Scottsdale, Arizona

After lunch, we powered through 2 hours of mostly boring desert driving. Not much scenery, and both of us really anxious to get to Scottsdale. Probably the scariest moment on the road thus far: LVL driving as a truck about 40 feet in front of us (we were in left lane; truck was in center) blew a tire and spun across our lane and crashed into the median strip. So lucky that no one was hurt, either in the truck or in any cars around it. Both a bit shaken, we stopped at a Fry’s to get some supplies. Strange but true: most of the other patrons looked like drug users/drug dealers/drug couriers. Oy.

After a terribly long drive through the Phoenix metro area, we arrived at Chris, Catherine, Hannah, and Helena’s (CCHH) house about 8:30 or so. Counted money with Helena, watched a bit of some bizarre game show where contestants answer questions to save their stuff (and eventually themselves) from being carried on a conveyor belt off a building, and hung out. Great to see everyone – finally.

Woke up to intense heat, despite overcast skies. Out for an earlyish brunch as Butterfield's, one of the most popular spots in Scottsdale. For LVL, very interesting and tasty vegetable hash with poached eggs. I think I liked it more than she did. For me, banana bread french toast with fresh bananas and walnuts. Unfortunately, it sounded better than it actually was. I think the bread was a bit dry and even when drowned in syrup, it wasn’t quite as awesome as it should have been. Maybe I should have told our trainee/waitress about it.