Category ArchiveEverywhere Once |

Mainstream Microbrews

by Brian on June 18, 2012 in Arizona, Food & Drink, Travel, United States

Sleepy Dog Brewery, Tempe, AZ

Over a year ago I repented and confessed my beer bigotry. When we left Manhattan I expected to find most of the country awash in “light and refreshingly boring” American pilsners. I’ve since reformed but am still continuously amazed at the quality and variety of beer we find virtually everywhere we go.

When we rode into Tucson, Arizona, I wasn’t really surprised to find nine different local breweries. We’ve come to expect that. But one in a huge shopping mall? That was indeed a first.

After catching a rare movie at the Foothills Mall, we wandered into Thunder Canyon Brewery. In ages past, such a place would likely have served a line-up of similarly tasteless beers with various amounts of added coloring. The “brewery” a simple marketing gimmick designed to lure adults away from the food court.

6 Life Changing Things You Can do for the Price of an Average U.S. Wedding

by Brian on June 15, 2012 in How To, Lifestyle, Money & Finance, Travel

Courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net

I’m a big fan of marriage. It has been very good to me. And despite the bad rap it usually gets in our popular culture, marriage really is a terrific arrangement – especially, but not surprisingly, for men. Married men earn 20% more than their single counterparts, report higher levels of happiness, and live longer. If men could get those results in a pill it would outsell Viagara ten to one.

What isn’t so beneficial is the ridiculously elaborate ceremony our culture demands to commemorate the occasion. Reuters recently reported that the average U.S. wedding now costs a staggering $27,021. A wedding in high-price Manhattan averages $65,824.

You’d think young couples would have far better uses for $27,000 than a single day’s celebration. In case they need help breaking with tradition, here are six life-changing suggestions for how to use that cash.

Saguaro National Park

by Brian on June 13, 2012 in Arizona, Travel, United States

Even if you’ve never heard of saguaro (sa-WAH-ro) before, chances are you’ll immediately think of the American Southwest the moment you see one. The cacti’s stately silhouette is used to brand everything from Old El Paso food products to westerns filmed throughout the southwest. Only the saguaro doesn’t naturally grow within 250 miles of El Paso, TX or in most southwestern states, for that matter. The tree-like cactus makes its home exclusively in the Sonora desert, which covers parts of Arizona, California, and Mexico.

Chiricahua National Monument

by Brian on June 8, 2012 in Arizona, Travel, United States

Apache Indians called the area that is now Chiricahua National Monument “the land of standing up rocks.” Much later, European settlers called it “a wonderland of rocks.” We simply called it awesome.

In this remote area of Southeastern Arizona, columns of volcanic rock seemingly grow hundreds of feet in height, in fields that stretch as far as the eye can see. Upon seeing it for the first time, Shannon and I both thought of Colorado’s Garden of the Gods, only dressed in green. But the comparison is somewhat tenuous. Where Garden of the Gods is finely manicured, petite and photogenic, Chiricahua is rough, ruggedly handsome and massive.

The Trouble with Time Zones

by Brian on June 4, 2012 in Travel

Images sourced from freedigitalphotos.net

“Check-in isn’t until noon.”

“It’s noon where I came from,” I replied, to no avail.

Unbeknownst to us, our short drive had taken us into “Arizona time,” which just happened to be an hour earlier than we planned and apparently an hour earlier than our campsite was ready to accommodate us.

One might forgive our confusion. You see, Arizona follows Mountain Standard Time, except for when and where it doesn’t. We unfortunately arrived at one of those places and at one of those times.

From mid-March to early November Arizona is really on Pacific Time, except for the Navajo Nation, whose clocks read an hour earlier. For the rest of the year, all of Arizona, including the Navajo Nation, follows Mountain Time. Got it? Neither do I, really.

All of this leaves us wondering, what is the point? Not specifically about the peculiarities of Arizona time but the point of time zones in general.