A grand weekend indeed!

Hello!

Well, once again it's been a while. Despite all good intentions, we just aren't so good at posting regularly to the blog! I guess it's more fun to report on adventures - keeping true to the title of our blog. Since our last post, we've decided that Tucson is not the place for us. The plan right now is to move our stuff home (aka the Twin Cities). We're still planning on spending the summer on Madeline Island but after that we're a bit up in the air. It's either back to Minneapolis or, given the right opportunity, perhaps an international address, we'll see. I still hope to pursue my PhD and plan on applying to a program at the U of MN.

Anyways, in light of this decision we decided that we could not leave Arizona without a visit to the Grand Canyon. We drove up to Flagstaff, a cute little mountain town in a pine forest, on Friday night and checked in to the England House, a cozy B&B we discovered earlier this year. On Saturday we were treated to a delicious breakfast and shortly after we got on the road. We started our grand adventure by checking out Sunset Crater and the Wupatki Ruins - a very cool side adventure! From there we headed up to the Grand Canyon in search of "the secret spot" - a secluded viewing point recommended to us by Richard and Laurel from the England House. For anyone planning a trip to the Grand Canyon, it's mile post 246! The mile or so hike in was totally worth it. We had the canyon pretty much to ourselves, which was so cool considering the numbers of tourists all over the park.

We had lunch at the El Tovar Hotel, which is right in the village at the head of the Bright Angel trail. It was a very tasty restaurant with beautiful views of the canyon - the perfect snack before heading out on our hike down the South Kaibab trail. Despite its steepness, it was an awesome trail with magnificent views of the canyon. By the time we got there, the crowds we not too bad at all. Based on huffing and puffing of the people we crossed going up though, we knew the climb back up would be a challenge - good thing Richard and Laurel loaned us their walking sticks!

After the climb back up, we treated ourselves to happy hour back at the El Tovar. All bundled up, a nice change from the already 90+ degree weather in Tucson, we watched another amazing desert sunset - giving the Grand Canyon a truly beautiful pinkish glow! Desert sunsets - now that is something we will miss!

We finished off our weekend getaway with a visit of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West. We've never been to any other Frank Lloyd Wright property but this has inspired us to visit more, especially the original Taliesin in Wisconsin. The property was amazing and totally worth the visit! A great end to a grand weekend! (click on any picture to see the full collection of pictures)

Now it's back to Tucson for about 5 more weeks. Our stuff is partially in boxes, movers have been booked, and we're getting ready to come home!

Vaya Con Bergfrey

Hola Todos,

Bergie and I just returned from our honeymoon in the Mexico's beautiful Yucatan Peninsula, and I thought now would be a good time to start working toward one of my many '08 resolutions and update the blog by telling you all about the trip. To check out our pics from the trip, view our Flickr page.

Whenever Bergie and I go on a trip, it is always a go, go, go kind of affair, with us constantly on the move, trying to do as much as possible. It is usually great, but we are also always exhausted after the vacation. This time, we wanted to do something a little more on the chill side. So, we decided a week on the beach might just do the trick. Of course, to spare as many people as possible from seeing me in all my flabby hairiness, we picked a location that is about as secluded as we could possibly get - Xcalak, Mexico. Our friends, Angela and Keith Watson, spent their honeymoon there, it they convinced us it was exactly what we were looking for. So, we booked our trip. The plan was one night in Cancun (so as to avoid driving through Mexico in the dark), and then we would quickly escape the crowds of tourists and head south for 5 days in Xcalak and 2 days in Tulum.

We got into Cancun at 4:00 and picked up our car, which was a tiny little beater that barely ran, was full of dents and scratches, lacked power steering, and sounded like it could fall to pieces at any moment. That's what going "economico" gets you. But, the car drove, which was all we needed, so we hopped in and headed off to our hotel in Cancun.

When we arrived at our hotel, the guy at the desk liked Bergie because she spoke Spanish to him, so he upgraded us to an oceanview suite. It was gorgeous - way more room than we needed, but the view was fantastic. We promptly hit the town in Cancun, which is exactly what you'd expect it to be - hotels and theme restaurants in every direction. We had fun walking around, people watching, and grabbing dinner, but one night in Cancun made us feel all the more strongly that our plan to get the hell out of there was a good one. So, we got up at around 7 in the morning and hit the road to Xcalak.

The trek from Cancun to our bed and breakfast in Xcalak would take us 6 hours, and when driving through Mexico, one has a lot of things to watch out for. We were warned to watch out for the Policia - supposedly they like to scam tourists and look specifically for rental cars to pull them over. Luckily for us, we never had a run in with them. Then we were warned of Topes, which are these killer speed bumps that occur every so often, and if you're not paying attention, can totally wreck your car. We negotiated those as well. Gas station scams are pretty common too, and I did witness this one first hand. In Mexico, you cannot fill your own tank. An attendant fills it for you. And it is these attendants who are shifty as all get out. During one of my fill-ups, I pulled up to the pump, jumped out of the car before the guy could start pumping (so I could make sure he set the meter to zero), and I watched him real closely to make sure everything was legit. Then, when I payed, I gave him a twenty and a one. He took the money and then, with some pretty snazzy sleight of hand, shuffled my twenty away and tried to claim I only gave him two ones. I called bullshit and got a little loud about it, and he didn't push the issue, but I guess that crap works on a lot of tourists. Shady!

Anyway, when we made it down to Xcalak, it started pouring rain. We only had 5 more miles to go, but that five miles proved to be the hairiest part of the entire drive, as it required us to travel the worst road I've ever driven over. The imbedded picture fails to truly capture the freakiness of this ride, but it's all I got. I can't believe our little car ever made it through, but after an hour of negotiating the deepest puddles of all time, we finally arrived in paradise.

Our hotel was called Sin Duda, which is Spanish for Without a Doubt. And Sin Duda was definitely without a doubt the perfect place for our honeymoon. With just a few other guests in our hotel, we essentially had an entire beach and coral reef to ourselves. The Villa was this amazing house designed by the owners. It is powered by solar energy, and they get their shower water by collecting the rain. During the day, you look out upon white sand beaches and clear blue waters. At night, the stars shine bright, and you can sit upon the Sin Duda rooftop drinking down Margo-Ritas (named after Margo, one of the owners). Sin Duda is run by some really great people - Margo, Robert, Jaime, and Jennifer all made our stay fantastic. Compared to what you might find in those all-inclusive resorts, this place is pretty much no-frills, but what it lacks in ammenities, it makes up for in charm. Nothing illustrates this point more than the fact that the best way to get food in Xcalak is to wait for the grocery trucks that arrive on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Locals drive up to the hotel and sell you fresh frood from the back of their pick-ups.

We spent most of our time at Sin Duda either relaxing on the beach or snorkeling. We saw all sorts of amazing reef fish. And one day we went fishing with some locals. Bergie caught a pretty decent yellow tail snapper, and I caught a barracuda. For me, that was one of the highlights of the trip. We were trolling along, and all of a sudden, I could see something following my bait. And Bam! It hit my hook, and that mofo pulled hard. Baracuda fight great at first, but they give in pretty quickly, and I was able to haul him up to the boat after five minutes or so. The guide stabbed the fish with this very sharp hook thing to pull him into the boat, and when we got the fish aboard, the same guide took a thick stick and beat the fish in the head 8-10 times until it stopped flopping about. Barracuda have very sharp teeth, so the beating was pretty much necessary so he could safely remove the hook. We took our barracuda back to Sin Duda, cleaned it, fileted it, and made some delicious ceviche out of it - very, very cool.

After our five days at Sin Duda, we reluctantly packed up the car and headed north to Tulum - another beach town a little more than half way between Xcalak and Cancun. Here we stayed in a more average hotel - still nothing fancy, but it did have hot water, air conditioning, and TV, which I must admit that after 5 days without any of those was quite nice. Tulum is a cool little town, though. Great little restaurants and shops line the streets, and the beaches are gorgeous. Tulum also has some of Mexico's better ruins. And they have Cenotes, which are underwater caves. We took in all of it, and had a great time doing it. Of course, we traded the peace and tranquility of Xcalak for the hustle and bustle of the city, and we were woken up each morning by the sounds of Mexico - roosters crowing, dogs barking, and taxis honking.

And that was the trip. It truly was a perfect honeymoon. We're already thinking about when we can go back to Sin Duda. It would be great to take a few friends with us. If anyone is interested, let me know.

Also, I know there has been quite a lag between my last post and this one, so here is a quick synopsis of everything else between then and now. In October, we rode the Tour De Tucson - an 81-mile trek around the city. The first 60 miles weren't so bad. The last twenty sucked ass. In early November, I went to Vegas with my friends Ron and Michael - good times. I lost a ton of money though. Juggy came down for my b-day in November. That was awesome. We went biking and hiking and had all sorts of good times. Bergie finished her first semester at the U of A. It was a painful one, and we still aren't sure what is in store for next year, but she was able to get a new TA job for winter semester, so we are both hopeful next semester will be a little less painful. Bergie's buddy Delphine visited for a few days, and it was good for Bergie to have a girlfriend to play with. Then Bergie's entire family came for Christmas, which was a lot of fun. I basically played golf with Yves every day while everyone else did the tourist scene in Tucson. Bergie and I celebrated New Years quietly at home. Our resolutions include learn new skills, meet more people, get in shape (as always), and keep up with the blog.

And that is that. Hope all is well with everyone, and Happy 2008.

Love,

The Godfreys

Bergie's Birthday Blowout

Last Thursday night kicked off Bergie's 29th birthday celebration - a three-day tour of Arizona that took us through an amazing variety of landscapes and climates and included some wonderful dining experiences (and one very odd one). This entry contains some of the images from the weekend, but click the Flickr link on the left to check out all the pics from our week-end getaway.


The festivities started off with a succulent lobster dinner courtesy of Bergie's rents. They express shipped live Lobsters from Boston. It was delicious. I felt a little bad about dropping the little monsters in the boiling water, but one bite of that lobster tail slathered in lemony garlic-butter helped me get over my guilt. Thanks Yves and Lynn!


My gift for Bergie was a secret weekend escape to cooler weather. We've both been missing the crisp fall weather we've become accustomed to, so I found us a nice little bed and breakfast in Northern Arizona, where it averages about 20-25 degrees less than Tucson. The drive up north was amazing. We wound our way around mountains and went through this beautiful canyon seen on the right. And the more north we got, the cooler it became. So nice.

We stayed at the Osmer D. Heritage Inn in Snowflake, Arizona. The inn was very nice, with fantastic breakfasts each morning. The town of Snowflake, however, left a little to be desired. There really isn't much there, except an enormous Mormon church, but it served as a good jumping off point for our adventures of the weekend.

We got into Snowflake at around five, and after drinking a little wine on our patio, we decided to get something to eat. The Mexican place across the street, Eva's, was recommended by the innkeeper, so we decided to check that out. This place was quite the experience. As soon as you enter the place, you realize you aren't in your typical Mexican cantina. A large sign stands in the middle of the room, with the following handwritten greeting displayed for all customers to view upon entry: "You are commanded to serve God. Jesus was unmistakable. 'Your attitude must be like my own. For I, the messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my life.' For Christians, service is not optional, something to be tacked onto our schedules if we can spare the time..." And it went on like that. Big sign. And next to that was another sign that read. "Prayer may not be allowed in our schools, but it is welcome at our tables." And yet another sign, my favorite, that said, "Get right, or get left." And next to the word left was an arrow pointing down (to hell, I presume.) The place didn't serve alcohol, which is basically unheard of in Mexican joints. Instead of the typical happy hour menu you find on most tables, they had a list of bible verses. It was by far the preachiest dinner I've ever had. Thankfully, the rest of our meals were much improved.
On Saturday, we headed out to the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park. It was unbelievable. My description won't really do it justice, so be sure to check out those pics. You wind through this park on a 22 mile road that takes you through several different natural and prehistoric man-made phenomena. We spent about four hours touring the park, checking out the rock formations, petrified trees, and the petroglyphs.

After that, we drove over to the meteor crater, which turned out to be a rip off. The crater was huge and all, it is rather amazing that a rock fell from space to create it, but they charged 15 bucks a person just so you could look at a giant hole. We paid it because we drove all that way, but I recommend against it future visitors to Tucson.

After the crater, we made our way to Winslow. You may remember the Eagle's song, Take It Easy, where the guy was standin' on the corner in Winslow, Arizona when a girl in a flat bed Ford slowed down to take a look at him. Winslow has attempted to capitalize on that fame by erecting a statue of a man with a guitar on one of its corners. That's basically what this town has to offer. That, and one of the best restaurants we've ever been to. The Turquoise room is inside this very cool hotel called La Posada. Both hotel and restaurant don't fit at all with the rest of it's rundown surroundings, but it was fantastic. I had an Elk and Bison plate. Bergie had the salmon. And for dessert, we had a chocolate souflet. Effing delicious.

Sunday, we got up and got back on the road to head back. I took the long way so we could check out Lake Roosevelt. Along the way, we drove via this gorgeous road that wound its way through a mountain forest. And the lake itself was amazing - surrounded on all sides by moutains. Near the lake, we came across the Tonto National Monument, which was a rather large cave dwelling that was still fairly much intact. It was very neat

We're back in Tucson, now. Boo. I want to stay on vacation.

Hope you are well.

Hugs,

Godfrey

Free Bird!!!

Why is it that every effing concert you go to, at some point in the show, usually while the lead is re-tuning his guitar, some dickweed has to yell "Freebird!"? This is done as if it's some hi-lariously clever quip that he or she just dreamed up on the spot. It isn't too uncommon to see this turd looking around for high-fives after pulling off this feat comedic genius. And the sad thing is, he's friends are usually equally retarded, so they reward the douche with praise. "Ha. Good one, Bry."

I'm pretty sure these Freebirders are the same idiots that say "You shouldn't have," when you're carrying flowers. And you can ask anyone. I'm the king of corny, semi-retarded jokes. Like, I can almost never pass up a chance to say "it's all pink on the inside." And I laugh at almost anything. Like, what do you get if your cross an elephant with a rhinoceros? El-if-I-no! That's some funny shit. But what I can't laugh at is dumbasses using the same tired ass jokes over and over when the jokes weren't ever funny in the first place.

So, this little tirade all stems from our outing this weekend. We went to the Josh Rouse concert here in Tucson. He played the Hotel Congress - a great little venue, by the way. And the show was pretty good. He can sometimes be a pretty mellow singer, and some of his songs venture into wussville, but for the most part, he rocks, and he's great live. At one point, someone from the crowd yelled Freebird. I muttered "dipshit" under my breath, and the show went on. But then we started to notice this other weirdo at the show. Bergie and I had gotten there early, so we we standing right up at the front, and this tool was standing next to us. During every song, he listened with his eyes closed, smiling widely, and swaying to the music, and then after each song, he'd lean forward to get as close to Josh Rouse as possible, which was relatively close in this venue, and he'd say "Thank you sir. We really appreciate you visiting Tucson, sir. Play His Majesty Rides, please." (That's one of his songs - one I don't really care for, actually.) And he did that after every song. Always emphasizing the "SIR." I'm sure I'm not doing it justice, but the guy was just creepy. They way he listened to the music with his eyes closed, and his persistence - it just seemed way too much. The funny thing is that I could see the set list from where I was standing, and His Majesty Rides was on it, but Rousey skipped it - I think just to stick it to that creepy mofo.

We also had our first visitor since moving down here. Madge McInerny was in town for a conference, so we took her out to the Desert Museum. It was great to see a familiar face. Thanks for coming down, Margaret.

That's about all of interest. Friday is Bergie's birthday. I've got top secret plans. We'll come back with all sorts of pics, though, so I'll update the blog on Sunday or Monday.

We miss you all tons!

Hugs,

Godfrey

P.S. Why don't bears eat clowns? Because they taste funny!

Vegas!!!

I just bought tickets to Vegas, where I'm meeting my friends Ron and Michael. I'm going from November 7-9. My room has space for 2 more! Who's in? Austin? Juggy? Lake? Cout? C'mon!!!

I seriously can't wait. Vegas is one of those weird places that I can keep going back to. I can only take about 2 nights at a time, but those 2 nights - friggin' sweet. The last time I went was for my friend Lake's bachelor party. I was losing my ass at the tables, and then, in one pull of the slot machine, I won $600, and I was back to even. Thank effing God!

I want to go back to Shadow in Caesar's palace. Strippers dance behind a backlit screen so all you can see is their sillhouettes. It's all tasteful-like. It may not sound all that great, but believe me - it is way cool.

My goal is to win enough money to pay for our honeymoon. We're looking at going to the Yucatan Peninsula around New Year's. Thanks to some tips from my friend Angela, I think we're going to stay in Xcalak. It's 5 hours from Cancun, so away from all the jerky tourists. It's supposed to be great for snorkeling, and kayaking, and chilling on the beach. Can't wait.

Hope all is well with you! And happy birthday Courtney!

Hugs,
Godfrey

P.S. Arizona is a state of mind. (Screw off, Austin).

Confucious Say

Man who jumps off cliff, jumps to conclusion.

So, sometimes we feel like we jumped off a big cliff moving to Arizona. It's neat and all - beautiful mountains. Cool cacti. Interesting wildlife. Warm weather. But coming from a place full of friends, with a comfortable house, with somewhat of a routine and going to a place that has none of that can sort of wear you down every once in a while. Bergie and I both feel it from time to time.

We're working on it, though. And I'm still glad we came. On Sunday, we started our first weekly training ride with the Greater Arizona Bicycling Association. We and about 30 other people went on a 30 mile ride at 6:00 AM. We're going to do that weekly, gaining in mileage each week until the 109 mile El Tour de Tucson on November 17. We didn't make any new friends on Sunday, but we did lots of smiling and chatting and stuff - the kinds of things that lead to friends. I'll bring cookies this Sunday. That's bound to work.

Anyway - confucious also say - he who drops watch in toilet have shitty time.

There's no watch in my toilet just yet. Hope the same for all of you.

Hugs,
Godfrey

P.S. Arizona is a State of Mind

Date Weekend

Hello everyone,

Bergie and I decided that we'd celebrate the Labor Day holiday this year by declaring it Date Weekend, which meant that we went on a different date event every day. Friday night, I made it my goal to get Bergie drunk, so I picked her up from school and took her to a swank little pizza place called Enoteca for happy hour. The happy hour wasn't especially cheap, but it 3 wines later, it was getting pretty happy. And that was just the start. After that, we drove over to a Spanish place called Vicente's. The tapas were half-assed, but the live music made up for it. After that, we topped the night off with more wine and some dessert at this fau-French bistro called Pastiche. Again - the food wasn't all that impressive, but it was still fun.

Day 2 started off with an early morning bike ride. Then we came home and cleaned our sty of a pad. That night, however, we decided to use one of our wedding gifts - a gift card to an upscale tex-mex place called Terra-Cotta. (Thanks Elise and Jamie!). And check out the fox in the picture on the right. Oh, and the fake animal behind her is pretty cool, too.

This time they got the food right. We ate and drank and ate some more. Damned good stuff. We definitely found a place we'll bring visitors.

After dinner, we went downtown to the HOCO Festival to check out Okkerville River. Turns out they have a new album, and it effin rocks. You can check it out at MySpace. The concert was fantastic. Unfortunately, they aren't going through Minneapolis on this tour, but if you have a chance to see them, do it. That did it for date night #2.

On Sunday, we got up and hopped in the car to head out to Mount Lemmon. It is about a 25 mile drive Northeast of Tucson. The drive is gorgeous. And you end up about 9000 feet above sea level, which drops the temperature about 20 degrees - a fantastic escape from the heat of Tucson. We hiked through the woods for a couple of hours. Then, we took a ski lift to the top of the mountain where we had a picnic lunch. That night, we just chilled at home. We were pretty shot from all the hiking.

On Monday, Bergie had a ton of school work to do, but to make sure we kept our commitment to Date Weekend, we did take in a movie that night. We saw Once - a pretty deece movie about a singer songwriter in Ireland who meets this Czech girl, and together they sing songs. It's almost a musical (and as you all know, I like musicals), but it's not they typical break-out-in-song-for-no-apparent-reason kind of musical. In this case, the singing makes sense, and it's pretty good to-boot.

So, that's it for Date Weekend. Good times. Good times.

I hope you all had as much fun.

Big hugs,
Godfrey

P.S. Arizona is a state of mind.