Goodyear, AZ
8:23 AM
I wake up to the sight of sunshine and rocky hills in the background. I’m in Phoenix, but more accurately, in Goodyear, AZ. I lived here for 8 months back in 2000 and 2001. My flights in went fine, with window seats for both. I decided that 7 hours of flight beat 40 hours of driving to get here. It allowed me to do some work and get some rest after New Year’s Eve.
If you paid money to go to a bed and breakfast you would be hard to beat what I experienced last night. First off my old roommate from college and the guy that no matter how long it’s been since we’ve seen each other, we pick up like it was yesterday, picked me up from the airport with Maggie, my date for the week and his golden retriever. We caught up on the 40 minute drive to he and his wife Donna’s new house. The last time I was here was two years ago for their wedding which I was co-best man in. The house was awesome then and has improved with what they’ve added. Namely, a full bar with wood cabinets, a kegerator, and a dart board to go with the already here dart board. The view from the backyard is desert for a couple of miles and then more rocky hills or what the locals call mountains.
They know my fondness for eating and arrived last night to a feast. First off was a mango mojito that tasted just like candy. The oven was storing a 9 pound ham with Emeril’s special glaze. The stove had garlic mashed potatoes and garlic. And I learned a new tradition for luck on New Year’s Day, we had black eyes peas. It had been years since I had the big mega spiral ham off the bone and I ate until I could not eat anymore. All of the dishes were done expect for mine when I finished.
From there we vegged on the couch for a few to let our food settle. After about 15 minutes the next treat began to be prepared and was something I hadn’t ever had, bananas foster. They mixed the concoction and I took a picture of the rum being burned in the skillet. Incredibly tasty.
I revisited my youth by playing River Raid and Pitfall on the Atari Flashback. It was a trip to see the old joysticks and graphics. We then battled in a Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture DVD. The game lasted a long time and it was bed time.
Here we are in today, getting ready to go to the Fiesta Bowl. This will be incredible, Notre Dame and Ohio State, BCS Bowl, National television, 6th row seating, and my main bud.
Onwards!