Stops between stops
Seeing the sights in the places we're just passing through.
Welcome to another week of life on the road. This week, we’re in Tucson, AZ, but we just got here and have seen basically nothing, so hold your horses. We’ll get to it.
After staying in Los Angeles for two whole months, Aaron and I are not only getting back into the quicker pace of traveling every month, but now we’ve added occasional week-long stays in between.
We stayed in Flagstaff for a week, a Saturday to a Saturday (we’re thinking we’ll adjust the days in the future, Saturday to Sunday might be better). Between the snowy weather, winter darkness, and working days, we didn’t get out to explore a ton. When we realized our time was ending, we realized we needed to explore before leaving on Saturday.
And just like that, we found ourselves headed to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on Saturday morning, with our entire lives packed into the car.
Some people might say that going to the Grand Canyon for only a couple of hours isn’t worth it; obviously, it’s enormous, and you could be there for days seeing new parts of it. But those people don’t have my fear of heights. We weren’t sure if I could handle it at all. And since Aaron has been there before, we had a deal—I could pull the plug and decide to leave at any time if it was too much for me. We set the bar ridiculously low and achievable: my goal was to see some piece of the Grand Canyon and that was it. Anything more would be a bonus.
And we achieved it! I took a beta blocker as we left Flagstaff, and it really helped. When we reached the Canyon (not at the entrance I’d planned for, at some point Google Maps must have rerouted us and we didn’t realize), I slowly walked toward the nearest viewpoint, waiting for my body to freak out on me. And it just...didn’t.
I walked closer to the edge (with a guardrail, of course). I looked out across first, and then tested out looking farther down. I held onto Aaron for safety and comfort, but I realized I didn’t necessarily need to.
It was a strange sensation, experiencing a height like that without my usual reaction. My brain was telling me, “This is scary, this is probably dangerous, bad idea” but my body was calm. No spiked heart rate, no sweaty palms, no legs buckling beneath me. I was actually okay.
At one point, we drove along a portion of the rim and passed a steep drop-off on the passenger side—the absolute worst case scenario for my fear. I turned to look out the window and sing-yelled at my husband “I’m looking! I’m looking out the window and I’m okaaaaaay!!”
I wished we didn’t have anywhere to be for the rest of the day, I wanted to stay. But I think that was the absolute best case scenario for this test trip. I saw a majestic natural wonder, and now I know I want to go back to see more.
We decided to get as far as Phoenix that day and spend the night in a hotel. I will say, the drive from the Grand Canyon all the way down to Phoenix really tested the limits of the beta blocker. And me. That drive was intense—up and down, winding around, and losing serious elevation in a matter of minutes. Aaron had to drive the whole way, I could not have done it.
That night at the hotel, we made the super smart choice to watch the scary movie Rental. Which is about people who rent Airbnbs and then get stalked and murdered. (I was already being cautious, but now I guess I need to look for cameras in shower heads?!) So anyway, that was a fun experience.
The next day, we wanted to see something in Phoenix before we left. Aaron picked the Musical Instrument Museum, and I thought sure, that sounds cool.
Y’all. This museum is incredible.
We arrived after noon (our first mistake). You’re given headphones upon arrival to use throughout the museum—when you stand near a display with a receiver box (which almost every display has), your headphones will connect to what’s playing on the screen there. They play examples of the instruments you’re looking at, as well as cultural, historical, and/or technical information.
In the first room, a small room, there’s a selection of guitars from different places and time periods. We read about each one, and then discussed which one we’d try if we could only pick one. We probably spent 20 minutes in just this intro room, and had no idea what was waiting for us.
We ventured upstairs, where the displays are divided by geographical regions. We started in Africa and moved into the Middle East from there.
I think almost every country in Africa was represented with a display, and each display featured 3-10 instruments, each with their own informational plaque, plus a video with 3-5 different clips. And we read everything.
When we finished with Africa and the Middle East, our feet were hurting, I needed coffee, and we realized that it was already 2:30 pm when the museum closed at 5. So we went down to the cafe for a break and came up with a new strategy. We’d see the downstairs special exhibit and the Artists Gallery (collections of instruments from artists like Prince, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash, and more), the Experience Room (where you can play some instruments, but this room was loud and full of kids so we didn’t stay long), and then we’d pick another region upstairs to take a look at. We chose Oceania, with a bonus of Europe if our feet could stand it (they could not).
This is one of the best museums I’ve been to in a long time. I enjoy an art museum, but I often feel a little disconnected and self-conscious in them. How long should I look at this piece? Am I moving too fast? Is it bad if I don’t feel anything? Here, I was engrossed. I wanted to read every little thing. I wanted to know how the instruments worked, how they were created, how they were influenced over time by their geographical neighbors. It was an overwhelming amount of information to take in, but I was too intrigued to skip over things.
If you’re ever in Phoenix, you have to go to this museum. I’m sure we’ll find a way to go back—we have so many countries and continents we didn’t even get to see.
The only downside to our museum trip was that by the time we left and immediately had dinner (we’d basically skipped lunch), it was 6 pm and we still needed to get gas and drive two hours to Tucson. So much for our plan of not driving in the dark. It was a rainy drive, which I hate, but ultimately uneventful, and we made it.
Moving forward, I think we’ll plan better for these stops between stops. Look up the best places to stay, leave ourselves enough time between Airbnb reservations, and find something interesting to do or see in those cities where we won’t be staying long term. And maybe take a day off on Monday or Friday when we’re moving.
We were so lucky that we both had Monday off of work for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, because we have been exhausted all day. Absolute couch potatoes. We can’t ignore the fact that, especially for these short stops, we’re basically traveling like we’re on vacation while still showing up to work, and that’s going to be tiring. The good, satisfying kind of tiring, but still tiring.
What else is going on? Nothing! This whole piece was basically a “what else is going on” and we are tired.
We are about to watch the first episode of The Last of Us (or first three? However many HBO aired). Aaron played the video game it’s based on, and I didn’t but I follow (and love) the screenwriter who did the adaptation, so we’re both pretty excited.
And that’s it for now.
I am excited that you got to visit the wonders of the Grand Canyon! It is truly breathtaking and a place you will never forget🤩🤩