Belated Travel Updates: June
Friday, June 1-Tuesday, June 5: Chandler, AZ
I combined work travel for the Region IX Clinical Excellence Conference with a little extra time to catch up with K & M. The Conference was at the Sheraton Grand at Wildhorse Pass in Chandler, just south of downtown Phoenix. I was planning to arrive Friday morning in time to tour Taliesin West, but due to Southwest travel delays (boo), I didn't arrive until mid-afternoon and missed out on the tour.
I had just enough time to take the shuttle to the rental car facility, where I jumped on a conference call about a grant opportunity. Then K picked me up, and we headed towards the restaurant where we met up with M for a lovely dinner. K & M then very kindly drove me to Chandler and dropped me at the hotel... um... but not the right hotel. Oops! The first property off the highway is the Wildhorse Casino, but the Sheraton Grand is about 2 miles farther down the road. Luckily, the inter-property shuttle was out front of the casino, just about to leave for the Resort, and there was 1 seat left for me to hop on board. Phew!
The next few days began with the New Clinical Directors Training session on Saturday and Sunday, followed by the full Conference on Monday and Tuesday. The Sheraton Grand property was quite lovely, but with the 105+ convection-oven heat each day, I felt a bit trapped indoors except for the early morning. I did manage to fit in a couple of 35-minute runs along the "Gila River" prior to 6am and even did some mini-laps one morning in the small part of the pool that had some shade.
Luckily, the return flight on Tuesday evening (with lots of my colleagues and other Conference attendees from the NorCal area) didn't encounter any delays, so I arrived home on Tuesday evening, as planned. Unfortunately, Mr. E wasn't here to welcome me, as he had left on Sunday for a somewhat last-minute work trip to Shanghai & Taipei! At least the kitties were happy to see me...
Thursday, June 7-Sunday, June 10: Austin
I was home for fewer than 48 hours before heading back to the airport for my trip to visit J & C in Austin (taking some flex time for working the previous weekend for the Conference). Both J & I did a wee bit of work on Friday, but the rest of the visit was all just family time. We had a picnic dinner by the pool at the Amenity Center in her neighborhood on Friday night, and B joined us there for some play time in the water along with dinner. On Saturday, we did some arts and crafts and other family activities.
One highlight of the visit was the boat cruise on Saturday evening to watch the bats fly off from under the Congress Avenue bridge. During a previous visit several years ago, we had tried to experience the bat migration from atop the bridge, but it was too late in the year so the critters were all gone already. This time, however, there were lots and lots and lots of bats taking wing and flying en masse to hunt for their dinner. It was incredible! The masses of flying creatures were so densely packed that they looked like smoke columns blowing through the sky. Amazing!
C spent Saturday night with B, so J and I had some sister time on Sunday, which included going to see Ocean's 8 in the afternoon and then meeting up with C and B for ice cream before J took me to the airport for my evening flight back to Sacto. Once again, the fur babies welcomed me home, since Mr. E was still abroad for several more days.
So nice to have this visit, although I had always sworn to never be in Austin from May-September due to the climate. And I must admit, it was quite hot and steamy, and rather uncomfortable going from the convection oven of Arizona to the sauna of Texas!!!
I combined work travel for the Region IX Clinical Excellence Conference with a little extra time to catch up with K & M. The Conference was at the Sheraton Grand at Wildhorse Pass in Chandler, just south of downtown Phoenix. I was planning to arrive Friday morning in time to tour Taliesin West, but due to Southwest travel delays (boo), I didn't arrive until mid-afternoon and missed out on the tour.
I had just enough time to take the shuttle to the rental car facility, where I jumped on a conference call about a grant opportunity. Then K picked me up, and we headed towards the restaurant where we met up with M for a lovely dinner. K & M then very kindly drove me to Chandler and dropped me at the hotel... um... but not the right hotel. Oops! The first property off the highway is the Wildhorse Casino, but the Sheraton Grand is about 2 miles farther down the road. Luckily, the inter-property shuttle was out front of the casino, just about to leave for the Resort, and there was 1 seat left for me to hop on board. Phew!
The next few days began with the New Clinical Directors Training session on Saturday and Sunday, followed by the full Conference on Monday and Tuesday. The Sheraton Grand property was quite lovely, but with the 105+ convection-oven heat each day, I felt a bit trapped indoors except for the early morning. I did manage to fit in a couple of 35-minute runs along the "Gila River" prior to 6am and even did some mini-laps one morning in the small part of the pool that had some shade.
Luckily, the return flight on Tuesday evening (with lots of my colleagues and other Conference attendees from the NorCal area) didn't encounter any delays, so I arrived home on Tuesday evening, as planned. Unfortunately, Mr. E wasn't here to welcome me, as he had left on Sunday for a somewhat last-minute work trip to Shanghai & Taipei! At least the kitties were happy to see me...
Thursday, June 7-Sunday, June 10: Austin
I was home for fewer than 48 hours before heading back to the airport for my trip to visit J & C in Austin (taking some flex time for working the previous weekend for the Conference). Both J & I did a wee bit of work on Friday, but the rest of the visit was all just family time. We had a picnic dinner by the pool at the Amenity Center in her neighborhood on Friday night, and B joined us there for some play time in the water along with dinner. On Saturday, we did some arts and crafts and other family activities.
One highlight of the visit was the boat cruise on Saturday evening to watch the bats fly off from under the Congress Avenue bridge. During a previous visit several years ago, we had tried to experience the bat migration from atop the bridge, but it was too late in the year so the critters were all gone already. This time, however, there were lots and lots and lots of bats taking wing and flying en masse to hunt for their dinner. It was incredible! The masses of flying creatures were so densely packed that they looked like smoke columns blowing through the sky. Amazing!
C spent Saturday night with B, so J and I had some sister time on Sunday, which included going to see Ocean's 8 in the afternoon and then meeting up with C and B for ice cream before J took me to the airport for my evening flight back to Sacto. Once again, the fur babies welcomed me home, since Mr. E was still abroad for several more days.
So nice to have this visit, although I had always sworn to never be in Austin from May-September due to the climate. And I must admit, it was quite hot and steamy, and rather uncomfortable going from the convection oven of Arizona to the sauna of Texas!!!
posted by jms | 3:23 PM
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