March 2024: Easter in Oak Park

It was Liz’s spring break, we should do something fun. We did one of the funnest things there is—we drove to Chicago for the Easter weekend in our new Tiguan! AND we brought Cornelius with us! Riding in the car is just about the only time Cornelius will sit on my lap and let me pet him. And by “just about” I mean “absolutely”. We made good time to Chicago and found a welcome sign for Cornelius hanging in the garage!

The next day, a Thursday, I worked all day. But we snuck down to the downtown Oak Park for Sweetgreen. Liz played some piano. And in the evening, we got tacos at a place highly recommended by Mom’s painter. And it deserved that high recommendation! Wow. Really I ought to look up the name. Also, during our taco meal we revealed that on Tuesday I had bought a Volvo wagon. That little situation really came together quickly!

Friday Liz went on a sentimental journey to her childhood home in Kenosha while I worked. We were reunited that night at Johnnie’s, which I walked to — something I had never done before and was pleasantly surprised to find is actually quite easy and nice. We should do it all the time!

Saturday morning Liz and I returned to the scene of our marriage, just barely a more than a year earlier, the Chicago temple. Last time it was gray and rainy. This time it was sunny and too bright. After the temple we went with Mom and Dad to try the cheddar char burgers at Paradise Pup and, guess what? Yup. They were awesome. Wowzers. Chicago, you’ve just got treasures all over the place.

I should write about Cornelius…he spent his first 24hrs in Oak Park pretty spooked and skittish, but by Friday had calmed down and gotten brave and really seemed to enjoy poking around all over the house and getting on top of its doors. And, as hoped, he was particularly taken with the sun porch. What cat wouldn’t be?!

Then that afternoon Liz and I went down to peak from behind the palm fronds at the Garfield Conservatory and to have a Wicker Park walkaround. No Wicker Park pictures, but plenty of Conservatory pictures. I was not very conservative when it came to taking conservatory pictures!

Sunday we went to nice Easter church, had an awesome Easter dinner, and then took a nice Easter walk. It was nice! And awesome.

And then we drove on back to Columbus with a lovely stop at a lovely Indiana rest stop.

Now, barely a week later, we’re packing up to go take another trip so we’ll have something else to blog about!

February 2024: An Amazing Arizona Trip

I can’t even remember how long ago it was that Liz and I decided to take a trip to Arizona in February to surprise her best friend Jesi at her best friend Jesi’s surprise party. And then, suddenly, it was February! And we flew on over to Phoenix, Arizona!

I thought I had a picture of our rental car…but I guess I don’t…but anyway, we rented a 2023 Honda Accord as sort of an extended test drive. Pretty much we liked it, but if you fast forward to March 2024 and you know that we didn’t get an Accord. Yet. (But probably ever)

Anyway from the airport we went on over to Mesa and had a pretty nice lunch at Backyard Tacos. They really taste like if someone grilled you these tacos in the backyard! (I mean that in the nice way).

And from there we went over to patronize the temple, which I thought was bigger than this?

Nevermind, it is!

With a few more hours to fill before the Surprise Party we went over to Scottsdale, seeking out a chocolatier that did not exist, but had a nice walkaround in this part of Scottsdale where you can walk around. And also we went into the mall and got very turned around trying to find their Rocky Mountain Chocolate Co. Malls - Make Better Maps!!

During our Scottsdale walk I saw my first “in the wild” Audi A6 Allroad since I started keeping my eye out for wagons! My impression from the curb: I think, for full-sized wagon looks, it’s the V90 for me. (That night we’d see another A6 Allroad with an absolutely bonkers paint job on the freeway). (And I’ll add now that on Sunday morning we saw a V90 on the road and oooh it looked nice).

And at last it was Surprise Party time! I was a guest, I enjoyed myself, I took just these two photos.

And from there we drove over to Sarah and Nate’s, who happened to live very close by. I don’t have any pictures from the lovely time we had sitting on their couches chatting and catching up and such, but I do have a picture of their pool!

From there it was time to head to our “hotel”. Oh boy. Here is something I learned. Hotels in the Mesa/Phoenix area are EXPENSIVE. The La Quinta was >$300, I settled on this Motel 6 by the freeway and behind a waterpark that was $200 and it was the most barebones place I’d ever stayed. We are so lucky we didn’t see the roach until the morning. It had a very spooky vibe, most guests seemed like they lived there. Nice to get there late and wake up early and get the heck out of there.

For breakfast that Saturday morning we had tacos at Sahuaro’s, a nearby taco place inside of a defunct car wash and Holy Smokes it was GOOD. Extremely best imaginable carnitas.

And from there we went with Jesi to see (and I cannot believe my luck to be able to say this) a matinee of Madame Web which, well, I always have a good time at movies with Liz. And Madame Web might not have been as absolutely horrible as some would say. And after: Rubio’s for lunch! (No Picture)

Then we took Jesi home and set out on Arizona Vacation 2024 Phase II: Tucson!

Turns out it’s a pretty quick trip down to Tucson (once you get to the freeway that takes you to Tucson, and that step takes a while from Mesa). We stayed at a nice little “resort” (I think that just meant it had a lawn in the back and a pool and included breakfast) that was actually cheaper than our Mesa Motel 6. Ha! Needless to say arriving there at these accommodating accommodations, we were well on our way to loving Tucson.

Another reason to love Tucson? They’ve got Freddy’s there!

Sunday morning, up bright and early to for the buffet and attend a local ward’s sacrament meeting.

Sitting in that sacrament meeting, looking around the room, I noticed a woman who looked familiar. I ran some due diligence and confirmed that, yep! It was my friend Victoria’s mom. Chance of all chances, the ward meeting earliest at the chapel closest to our hotel was Victoria’s home ward. Funny how these things happen sometimes.

Now, the reason we went down to Tucson was to visit nearby Saguaro National Park but people kept telling us we should visit the Sonora Desert Museum just outside the National Park so we were like “Ok, if you say so” and drove on down to that Desert Museum and Guess What? We loved it! Maybe it was more of a zoo than a museum? And it had all your favorite desert creatures and animals there, from tarantulas and rattlesnakes to javelinas, ocelots, mountain lions and mountain goats! We loved it. We absolutely loved it to death. We just kept walking around going “What a great museum this is! This is the best museum!” Also there was a “cave” to explore. Great museum!

If you give a coyote a cookie…

And from the museum we went to the National Park proper. What we know about this park: It isn’t super big, there are TONS of catcuses there, you drive around going “look at that one! look at that one! look at that one!” and there are petroglyphs you can take a little walk to. Also, at the gift shop welcome center there is one great cashier who will talk and talk with you about the White Sox and Chicago if you happen to be wearing your White Sox cap. Loved it all!

From there we went to the part of Tuscon that is a city. We put our name in at El Charro and went and did some light exploring while we waited to have our name texted. At El Charro I had the machaca, which they call “carne seca” and WOW I LOVED it—so dry and tasty! Too bad I didn’t take a picture of it. Guess I was just enjoying myself too much and living in the moment, as one sometimes does. And then it was back to our Resort for a swim in the hot pool but not a dip in the hot tub because it was very cold.

Up early Monday morning to enjoy one more breakfast before driving back up to Mesa/Phoenix with a rest stop stop on the way.

Back in Mesa Phoenix we had breakfast/lunch at Sahuaro’s once more (the picture doesn’t look like much but let me tell you, these tacos were extremely extremely top notch), a visit with NYC Heather, her mom, and Heather’s two babies, and a wonderful rib lunch at Jesi’s before heading back to the airport and flying home to Columbus just abuzz over what an awesome time we had in Arizona. We did not know we were going to love it there so much, but it was practically the funnest trip we’ve ever been on! Really!

Late 2023/Early 2024 Things That Were Not Trips (Except for one to Chicago)

I would like to get caught up on some things that haven’t been posted yet…

December 23, 2023: Liz and I took a Saturday trip to Circleville to visit Niece Carolyn at her workplace.

And then we enjoyed a few of the Circleville sites…

…before grabbing Lunch #2 at Rex, a nearly extinct regional roast beef fast food chain, the Circleville branch of which has made its home inside a 1980’s Wendy’s. I loved it! Because it was like Arby’s, but also its own thing.

By the way did you know we have a cat?

January 4: After work I drove over to Chicago for the weekend by my lonesome (and none of my family was home in Oak Park at first, so it was extra lonesome)…why? I’ll tell you soon!

January 5: During lunch I zipped down to downtown Oak Park for a little Sweetgreen lunch and a bit of a walk around.

After work I treated myself to one of my favorite treats: Testdriving station wagons! First I drove a Volvo V60 Polestar, a V90, and another V60 — the Polestar is an especially rare machine, so it was cool that there was one in Oak Park and it’s just too bad our itty bitty little drive didn’t afford any opportunities to see what it’s 415 horse power engine could really do. Nice gold seatbelts, too! The “normal” V60 and the V90 were about the same color so they don’t look so different here, but I really enjoy/appreciate the extra length of a V90.

Then I zipped downtown and test-drove an Audi A6 Allroad. Wow! Immediate impression: Way too nice for me. Just too fancy! BUT maybe eventually I’ll feel we’re ready for each other? It’s fun to imagine! That said: beautiful, amazing. Feels like a definite technology and luxury leap over the Volvos. Yet the Volvos have a ton of charm. It’s fun to daydream, right?

I read about a Thai restaurant called “Pho’s Spicier Thai” so I thought I better go try it. And yep. It was spicier Thai food. I didn’t even enter their outrageous spice levels on my order but these two dishes really had my scalp sweating. I loved it, of course.

Now, while out of chronological order, I want to post this picture from our backyard Friday afternoon:

Because this is what it looked like on the morning of January 6!

Everyone was flying in from California that afternoon so, before picking them up from Midway, I had a giant little taco lunch at Los Cuñados (which used to be Los Barrelitos - love them both).

And now…the big reason of my trip to Oak Park…because they’re about to tear down my High School’s old “girls” pool where the varsity team trained and our swim meets were held (the "boys” pool having already been condemned a few years back?), some brilliant organizer organized an OPRF swimming reunion and swim meet. I did not swim, I was “only” reunited with a very little handful of old teammates (primarily Cynthia and Melissa, below) and my old JV coach, Pete, but Oooh boy did it feel great to be back in the building, up in the stands, down on the deck. Loved it. A magnificent revisit to one of the absolute most formative locations in my whole dang life.

(the next day I went to church with the family and then drove on back to Columbus as quick as I could).

January 13: Liz and I took niece Aubrey to dinner, Sam’s Club, and a movie to belatedly celebrate her movie. We saw Migration. It was … fun? and funny.

January 15: Liz and I have begun to undertake and undertaking that is proving to be quite the undertaking. After appointment #1 we debriefed and plan built over breakfast at the Original Pancake House. (Followed by a Target trip).

January 25th: I had the grand opportunity of attending a basketball game where niece Carolyn was cheerleading.

January 27th: Dropped Liz off at a Hyde Park gig and then I walked way up High Street and back. Enjoyed the rest of her gig and then we went to a ho-hum foodhall. Ho-hum is about as good as it gets with foodhalls, it seems.

January 29: I test drove an A4 Allroad on my way home from work. I was surprised by how much I liked it, given its smaller size. Lots of physical controls, good zip on the highway…felt very at home and comfortable in it. Lovely little wagon.

February 5th: We celebrated Liz’s birthday with dinner at Casa Jalisco, which is probably our favorite restaurant? Favorite restaurant for the favorite gal! And before that we took a walk in a park that was colder and darker than we expected.

February 8th: And here’s just a fun pic of Liz at the mall!

Okay, and that’s the post! Thanks for scrolling. Next Time: A trip to Arizona!!