Several years ago, a dear friend of Joelle’s gifted her an entire furniture set (I’ll let her describe it in the comments). The problem was that it was coming from a house in Flagstaff, so it has been sitting in storage for quite some time. So today, I took a U-Haul up to their house, loaded it up, and drove it back.
Central Arizona does a really good job of fooling people during the winter months into thinking it is actually habitable. It was 65-70 with clear blue skies all day, none of the bullshit weekend traffic, and just a really pleasant drive.
For most of the trip you simply take 17 north, and on a couple sections of the interstate they have donkey crossing signs like this:
This is my third time I have been on this stretch of road, and no wild donkey sightings yet. I’ve got my fingers crossed. You’d think they would sense the presence of a monumental jackass like myself and want to come pay homage, but you would be wrong. Also, the saguaro forests are amazing. Can you imagine being on mushrooms under the stars and thinking all those cacti were people? No? Well, that’s what I thought about while driving through it today.
On the way back home, I stopped at the Black Canyon pie shoppe, which is apparently legendary (I think Suzanne mentioned them in one of these here threads), and I picked up a key lime pie. I’ve basically been waiting all day, marshaling all of my self control to not eat the whole thing, and after I post this I am gonna go hose myself off in the shower and cool down, sit on the couch, and have a big ole piece of pie.
War for Ukraine Day 694: Speaker Johnson is Doing Trump’s Bidding
Kristine
Key lime is one of my fave pies.
Not the green ones.
Elizabelle
Enjoy the pie. And: I love this sentence:
zhena gogolia
I haven’t seen suzanne or Alison Rose today. I hope they’re okay.
Scout211
Way to announce your intentions and your movements inside the house, Cole! Joelle must be pleased. 😊
NotMax
FYI.
Even the historically very right-leaning 5th circuit couldn’t swallow it.
U.S. appeals court blocks Texas law that could ban or restrict library books
NotMax
Fingers and toes crossed you performed a thorough check for scorpions.
Devore
Looks like you missed a great selfie opportunity in front of the sign
zhena gogolia
@Devore: 😂😂😂
Auntie Beak
@NotMax: As I was told when I called Poison Control when I was stung (IN BED) by one, they’re Arizona Bark Scorpions and they are not deadly. Just sting-y [as in ouch, not miserly]. This was during a 100-year blizzard in Southern Arizona, when also there was NO WAY an ambulance could have made it up the canyon to where we were staying. I was sure I was a goner.
Almost Retired
That winter drive between Phoenix and Flagstaff is fascinating. It can be chilly but snow bird pleasant in Scottsdale but life threateningly cold 120 miles and 6000 feet up in Flagstaff.
Poe Larity
John, it’s how they designate areas with Democrats.
WaterGirl
@Auntie Beak: That must have been scary. Glad you were okay!
AlaskaReader
Stop imagining things and get the mushrooms.
Auntie Beak
That’s nothing. The owner of the place where we were staying said she now always checks cups, because once she poured a glass of water into a ceramic cup and got stung on the lip when she went to take a sip. And a friend of ours who lives outside Phoenix told us he used to just leave his swim trunks hanging on a rail near the pool. One time he got back into them and, yeah, you guessed it. Got stung in unmentionable places, several times!
AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team
I am really loving these “slice of life” posts, John.
– fellow sneaky sleeper
SteveinPHX
@Elizabelle: I second that. And the pie!
@Elizabelle:
Dangerman
I’m thinking that imagining cacti as people is a bad idea; you might find one of them attractive (and I’m gonna stop right there).
In Joshua Tree, there’s a section of something cacti related with needles that look NASTY. I got out of that area in seconds; don’t care how photogenic it might be.
ETA: Cholla cactus. Not sure how cholla translates.
piratedan
@NotMax: scorpions are not a northern Arizona thing generally, so he should have been fine.
and its the small ones you have to watch out for… as a general rule, the larger they are, the less lethal. Doesn’t mean the stings don’t hurt tho.
piratedan
@Dangerman: while all cacti are to be avoided, there are some that are just more evil than others. It’s the cholla that I steer especially clear of, also known as the jumping cacti, because you get to the end of the needles, they become so fine as to be translucent. Hence you get needled without even knowing that you were too close (say by about 1-2cm). They are less than wonderful although any number of birds and other wildlife find them perfectly awesome.
Jay
@piratedan:
Prickly Pear sucks too.
Dr. Daniel Price (Saint Vincent)
I shall be most interested to read of your experiences in the next few weeks. For many years, I played competitive Ultimate with various traveling teams. My first tournament experience was New Year Fest in Tempe, early February 1994. Game-time temperatures were 90°F; the same was true the next year.
NYF continues, with the fortieth iteration in a bit more than a week: http://vots.org/nyf/nyf2024/nyf2024-main.shtml
[I was not sad when I retired from competitive play–it was clearly time–but I hope to find or build a team of Grandmasters in our new city.]
–jersey number 0; nicknamed “7-11” (why do you suppose that should be?)
Manyakitty
@zhena gogolia: Alison Rose was posting on Adam’s Ukraine thread. I’m still bruised from yesterday’s ugliness and maybe she is, too.
Chetan Murthy
@Manyakitty: Oh, oy, I guess I’m glad I missed it: today, glancing at the comments from yesterday’s thread, I don’t see anything untoward, but maybe I skipped over it. I didn’t see anything from Alison Rose though.
Manyakitty
@Chetan Murthy: it got kind of heated about antisemitism. She and I both tried, as did a few others, to explain our actual lived experiences, but yikes.
Anyway. ☮️💟
karen marie
I’m here for the furniture description. Do tell! Please!
karl
About those pies: they’re at Rock Springs Cafe, just south of Black Canyon City (about 30-50 minutes from Phoenix).
satby
@Elizabelle: The man can turn a phrase.
teezyskeezy
@karl: Duly noted. Sadly I’m becoming another transplant to Phoenix soon enough. Already made note of the ceviche place, now the pies.
Elizabelle
@satby: Indeed. Is it snowing now??
Odie Hugh Manatee
My wife makes me a key lime pie every birthday and as often as I can get to in between. OK, the pie is for all of us but I share mine on my birthday!
My favorite pie.
Sister Golden Bear
@Dangerman:
Cholla cactus are 100 octane nitro-powered nightmare fuel, as David Attenborough explains.
Starfish
@Scout211: 😂
Joelle
@karen marie: a fabulous MCM bamboo tiki patio furniture set. It includes a sectional, footstool, a round fishbowl style coffee table, a very dramatic corner table, and a bar with 2 barstools! Glass tops for everything. Red tropical barkcloth seat covers. Pristine condition! We’re turning the room leading out to the patio/backyard into a full blown tiki lounge.
The donor is a dear old friend of mine. I met “the Swig” 25-ish years ago doing a hair modeling gig for Rusk hair products. All the other girls at the casting were vapid 5’10”+ giantesses that complained about being bored while they swatted at the stylists running their hands through their waist length shampoo advertisement tresses. We were petite pixies stealing sly knowing glances at each other with every Evangelista-ic head toss and every Naomi-ian tantrum. They were thoroughbreds and we were Shetland ponies. It wasn’t long before we were bonding and making plans to travel to the show site together. And the rest is history. And that is how we got out hands on this hella sweet tiki patio set.
Ms. Deranged in AZ
I LOVE their pies! My fave is the pecan.
NotMax
@Joelle
Go easy on the torches.
:)
TaMara
@Joelle: Ok, things I did not expect to read: “hair modeling gig” but does not surprise me in the least, having seen your photogenic countenance.
Cole best not screw this up. LOL
Lyrebird
@Manyakitty: Thank you.
Elizabelle
@Joelle: We are going to need pictures. Sounds sweet.
BigJimSlade
Pie and cacti and… jackasses :-)
kindness
It’s so fun to read of the day to day things in your new life. How are the kids transitioning?
Manyakitty
@Lyrebird: we need to take care of each other. I got your back.
Ella in New Mexico
@NotMax:
if they’ve been stored in Flagstaff, hope he checked even more thoroughly for Brown Recluse and Black Widow spiders, both of which like to hide in non-obvious places until you stick an unsuspecting hand in small dark crevice
sneaky bastards
3letterjon
Welcome to Arizona! Glad you’re enjoying the sights and attractions!
If you want a Tucson tour, hit me up. Or just follow your nose. It’s a UNESCO City of Gastronomy, after all. You’ll manage to enjoy it somehow.
Joelle
@Elizabelle: Pictures will be a comin once we get the tiki lounge together.
Origuy
I carry a comb in cholla territory. If a bit breaks off and sticks in your clothes (or yourleg) , don’t try to pull it off with your fingers. Slice the comb under it and pull it off with that.