Feb 20 2008
My Trip to Arizona
What I didn’t expect from my trip to Arizona was Green. Compared to Louisiana, Phoenix is green this time of year. Green grass (if it’s watered) and, of course, all colors of green cactus (including blue-green). And sun…
The day I got back to Louisiana was overcast, all the deciduous trees were nothing but grey limbs… it was dreary. 
But… the brightest thing about Arizona was my granddaughter. Here she is finishing off her first birthday cake. Ain’t she cute?
No, her Nonna is not biased at all. I’m not sure she actually ate any of the cake, but she had a grand time squishing it and rubbing it into her hair. It was a lot of fun seeing her play will all her pals from Gymboree and the local Mom’s group.
Other highlights of the trip were The Temper Tantrum - Nonna spent almost an hour laughing at the sweet angel as she threw a big one, then finally sighed loudly and decided to play with her toys and books. She has earned her nickname “Stinkerbelle” honestly.
Then there was the raw tuna. My favorite son-in-law (don’t confuse him with my other favorite sons-in-law) will eat almost anything. I got him a sushi kit for Christmas, but this was a sort of raw tuna salad. His mom and dad loved it. I tried it. I didn’t love it. It didn’t really taste bad, but raw tuna is very, very chewy. Very.
At the last minute, I decided to fly rather than drive. I had a nightmare about my car (10 years old, 150,000+ miles) breaking down between Pecos and Van Horn, where I know my cell phone does not work… and then there’s that long stretch between Van Horn and El Paso, where I can’t remember if my cell phone works, or not.
The bad part about that is that I did not get to try the traditional Chile Relleno at Dos Compadres in Midland, or Odessa. That means that, so far, the best Chile Relleno I’ve ever eaten is at Papa Poblanos in DeQueen AR. That’s right… Arkansas. I was born and raised in SW Colorado and NW New Mexico, but Papa Poblanos, well… it’s one hell of a Chile Relleno.
