I hope you all enjoyed my AZ travelogue, 6 days in Scottsdale. I am on the road again next week but wanted to do a quick local travel blog. Last Friday I gave my visiting nephew, Jonathan, the most extensive one-day Buffalo tour in my memory. If you find it enticing please visit sometime. I live less than 30 minutes from Niagara Falls which is one of the world’s natural wonders.

Jonathan got his bachelors and masters degrees in Business at Boston University and is interested in investing in real estate in global warming-resistant cities. With no coastal exposure, limitless fresh water from two great lakes, and no extreme weather risks from tornadoes, hurricanes, or earthquakes it is likely to be a refuge for climate refugees in the coming decades. I’m too old to see it happen but in 20 years when the east and west and gulf coasts of the US are being pummeled by rising tides and super storms, owning rental properties in Buffalo seems like a sure shot.

Speaking of global warming… After Jonathan arrived here on Thursday and headed off to explore the city and meet with a real estate agent just to get some ideas about the market… I went to pick up my new Toyota Rav4Prime Plug-in Hybrid. After putting in orders twice for fully electric vehicles that were delayed for months I saw an article in Consumer Reports praising the Rav4Prime as the best Plug-in Hybrid. It gets 40 miles range on just electric before needing its super efficient Prius-type hybrid engine. As > 90% of my local driving is less than 40 miles per day, I’ll be able to just charge at home off my solar panels. For longer trips, I’ll almost always be using my van anyway. Saving the planet for Alex and Jonathan’s generation.

I told Jonathan I’d be happy to drive him anywhere he wanted to go as long as we got down to Wanakah Beach in Hamburg by 5 pm as I had organized a first open water swim of the year for the triathlon club. I did have to get in a long slow run in the morning. My first race of the year is only an AquaBike (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike) on June 1st and then the following week a short Swim-Run race (swim-run-swim-run-swim) in Canada but I am always eager to get into the lake and the water was up to 58 degrees and the air temperature was supposed to get up to near 80!

After my run, my Garmin watch bumped up my estimated V02 max to 50! Top 5% for my age 🙂

Here is a rough map of our journey. I first gave a tour of the SUNY Buffalo (UB) campus that is just 5 miles east of my home and then showed Jonathan where a lot of private off-campus student luxury rental housing has gone up in the last decade. Then we toured Tonawanda and North Tonawanda, headed north to Niagara Falls where I first showed him the very depressed residential areas and then we visited the State Park. I wish I had set my watch to record my walks at NF and then downtown by Canalside because it had to be a few miles each. We drove across Grand Island and then had lunch in Buffalo’s lower west side. Then we walked around Canalside and the Cobblestone district before driving through South Buffalo and Lackawanna (past all the abandoned steel factories). We had a little extra time before swimming so we drove west along Old Lake Shore road in Hamburg as far as Greystone (the Frank Lloyd Wright historical house). We just used the highways to head home after swimming as Jonathan planned to visit the Olmstead Park/Museum District by himself on Saturday.

It was a perfect sunny spring day, spring comes late to Buffalo compared to NYC but the birds, bees, and flowers were looking good in my backyard.

I got this just last week from a local realtor, great drone photo. My house is at the far right and only partly visible. I like how you can see the Buffalo skyline in the distance (10 miles away as the crow flies but a 14-mile drive). “HE HAS BUYERS!” but there are so few sellers. In the past, we would usually have 5 or 6 homes for sale in our area every spring but only one this year and it sold in a week. With mortgage rates over 7% compared to just 3% 2 years ago, no one wants to leave their paid-off homes, driving up prices and making the market insane for both sales and rentals.

I got my photo with Nikolai Tesla, his A/C electricity was much better than Edison’s DC but Edison was a better salesman and propagandist.

The Canadian side of the falls has a better panoramic view of both the American and Horseshoe Falls but it is much cooler to be right AT the falls and feel their power in the NY State park that winds through the rapids. The Canadian side though has a much more extensive and thriving retail area with multiple hotels, casinos, family activities, etc.

Jonathan had wondered if we were going on the “boats” but I explained that a Maid of the Mist ride would have to wait for a dedicated day at Niagara Falls, we had too many more places to visit.

We drove south across Grand Island and stopped for lunch at the Big Big Table. It is a “pay as you can” restaurant where they provide free lunches to those who can’t pay. I learned about it last month as it was selected as the charity our Buffalo Triathlon Club is supporting this year. We had all brought the requested food donations to our annual meeting.

https://www.bigbigtable.org/about-us

The food was very good (and seemed healthy), I’ll definitely be going back whenever I am downtown during the day (they do lunch only).

Gorgeous Maple tree outside the restaurant, I was concerned it might be in an awful area but it was just 3 blocks south of the busy Elmwood Avenue strip.

We then drove south to the waterfront and parked for a walking tour of Canalside.

We stopped by the Long Shed building where the volunteers were finishing up the replica of an Erie Canal boat (built using traditional materials and techniques). I didn’t realize how CLOSE to completion it was as it was only a few days later that I read about it being launched. It will now be on display at the Canalside Dock. Next year is the 200th anniversary of the completion of the Erie Canal so there will be a lot of celebrations.

I was not the only great thing born in 1964! I didn’t realize that the Tim Horton’s down there was a mini shrine to Tim Horton (who played in the NHL for 25 years including on some great Buffalo teams, a multi-talented person who also founded the restaurant chain).

This is the first time I’ve seen the BUF sign. Nobody really says “BUF” but I guess it would have cost more for all the letters. Behind Jonathan is the arena where the Sabres play hockey and above the sign is the SKYWAY, an awful elevated highway section that blocks access to the waterfront for a lot of downtown. Behind the hockey arena is the Cobblestone District which has cobbled streets and a lot of old industrial buildings that have been converted to bars, restaurants, and apartments as well as the Seneca Indian casino.

After our walking tour, we drove through South Buffalo (traditionally the Irish area) and past the Botanical Gardens and Basilica (for some reason it is not considered a cathedral).

https://www.olvbasilica.org/3d-experience

Only 3 other people wanted to brave the cold water. It was also a lot windier than I had expected and there was moderately rough surf and some swirling currents. Although it had gotten to close to 80 inland, Niagara Falls, Canalside, and Wanakah Beach were all barely 60 due to the cold water of the lake and the wind. Jonathan bravely walked into the water briefly in a bathing suit. I lasted the longest but decided 25 minutes was enough. I wasn’t cold at all in my wetsuit but the waves and currents were exhausting after a winter in the pool.

Fifa was happy to see us when we got home.

Quick media update. I just finished Kara Swisher’s great audiobook, she reads it well, about her history as a tech journalist from the birth of Silicon Valley to the present.

She was born only a few miles from me and just 2 years earlier so I felt a lot of deep empathy with her experiences. But her use of the terms “Grok” and “Assimilated by the Borg” will be lost on readers of other generations.

I am currently listening to:

I was never especially a Rush fan but certainly enjoyed their many hits on the radio growing up. I picked this audiobook as I had read that it was a great “rock and roll” memoir and I have enjoyed hearing Keith Richards, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, etc. read their memoirs. I did NOT realize that Geddy was Jewish and the child of Polish Jews who survived concentration camps and then made it to Toronto. He has a wonderful voice and describes his family’s history in awful detail before moving on to the formation of Rush and his 30-year career with them.

I am reading on my Kindle:

An amazing true story of Keenan’s journeys after the Civil War to Russia on an expedition trying to make a telegraph line to Europe and then 20 years later on a mission to find the truth of the Siberian penal colonies.

Thanks for reading… please subscribe if you haven’t yet….

I slept very well after I dropped Alex off for their redeye flight and with no alarm set, I didn’t wake until past 6 am! So I was now perfectly adjusted to the 3-hour time difference, just in time for my flight east. I was not yet adjusted to the heat though, so I really felt the sun even at 7 am during my interval run.

I ran along the canal trail which was perfect for the hard quarter-mile repeats.

Nice view of Camelback Mountain as I returned to the hotel.

I got in my last swim right after running. There were a few people enjoying coffee on lounge chairs but I had the pool to myself. Afterwards, I soaked in the jacuzzi for a while and Hotel California randomly played on my swim headphones.

After showering and packing it was an easy 20-minute drive to the rental car facility and then I took the super-efficient monorail to the airport. It had great views as Phoenix is so flat. Downtown Phoenix is west of the airport so this is as close as I got.

The flight to Chicago left a little late but not enough that I needed to worry about my connection.

Our plane pulled out of the gate almost on time but then it just stopped a few hundred yards later. A never-ending line of planes slowly rolled by and I wondered why our pilot was “afraid” to merge. After 25 minutes he finally announced it was “a busy time of day” and many planes had to leave at the same time. Then when we finally moved into the line of planes we got to “only 8 planes ahead of us for departure” and there was a short weather delay. We got into Buffalo an hour late.

It was rainy and cold in Buffalo, spring still not quite arrived. The high temperature the next day was exactly 50 degrees less than in Scottsdale.

I saw this cute bunny in my yard, notice that the Eastern Cottontail has smaller ears than his Western Desert cousins in Arizona.

The best part of any trip is being reunited with Fifa. She had a nice stay at the spa but did seem genuinely excited to see me (which was nice as she had left me without a look back when we arrived at Love My Dog).

She had a grooming and bath and a new bandana! Because she plays well with other dogs she is allowed to spend every day at the kennel with the dogs who are there for doggy day care.

DONE! Six great days in Scottsdale! When we had visited there before Covid I had said to Alex that we should visit our cousins there once a year as it is such a nice vacation spot in the winter. Covid interrupted that but it is the plan now, for sure.

Only 6 hours until my Colonoscopy/Upper GI. I had both when I was 50 as I had reflux that was not completely controlled with Pepcid. I had borderline Barrett’s Esophagus and they suggested a repeat upper GI after 5 years but I switched to Prilosec and the symptoms resolved so I put that off until now. They recently pushed the age for a first screening Colonoscopy back to 45 as colon cancer seems to be increasing in younger people (likely due to our highly processed diets). Unless they find polyps (I had none last time despite my dad having a history of them) I think this is my last Colonoscopy. In ten years I imagine they will have improved the stool and blood tests for cancer DNA or they will have AI read CT or MRI scans that are just as accurate.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-well-do-colonoscopies-prevent-colorectal-cancer-what-you-need-to-know-202210182834

There is only a 3/100,000 chance of mortality from a screening colonoscopy, so about the same as me being eaten by a shark. I don’t find the prep process that bad but I am very hungry as I put myself on a liquid diet an extra day early.

My Cinco de Mayo celebration was just one margarita while watching the Yankees and Mets games. The Yankees had a solid win on a very wet/rainy delayed start day; the game eventually ended after a long 8th-inning rain delay. They are now just one game behind Baltimore. The Mets had a sad loss after giving up a one-run lead in the 9th inning and losing in the 11th inning; they are under .500 now. In the morning Chelsea won and with just 2 weeks left in the English Premier League season, they will finish in the top 10, which I am happy with after their slow start.

If you want to “give” me something for my 60th Birthday… PLEASE subscribe to the blog…

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When possible I always try to go for a horseback trail ride when on vacation. In recent years I have done so in Costa Rica, Iceland, South Dakota, and even Rhode Island. During my last two visits to AZ, I rode in the South Mountain reserve but this time I picked a place on the northern edge of Scottsdale. NONE of my relatives was available or desired to join me (Alex rode with me in Iceland but I guess they don’t enjoy it as much as me).

After we watched another perfect sunrise from our room’s patio, Alex and I went down the smaller of the two pools. It still had a 25-yard place for me to swim and it had a nice jacuzzi as well. I only swam for 20 minutes and then soaked in the jacuzzi for a while with Alex. I did a lot of stretching as well because, in the last few years, I have found it very hard on my inflexible hips when I am on a horse for too long. I joke that I need a VERY skinny horse. I was hoping I would be more comfortable this year as I have been going to StretchLab every other week and trying to do more Yoga.

Alex got this nice photo of me in my “Cowboy” outfit 🙂

I got a new HiTops4Haiti shirt on Sunday.

https://www.instagram.com/c4c_haiti

https://gofund.me/605c2a20

They are SUCH beautiful animals. One of the reasons I do not eat mammals.

The stables were on the edge of a national forest, part of the Sonoran Desert. A wonderful place to spend Earth Day, 2024. Last years I was in Central Park, NYC with Alex.

I was the “most” experienced rider of our small group of tourists (one teen had never been on a horse other than a pony at a long-ago birthday party) so I got to ride behind our guide.

My horse, Dylan (they were all gelding quarterhorses), was very easy to ride. I only had to use the reins to “steer” him once or twice and rarely to discourage him from snacking on bushes. He was easy to speed up with my boots or slow down with the reins. The goal was to be able to see the feet of the horse in front of me.

It was very peaceful in the desert. The ride was from 9 to 10:30. It was a comfortable temperature at the start but towards the end, it was past 90 degrees and I would have needed a second water bottle if we were out there much longer. When we stopped we could hear the wind rustling the leaves on the vegetation. There was a huge variety of plants and as it was spring there were flowers and a lot of greenery that would all be dried out in a few months.

The guide didn’t give too much information but she mentioned the huge variety of plants, animals, and climates and described how each Saguaro cactus was its own small ecosystem, with insects, animals, and other plants depending on it. We saw owl holes in many cacti.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Sonoran-Desert

We saw 2 rattlesnakes (maybe 5 or 6 feet long), they were quiet and the horses ignored them. They are so well camouflaged for the desert that it is hard to see them well even in my photos.

We also saw many small birds (including the crested quails) and some tiny ground squirrels. I had asked the guide “what are the hamster-sized” rodents.?” They moved around quickly and I couldn’t get any photos from horseback.

https://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_squirrels.php#:~:text=The%20round%2Dtailed%20ground%20squirrel%20is%20a%20social%20animal.,(170%2D200%20g).

I ran my Garmin watch on “hiking” just to get a track of where we went. We only covered 4 miles in the 90 minutes so no farther than I could have hiked but more relaxing and a better view from atop Dylan.

Alex had gone for lunch in Old Town Scottsdale with my cousins L and J and I went for a well-needed deep-tissue massage.

We GrubHubed for dinner and watched our current joint streaming show on Hulu.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1710308/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

The moon rising in the east and the sun setting in the west!

Alex had a red-eye back to NYC so I dropped them at the airport at 8 pm.

Rushing to get the last 3 days written. These will be much shorter entries luckily! I have to get them all done by noon tomorrow. It is Cinco de Mayo so a full two weeks since my AZ trip. And tomorrow I have my reward for turning 60 years old this month….second colonoscopy.

April 21, 2024. Sunday. We were invited to the post-Bar Mitzvah family brunch at my cousin L’s house but didn’t have to be there until 11 am so Alex and I had a relaxed morning.

I did a hard hour on a Peloton bike (gym was all mine at 6 am Sunday) and then a 30-minute swim. Breakfast was just an apple and a Clif bar after gorging so much at the party Saturday night.

It was very nice to have the chance to relax and hang out with Blake and Caleb. I made Alex and them recreate a photo I had from 2019.

Almost all houses in Phoenix, even in very upscale areas, are single-story because of the heat.

The mini-Knish were soooooo delish!

I got a little exhausted from all the talking and took a break on a lounge chair in the shade. I lasted about half an hour before it got too hot for me and I retreated to the A/C. It was 95 degrees outside so really just a mild spring day compared to the weeks of 120-degree highs they will have in the summer. If I lived there I imagine I would acclimatize somewhat.

Saturday 4/20! Bar Mitzvah Day!

I definitely slept more than the prior night but was still not perky (the Sangria the night before plus the time zone). I was up well before light and headed out for a long run. I headed south and then west towards Camelback Mountain. In the near dark I could see some moving lights of hikers headlamps.

The Cholla Trailhead had a nice restroom and water fountains.

I knew I could not make it all the way to the top but I ran, jogged and occasionally walked, or scrambled about a third of the way up before it got too steep and rocky. My Nike marathon shoes were especially not well suited to trail hiking. It was fun to be the one running past some hikers in the dawn light.

The sun rising over the mountains to the east was gorgeous.

Here is the spot where the trail was just rock and too steep for me to want to have to descend in my inadequate shoes and without hiking poles.

It is amazing how quickly it gets light (and dark) in Phoenix as the sun comes over or descends behind the mountains.

After descending and refilling my water bottle I ran north and then headed back east. I found a trail that ran along a canal and followed it south for a short distance and then finished off my rectangle.

I saw a few rabbits (they have larger ears than eastern cottontails to help dissipate heat) and some very cute crested Quails.

The quails I saw all over Scottsdale. They ran along the ground quite quickly.

After the run I swam in the pool that I had all to myself….

For breakfast I got just oatmeal and fruit as I knew the post Bar Mitzvah lunch would be filling.

A few birds were feasting nearby 🙂

We had some free time after breakfast for cornhole (Alex won) and ping pong (I won).

There were many lemon trees on the property but all the low hanging fruit was gone. Alex scampered up a tree …..

For the Bar Mitzvah, Alex went with a Bob Dylan look and I with Southwestern lawyer; cowboy boots (bought when I did 2022 Ironman AZ), my alligator belt and bolo tie.

Temple Chai in north Scottsdale was a beautiful large bright building. It was interesting to be celebrating the last Shabbat before Passover in the desert. Passover being about the Jews exile in Egypt, eventual escape by the parting of the Red Sea and then the making of Matzo and the long journey through the desert. And it was very difficult to have to think about all the anti-semitism and strive occurring in the last six months since the Hamas attack and hostage taking.

Caleb plays guitar and sings so his chanting of the Torah portion was much better than the average Bar Mitzvah kid. At the end of the service they gave mention to relatives we had lost including my Dad who was beloved by Caleb and Blake and also Alex’s other grandparents (George and Barb) who died this past year.

Although I have been an atheist/existentialist since before my own Bar Mitzvah I still am culturally and genetically Jewish. I am happy that American Judaism allows for female and gay clergy unlike Catholics, Southern Baptists, Muslims, etc. If it did not I think I would have separated completely from the religion rather than still appreciating its cultural history (and often visiting my sister’s home for Passover or Rosh Hashanah). The ultra-orthodox faction in Israel that keeps Netanyahu in power via their over deserved power in always shaky coalition governments I consider as bad as Jihadist Muslims. The ultra-orthodox (a small minority compared to the secular Jews in the army, medicine , technology, education , etc) refuse to serve in the military yet are happy to accept welfare and government healthcare AND their need for cheap housing for their enormous families is the main driver for the settlements build on the disputed territories over the last 2 decades.

Sorry …. I have always hated Netanyahu (he literally is a criminal but as long as in office he avoids prosecution so he resists giving up power indefinitely). Trump loves him and Putin of course.

After the service there was a nice meal of bagels, etc. in the courtyard. Us easterners huddled in the shade…. It was already past 90 by noon.

After lunch, Alex and I retreated from the heat to our air conditioned hotel room. They worked on some of their final projects for school and I read my Kindle and then napped for a while ( after running, swimming and Bar Mitzvahing I needed to recharge before the party).

The reception was at a hip hotel in Old Town Scottsdale that had a definite 1960s Palm Springs/Vegas vibe.

Cocktails and appetizers were outside. The featured drink was …my favorite…. Espresso Martini!

Lenny has always worked in the movie industry, originally in NYC with United Artists, but he moved to L.A. when I was about 10 so we didn’t get to see him or his daughters L and J (my only first cousins) very often after that.

One summer in college I worked for Lenny’s company (by then he had gone independent) as a gofer and reading hundreds of scripts.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0788558/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

His main business was distribution of foreign rights for films and every year he traveled to Cannes and other film festivals to market films.

Eventually Lenny produced some independent films directed by James Glickenhaus.

In 1988 I managed to get to Cannes with my parents, sister and grandmother. Shakedown was the featured film that year so Sam Elliot and Peter Weller (who I loved as Buckaroo Banzai) were there to promote.

All of a sudden it was DARK and the party planners told us all to head for the building labeled CALEB for the next phase of the party.

It was a great party. The food, music, vibe was all perfect.

There probably around 50 adults but even more teens! Alex kept saying “they look sooooo young”

Alex and I were surprised to get invited up for a candle lighting. This is a “thing” that didn’t exist when I was young but is now often done at Bar Mitzvahs. There were a lot of people thanked by Caleb and I joked to Alex when we got to the last candle that they were going to roll in another table after that …. 😉

Alex and Caleb are great singers and dancers, somehow it skipped me …

Alex had initially been reluctant to try a Waymo Robot taxi but I really wanted to as Phoenix is one of the few cities they operate in (also SF, LA and Austin). We had seen one on the drive back from the airport. As we saw more and more on our trip Alex came to the dark side.

We both loved it. Nice Jaguar. A little more expensive than Uber but …. No tip …. 😉

They need to remove the steering wheel though and then more people could fit in the vehicle!

I told Alex in less than 10 years there will be no humans driving Ubers or highway trucks. It Will create a huge excess labor supply in the U.S. and disrupt our economy.

I had told my brother-in-law G… that we could hike Piestewa Pike either Friday or Sunday early morning. Early to avoid the heat and crowds. Last time we were in AZ together we had hiked Camelback Mountain but that is a longer hike and we didn’t have the time. We had agreed that I would pick him up at 6:30, his hotel was only a few miles west on the north side of Camelback. When I woke up though I saw a message asking if we could start at 6:00 instead as he had a conference call to join. It was no problem as I was awake, but it cut out my planned time to get coffee on the way so I had to settle for hotel room marginal brew. I chugged it quickly while giving Alex the resort property tour I had promised them. We were excited to see there was poolside ping-pong and cornhole available…..

When I got to The Sanctuary resort I noticed two people near the parking lot drinking coffee and looking in the distance, I realized they were waiting for the sun to crest over the distant peaks and I got a quick photo (time stamp says 5:59:58 am). The first of many “Tequila” sunrises.

It was only a 10-minute drive West to the Piestewa Peak recreation area. A few years ago they added a much larger parking lot, restrooms, and water fountains, very nice.

When my friend Mark and I climbed here two days after Ironman Arizona in November 2022 we arrived just before dawn and saw people’s headlamps on the mountain. Superfit locals will run up and down the trail in well under an hour, I think “extremely difficult” is on a scale for tourists and urban non-athletes.

I had told myself I would NOT take too many photos on the hike as it was my 4th or 5th time but it was hard not to take a few (too many). There had been air quality alerts the days of my trip and the smog obscured the distant peaks. The adorable squirrel posed for a photo and then when I chittered to him he came closer and stood on his hind legs (like the squirrels where Alex lives) but I had nothing to share with him. Another guy on the trail reached into his pack and offered the squirrel a piece of banana!

It took us only 48 minutes to summit (even with photo and water breaks) and we made it back to the car in exactly 90 minutes.

Everywhere in Scottsdale, there were beautiful blooms on the plants and cacti. It had been a very rainy winter and the summer 120-degree days had not yet arrived to desicate everything. The tall bush with the orange flowers had several VERY noisy hummingbirds buzzing around but they were too fast and small to catch with the iPhone.

This lizard was only a few inches long and scampered away before I could get close enough for a better photo.

After dropping G back at The Sanctuary, Alex and I had breakfast outdoors, very relaxing. As I had just hiked I enjoyed the buffet option.

My sister, L… and G were going for pick me up at noon to head into Old Town Scottsdale as L had never walked it. Alex wanted to do some “thrifting” and I assumed they would use an Uber or at most have me drive them but they wanted to join them (saying they valued my opinion!).

I had only been to Goodwill stores to drop stuff off in the past. This one was much nicer than I expected. In addition to my opinion I was also useful as a photographer of each item for Alex to review and as a dressing rack 😉

I was disappointed that one item that caught my eye (would have been so great for Dead cover band shows) was a kids size … 🙁

As we had a few extra minutes Alex said a key thing was to look through the T-shirts for interesting ones. We got this one for G….

We got back to our hotel just in time for me to get picked up by L and G. It was only a 2 mile drive south to Old Town Scottsdale which had lots of touristy western clothing and art but also some nice fine arts and crafts. I bought a bolo tie at the official Navajo Nation shop. There was an ancient Native American singing in the shop and the cashier had a “born on the Rez” t-shirt.

We didn’t spend long in Old Town as we had arranged to meet up with some relatives back at The Sanctuary at 1:30 but did grab a nice iced coffee from a local shop… not Starbucks 🙂

I had stayed at The Sanctuary on Camelback decades ago when my cousin L got married there to A. We were now in AZ again for the Bar Mitzvah of their younger son, Caleb. I always remember their wedding anniversary as it is the ides of March. Caleb can always remember that his Bar Mitzvah was on 4/20, 🍃!

Long ago when I stayed at The Sanctuary the infinity pool had a clear view of the valley north but they enlarged the spa building and now it blocks the view from the edge of the pool but still a good view from the restaurant/bar.

My cousin J joined us for lunch (I just had Diet Coke as we had a 4:30 pm dinner ahead). We had hoped my aunt and uncle would also join us but it was a little close to the dinner event and probably smart of them to rest up.

I have a very small family. I have only one sister. Both my mom and dad had only one sibling. My dad’s brother Lenny (and his wife Harriet) had two daughters, L and J, who are my only first cousins. my mom’s brother is gay and he and his lifelong partner never had children. My sister has 2 sons and my cousin L has 2 sons but J has no children. My cousins told Alex (my only child) they will need to keep their generation in touch! Caleb and Blake are a few years younger than Alex and Lisa’s sons a few years older than Alex.

I headed back to my hotel and although I had enough time to sneak in a quick swim, both pools were so crowded I didn’t feel like swimming serpentine to avoid collisions.

Alex and I headed north for a family/close friends meal before Caleb had his Shabbat (Friday night) service responsibilities at the Temple.

I had told Alex they could skip the Shabbat service but I had planned to attend. But I was very tired between the long day of activities and the time difference.

Evidence of my exhaustion was that I did not take any photos other than these 2 of the food! It was a Sicilian place specializing in a variety of meatballs and thoughtfully there were chicken meatballs (delish!) for non-mammal eaters like myself.

We hung around for a half hour after the immediate family headed to Temple early to get ready but I was too exhausted to go so Alex and I drove back to the hotel instead to try to get some time-zone adjusted sleep before the busy Bar Mitzvah Saturday.

Thursday, April 18th I flew from home to Phoenix. April’s weather had been very disappointing, mostly rainy or cold or both. The AZ forecast looked great for early morning runs and outdoor swims.

Because I had an early morning flight (to Chicago) I only managed 30 minutes on the bike in the basement so I walked the airport for 30 minutes after clearing security.

This photo made me consider that although air travel is faster now than in 1939, it really hasn’t improved in my lifetime. Flying from one city to another in the US takes just as long as when I was 10 years old (a half-century ago). The only exception is the brief and limited Concorde experience. And of course, NO ONE can deny that the experience of flying has become markedly worse over the last several decades. First the security overreaction to Sept. 11th and then the ridiculous penny-pinching fees followed by the Covid downstaffing leaving the airlines short-staffed and now with not enough planes due to the repeated Boeing issues. All four of my American flights were “full” with the ground staff “asking” for people to check their carry-ons. No one wants to check a bag anymore because of the high fees and the common loss of luggage. I mostly fly JetBlue where my Mosaic status gets me on the plane in the first group, for American I end up in group 5 of 9 with my “credit card” status. Waiting in the incredibly slow line in the jetways made me nostalgic for the old days when they efficiently boarded planes from the back rows first. My flight from Buffalo was the only one on time, so 3/4 were late (it ranged from 15 minutes to an hour).

I had a longish layover (over 2 hours) so was in no rush but it was nice how the AA app showed a little map to the next flight. After finding my gate I did another 30-minute walk.

My flight to Phoenix was only delayed 30 minutes but they didn’t announce the delay until they had already done the “pre-boarding” announcements, annoying.

I think this is the first time I have visited AZ after the clocks moved forward in the rest of the country so there was a 3-hour time difference from EST. So even with an indirect flight and delays I still was on the ground in AZ by 2 pm. I got some nice photos and with the AA wifi connected, GoogleMaps worked on my phone.

After collecting my luggage (I had too much sports equipment to use just a carry-on) it was a bit of a walk to get to the cool monorail that went to the car rental center. Each car had only a few seats at each end though so not very convenient for the elderly or disabled. It was a much faster trip than the buses used to take. My car was actually in the spot that the app told me to go to. A very nice big SUV (I had ordered/paid for a “midsize” vehicle), I was amazed though to see that it had 82,000 miles on the odometer. Before Covid, I don’t think I ever had a rental car with more than 10 or 20 thousand miles.

With no traffic, it was a smooth 20-minute drive to my hotel in Scottsdale/Paradise Valley. I had a nice view of Camelback Mountain when I was heading north.

I had picked this hotel mainly for its location between Old Town Scottsdale and northern Scottsdale where my cousin lived. It had very nice calm gardens, 2 large pools, and a perfect view of the back of Camelback (except for the church in the way!).

I was all checked in and settled in my room by 4 pm and although it had been a long day I was motivated and went down to the pool for a 30-minute swim. Both pools were geometrically interesting, I found 2 walls that were about 25 yards apart and did laps, there were a few other people in the pool but most of the tourists seemed to have headed off for dinner.

Dinner was some delicious ramen and sushi via GrubHub and then I napped for an hour before it was time to head back to the airport to collect Alex who had flown direct from NYC on Jetblue.

The airport had 3 different cell phone lots so I picked the one that would allow me to pick up Alex most efficiently. I was VERY impressed as the large lot had its own Flight Status board! As they had not checked a bag, Alex was in the hotel room barely 30 minutes after the plane touched down.

I was very ready to sleep at 11 pm but then woke up at 3 am, it took almost an hour but I did manage to get back to sleep again, until I was up again at 5.

I am sorry for misquoting Bonnie Tyler’s 1983 song title (it was “The” not “My”) but I took it very personally when the weather here the two days before and the day after were PERFECT yet it was very cloudy for the big event.

I have been aware of the eclipse for over a year and several months ago I ordered a bunch of eclipse glasses and a piece of film that could be placed on camera or binocular lenses.

Since January, New York State and Niagara Falls have been pushing hard for eclipse tourists. They overestimated the “massive” crowds that would come here. The long-term forecasts based on previous spring weather made it clear that Texas had the best chance for sunny weather and there were so many major cities between Dallas and Burlington that were right on the line of totality.

I had never experienced a total eclipse. There was a 70% one here 6 years ago but it was not very impressive even though it was a clear day. Since this year’s was going to pass directly over my home though I was very excited. I had even decided that if the forecast was going to be for clouds here I would drive SW or NE in Scrat to get to a sunny spot.

The universe seemed to be conspiring though to prevent any planning. Alex had decided to come home with some college friends to see the eclipse a few weeks ago. I had mistakenly assumed that meant they had plans to go and view it somewhere with their friends (there were countless eclipse events scheduled up here from concerts in parks to curated experiences with astronomers in sports stadiums to programs at state and local parks). But Alex asked me a week before what “we were doing” for the eclipse and explained they wanted to spend it with me. I wanted a quiet experience in nature where I could hear the birds get quiet and Alex agreed.

I tried to hold off on looking at local forecasts until a week before, they started poor and just got worse.

And the forecasts for everywhere SW of here were not good. It was forecast to be cloudy in Ohio, Indiana, etc. and there was a threat of severe weather in the areas further away. On the Wednesday before the eclipse though, the forecast showed it would be sunny in Watertown, NY, and Burlington, VT (just 4 or 8 hours away). Alex called me Friday morning to ask whether it was worth traveling so far and I was actually discouraging but by the end of the call they had decided to come home from Saturday until Tuesday morning. During the phone call, Alex was at school and told me they felt the building moving, I told them it was “probably just construction”….. an hour later I saw a bunch of news alerts on my phone!

and just a day earlier….

At work after hearing about the earthquake I had joked that it must be “the end times”. I was not alone as the late-night comedians all did their versions of the coming apocalypse.

I think that the newspaper concluded (as did I) that the world was not ending imminently (but like the frog in the pot on the stove we are slowly proceeding towards a worldwide climate calamity). But the weather forecast was personally devastating to me. By Saturday the only places on the totality line forecast to have a 100% chance of sunny weather were in northern New Hampshire and Maine. That would mean a 9-hour drive each way. While I could have done that, it would not get Alex back in time to leave for NYC early Tuesday morning, and also it seemed like a slight increase in the cloud’s eastward speed could end up with me in clouds when I finally got there.

So by Saturday night, I had decided to stay at home and watch the event with Alex in our backyard. I told Alex that even if it was awful and we saw nothing at least they had the T-shirt I had bought them at Wegmans last week. As soon as the Easter stuff was gone it all became eclipse-themed shirts, cookies, and beer at the stores.

Monday morning we had a prediction of 100% cloud cover.

Despite the clouds it was in the low 40s so I decided to go for an actual outdoor bike ride. Since Alex (professional photographer) was home I had them get a picture of me on my new Argon 18 Triathlon bike.

I think that is the fastest 90-minute ride I have ever done. Some of the increased speed was due to the very aerodynamic bike and some to my hard indoor bike training all winter.

For the past 2 weeks, there have been non-stop warnings about traffic jams but I saw fewer cars on the roads than almost any day since the peak of Covid.

Alex and I headed outside about 30 minutes before totality and it was very cloudy, there was a brief gap in the clouds allowing for one photo but then they thickened. I started a fire and we sacrificed some peeps hoping it would placate the sun god.

The sugary coating on peeps produces a delicious creme brulee flavor. And they make for great Smores.

I was very sad and disappointed as I thought it was just going to go from being cloudy to slightly darker clouds.

We had been seeing a lot of vultures flying low near our house over the weekend and Alex counted 11 in the sky.

I told Alex that maybe they knew the eclipse was coming and were hoping for some roadkill.

I was totally amazed when it very quickly turned completely dark! The solar lights came on, and the noisy birds in the woods became completely silent.

Fifa barked from inside the house when it got very dark, I’m not sure if she was upset, thought it was dinner time, or was just barking at people on the street.

The Canada geese in our neighborhood honked loudly and many flew back to the pond where they usually spend the night. We also saw (just before total darkness) a vulture flying by very fast (flapping a lot rather than just the usual gliding) as if it wanted to get back to it’s nighttime roost.

A little after totality I started a time-lapse on my iPhone.

It was amazing how a mere few minutes after totality it was full daylight again. The bird sounds were back to normal within minutes.

Of course, by 5 pm I had to close the blinds in the great room because it was SOOOOO sunny!

The clouds were very patchy and people within just 10 or 20 minutes had brief periods of views of the sun at better times than us. Here are some photos from local friends on social media.

Several people were well prepared and launched fireworks during totality, very cool.

So, my disappointment was gone and I was happy to have experienced the eclipse with Alex. Only two years until the next chance! I have wanted to return to Spain as I never got to see the southern cities and I want to visit Portugal, hopefully Alex will agree to join me.

and now for your moment of Zen …. JK, LOL

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4/12/24 addendum:

I hereby apologize in full for any complaints about the weather on Eclipse day!

For 2 days now we have had heavy rain…. And I appreciate how GOOD the weather was!

Yesterday I had to drive to Syracuse for the day and as it was sunny (if cold), I thought Fifa would enjoy an outing rather than sleeping on the couch all day long.

In my SUV Fifa is fine on the back seat but for Scrat (my campervan) I have a soft travel crate for her. If she ever comes camping with me I could also set it up outside in the shade. For the 2 hour drive to Syracuse, she kept a close eye on me.

Fifa is still energetic despite turning 9 two weeks ago but her muzzle is so gray…. 🙁

After arriving in Syracuse I filled Fifa’s bowl but she refused to drink. She enjoyed a short walk and spent a lot of time sniffing every tree and mailbox post (so many strange dogs compared to the usual ones at home).

Although “Spring” and Good Friday it was really cold. It was around 40 but the wind was blowing hard. I had only brought a light coat and no gloves or hat (I do have extra hats and gloves in Scrat but didn’t bother grabbing them before the walk). We rewarmed ourselves in Scrat and then I did my task of moving boxes into the van. I let Fifa sit up front with me.

With some more time to kill, I told Fifa we would go for a walk in Liverpool, down by Onondaga Lake.

For the 10-minute drive, I let her ride shotgun.

We parked by the Salt Museum.

https://onondagacountyparks.com/parks/onondaga-lake-park/salt-museum

Of course, it was even windier at the lake but it was brilliantly sunny and beautiful.

We walked about 2 miles in 35 minutes and that was enough for me.

We stopped to load the last of the boxes into the van and then Fifa slept all snuggled up in her crate/lair for the 2-hour drive west to Buffalo.

There had been some congestion in the morning but it was worse on the way back. I guess it was because of Good Friday. At least 5 or 6 times each way (of the 140-mile trips) there were giant highway alert signs. “Prepare for heavy traffic April 8th/Eclipse”. I had my dash cam snap a few photos but forgot to download them to my phone last night. The media and local politicians in Buffalo and Niagara Falls are preparing for the Eclipse as if it will rival the zombie apocalypse of World War Z or Zombieland.

The long-term forecast showed clouds for Buffalo recently but I am going to wait at least until it is 5 days before to start obsessing. I plan to drive as far SW or NE as necessary to find a sunny spot. The kid is coming home for the weekend with a few friends but I don’t know if they plan to go to one of the many music festivals/viewing events or just head to a park. I would rather experience it myself in nature. With Scrat, I can camp in any state park or sleep in a hotel parking lot (stealthy as he is), people talk about staying at Walmart but that seems like a way to get stabbed.

I did notice that Venus was just to the left of the moon this morning while driving to swimming. I wonder if any of the planets will be visible during the eclipse?

Today is a big day. It is Holy Saturday, Purim, and Doctor’s Day!

National Doctors’ Day is a day on which the service of physicians to the nation is recognized annually. The idea came from Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Dr. Charles B. Almond, and the date chosen was the anniversary of the first use of general anesthesia in surgery. On March 30, 1842,^[24] in Jefferson, Georgia, Dr. Crawford Long used ether to anesthetize a patient, James Venable, and painlessly excised a tumor from his neck.^[25]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Doctors%27_Day

But because Dr. Long was a small-town physician he did not publish his results until AFTER the famous 1846 Ether Dome demonstration at Mass General in Boston (in the Boston Public Garden there is a huge obelisk commemorating the event).

Dr. Long is remembered in the U.S. Capitol where he is one of the 2 sculptures representing Georgia (each state has 2 in Statuary Hall).

https://www.massgeneral.org/museum/exhibits/ether-dome

Our flight home on Tuesday was not until 3 pm so I planned on making full use of my time.

I was up early and organized my clothes before heading down to the fitness center right at 6 am when it opened to do a hard one-hour on the lifecycle. I watched an episode of Halo (Paramount+) season 2 on my phone. Good distraction. Then I met Mark at the steps where he got my photo yesterday. One can enter the water there and swim across to Condado Beach or under the bridge into the lagoon.

I took Mark to all the best fish viewing areas. He was amazed at the variety in such shallow water. I just wore my swimsuit and goggles but had my GoPro tucked in at my waist and had a pull buoy so Mark could follow me easily.

I had switched from my shark to Manatee earring (I got it last year when I went to the Manatee center in West Palm Beach). We first swam across to Condado Beach (it was less than 400 yards to cross the channel).

I didn’t take a lot of photos as I had met most of the fish already.

We swam under the bridge and I collected a sea star for Mark to pose with. We swam out into the lagoon and I saw an SUP rider in the distance, I swam close enough to yell and ask if he had seen any manatee today and he pointed towards the East so we headed that way.

I was about a hundred yards ahead of Mark when I spotted one in shallow (? 5 or 6 feet) water eating some seagrass. I took a quick photo and called him over. But this manatee (maybe because it was by itself?) was much more shy than the ones the previous time and it quickly came up to breathe and then swam quickly away from me and down into much deeper water where I lost side of it.

I did get one more photo as it was about to breathe and noted that it had some big remora attached. I felt so bad when Mark got there just in time to see a vague shadow disappear.

My guide the previous day had told me the best place to see the manatee was across the lagoon near a big sign on a building. Mark and I swam over there but didn’t see any.

We swam back to Condado Beach and caught our breath. I showed Mark the spot to head for so he would get to the stairs but I did a bigger circle of the channel and saw 2 sea turtles and a Chocolate Chip Sea Cucumber but no more manatee.

With the race (and weekend) now 2 days in the past there was NOT a long line at the restaurant and I enjoyed another big, relaxing breakfast while reading my Kindle. I thought it interesting that they had a “gluten-free” toaster…

I figured I had an hour to relax by the pool before having to do my final packing and checkout. I downloaded the photos of Mark from the GoPro to share with him and then just relaxed. I visited the iguanas again and also saw a cute smaller lizard.

At Yoga today I showed my manatee video to my instructor, April. But I realized I had forgotten to take my usual vacation selfie of me doing a Warrior 2 pose in a scenic setting. I could have done one with the iguana and ocean in the background!!!

I listened to the Beach Boys while packing… 🙂

It was only a 10-minute drive to the very nice airport. I am glad that Jaime had let us know about the need to get our luggage all checked by the USDA before heading to check-in. I was VERY glad to have TSA pre-check as it took me about 10 minutes for all the security but Mark and Mo took 20 or 30 minutes longer.

The flight was on time (it would be almost 4 hours back to JFK due to headwinds). Only 5 minutes after takeoff we were off the island and just ocean and sky for the rest of our flight. I made an effort to nap as I knew we had an almost 3-hour layover at JFK.

When we finally reached Long Island the plane headed east a little (? fire island) and then headed back west over Long Island to JFK over land.

I treated Mark and Maureen to an Italian dinner and then did a one-mile walk to stretch out my legs and back before the last flight.

I texted with my kid today and they alerted me to !!!!!!

They are being released in 2 days but I pre-ordered a bunch! I am still wearing my manatee earring 🙂

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My next trip isn’t for 4 weeks but I may have to drive a long way south or north to get to a sunny spot for the upcoming Eclipse!