Canucks Road Trip 2008
It was the Christmas gift to beat all Christmas gifts. Norine went above and beyond, secretly planning, and purchasing flights to Phoenix, and acquiring lower bowl seats to Canuck games against the Coyotes, Kings and Ducks... in their arenas! Even though I accidentally found out about it a month early due to a mailing mistake by Ticketmaster... it was the coolest gift ever.
With unbelievable flight prices, we flew out of Bellingham using Allegiant Air, and arrived later that night in hot and sunny Phoenix. It was a perfect change from the cold and rain of Vancouver at the beginning of March. Back East there was snow storms, we arrived to 30° (that's 90 for our non-Canadian friends), with our sun-screen, sunglasses, and our Canuck jerseys. We picked up our little Nissan Versa, and grabbed a few hours sleep at a Days Inn in Mesa, Arizona.
Daylight savings time switched over, so to avoid re-setting our watches, we made the drive across the desert to California. Later we would learn that Arizona doesn't observe DST, so we were up and on the road way earlier than we had planned. In the darkness we headed into the Sonoran Desert, towards Palm Springs and our eventual destination of LA.
As the sun came up, I quickly realized that sightseeing would be limited... it's a Desert. Sand, shrubs, a few cactuses (Cacti?) and an occasional tumbleweed. It's a long distance between gas stations, and we pulled into a stop outside Palm Springs running on fumes. Everyone has this glorious picture of what Palm Springs is, it's a postcard like oasis, well we didn't see that, all we saw was these massive windmill farms. Not sure I'm rushing to book a flight to Palm Springs in the near future.
Los Angeles
After stuffing ourselves on an IHOP breakfast in Palm Desert, we drove the next few hours to our first stop, Six Flags Magic Mountain. If you don't know what that is, it is one of the top rated Thrill parks, in Valencia, CA, just north of Los Angeles. If you like roller coasters, this is a must stop, we do, so we did, and we were looking forward to riding every coaster in the park.
On this day I would learn 2 very important lessons;
1) Do not eat a large IHOP three cheese omelette breakfast before going to a theme park.
2) Do not go upside down, and subject yourself to G-forces while recovering from a sinus infection.
With the largest collection of Roller Coasters in the world, rides like Colossus, Goliath, Superman: The Escape, Riddler's Revenge, Cyclone 500, Deja Vu, Ninja, Revolution, Scream, Tatsu, and X2 were calling our names. After going on coasters where you were suspended below the track with legs dangling on Ninja and Batman, where you laid flat like a hang glider on Tatsu, hit 4 G's on Superman, and ride while standing on Riddler's Revenge... we were a green colour, the Riddler did get his revenge. Both of us were not feeling so hot as we took what would be our final ride of the day, the classic dual track wooden roller coaster called Colossus. That was it, we were done, one more loop, and everyone else would have enjoyed our IHOP breakfast.
We never got to try the newest attraction called X2; "Unlike traditional coasters where trains only parallel the track, X2 sends riders screaming around its 3,600-foot maze of steel track aboard massive wing-shaped trains where the seats extend off of the track to the sides of the vehicle, allowing them to independently rotate you head over heels, forward and backward creating a one-of-a-kind 'don't know what to expect next' sensation." Awesome, huh? We don't know, we'll have to go another time, all we wanted by then was to get to our hotel in Anaheim.
The next morning feeling much better, we headed to L. A. and Universal Studios Hollywood. It would be a little more low key day as we wandered down Universal City Walk, underneath King Kong, past the giant guitar, and into the back-lot/theme park.
Being a hollywood backlot for many popular TV shows and movies, we were not surprised when we ran into some Movie Stars... Shrek & Fiona, Scooby Doo & Shaggy! We checked out their Backdraft show, rode the entertaining Jurassic Park water ride, and were blown away by the Revenge of the Mummy ride, so we went a couple times before going on the back-lot tour.
If you have been before (we have), it is the same, Jaws bites at you, a flash flood comes at you, the bridge collapses, and King Kong attacks you. It was interesting to see some of the sets from King Kong's Skull Island, and the plane crash from War of the Worlds.
A lot of the TV series were just getting started again after the writers strike, including CSI, Ghost Whisperer, and Desperate Housewives. We drove down Wisteria lane, and smack dab into filming of Ghost whisperer, which is right around the corner from the beach-house from Jaws.
After wrapping up our day at Universal with the Terminator 3D show and the Waterworld stunt show (I think the 'you will get wet' stunt show was better than the movie), it was time for the short drive to Staples Center for the Canucks game against the LA Kings.
A very exciting 2-1 game, Ryan Kesler tied it with just over 2 minutes left, and then scored 46 seconds into OT to win it. There was a large number of Canuck fans at the game, but we stayed fairly low key as not to piss off the home town fans. We know exactly how that feels when Flames and Oiler fans are in our building. Cheer our team but be respectful.
They did have some great entertainment moments, like the 'Kiss-Cam' when it showed 2 Canucks players on the bench, and the classic clip of the player in the penalty box... replaced with a clip of a Canuck player eating donuts, hilarious! Below is me in Staples center, below the Lakers banners and retired jerseys... notice all the Canuck jerseys behind me?
Other than the first morning heading to the desert, one of the great things about this vacation was never setting our alarm. We slept in a little and made our way to Disney's newest Theme Park, California Adventure. Effectively it is just an expansion of Disneyland, where the parking used to be is C.A. right across from the entrance to Disneyland. They also added a shopping entertainment district called Downtown Disney. C.A. is themed around the California experience, with a mixture of beach town feel, rugged mountains, and rides based on their experiences such as hang gliding.
Two major landmarks of C.A. are the wolf head mountain at the center of the park, and the impressive waterfront roller coaster and ferris wheel. California Screamin is one impressive roller coaster, from it's countdown to launch, in seat stereo soundtrack that's timed to the ride, and the loop through Mickey's silhouette... awesome. We went on this one a few times. Soarin over California is an IMAX ride that simulates riding a paraglider over the sights of California, including wind in your face and Smell-o-Vision. When you go over the orchards, it's like you are there.
One of the other highlights of C.A. is the new ride borrowed from Disney World, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. If elevators bother you already, you may want to skip this one, otherwise, DO NOT MISS IT. C.A. is not huge, and Norine and I are very strategic theme parkers, so in the afternoon we made our way across the concourse to Disneyland, a chance to go see all our old friends... Walt, Mickey, Minnie, Tigger, Pooh, Chip and Dale, Goofy and Pluto. We've all been there (right?) so I didn't include any extra pictures.
Luckily we came to Disneyland before Spring break started, and barely had any lineups the whole time... it meant we could move quickly from ride to ride. First up, the new Indiana Jones ride, awesome! For the rest of the day we wandered through the park, checking out all our favourite rides, saying hi to the characters, and enjoying all things Disney, food, shopping and fireworks.
The next morning we slept in and headed back to Disneyland, back to to our old favourites, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, The Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Star Tours, and lastly Splash Mountain. I say last because we thought we might get wet, and could go back to the hotel before heading to the Canucks-Ducks game later that night. We got wet, very very wet... we blocked the tidal wave from hitting everyone else in our log.
We sloshed our way back to C.A. to watch their Pixar Play parade, complete with the casts of Toy Story, Bugs Life, The Incredibles, Cars, Monsters Inc., Ratatouille, and Finding Nemo. Then we still had time to re-do the Tower of Terror and California Screamin before heading off to the arena.
My shirt reads "Just another Dave in Paradise". A day at Disney beats any day at work, Hands down!
The return of Brendan Morrison and a chance to move into first place in their division was too much for the Canucks, as they quickly fell behind 3-0. A rarity that Luongo gets pulled, but it wasn't enough and the Canucks lost 4-1. On the positive side, they have a nice arena, and parking was only $12 compared to the Kings $20 parking. GM Place's scoreboard kicks their butt. Once again we are surrounded by Canuck fans, mostly good, but a few door-knobs. Drunk and gloating, that goes over real well when we are losing to last years Stanley Cup winners. Mr. Blue-Beard is embarrassing his friends while being an ass. Those are the types of fans we don't need.
The next morning we packed up all our Disney loot and headed back across the Desert. We were much more careful about gas this time. A very nice change in this drive along a straight road, on a flat desert was the colours along the road. Rains a week earlier brought the desert flowers into bloom; yellows, whites and purples lined Highway 10 from Palm Springs to Phoenix.
Phoenix
We arrived in Phoenix, and made our way to our hotel in the suburb of Glendale. The Historic Old Town area we are staying in seems more like run down, so it's nice to head 1 mile west to the arena. There isn't much around the 'Jobing.com Arena'. It appears to be a planned growth area, major exit on the freeway, a huge football stadium for their University, several upscale hotels, and right across the concourse from the arena is a big collection of new bars and restaurants. It is an amazing complex, focused on fans, with lots of exhibits... even the huge parking lot across the street was free, yes, you heard me... FREE PARKING!
The new arena is outside of town, as the old US Airways arena in downtown Phoenix wasn't built for hockey and had a lot of obstructed view seats... that and the city wouldn't pay to upgrade it. Hockey in Phoenix is a little different than we are used to, yes that is a cheerleader that you see in the background, and their blimp is a giant taco.
This game was about as exciting as watching ice cream melt, we learned that Mattias Ohlund was lost for the season, and the Canucks just had no heart whatsoever in this game, eventually losing 2-0. We are amongst a large collection of Canuck fans again, Blue-Beard is at this game too, making an ass of himself, so drunk it's surprising he can stand up. The teams owner Francesco Aquillini is sitting 2 rows behind us, by the angry look on his face I am guessing he was at the previous game too... I suspect that this had a big influence on the eventual firing of Dave Nonis.
The most entertainment we had was brought by Kevin Bieksa, a frequent visitor to the penalty box since returning from a sliced calf earlier in the season. 'yote fans are chirping at him through the gaps in the glass... so he squirts his water bottle at them. The Coyote fans are all upset, they yell at the security guy "Hey, he squirted water at us!". The security guys response is classic "What do you want me to do, throw him out?". One guy thinks he's funny when he tells the guard to look away so he can dump his beer on Bieksa, "Don't do it!". They start chirping at Bieksa again, and he squirts them again, and funny guy dumps his beer on Bieksa's head. We are sitting right behind the penalty box as Bieksa climbs up the glass yelling at the guy and swinging his stick... security swoops in and takes funny guy away. Woohoo, good times... we clap politely and smile.
Sedona
The next morning we left the slum area of Glendale and made the 2 hour drive north to Sedona. The desert transitions from flat sandy plains to rolling hills with lots of the traditional saguaro cactuses (or is that cacti?). The rolling hills change from sand coloured to green, and when we start to see the Red Sandstone Rocks that Sedona is famous for, we know we are close to our destination of the Inn at Oak Creek, a Bed & Breakfast in the heart of this quaint town.
Sedona is 120 Miles north of Phoenix, and the Grand Canyon is a couple hours further north. It's at an elevation of 4500 ft so it's cooler than Phoenix, some of the mountains still have snow. It feels like a retirement community with only 10,000 people, but has a similar feel to Gabriola Island with over 100 Art galleries, and New Age vortices, areas where the Earth's magnetism is said to have special properties. It's not about the town though, it's the surroundings that drew us here.
We arrived early enough in the day that we had lots of time to explore around Sedona. It doesn't matter what direction you go, there is something interesting to see.
We head north out of town, and find Slide Rock National Park. The signs say 'low risk swimming', but it's cold, and the river is moving very swiftly after a lot of rain the week before, and spring run-off starting. I guess they don't bother to change the signs. It would be a great place to be in the summer, a river flowing over flat red rocks, with lots of shore areas to picnic.
Hidden amongst the walls of the canyon at Slide Rock park is the remains of an old cabin. A unique perspective into the people that used to live there. In fact waiting for other people to leave so I can take a picture gave us a unique perspective too. You may notice the head of one kid who wouldn't leave. The sandstone rocks around Sedona have taken shape over the years, we head up the airport mesa to get a view over the town, and can clearly see why that rock is called 'Coffee Pot Rock'. The Panorama below shows the town of Sedona with the Red Rocks behind it.
From the airport we made our way to Boynton Canyon, a great hiking spot with some nice views of the red rocks, and a supposedly major vortex location. Just before the 'Enchantment Resort' is a small parking area, so we park our car and spend an hour or so hiking around this beautiful area.
We come out at a red rock plateau with an amazing view across the valley and down onto the Enchantment Resort, we encounter a weird collection of stacked rocks, and a weird collection of new-agers all in a circle holding hands, but not touching. This must be the vortex spot.
Our hosts at The Inn on Oak Creek hadn't steered us wrong with their recommendations of where to go near town, and they topped the day with appetizers and drinks on their patio overlooking Oak Creek. Later that night we would dine at a local mexican restaurant, owned by a chef who was divorced by his wife, and she got the old restaurant in Scottsdale. The food was very good, a unique twist on the mexican standards. The restaurant was packed, mostly because of a huge group of French tourists, the locals seemed a bit uncomfortable with that, but no-one ordered freedom fries. The roads were pitch black, as they don't allow streetlights, to allow for starrier nights, there was a lot more stars than we typically see at home, but it makes it hard to drive.
The view from the balcony at the Inn on Oak Creek
The next morning we had an early tour booked for us, something called 'The Pink Jeep Tour'. A bright pink jeep picks us up at our B&B, and for 3 hours, three of us are toured around the outback areas of town; the off road fun of the Broken Arrow trails and scenic elevations of the Scenic Rim.
The Rock structures throughout this area are very unique, and many of them have taken on unique names by the locals, including Snoopy Rock. The left picture shows Snoopy Rock on the lower right side, can you see him lying on his back? On the mountain above him is a much smaller rock called Lucy rock, that looks like a silhouette of Lucy from Peanuts too. The picture on the right shows a structure that has gone through numerous names, originally called naughty rocks, it is now called Bill and Monica Rocks... I'll let you figure out why.
After bouncing around the trails, and going near vertical down the 'Road of no return', we head back out of town to the Scenic Rim area. The Scenic Rim is a 2000 ft ascent up the ponderosa pine trails to the top of Mogollan rim. We are above the snow line here, and the views are breathtaking.
Gunsight Rock, named by John Wayne
Our driver & guide Sean takes a breather
We see an amazing panorama of the valley below, and stop to take it all in. We spot a deer on our way back down, and think back to the Coyotes hockey game where a curious fan wondered what a couple Canadians where doing in his arena, and suggested we do a Jeep tour while we are in Sedona. Definitely the highlight of our trip, those Coyote fans weren't so bad after all.
One of our last sights of Sedona as we drive out of town is the Church of the Holy Cross, built right into the rocks by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1956. What it must have taken to do that in the 50's.
We found out that the main highway back to Phoenix was going to be closed as they were demolishing an old bridge, our guide recommended going back via Highway 89A as we would get to see the historic mining town of Jerome. It was an old hillside mining town, with a lot of stories about hauntings, especially in the Jerome Grand Hotel. It must be a big draw to have guests stay in a hotel that used to be an Insane Asylum... mwahhh ha ha ha ha... sorry. I wouldn't stay there.
Turns out 89A is a much longer drive than the main highway, what took us a couple hours to get to, took almost 5 hours to get back. We wound our way through all kinds of beautiful mountainous areas, as we looped around back to Phoenix. We did pass through another unique area that we'll have to get back to one day, the town of Prescott and it's Granite Dells, apparently there is a beautiful lake (Lake Watson) surrounded by these rock structures. We had to hurry past.
Our long long drive got us to Phoenix in time, unfortunately the Google map directions weren't so good, and had us on the wrong side of Mesa, after asking for directions at a drug store, we squealed into the airport, ran past the car rental and threw them our keys, and got our bags checked... just in time. Our flight back to Bellingham was uneventful, and fittingly we arrived back to cold and rainy weather. Allegiant Air was a very good no-frills airline, except for one problem... almost an hour wait for our luggage to make it from the plane to the pick-up area, this is not a great feeling when you just want to get home. As we drove back across the Canadian border the skies cleared, and we watched the sun go down on an amazing vacation.
Next Christmas I'm expecting socks.