Day ELEVEN: First Time

Travelling the United States for the past 29 years again and again I have quite a history of states and cities I've been to. But ME never made it to Arizona yet. Waking up this morning in the very comfortable Red Lion beds in Denver after only some 5 h of sleep is a cruel thing, but The Three Teenagers and ME really have something to look forward to. Wakingupbrushteethhaveacoffeeandsomewatergrabthingsandleavehotel - this time in only some 45 minutes because The Three Teenagers and ME do not have our luggage sure enough. It was checked through to Tucson already. The shuttlebus-drive back to the airport at 6 o'clock in the morning gives us a very short idea of what Colorado might be. We see mountains in the distance, the first since we left switzerland eleven days ago. Everything looks nice and tidy and clean. Approaching the airport reveals a very special designed roof

looks like snow tents (or Munich, Olympia Stadium...) - which is what its supposed to be probably. In the shuttle bus with us is a Native American Couple, on their way to a convention. ME starts talking to him, his Name is Danny Beaton and he's a film maker and a flute player. He sells me a dvd with a movie about a song. Danny is a Mohawk, not very talkative, more the quiet Hippie-type. Nice to meet you.

So here we go again, Denver Airport. Check in, find some bagels and some more coffee, find the gate and off we go. More spaceous plane from frontier, this time no delay, we make it to Tucson in time.

The night before I checked with Alamo, our rental car provider, if they hold my car until we get there. They promised. We'll see. Surprisingly our luggage arrives with us! Yeah! A dear friend and his kids pick us up from the airport, helps us find the rental car, which is where it was supposed to be: Waiting for us.

Me and the kids move into that van that will be our transportation system until we fly back home. No3 is not sure yet wether she should be happy about not having to fly until then anymore or being unhappy about having to sit in a car from now on. Knowing The Three Teenagers I wanted a car that has three rows of seats. One for each Teenager. I HATE kids fighting in the car about seat positions. The grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side, grow up! I could have taken a smart by the way, it makes no difference.....

Short trip from airport to house and we have incredible luck: We are allowed to use an entire HOUSE next door to our friends house, the owner is out of town. Real nice neighbourhood. Tucson is s expected very hot but dry. Doesn't hit you as much as the humidity in Chicago suburbs (The CITY is never that hot, always windy, I like!) or Texas. But still, high in the 90ies. The Three Teenagers get their treat anyway: pool time!

Hungry after swimming, we hit a similar place like in Houston: An all you can eat chinese restaurant, located at Grant Rd. Perfect, low price, tasty dishes, friendly people. Then we go grocerie shopping, our house is empty of course. We get all we need at Trader Joe's, a place, I've not known before. ME delighted! They have a huge variety of fresh fruits and healthy stuff. Nice.

More pooltime for The Three Teenagers, Me and friends. We also rent movies (because Danny-the-Mohawk's movie about an indian prayer really does NOT hit the fan, will watch that later, when I'm alone...) and have a cosy evening home. Good nights sleep lies ahead, once again we share beds, the house has two bedrooms. Its incredibly hot in the house, old aircondition is not running properly and the house misses insolation. Plus ME, being not very familiar with that technology, obviously pushed the wrong buttons. Time to learn.... The Three Teenagers and ME are very curious about what Arizona is like, we cannot wait to get out into that land and explore the scenery. Hot sleep....