Tucson, Baby!

Saturday Summary:

• Leave KC en route to Tucson, AZ via Albequerque, NM
• Track down missing bike
• Check into Peppertrees
• Dinner and beer!
• Fall into bed

I have not gone on a real, adult vacation in a very, very long time. A vacation where I am not visiting/staying with relatives. A vacation to a location I have never been too. A vacation where I spent more money than I really have in my bank account - hoping it would all be worth it.

It was - and then some!

Our flight left Saturday at 2 pm. I am a worry wort. I worry (irrationally) about everything. I don't like to fly so I take a Xanax or two, wash it back with Southwest Airline's finest white wine, and sleep until we land. (That's the short version. In the long version there are tears, wincing and white knuckles.) We switched planes in Albequerque. RDJr. and I watched as they loaded BOTH bike boxes and our checked luggage on to our flight to Tucson. Of course, when we got to Tucson, my bike had magically flown back to Chicago!! Luckily, Southwest quickly located my bike and had it delivered to the B&B the next day. Yay!

Blah, blah, we picked up our massive rental (Chevy Tahoe - we did NOT need that big of a car!!) and headed to our B&B. When RDJr. and were planning this trip (back in November) we discussed many different options - what part of town to stay in ... hotel vs. rental condo... etc. We chose Peppertrees Inn and were thrilled with our choice upon arrival. Every single day we remarked on just how different our experience would have been had we chosen to stay somewhere else. It just would not have been the same.

Our entrance - just off University Ave.

Our very own front porch. Perfect for people watching.

Peppertrees front yard and the owner's private residence. Yes, that IS a grapefruit tree!

The sitting room BEFORE it became the bike room.

Where the magic happens ... or where recovery happens. Depended on the time of day.

Peppertrees is located one block from the U of A campus and three to four blocks from trendy 4th Avenue. The owners, Ron and Jill were very friendly and made us feel at home. Jill is a graduate of the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) and has worked as a pastry chef for Janos Wilder, one of Tucson's celebrity chef's. Needless to say, breakfast every morning was a work of art.

It was about 8 pm by the time we got to our room and settled in, so we just walked across the street for dinner at Gentle Ben's Brewery. It was a simple brew-pub. Nothing fancy ... I think I had a veggie burger and RDJr. had tacos. He had three beers, I had two.



We walked back to the inn and crashed into bed. Sunday would be a big day!