Phoenix Light Rail

About two weeks ago, the new Phoenix Light Rail opened, so T and I rode it for the first time last Sunday.  We decided to pick it up at the end of the line, which is near our house, and ride it downtown for brunch.  I picked this great Thai place that came highly-recommended.  We drove to the park-n-ride (which was FREE to park the car!) and hopped on the light rail (only $2 to ride it all day!).  The train was packed and it was clear that there were even families on it just riding it from end-to-end!

T and I easily found the restaurant that we were looking for and discovered that it's closed on Sundays!  So, we walked back to the Light Rail platform and as we were waiting for the train and discussing where to go next, we saw my brother and his girlfriend drive by!!  We waved them down, they parked their car and then we decided to all go to brunch together.  I love that Phoenix is a big city, but yet, at times, so small!  

We hopped back on the Light Rail and rode uptown to a great, new cafe on Central.  Sidenote: we sat outside on the patio while eating brunch.  ;)

Our Citrus Grove

T and I planted a 5-year old naval orange tree in our front yard earlier this week (a wonderful housewarming gift from my parents)!  It now joins our 80+ year old grapefruit tree in the yard.  To reflect what an additionally significant event this is for us, I think this post also deserves a quick, historical background to the city of Phoenix and our neighborhood...

The economy in early Phoenix was mostly agriculturally-based -- dependent on citrus and cotton farming.  As the city developed, the economy changed to rely less on these agricultural industries.  More than 60 years ago, our neighborhood was the site of a huge citrus orchard.  When it was sold to developers, they removed most, but not all of the trees in order to build the houses.  These remaining trees are still found throughout our neighborhood including the beautiful grapefruit tree in our front yard.  Since citrus trees do have a limited life span, we thought we'd do our part to continue planting citrus (as most of our neighbors have also done) -- not to mention the shade and aesthetics it will provide to the front of our house.

Now, we won't get any oranges this season (the transplant is too much of a shock for the tree), but we should get fruit by next season!  Here (above and below) are a couple of pics of our new, little friend!

Dunks in AZ

So, as many of you know, T and I are totally and completely addicted to coffee, specifically, Dunkin' Donuts coffee.  In New England, a Dunks can pretty much be found on any corner, literally.  The people who worked in the Dunks by our former home in Medford knew us by name (and of course knew our orders by heart) -- they would even get concerned when they hadn't seen us in a few days (often during a feeble attempt to save money and make coffee at home or work).  We were spoiled rotten by having a Dunks on every corner in New England.

T and I were ecstatic to learn a year ago that the Dunkin Donuts corporation was planning a massive expansion in the Phoenix market.  The Phoenix area would go from having about 12 stores in the Valley to 1,200 (ok, ok, I'm exaggerating, but a girl can dream, right?!)!  There is a Dunks that is currently under construction/renovation less than 2 miles from our Phoenix home.  We plan on being some of the first in line on the day it opens.  No joke.  

This brings me to one of our latest adventures...on an afternoon drive to go shopping in

 Scottsdale, T came up with the brilliant idea to search our GPS to find the nearest Dunks to our location.  We drove 10, yes 10, miles out of our way to find that Dunks and enjoy a tasty doughnut and two glorious iced coffees!!  It was totally worth the detour!

Valley of the Sun...at last!

So sorry for delay in posting!  T and I have been very, very busy unpacking...  

Last Thursday, we headed out of Denver in the morning and stopped at the US Air Force Academy -- the setting is absolutely beautiful!  The Academy is situated against the Rocky Mountains and has amazing views throughout the campus.  The chapel seemed to be the focal point, and you can see why:

We then cruised down through the the rest of Southern Colorado.  T and I stopped for lunch in a wonderful, little town in Colorado on the border of New Mexico called Trinidad.  It has a quaint downtown with brick streets, cafes, and antique shops -- a definite must see if you're ever in the area!  We went through Santa Fe and Albuquerque on Thursday and made it to Gallup, NM to stay the night (I won't comment on Gallup because I want to keep this blog on a positive note).  I will only say one thing about Gallup:  I asked T when we left, "was it all I described and more?"  His response was simply, "yes" as he peeled out of town.  ;)

Being less than an hour from the Arizona border, it wasn't long before we had crossed into our new home state!  Our plan was to surprise my family by arriving more than a day early into Phoenix, but Sally (my '97 Mustang) had other plans...

T was eager to drive straight on through to Phoenix, but I suggested that we should stop in Flagstaff so that he could see the Northern Arizona University campus.  As we exited the highway, we heard the most horrendous noise coming from our back, passenger-side wheel (a grinding metal-on-metal sound).  We quickly found the nearest Ford dealership on our GPS and drove the car there.  As it turned out, we threw our rear passenger break pad while we were on the highway!!  Luckily, Flag is an awesome city and we were within walking distance of their historic downtown.  After brunch and hanging out for several hours with one of the Ford salesmen, we were finally back on the road.  Let me add to that.  Given that cars aren't exactly flying off of the lots these days, the salesmen weren't very busy.  This one guy started talking to us and, come to find out, he was an old car nut.  We talked about the 1960's Mustangs that he, my dad and uncle have (several).  The best part was when he showed us the brand new Shelby GT 500 Mustang they had on the lot, and let us start it up.  Dream car.  

Anyway, we got back on the road and arrived at our new home just before 6pm on Friday night and immediately started unpacking our 100+ (literally) boxes.  Luckily, we found the sheets for the bed and passed out by 9pm, since we were still on East coast time.  More to come as we settle into our new home and city!!

Beginning a new chapter

On Septemeber 24th, my husband, T, and I are embarking on a new adventure...we are moving from Boston to Phoenix! I grew up in the Phoenix area and my husband was brought up just north of Boston. Twelve years ago, I moved to Boston to attend college and had every intention of moving back home as soon as I received my degree. In my final year of college I met T and he convinced me to stick around the area for a bit longer (haha! 8 more years?!). Well, after numerous winters, we are finally ready for some serious sunshine! All of our stuff was moved to our new home in Phoenix almost 4 weeks ago, T sold his car, and we've both figured out a way to work remotely at our Boston jobs...now all that's left is to say our goodbyes (I will miss you too, BC! -- see pic) and drive my Mustang out West!