Prepare yourselves, Arizona! John Lynch, GrrlScientist, and I will be wafting into Phoenix tomorrow, and here’s a short version of our busy calendar:
- All week: Science! I’ll plan on posting updates about various cool things I learn, as I’m sure my SciBlogs colleagues will also do.
- Friday, 6ish: we’ll be at some place called Seamus McCaffrey’s Irish Pub. That Lynch fellow is making us go, and he’s probably going to force us to drink Guinness. I think he’s buying, though, so it’s OK. Anyone can show up for this one.
- Saturday, 5:30-8:00pm: Jim Lippard is hosting a social at his place. Limited space; contact him to RSVP and get directions.
I’ll be leaving Phoenix on Sunday for New York for a few days, and various social events there. It’s busy, busy, busy for the next week!
All I can say is…
You’re raising the cultural IQ of the region by a mesurable amount by your presence. (Saying this as a Phoenix native, who thinks it’s a fine place to visit in the winter, but a nasty place to be in the summer…)
If ya’ll have a day to explore, there’s a good drive starting at Apache Junction (east of PHX) – Highway 88 (Apache Highway) to Roosevelt Dam (a good stop to admire precambrian Apache Group rocks – including limestone stromatalites – and munch on goodies), right on 188 to Miami/Globe (find some decent grub in Globe – rich mining history), then hiway 60 west back through Superior to PHX (perhaps topping the trip off at the Four Peaks Brewery in Tempe). It’s surely a days worth of driving.
It’s a geological wonder drive taking you through some 1 billion years of geological record and from Sonoron desert to cooler higher altitude desert zones (up on the Mogollon Rim) and back. From Apache Junction to Roosevelt Dam is along the Salt River (the part of the river with actual water) and is a pretty cool drive – not paved all the way. Lots of mining from Miami/Globe down through superior.
Oh yeah, there are some growy kinda things on top of the rocks along the way that would probably interest biology types. Take camera.
I like the video of military flares falling behind a mountain ridge.
IT’S UFOS!!!!
As someone who grew up there, I hope you enjoy my hometown.
lunch: Restaurant Mexico in Tempe.
dinner: Pizzaria Bianco in downtown Phoenix. Best pizza in America, and that’s not hyperbole. Even Oprah’s lesbian friend Gail agrees. Get there early and enjoy the wine bar next door while you wait.
Consider me in for Friday evening at Seamus’s.
And Jim in STL is right about the day trip, and about topping it off at Four Peaks. There should be a Four Peaks in every city.
On what day are you leaving New York?