Drinks – kristilynk

Tent – tarp = waking up with the sun..which is O.K by me!

I mean..who wants to waste a perfectly gorgeous day in nature…sleeping it away?? Not this lady!

Darn, I just realized..I completely forgot to take a snapshot of the mess I woke up to. When I sat up for the first time I peeked out the mesh of the tent and spotted a H.U.G.E crow wondering around our campsite. He picked up, what looked to be, a piece of bread and fluttered himself up onto the bench of the picnic table. This guy was extremely “healthy”. Now I’m really bummed I didn’t get a photo of him, I just tried to Google “fat crow” and “huge crow” and NOTHING came up as big as the crow I saw… and no one else was awake to verify my story….oh well just believe it..

I crawled out of the tent and all three of the bags Jason had put in the tree the previous night were on the ground riddled with beak holes. Buns, chips, bottles, packaging for the meat were strewn all over our camp area. That bird ate, four hamburgers, three hotdogs, like eight slices of pepper-jack cheese, a bunch of buns and some chips. As much as I don’t like birds (aka rats with wings), I certainly hope that creature is OK. That pepper jack cheese could NOT have been good for him…eeeek.. I would hate to be walking along minding my own business while he was flying over head when that cheese kicked in!! WOOOO

Pretty much as soon as I finished cleaning up the birds party mess up..everyone woke up and we all started packing up to head down the mountain.

But first! We had to stop at the Watch Tower:

We climbed up and up and up and up, I have no idea how many flights of stairs but it felt like it was never ending. Totally worth it..the view was amazing and the inside with the drawings (not sure if they are original or if they were drawn on as an added effect) were super neat as well. Gahhh…another missed photo opportunity.. when we reached the top there was yet another flight of stairs that was roped off with a really tempting note that said something along the lines of: “Do not climb these stairs that lead to the top of the tower”.. haha surprisingly, as much as we all wanted to, we did not disobey their request. 🙂

Thoroughly at peace and happy with our intake of the Grand Canyon, we strolled on over to the trading post for a quick bite and a to-go of java. Both of which were completely sub par..the best part of the teeny burrito Jason and I shared was the jalapeño hot sauce we doused it in and I’m pretty sure the coffee was Folgers..made with too much water and not enough grounds.. By the way..normally Jason and I don’t share plates but we wanted to save our appetites for lunch at the famous Rock Springs Cafe on the way home.

With some fuel in our bellies we were ready to roll!

Jason brilliantly suggested we take the back route and hit Slide Rock on our way home. Taking the scenic 89A route from Flagstaff to Slide Rock is a MUST. The geological transformation from the forests of Flagstaff into the red rocks of Sedona is an amazing display of Mother Natures pure awesomeness. Breath it, live it, feel it and go hug a tree! 😉

The last time I went to Slide Rock, parking was along the one lane two way highway..dangerous and it was pretty hard to come by a spot!

Since then, a parking lot has been built and now for a small fee of 10.00 you can park and have great fun at the park until they close if you like.

A little walk

A little hike

And just a little further is a peaceful oasis that in the summer time might be the perfect swimming hole!

Unless your Jason..it’s perfect now!! NUTBALL! That water was like 50 Fahrenheit!!

Going in for round two!

Sandro was VERY much tossing around the idea of free falling

While Carmen and I sat back and watched the show 🙂

I can’t even imagine how PACKED this place must be in the dead of summer?? Shoes and jackets came off as the heat set in a bit so we could put our toes in the water to cool off. Jason won the badge of bravery for the day! 🙂

No doubt we could have all spent the night in that very spot but with lunch to eat, showers to take and friends to meet..We had to go.

We pit stopped at the famous Rock Springs Cafe for lunch and pie, sped home (as safely as possible of course), showered, rested and readied ourselves for guests! ** Click on Rock Springs Cafe..this little place deserves a blog all its own. Super friendly people, excellent food, out of this world pies and old saloon type decor. My subliminal message to you is…You must go !! **

No pictures from here on out because by lunch time Kristi Kodak was closed for business. 🙂 Trust me when I tell you we had more great food, great drinks and great friends! We didn’t over do it because the next day ..there were plans of more shenanigans!

A friend of mine invited me to go with her to watch the mid 1980’s British Rock group, The Cult, play at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix this past Thursday night. Normally, I would not go to a concert on a “school” night nor would I pay an outrageous amount of money to see The Cult play…BUT..I didn’t have to work on Friday AND my friend had a hook up so we were able to buy tickets for only ten dollars opposed to the sixty to eighty dollars a seat the venue was asking!

I picked Denise up at six and then went to her friend Bubba’s house, he was coming with us. I had never met Bubba before so introductions were done and before we left he wanted to show me The Scottsdale Beer Museum. Basically, it is a wall in his garage dedicated to beer ~ of all the beers, in all the world, Bubba’s favorite is Pabst Blue Ribbon ~ Yes, you read what I wrote ~ Pabst Blue Ribbon. He has a little shrine specifically for all things PBR. There is not much more I can write about the “beer museum” so if this type of thing interests you…you can read more here: http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/jackalope/2011/03/bradford_whickers_beer_can_and.php

Moving on, we piled into the Jetta and rolled on out. When we pulled into the parking lot of the Celebrity Theater..there were maybe ten cars?? Confused, we walked up to the box office to get our tickets and figure out what the deal was. Well, turns out we were like two hours early. What to do, what to do?

Bubba has a friend who works with The Papago Brewing Company in Scottsdale where there are beers o’ plenty and Bubba tells us the pizza is amazing.

We were greeted by this fella:

I took this picture off of their website: http://www.papagobrewing.com

We ordered a T-Rex pizza ~ Pepperoni, sausage, bacon, ham, red sauce, and mozzarella on super thin crust..DELISH! I was driving so I was not able to over indulge in the beer but I was able to buy a half pint of the Orange Blossom Ale and it was oh so good!

I don’t think I have been able to get a half pint anywhere? It’s the cutest little thing and it made my mouth happy!

We ate, drank and scootched back to the concert event.

We should have stayed at the brewery a little longer. I have no idea where the promoters found this group but the opening act was so boring! Isn’t the opening act to be a lively group – you know – to get the old people in the audience pumped up for the main event? I was and still am so confused as to why this trio was able to go on tour with The Cult? I will let you decide for yourself..here’s their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/WHITE-HILLS/90476409450

I actually could not sit in my seat for another song ~ Thoroughly confused we three went outside. Denise was just as confused as I was but Bubba?..He may have been the only one in the theater who actually liked them.. The bass was droning and never ending – repeating the same line over and over..blahhhh I’m becoming irritated right now just remembering so let’s move on. 🙂

The Cult was supposed to have started their set at nine-forty…supposed to have…they didn’t come out until ten-twenty. I have never seen The Cult live and I have been told by many “how great they are live”…I was not impressed. It was obvious something was not right.. the performance of the entire band lacked energy and you could feel bad vibes emulating from the stage. I made up this scenario in my head, which is probably not far from the truth:

I think..there were sound issues or equipment issues or maybe it was Ian Astbury wasn’t provided with the exact eyeliner color he requested. “I TOLD you I needed black ONYX..this is not Black ONYX…this is Black NOIR..I am NOT going on stage with this shit, you MORON!”

I don’t even remember what song they started with but after the fist song, Ian Astbury ripped up the set list from the stage floor, crumbled it up and threw it..yes..threw it at the sound guy. I bet the sound guy wrote the set list in blue ink and had to re-write it in black onyx.

Fervently, the sound guy did what he was told, jumped on stage to re-tape the new set list to the floor and in the process..he bumped into Ian Astbury ~ ..no doubt that was an embarrassing moment for the “rock star”.

I sat through the entire first half of the set fascinated with what was going on up there…it was the most bizarre scene I have ever witnessed on the stage of a professional, once accomplished, touring band.

Meanwhile, Denise and I had noticed Bubba has been gone quite a while. I asked, “Where is Bubba”? Denise replied, “He went to the bathroom but that was kind of a long time ago.”

Hmm, ok.

Bubba came back and after a few minutes says, “I found some seats that are closer..wanna go”? SURE! We followed and proceeded downstairs to the front row. 🙂 Yay for Bubba!

The energy on the stage was a little better this second half ~ not much better ~ but they were starting to get into the groove a little. I know it didnt have anything to do with the eyeliner fiasco because Ian was still wearing his sunglasses. 🙂

Oh, so yes, we were in the front row – just behind the sound guy – I felt so bad for this man! Through this second half of the set, it was the guitar player who started in on berating him. What made the situation all the more sad was..even through getting a set list thrown at him, being screamed at by Ian and then continued yelling from the guitar player..this poor sound guy was singing along to the songs of The Cult. Broke my heart for a minute.

I had a great time with my friends and the event was..fascinating.. but I am pretty sure I will not go see The Cult live again.

And Down the Mountain We Went…

A strange concert experience….