December 3rd
– December 8th 2013
Our second adventure in Arizona did not start very
smoothly, unfortunately. We were really happy to go to the bed and be
done on Monday. Sadly, the mattress is really firm. J.
had her orientation from eight to four thirty on Tuesday and
Wednesday. The hospital is about fifteen minutes from the
apartment. Relatively easy and quick drive on the freeways. There is
no snow here. Cactus. The area is surprisingly green. The orientation
continued on Thursday as well. The traffic is
relatively fine, compared to New York or San Francisco the traffic is
just peachy. The roads are relatively new and well maintained. The
hospital is on the north end of metropolitan area and the city
continues to sprawl further. I unpacked, cleaned up the apartment,
got oil changed, did some shopping, and homework. The school is
almost over. Unfortunately we have a bit of cold spill here and the
temperature is barely hitting 60 degrees. One day I went for a walk
in a nearby North Mountain Preserve, I wanted to do some small loop
but ended up walking over 4 miles. Uphill – the views were really
(again surprisingly) nice – the city is flat and green, there are
some small hills (parks) within the city and most of the horizon is
covered with the mountains. It is quite interesting. Things are
falling into the place and everything is getting more less normal.
On Friday we went to the Desert Botanical
Garden. We bought the membership tickets as we are planning to go
back there few times. Last year, when we were in Flagstaff we visited
the garden, but it was about 110 degrees and J. was extremely cranky.
It was much more pleasant this time. Thru out the garden there are
glass art pieces from Chihuly, it was interesting.
http://www.chihuly.com/ The
whole garden is really cool place to visit. After that we drove to
downtown Scottsdale. We found visitor's center and got some
information and brochures. There was nice lady who was originally
from the east coast. J. got phone call from the hospital about her
schedule. She wanted to have her notes so we headed home – the
distances are somewhat big in here, I guess they have enough space to
build bigger. They asked her if she would not mind to work days
instead of nights, at least for now. Great news – we went from
really bad night shift schedule to really nice one with day shifts.
And most of the country is fighting snow and ice – it is nice and
sunny here. Saturday was the first unit orientation
shift. I spent the day with papers – school, our documents,
contracts, taxes and so on. It was really awesome. J. called me and
repeated several times that everybody is so “nice, really so
nice.” Kind of funny, it
is interesting contrast after our stay in New York City. Nothing
special on Saturday.
There are apparently
330 sunny days in Scottsdale, I guess this Sunday
is not one of them. It was mostly cloudy, somewhat breezy but again
when reading weather reports from the rest of the US it was more then
pleasant day (ice on the roads of Texas). I got phone call from our
parents at 7.00 am (she did not realize there was two hours time
difference). I was already up but J. heard it too. Relatively early
morning, slow one. Drive along Cave Creek road to the villages of
Cave Creek and Carefree. A bit of city and later bunch of desert.
Nice drive. We detoured just before the village to a Conservation
Area of Cave Creek (it is regional park). It was over 4 miles out of
the way and last mile was a dirt road. Really nice area, hilly, with
sun creating interesting picture with shadows. There was an entrance
fee collected by an older couple from Wisconsin (volunteers or
workers of Maricopa County Parks). Nice people. Pleasant walk through
the desert – a lot of Saguaro cactus. They can apparently live up
to 300 years. There is also special pronunciation of the word
“Saguaro” (watch this video).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1t7otKxIqg
It was a bit breezy walk but the landscape was incredible, it was
quiet and peaceful. It was really beautiful (who would think that
about the desert, right?). We really enjoyed that. Town of Cave Creek
– main road with many shops and restaurants (some more and some
less interesting). We stopped in one selling art from metal, ceramics
etc. - it was pretty neat. Another was rock and glass shop. We went
in and realized it was a bit different price range – they were
selling tables with some half cut rocks for 20000 dollars. And that
was not the most expensive item by far. We talk with the guy who
owned or worked there and it was good learning experience (where it
is from etc.). They even had a piece of glass from the Manhattan
project (not radioactive anymore). Really, people are so
nice here. Carefree –
empty, or almost empty. Interesting town square (relatively new) with
desert garden in the middle. Really big sundial. Bunch of shops and
restaurants. Couple visited – just fine. Antique store – I guess
normal – the owner was really nice (originally from Midwest – I
see the theme here) and was playing with two wooden gag toys. One was
box that had sliding door – when J. open it the spider on the wire
came out touching her hand. The other was disassembled and we helped
her to put it together – it was exploding outhouse. There was a
mouse trap inside and when a person opened the door of the outhouse
the mouse trap went off and “blew up” the house. It was great
visit. Drive for a while. Stop at the Sonoran Desert Park (when I
looked at Google maps at home this road was still being built). New
and nice park. We debated and in the end decided to take another
walk. Less Saguaro cactus – more other cacti – nice hill offering
almost 360 degrees views of the area – it was amazing (around two
miles walk). Drive home after that and enjoy quiet evening. FIRST
WEEK IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA: it did not start well but so far (knocking
on the wood) it is turning to be pretty nice.
