Supafly.com

It’s been raining in the valley and snowing in the mountains surrounding Phoenix. For the first time in the five years that I’ve lived in Phoenix, there is snow all in the mountains that surround the town. It looks less like Phoenix and more like Aspen.

I’ve learned that during the nicest weather of the year, it’s important to get out and do fun things. So when the miserable heat arrives in the summer, it’s easier to remember why you live in Phoenix. So this morning I spotted in the paper that their was a tour of homes in the historic Coronado neighborhood in downtown Phoenix, I knew Candyce and I had an adventure waiting for us.

The first home on the tour was owned by what seemed to be a very strange and dirty man. By comparison, each of the eight homes left on the tour was tasteful and well-done. Phoenix doesn’t have much history, so it was fun to see homes that were built before 1950.; But what was most fun was meeting enthusiastic homeowners who live a little on the wild side. The snub the safe suburbs of new homes for the wild streets close to downtown.

We had a late lunch at Zoe Cafe, a healthy sandwich shop in the antiques district off of Seventh Avenue. About half way through the sandwiches, I convinced Candyce that we should go to Mass at a church in the mountains in north Phoenix. Ten minutes later, she was asleep in the car while I drove due north towards the white mountains.

I decided to go for the Carefree / Cave Creek area. I imagined Candyce and I would be the only ones on the adventure north, but I was wrong. The closer we got to the snow, the thicker the traffic. What was more bizarre is that all of the cars coming towards us from the mountain had miniature snowmen on the hoods of their cars. I thought it was a joke amongst friends in a caravan of maybe four cars. But as the miles passed, there were hundreds of cars that had snowmen on their hoods. I’d never seen anything like it.

I pulled off the side of the road. Actually, I had to parallel park because there were hundreds of people pulled off as well. I had to parallel park in the middle of the desert! Hundreds of kids were running through through stands of Saguaro cacti hurling snowballs at each other. I’d never seen something quite that bizarre.

Next we went to Mass at Our Lady of Joy in Carefree. It was so cold outside, another thing we don’t get here in Phoenix very often. People stumbled into the church all bundled up with heavy coats and scarves. Mass itself was gentle and calming. St. Tim’s is usually packed and pretty loud, so the contrast was cool.

The must stunning scene of the evening was when we walked out the door and saw the snow-covered mountains in the distance framed by the Spanish archway at the entrance of the church. The sun was setting, so the snow had a sherbet glow. I was standing in the middle of a postcard. There’s few moments in life where you can occupy the same space as that much natural beauty.

For dinner, we went to a charming Mexican restaurant called El Encanto. The courtyard patio wrapped around a small pond with swans and ducks. With a couple fireplaces, a Mexican guitarist and a dancer, it was like we were in Mexico. We went from Aspen to Mexico in ten minutes. We ate chili rellenos and savored the warmth.

The snow had melted off of my Honda Element by the time we made it back to Candyce’s house. I was hoping to have just a little to show off to my friends, but that’s okay. Today has been a wonderful day, a day I never expected to experience in the deserts of Arizona.