Trip to Phoenix for the Casting of Ian's Second DOC Band

Monday, August 6, 2001

I had a phone interview in the morning, and scheduled another for the afternoon.  By the time those were done and the table and chairs we rented for the party were returned, it was almost 3.  So I frantically began packing. Something was wrong with my email (only mine) because of some changes I had made, so I didn't get Selena's list of what to bring.  Ian was fussy, but I let Edy go before realizing that I should probably feed him.  Selena got tied up in traffic, we finally left, but I forgot to put the stroller back in the truck, and didn't realize until we were on I-225 (well on our way).  Since I really needed the stroller, I cut across the median and drove home to retrieve it.  It was raining, but luckily the stroller was leaning up against the tree and the rain hadn't gotten to it yet.

Selena called the airlines, and we found out that the plane was delayed.  At the gate she got me lunch and we let Ian stretch his legs (well, his arms and knees). 

The flight went well.  I asked for the last row, and there were only two seats in the last row, and none directly across the aisle.  The gentleman with the seat next to me voluntarily took a middle seat farther up so that I could give Ian some space.  Ian kept himself entertained, of course with daddy's encouragement.  He looked with interest out the window as we took off, which he hadn't done before on plane trips.

We got the rental car and drove to the Homewood Suites without incident.  Selena had heard from another DOC band mom that they had a Cranial Tech rate of $69/night, which we got.  It was a great place:  kitchen with full fridge and microwave, and a separate room in the back (where I slept) with its own TV.  I had reserved a crib, which they promptly brought to us. 

Tuesday, August 7, 2001 (Ian officially turns 1!!)

Ian was up at his usual time, not counting the time change.  We had breakfast near the lobby and headed to Cranial Tech for our 8am appointment. [Arizona does not recognize daylight savings time, so we were an hour behind Colorado, same as Pacific time, but technically Mountain Standard Time.] 

He didn't like being held down, and cried and tried to escape during the entire casting, which lasted about 10 minutes.  They put a light brown bandage-cloth over his head, which covered his eyes, and they cut out a hole for his mouth.  As soon as we got him in the large sink for a bath he was fine.  I played a Baby Einstein video on the camcorder during his bath to help us calm down. 

We headed back to the hotel, as I was thinking that he might like a late morning nap.  But after a couple hours in the hotel and two attempts to put him down, I abandoned that idea and we headed out.  As soon as we got moving, he fell asleep in his carseat. 

I wanted him to have a good nap, so I drove around until he woke up.  We were loosely headed for the Arizona Science Museum, which Selena had heard was a great place for kids.  I took very large detours, and saw some of the neighborhoods to the north, where fancy houses are cut into the rolling rocky hills, and none of the houses have grass.  Instead, they have large cactuses (cactii?) of different varieties, most of which I had never seen before.  It was surreal, and I wished that I had my camcorder with me. 

Ian woke up after two hours, and we went to the Science Museum.  Most of the "exhibits" were hands-on for kids of most ages, and they had a play area with lots of toys that we stayed at for a while.  We ate breadsticks from Pizza Hut on our way out, at a food court adjacent to the museum.  We went back to the hotel for a couple hours, and then to Fazolis for dinner.  Fazolis was perfect - fast food Italian, and Ian loves Italian.  He was a bit cranky, and made a mess of himself, but he had a good meal.  By the time we got back it was time for his bath, story, bottle, and bedtime.  I watched TV a little, but absolutely nothing was on.

Wednesday, August 8, 2001 

Our appointment was at 2pm, so we took our time heading out.  Ian actually slept in by 2 hours (woke up at 8am), which is extremely rare.  We had breakfast near the lobby again, and packed up and checked out around 10:30. 

Ian fell asleep in the car again.  I had noticed an Indian reservation on the map, and headed in that direction. The map I had wasn't accurate to the southeast though, and so I had to double back a bit to pick up the bigger roads to get back on track.  But I noticed a lot of high-tech companies in the southeast (south of Scotsdale), eg, Intel and Orbital, and new neighborhoods with fancy houses. 

There was no sign or any other indication that we had entered the reservation, other than an abrupt end to the development.  I drove another 16 miles to Mariposa, and saw nothing but sagebrush on either side of the two-lane road, except maybe for small hills in the background.  Mariposa was a trailer park, school, cluster of houses, and maybe five places of business.  Oh, and a huge gambling facility, which had a couple hundred cars in its parking lot.  I wondered if folks traveled from afar to gamble there, or if it was mostly locals.  A sign said, "Thank you for your continued support of Ak Chin gaming."  I turned around at that point, as I was close to noon. 

We ate at Ye Ole Sandwich Shop, outside.  Ian didn't want his pasta salad, or much else for that matter.  The Cranial Tech appointment took about an hour.  Ian was introduced to his new headband, he wore it for about 10 minutes, and then Margaret examined his head for red spots, and took the helmet away for adjustments. We repeated that process about three times. 

Our flight was delayed (go United!), so we strolled around the airport.  One good thing about Phoenix is its airport - half the gates were completely empty, so Ian had plenty of space to crawl around.  I asked for the last row again, and thought I'd have the seat next to me free when I boarded .. no one was there (and we were almost the last to board).  But then a young lady claimed the window seat as I was unloading. Oh well. 

It turned out to be fine.  Ian actually slept for a third of the flight.  I was shocked, as I hadn't even considered that as a possibility.  He was sitting on my lap, facing away from me, and eating a biter biscuit, when I noticed he had dozed off, with half of the biter biscuit still in his clutches. Eventually I leaned him back, and he slept for about half an hour. He was a little cranky towards the end of the flight, but we hit some turbulence, which made him cling to me and forget his troubles.

Selena met us at the gate, and we headed home.  I was glad to be home, and felt good to have successfully completed this trip.  I had had a lot of time to interact with Ian during the trip, and to think about things, and I think we bonded.