Visiting KHG! (July 21 - 25, 2011)

Some time ago, Chris planned a lengthy trip to Virginia to visit (and stay with) Kerry, spend time with the Jackshaws, etc. (He also pledged, if loosely, to visit Lancaster, but that's another story.) At any rate: over the course of the last couple months prior to his visit, the entire rest of the family, pretty much one by one, made plans to join the fun for the final weekend of that visit. Thus we all (including POC and, now, Nedda) found ourselves in Kerry's apartment in Arlington, VA as of the evening of Thursday, July 21, 2011.

Also in attendance was Kerry's saintly-though-uncanonized roommate (Christina).

And the fun began.



(I will note that the weather was very hot and humid - up to 102 - but didn't end up affecting things very much. In weather terms, it was a relief to get back to Phoenix - which doesn't often happen in July.)

Very nice, very memorable visit. Dinner at the apartment on the night of everyone's arrival (Thursday 7/21) - Chris was heavily involved in making Tinga pork, Kerry had nice beverages for us (including Chimay for me, with glassware (which is important!)). And we celebrated POC's birthday with (berry) cake (successfully made by Kerry) and ice cream. Then some ping pong and pool downstairs in the community room (if I'm keeping the days straight).

A very nice adventure for Friday lunch: a place that serves fresh crabs (Quarterdeck, right in Arlington). I'm not quite sure how these were prepared; I do know (1) they were ordered by the dozen; (2) must have been boiled?; (3) some tasty seasonings that looked like dirt but tasted awesome; (4) it is an adventure to pound these things with a mallet, open them up, discard brains, lungs and guts; (5) they tasted wonderful. So this was a great idea on K's part, and definitely something we don't see in AZ. Nicole and POC treated (a substantial treat, let's say).

Friday evening: Patrick treated to a Potomac River cruise - had conspired with the locals to make arrangements. Warm evening, but that actually felt nice once we started moving on the river. A delightful route - various of the monuments are visible, we venture down toward the (pretty) new Washington Nationals stadium, etc. There is definitely something about getting out on the river with a beverage or two, it promotes conversation and was just a nice time. Pizza back at the room - great stuff - then enjoyed the ping pong and pool tables; then back to the room for a game I had never heard of ("apples to apples"). Large group of players, quite fun (even if I was robbed by at least two judges). Steve Jackshaw was the surprise(d) victor, though some scoring shenanigans were a factor.

Saturday was the only day we made it down to the Capitol Mall - a subgroup (Chris, Paul Jr., Nedda and me) took the metro in mid-afternoon. I had wanted mostly to go to the National Gallery - that would have worked better had I checked its hours - we only were able to spend about a half hour before getting kicked out at 5p. Also spent time at the national history museum, then the American history museum - section about military stuff was pretty compelling, I thought. Unoriginal concept: the more you read about things, the more interesting they become. Among other things, I much liked a Viet Nam war setup shown on multiple video screens displayed in period TV sets - nice, and evocative. Nice burger place for dinner.

Sunday - among other things, a few of us (PJ, Kerry, Christina, Nicole, me) went to Eastern Market - I can see why Kerry and Christina like it. Had absolutely delightful crepes for breakfast and walked the area until overtaken by the heat. Enjoyable mid-day consisting of food, euchre games, some video game about Twilight; then Nicole and POC had to leave. In the evening: Kerry had reserved the community room - worked perfectly - we ordered in Thai food. Richard Frank stopped by; also Allen and Heather Gibby and daughter (who was knock-out cute and well behaved). Charlie, Beth and Mark arrived about halfway through. Among other things: celebrated Patrick's 25th birthday a few days early. And it was fun to sit around talking. Then switched to euchre games until we were kicked out at 11p. Chatted on Kerry's nice patio for awhile and considered it a fine day.

Monday was travel day. Christina took Chris to airport very early; Kerry (with PJ and me) took Patrick to airport somewhat early; Richard came by, also Charlie, Beth and Mark; lunch at Cosi; enjoyed a bunch of conversation and a bit more euchre (CCG and me providing some instruction to the youngsters). Kerry ran Nedda to the airport (Reagan), then ran PJ and me to Dulles. End o' trip, sad to be leaving Kerry behind.

Kerry has a delightful apartment, and shares it with a delightful roommate. It's hard to describe the degree of disruption that we imposed on these folks, and the degree of graciousness and generosity with which they managed the disruption.

Only wish we had blocked out more time for this trip.

A lot of people seem very happy about this engagement

And you can definitely put PJ and me right at the top of the list.

Photo taken in Santa Monica, CA on 7/13/11, courtesy of EPG.

Haboob

This video (and other similar videos) has been widely distributed but I want to post it here so I don't forget about how impressive this looked. We've had a "haboob" or three during our time in AZ, but either they didn't look this massive, or the photographers weren't as effective. The time-lapse method is great for this.



At our house: no storm, but it looked like a very heavy fog had rolled in. Highly unusual. In the morning we could see that absolutely everything is covered in dust. The newly-refinished streets in our little subdivision no longer look black (despite the efforts of the street sweeper shown in left photo below, which mostly just stirred up the dust) (and note all the dirt on my office window).

I had gone hiking at 40th street earlier that evening, and bottom right photo shows the mildly ominous look of the sky at that time.

July 4th weekend (hotel/concert)

OK, all our activities were over by 11p July 3, and PJ worked a full shift on July 4. But it still felt like a fine 4th of July holiday weekend.

We revived an old practice (maybe even a "tradition") by staying over at a Scottsdale hotel for the holiday. The revival was instigated by Chris and Paul Jr, who figured out that the event (last held in 2002, we think) probably wouldn't happen again unless they made the reservation themselves. So, we were on. Arrived July 1. Parked beside a 2003 Kia which we correctly interpreted to mean that Patrick had shown up (unannounced) all the way from Santa Monica. It's not easy to pull off a surprise, but he did it. Once his mother recovered from the shock, we checked into the room, went to the happy hour (the property does draw an interesting, shall we say, crowd), to dinner at the onsite restaurant, out for a little swimming, and back to the room for a little euchre to finish off the day.

Full day at the hotel on July 2. The breakfast hasn't changed. Card-playing marathon; Nedda and Pat H joined in. Lunch. Some swam, the older folks napped a bit. Mary Beth joined us later in the afternoon. Back to the manager's reception. Sat outside by the pool and listened to "live music" after happy hour each night - it was not unpleasant, but gosh what a gig for the performers ("entry level" minus, I'd say). July 2 was the hottest day in Phoenix in several years (118F). Had a delightful dinner at Roaring Fork - right within walking distance - this place has a wonderful happy hour menu available all evening in summer. The green chile pork stew is the star of the show. Ate PJ's fancy holiday dessert (pictured above), played a bunch more cards, tried to teach Nedda euchre (but I think perhaps she was teaching us).

Checked out Sunday 7/3 after breakfast - just a delightful weekend, and it was v. nice EPG made the road trip.

It happened that Paul Jr. had bought four tickets for a Jeff Bridges concert at the Biltmore hotel in the evening of 7/3 - the music from the movie "Crazy Hearts" was quite fine, and the guy is now releasing an album. So PJ and I attended with he and Nedda; we were in the first row behind the tables thanks to the intercession of someone they knew from Greenberg. Nice setting, nice music, nice evening; Jeff B wasn't really effective at communicating with the audience so that was a small minus. Dinner at Rokerij.

PJ and I appreciated being treated to the hotel and to the concert.