on and off the plane, and the car rental terminal wheelchairs did not have such a rack. Luckily the attendants helped, but we're definitely checking one bag on the way back.

We got a Mazda with fancy options and controls that took us a couple of days to learn. The entertainment system was totally different from our Prius's, and the only part we got working was using a USB stick--which was really all we needed. The cruise control was also tricky--you had to hit the toggle switches just the right way. But it was a much more advanced system, using radar(?) to maintain a safe distance behind the car in front of you, and going at the set speed or that car's speed, whichever was lower. The car also warned you if there was a car in your blind spot, and if you were drifting out of your lane. All this took a while to figure out.

And the low door frame was definitely a problem getting in and out of the car,

We made our usual stop at Bookman's in Mesa, but either a lot of $5-a-bag purchases at the library or the exhausting trip left me without much buying energy. We also went to Tacos & Dogos in the same shopping center for a quick lunch, as we hadn't eaten since breakfast.

Then there was a lot of road construction on the way to Westminster. Even after we got to Westminster, there was more to do. We had to register, then get tested for COVID (both negative), then unload the car and get at least a little settled in.

We finally saw Mom about 7PM. We talked for a while, and we told her that we were staying until early Tuesday morning, and seeing her three more days, but taking a day to drive up to Sedona. Immediately she said she had never seen Sedona (probably not true) and wanted to come with us.

There was no way that was going to happen: it's a full-day trip, Mom cannot get in and out of a car without being lifted by the nursing aides, and we wanted a day of just the two of us as a break.

Oh, and Mom also wanted to go to the local Chinese restaurant for dinner. In addition to the logistics problems, David says she barely eats anything anyway.

So Friday morning I talked to the head of nursing and explained what Mom was asking, basically finishing with "Please tell me this is impossible." She agreed Sedona was totally out--she clearly needed no encouragement for that answer--and said she thought the Chinese restaurant was also a bad idea. It *might* be done, but she suggested bringing Chinese food in.

Then we took Mom out for a drive around Scottsdale, etc., After an hour she really wanted to get back to Westminster, she had bad back pains, etc. If we had entertained any idea of taking her to Sedona, this quashed them.

Mom went back to her room, and we also went back to ours and relaxed the rest of the day. (Bedtime for Mom is 7PM, so we figured by the time she ate lunch, and rested up from the exertion, there wasn't much time left.)

Also Friday I sent out the MT VOID. I had brought the netbook, but discovered that when I sent the file out by getting it from MS Word, some people said it was illegible (meaning too small, I think). It must be their mail reader, because not everyone has that problem. I can send it out from my phone, but if I want to send it to a mailing list, I can only send it as "To:", not "Bcc", and I don't want to reveal everyone's email. This will require more research.

Saturday we drove to Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona. We left about 9AM, and did not try to drive as fast as possible, so we got to Flagstaff and the top of Oak Creek Canyon about noon, driving through saguaro, them high plains, and finally forested areas. Since the scenery was the reason for the day, all this was great, The road through Oak Creek Canyon starts out through evergreen forest, then descends down a steep, twisty road with high cliffs and more evergreens, finally ending on the floor of the canyon, where it winds through oak trees (I assume) along the creek. Shortly before Sedona it comes out into what is called "Red Rock Country"--red cliffs, buttes, and mesas.

Coming from the north, you enter Sedona in the tourist area. This is "New Age Sedona", and was full of cars and pedestrians. Luckily I had chosen a restaurant for lunch not *in* Sedona, but at the airport. We really had no interest in Sedona per se, though we talked about it as the destination--it was the area around it.

And thank goodness| Not only was "New Age Sedona" overrun already, but as we heaed south, we could see a two-mile backup of cars waiting to get into Sedona! These were the people who were coming from Phoenix et al to Sedona itself, and so came up the road from the south.

We drove to the airport and ate at the Mesa Grill, with a beautiful view of more buttes and mesas, as well as a free--and not full--parking lot.

For lunch Mark had brisket hash with a poached egg and Hollandaise sauce, along with tri-color baby potatoes--a good choice as it is easier to eat than something that needs to be cut up, etc. I had Carolina pulled pork, jalapeno slaw (cole slaw with diced jalapeno on top), and elote (is that just a fancy name for corn?).

Even if you don't eat at the airport, drive there and then back on the road off 89A, because the view coming *back* from the airport is spectacular!

We drove back, through "Strip Mall Sedona", through more scenery, and then through some of the same scenery we saw on the way up. By the time we got back it was 4:30 and we were exhausted, having driven about 300 miles.

Sunday we got together with Mom from about 11AM to 3PM, then we went back to the room and rested. At about 4:30PM we ordered dinner from the Chinese restaurant and I went to pick it up: Mongolian Beef for Mom and Chicken Chow Fun, and Bok Choy with Mushrooms for Mark and me. Mom ate more than half her Mongolian Beef, as well as some Chicken Chow Fun and rice, which is way moe than she usually eats. I was disappointed that the mushrooms with the bok choy were white mushrooms rather than black mushrooms, and the sauce was a bit gloppy. Still, the meal as a whole was a success.

Oh, and the restaurant wasn't even doing dine-in, just take-out and delivery!

Doing advance check-in on Monday and getting boarding passes that didn't require WiFi to display took me three hours. (well, I was also eating lunch during part of it.) The public computer with the printer at Westminster would not connect to the United site, or pretty much anything except msn.com or bing.com, and no one could take a look at it. So I checked in on the phone, including paying to check a bag, and then tried to get the boarding passes downloaded to the phone. One problem seemed to be that we had two passes for each flight, and they had the same file names or something. Eventually I got it to work. (And then when we checked the bag Tuesday, they were able to print boarding passes for us right there!)

We had gone to Mom's room at 111AM, but she had ben (still?) asleep, so we ate lunch in the Cafe on our own and went back after lunch. We talked for a while, then went down to the Cafe for dinner. We weren't terribly hungry, so Mark had a milkshake and I had a dish of butter pecan ice cream. Mom had a cheeseburger and ate the whole thing, plus tomato, onion, and pickle. She apparently eats a lot more when she is not eating the default menu in her room.

We stayed until 7:30PM but had to say goodbye. Mom again said something about flying out to visit us (she had mentioned this a couple of times). Well, we kind of went along with it, but this is also not going to happen.

Flying back Tuesday was yet another sort of hell. There was a long wait for the wheelchair. The plane was full. Our flights had changed, and we were no longer sitting together. We were in the same row, but Mark was in a window seat and I was across the aisle in a middle seat. I was between two large people traveling together who had obviously hoped for an empty seat between them. Mark was next to a couple with a baby on their laps. Luckily, she was a very well-behaved baby.

While in Newark we had to take all our electronics out and I had to removed my shoes, in Phoenix we didn't have to take anything out and I kept my shoes on.

For our Chicago-to-Newark flight, we had been assigned two aisle seats across from each other in the last row, but because the plane was not full an Mark had problems getting up the aisle, they moved us to an aisle and window seat with an empty seat between about halfway back in the plane. The big drawback was that my overhead light was burned out.

In Newark and in Chicago the wheelchairs are provided and operated by United (which to my understanding means that tipping is not necessary) But in Phoenix they (as well as curbside check-in) are operated by a separate, so tipping probably is necessary.

This trip has probably cured us of discretionary flying. It is just too difficult for us to think of someplace we would want to go worth this effort. Driving trips are still a possibility (we are planning on a week in Maine for our fiftieth anniversary at the end of the summer).

The End