<<Midwest Coffee Talk: The Tens>>

[rockyi]

It's gnat weather here at this time. DAMN they're bad this year, I go outside for a few minutes at dusk and they're crawling all over my scalp.

[vid]

40 degrees is shorts weather for me.

40 degrees celsius is stay inside under the blanket sitting on top of the air conditioner vent praying for winter to come back weather.

[Ayreonaut]

It's getting close to that this week.

[LMich]

It was tornado weather, here, yesterday, sirens and everything. The city didn't get hit by much besides horizontal rain and lightening for a few hours, but areas to the south and northeast of here got hit with straight-line winds and a confirmed tornado that destroyed quite a few homes. Southern Michigan is just far north that it usually misses out on major tornado outbreaks, but just far enough south that it's not unsual to get hit by the very northern tips of the storm systems that rip through the midlands of the country.

[vid]

We might get thunderstorms today, or as Americans could call it, "a very calm day, not much happening".

Lightning strikes and the newspaper prints an extra edition to celebrate the once in a lifetime even.

[hudkina]

About the rain yesterday. Interestingly, nothing touched me. It was strange, because Toledo (to the south) got raped and everything from Lansing to Port Huron (to the north) got pounded, but nothing happened here.

The sky was almost black looking down toward Toledo and it was a very dark blue looking up toward Detroit, but here the clouds were white as can be with a few breaks of sunlight here and there. I should have taken a picture...

[vid]

Originally Posted by hudkina

Toledo got raped

They had it coming.

[touraccuracy]

toledo should stop dressing like a slut

[rockyi]

Toledo gives lap dances.

[vid]

Originally Posted by rockyi

Toledo gives lap dances.

Is that what you call chlamydia in northern Illinois?

[rockyi]

No, we call that "Thunder Bay Discharge"

[Ayreonaut]

Well, after one day of driving around on freeways and shopping at nondescript malls, I'd say Phoenix is pretty much how I expected it. Admittedly, I haven't seen much yet - some touristy stuff in Scottsdale, a mall that I think was in Glendale, and a bunch of under construction suburbs around Litchfield Park.

But damn, people say Calgary is suburban. On the way home, we drove pretty much through the centre of Phoenix, and if I didn't see the towers along that one corridor, I wouldn't even know I was anywhere near downtown. I never saw anything denser, just older.

The far out suburbs are pretty bizarre here too (thinking Litchfield Park). I mean, I know suburbs are supposed to be quiet and lifeless, but this is like some post-apocalyptic zombie flick. I'm used to not seeing people walking, but we walked to a restaurant for supper last night (about a 15 minute stroll), and I saw 4 or 5 cars and one person playing basketball.

Anyway, tomorrow my mom's meeting with some people from 8-4, and I was planning on walking from there (somewhere in Scottsdale) to downtown. However, it turns out that this "somewhere in Scottsdale" is at the very NE corner of 101, so that won't be happening.

So I've got some questions for anyone that knows the city - what the fuck should I do for 8 hours (tomorrow and the next day)? At some point I'll find a bus and go somewhere, but have no idea where/what to check out. Any suggestions?

...

Now on to the fun stuff: how awful it can be to travel with my mom and grandma. I came to Phoenix without sunglasses, so we went to a mall to get that one thing. As we walk in, both of them say "I'm not here to shop", yet, after I buy some shades (about 20 minutes) we walk back through some department store towards the car. They got distracted and looked through clothes for 2 hours, trying on pretty much everything in the store.

Later we found out that Grandma apparently can't tell the difference between a hispanic and black people, because we went to a Walgreens (again, only for one item, so why the hell do they need a fucking cart???), and there were several hispanic people inside. Grandma later said "we must be in a black part of town". She's a little (unknowingly, most of the time) racist, you know, like most old white people.

But my god, the worst part, by far, was driving around with them. My mom drove, and Grandma gave directions. I consider myself an expert navigator, but since I'm the only one who's never been here before, my opinion is worthless (even though I have a map in my hand). One more minute in that car with them bickering and I swear I was going to lose it.

Oh yeah, everything is cheap as hell down here. Fast food, gas, golf balls, houses, and pretty much everything else I saw was so much cheaper than in Calgary.

So, in case you (Buckeye, or whoever else knows Phoenix) got bored of my post and missed it, what should I see, where should I go for the next couple days?

[LMich]

Try Mill Street in Tempe. That's about all I know; Buckeye'll be able to help you.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Try to start at Mill Avenue in Tempe, then take the light rail to Downtown Phoenix and check out Cityscape.

If you can figure out a way to get to Papago Park, Phoenix Mountain Preserve and South Mountain, those are three points of interest definitely worth your time if you can swing it. The light rail runs up Central to the Art Museum and the Heard Museum (Art Museum's off Central and McDowell, the Heard Museum's just a couple blocks up the street). They're not much, but the Heard Museum has a decent collection of southwestern artifacts.

There's also the Southwest Coffee Talk in the Southwest subforum, those guys there will be able to help you out with logistics far more than I'm able to.

[mthq]

Originally Posted by Ayreonaut

Now on to the fun stuff: how awful it can be to travel with my mom and grandma. I came to Phoenix without sunglasses, so we went to a mall to get that one thing. As we walk in, both of them say "I'm not here to shop", yet, after I buy some shades (about 20 minutes) we walk back through some department store towards the car. They got distracted and looked through clothes for 2 hours, trying on pretty much everything in the store.

Later we found out that Grandma apparently can't tell the difference between a hispanic and black people, because we went to a Walgreens (again, only for one item, so why the hell do they need a fucking cart???), and there were several hispanic people inside. Grandma later said "we must be in a black part of town". She's a little (unknowingly, most of the time) racist, you know, like most old white people.

But my god, the worst part, by far, was driving around with them. My mom drove, and Grandma gave directions. I consider myself an expert navigator, but since I'm the only one who's never been here before, my opinion is worthless (even though I have a map in my hand). One more minute in that car with them bickering and I swear I was going to lose it.

Whoa dude!.. You're stumbling onto vid's turf with that storytelling there!

[Buckeye Native 001]

For the record, there is no "black" part of the Valley. The closest we have to a "Little Mexico" is Guadalupe, and possibly sections of South Phoenix, but unless you have a death wish, I wouldn't suggest making any trips to South Phoenix.

[hudkina]

Yeah, it's so hardcore! They have weeds in their yards and mailboxes that don't adhere to association guidelines!

[Buckeye Native 001]

Or, you know, have the same problems with drugs and gangs as every other big city in this country?

[vid]

That story about being in Phoenix makes me glad to be in Thunder Bay.

[rockyi]

The last time I was in Phoenix (not counting the airport) was in 1978. It was sprawly as hell then. I also noticed that people drove very slow down there.....slow meaning exactly what the speed limit said. Not sure if that's how it still is.