Click here to open the Phoenix photo gallery in a new window. Phoenix is an oasis in the desert, a sprawling bit of suburban excess that somehow fills one of the most uninhabitable places in the country. You’ve got Glendale, Scottsdale, Avondale, and really just about every type of “dale” you could want. And considering a “dale” is a valley, I’m surprised that the fine folks of Arizona didn’t create their own Deathdale to compete with that more-famous valley over in California. Hell, the name would even go along with the ancient population of Arizona, or at least suggest their impending fate.
This introduction isn’t my way of saying I hate Arizona. Rather, it’s a nice enough place, with lots of sun and great winter weather. But when you really think about it, it’s still a desert. Where they built a bunch of cities. And I guess that may make heatstroke a reasonable explanation for the absurd frontage-road traffic lights they have. Let’s put it this way — if I’m sober and the painted markings on the road read like Cyrillic, that’s probably not a good thing. Like I said earlier, there’s a lot of old people in the greater Phoenix area. A lot. I used to think Florida was where retirees go to die. Apparently the annual hurricane onslaughts have moved them all to Arizona. But when you couple that with the gorgeous young co-eds of Arizona State, it’s a very weird cross-section of American life. There’s a ton of golf courses, which is a must for any retiree-friendly area. But the nightlife is also pretty respectable, not that Playboy’s “#1 Party School” needs bars to have a good time. In my three days in the desert, I managed to catch two college basketball games and an NBA one, all in the same place. Friday night, I saw the Phoenix Suns-Milwaukee Bucks game, which only further underscored my belief that the League has absolutely nothing on the excitement of college basketball. While the Suns had the hottest After the game, we Bomar-ed an In-N-Out double-double somewhere in Annendalevilledaledale. While a general rule of thumb on my trips is to eat at places considered “local” and avoid chain restaurants, a huge exception had to be made for In-N-Out. Unless rumors of expansion into the Dallas market come true, the closest place an Austinite can find these delicious burgers is in Arizona. ..just a hop, skip, and 15-hour car ride away. So you’ll have to excuse my simplistic meal choice on this trip, not just once, but again on Sunday before I left town. Downtown Phoenix is a really nice area in the midst of renovations, including what looks to be a trolley being built through many of the streets. I’m a huge proponent of mass transit, especially in sprawling urban areas like Phoenix and Austin. Not to get too far off on a tangent, but the thing being built in Phoenix looks a lot more useful than the light rail being thrown up in Austin. Like, for instance…it actually goes through downtown. Breakfast was eaten at a nice little place not far from the arena called First Watch. I later found out that this is also a chain, but considering none of us had ever heard of it, the place was new to us. They had a ton of great, healthy breakfast options, including about 22,583 variations on the omelette. After a good, filling breakfast and a quick visit to an outdoor mall a few blocks away, it was time for a Saturday that was all about basketball. The Horns opened the doubleheader with a game against Gonzaga that I’d generally like to forget. But if you’d like to revisit it for some reason, feel free to read my post-game wrapup.
That nightmare was followed by a great matchup between Illinois and Arizona in front of an absolutely deafening crowd. I’d say the arena was probably about 75% Arizona folks, 15% Illini faithful, 8% Gonzaga fans, and the small burnt orange contingent. Even though they were outnumbered, the Illini fans roared with every basket as they took a huge first-half lead. Arizona mounted a comeback and eventually won, but every single score resulted in an eruption of noise from one group or the other. And in a small NBA arena built specifically for basketball, that sound reverberated. Just a night after finding the NBA wine-and-cheese crowd a bit on the comatose side, I was reminded why college basketball is still the best thing around. Somehow our group of four UT fans had bought seats on the 2nd row behind the basket, but right in the middle of where the U of A band was supposed to be sitting. Apparently there had been a mistake in the ticketing office, because there were only about four rows of fans who had been sold seats there, and the usher staff was prepared for our arrival. They moved all of us a section to the left, even closer to the benches, leaving space for the Wildcat band. And they were a really entertaining bunch. Seeing fans, cheerleaders, and even the band from a university that is truly a “basketball” school really makes a Longhorn fan pine for that kind of involvement in the Frank Erwin Center. I know we’ll never fully get there, but I’d love to see some huge steps taken in the near future. Saturday night we called ahead to Richardson’s (map), what many call the best restaurant in town. It serves what they have dubbed “New Mexico cuisine” and is a very popular choice, despite its odd location in what amounts to a tiny strip mall on the north side of town. After waiting nearly two hours — and catching the triple-overtime football game between Rutgers and West Virginia on the bar TVs — we were treated to an absolutely amazing meal. I enjoyed some of the best enchiladas I’ve had, a delicious combination of blue-corn tortillas, turkey, and an incredible mushroom-cheese sauce. The only tip I give to those willing to brave the long wait for Richardson’s is to avoid the margaritas. Horribly overpriced and overrated, they tasted more like an alcohol-free limeade than anything. Perhaps we’re spoiled coming from Texas, but those margaritas eran teribles. Sunday we spent the late morning hours touring the Desert Botanical Garden. It’s a place not far from the criss-crossing streets of suburbia, yet still quiet enough to feel removed. Considering it’s a garden in a desert, most of the plants are cacti. And evidently there’s about a million different kinds of cacti that can grow out there. Some of my favorites are in the photo gallery from this trip, although there was no way I could have captured all of the variety housed at the Desert Botanical Garden. If you happen to go, I’d suggest doing it without kids, or at least with ones that have taken a nap earlier in the day. The paths can get to be repetitive and tiresome for the little ones, so they may lose interest and get bored. Be sure to check the guestbook on your way out, though. The comments left by field-trip kids are absolutely priceless, if not a bit harsh. My favorite? “It has been a year since I came here. I changed a lot, but this place didn’t.” All told, it’s not a bad place to visit. And if you take away a shitty performance against the Zags, it was a pretty good weekend getaway. I’m not sure I could ever live in Phoenixdale, but I wouldn’t mind coming back if any future NCAA brackets happened to send us through the area. |
