On Wednesday, December 18 we drove to Phoenix. I had taken a couple days off work to see The New Standards at the Musical Instrument Museum. Our friends Paula and Ro met us there. The MIM is an amazing place. A single days is not enough time to take everything in. After lunch at the Café Allegro, we were in time for a demonstration in the Mechanical Music Gallery. Then we looked at the Artist Galley that had a lot of exhibits with instruments that had been used by famous musicians, including Prince, Elvis, Johnny Cash and many more. We went to the special Stradivarius and the Golden Age of Violins and Guitars exhibit. Also very cool and interesting. That was just that main level. Then we went upstairs where there were galleries for every country in the world. We looked around for a couple hours but there was no way we could see everything. Around 3:00 we left the museum and went to our hotel to checked in and relaxed for a bit. We went to Paula and Ro’s for a little happy hour. We tried a few beers that we had brought and had some snacks. Ro drove everyone to a nearby shopping center for dinner at the Thirsty Lion. There was a lot of traffic (holiday shoppers?) but Ro was awesome and we got us there, and then back to the museum just in time. In the theater we had seats in the front row. When the New Standards came out, Steve recognized us and said, “What are you doing here?”
The New Standards put on a great show and it went by really fast. I wish it would have lasted longer.
We hung around in the lobby after the show and said spoke briefly with Steve and John. We went back to the hotel and had another beer at Paula and Ro’s before calling it a night.
Thursday, after a little hotel breakfast, we said goodbye to Paula and Ro. Karla and I headed south and planned to make some stops on the way. Our first stop was Casa Grande. At Case Grande there is a ruin of a Hohokam building. We went through the museum and walked around the grounds, but skipped the movie and tour. We continued south and I suggested Dove Mountain Brewery for lunch. They only had two of their own beers available on tap so I tired their IPA. It is just an average IPA but it hit the spot for lunch. We got some sandwiches that were on par with the beer. After lunch we went to Biosphere 2. It was not busy and we wandered through the facilities pretty quickly. It is incredible to think about the people living in there. It was getting late so we headed back to our Airbnb in Tucson. Another excellent day.
On Saturday afternoon, December 21, we took an Uber to downtown Tucson. We wandered around looked at a pop-up market behind the Hotel Congress. We stopped in Tiger’s Tap Room for a drink before getting in line for the Century Room. We had general admission tickets but we were seated at the bar where there was a good view of the stage. There was a trio of piano, bass and drums that did a Vince Guaraldi tribute. It was really fun and had a great holiday vibe. After the show we had some time before our dinner reservation so walked to Sonora Moonshine. We sat at the bar and had some tasty drinks before heading over to Charo Steak & Del Ray. We had a great meal with some delicious drinks. By the time we were done, we were not up for anything else downtown. We took an Uber back to the Airbnb and called it a night.
On Sunday it was a nice day and we walked to 4th Ave. It was different being there on a non-street-fair day. We looked in Goodwill and some other shops but did not buy anything. For lunch we went to Boca. We got some seats out side and started with the salsa sampler. There was one mild and four hot. All very tasty. We got four tacos and they were also delicious. My favorite was steak in a poblano in a flour tortilla. After lunch we checked out some more shops and a bookstore and a couple bars. I wanted to check out Mr. Heads because they have a gallery and a big beer selection. The beer selection was pretty good but not amazing. We also stopped in the The Hut. They do not have a great beer selection and it looks like mostly a party place. But we got a round of drinks and leaned against an outside bar. We walked back to our Airbnb and took it easy for a while. That evening we walked to MotoSonora for trivia. We also got some pretty good pizza from the food truck. We did pretty good in trivia and finished in the middle of the pack.
On Tuesday, December 24, I decided to be productive, or at least pretend to be, in the morning, squeezing in a little work. In the afternoon, Karla and I took off for a stroll, and meandered through a few neighborhoods looking at houses. Before we knew it we were near Pueblo Vida Brewing, and of course, we couldn’t resist the call of beer, so we stopped in for a bump. We talked about doing something else but I suggested going back and playing bean bags. We ambled back, where Karla whipped up some drinks with Bisbee Blue gin and brought the portable speaker outside to set the vibe. We played cornhole while jamming to Karla’s Christmas playlist, and Karla came out victorious in the end. We went inside, where I helped Karla finish cooking the French onion turkey meatballs and cauliflower mash. Everything turned out perfectly delicious. That evening there was some calls and video calls with family. We settled down and watched a marathon of Christmas movies and fell asleep on the couch during the third movie.
On Christmas day, as is our tradition, we went to see a movie. We watched A Complete Unknown and really enjoyed it. After the movie we went to the Shelter Bar. It was a cool bar in an old fallout shelter. Someone dressed as Santa clause was sitting at the bar and gave Karla a hug. Karla got a tasty martini and I got a beer. We liked the bar but couldn’t stay there and just drink. So I found the Wooden Nickel Tavern. It was closer to our rental and they had food. It was not a cool as the Shelter Bar, but we got some drinks and some pretty good food. They had TouchTunes and no one was playing anything. We put in some cool Christmas songs and soon, there were a bunch of crappy songs in the queue. We put in a few more good songs, but it took a long time until they came up. Once our songs were done, we headed out.
On Friday, December 27, we went house-shopping in Bisbee. Actually Warren and we started at the Warren Peace Cafe where we met our new Realtor, Frankie. He took us around to four very different houses. Before we started, I did not think we would see anything that would make me think about Warren again. When we were done, there were two houses that are real possibilities. One is a duplex that needs some work but has a lot of potential. The other is closer to move-in-ready, but does not have as much character as the duplex. We are still thinking about it. Also, do we want to live in Warren? I am not sure. When we were all done, Karla and I went to Ball Park Brewing. We split a burger and got a couple beers and talked about houses. We drove back to our Tucson Airbnb and took it easy the rest of the evening.
Saturday we drove to the San Xavier Mission. We were there early so it wasn’t to busy yet. But I could see all the cars coming in. We checked out the church and the museum. We stayed long enough to listen to the half hour tour. Not really a tour, but a talk about the mission. Very interesting. We walked up the hill next to the mission and had a good view, but that was about it.
We stopped at the little shops and looked around, but did not buy anything. Prices were tourist prices. From there we drove to Firetruck Brewing. They were missing the ingredients for half their menu and only had one of their own beers on tap. It was a stout and it was pretty good. We found some food that sounded good and hung around for lunch. After lunch we we went to the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures. Very interesting museum with lots and lots of doll houses, miniature models and displays. They had a special exhibit on the set design of Broadway plays including Beetlejuice, Hamilton, Dear Even Hanson, and more. After the museum we went back to our rental and enjoyed the weather and sat outside.
Sunday we took it easy most of the day. We watched the Gophers beat Morgan State and the Vikings (after a Packer almost comeback) beat the Packers. Now a Sunday tradition, we went to MotoSonora for trivia. We were in fifth place out of nine teams after the first round, and moved up to forth place after the second round. We got the 30 bonus points in the final question and ended up in second place with a $20 gift card. Not too bad.
We still have two more weeks in Tucson and then it is on to Las Cruces, NM.
I added some pictures to my Tucson album on Flickr.