Last weekend Phin and I headed down to Phoenix with my Mom on a last minute road trip. My brother Jeff was getting ready the addition of his house on airbnb.com for Super Bowl weekend and needed some help pulling together all the details. My mom had talked about going by herself...but I didn't want her to drive alone...and Phin had never been to Phoenix. We sure missed Seth and wish he could have made the trip with us. We left around 5:00 am on Thursday morning and Phin slept all the way to Beaver. We stopped at McDonald's in Beaver for breakfast. Phin enjoyed the pancakes...I seemed to remember breakfast at McDonald's tasting much better when I was young.
Phin was awake from Beaver until Flagstaff. He was in various emotional states through the drive. We kept handing toys back to him, singing to him and giving him treats.
We arrived in Phoenix just in time for dinner on Thursday. Phin was anxious to get out of the car and move around. We ended up having dinner at Chipolte and while we were out we shopped for linens, lamps,etc. We also got confirmation that Jeff's airbnb was booked for Friday and Saturday night...so we knew we had a busy day of preparations ahead of us.
We spent most of Friday deep cleaning. Phin was my little shadow as I cleaned blinds, washed baseboards and scrubbed the floors. Phin developed a love for Jeff's dogs and thought all of Diesel's favorite spots were pretty great. In the picture below he is hanging out in the curtains in Jeff's front room...Diesel can often be found here watching neighbors or waiting for Jeff to come home.
Phin thought Diesel's doggie bed was just his size.
He also made himself pretty comfortable next to Diesel while he snacked on an apple.
Phin warmed up pretty quickly to Jeff. Here he is playing peek-a-boo.
The person who had booked the airbnb called Friday afternoon to let Jeff know that their flight out of NYC had been delayed and may possibly be cancelled. He did end up cancelling...which was a bit of a let down after a busy day of preparations...but at lest we got the place ready for the next booking. Jeff's addition looks pretty spectacular. I love all of his artistic elements. He has two bedrooms and two bathrooms in the addition that are separated from the rest of the house by a locked door. This is a picture of the bathroom on the main level. I meant to let Phin shower in there...but after we cleaned it I didn't want to get it dirty.
The picture below is of the bedroom on the main level. I love the tree stump that Jeff has fashioned into a cool side table. He has the table on caster wheels so that it is easy to move. The chair was left behind at one of my parent's rental properties.
Jeff has a queen bed on a wood platform with two prison beds underneath. I love the ladder to the platform that he picked up from one of my parent's rentals. The headboards above the prison beds are made from reclaimed wood.
This is a picture of the foyer on the main level and the stairs leading up to the loft. Jeff made this table while we were there. On Friday morning he was out for a walk and just happened to find this heavy iron base on the side of the road. He brought it home and screwed on a huge clock that he had to make a cool table. Seriously Jeff is the ultimate picker...the stuff that he has around his house is so cool.
The master bedroom is pretty spectacular. I LOVE the headboard in this room. Jeff also made this out of reclaimed wood...he has another one in his bedroom as well. He also welded the side tables. My mom is currently making a new comforter to really spruce up the room.
The bathroom in the master is HUGE.
He also has a loft area with a couch, mini-fridge and microwave.
Saturday Jeff insisted that we go out and play. He took us to the train park as he calls it. It was a little wet but Phin loved playing at the playground.
We went to a model train car exhibit and Phin was enthralled. From the moment we walked into the building he was entertained. He loved watching the trains and would run around following them.
Phin found a little Spiderman that reminded him of Daddy.
He spent quite a bit of time playing in this little caboose.
He loved when some other kids came in and showed him how to stop his feet.
We also went on a train ride around the park. Phin was curious when we were loading and climbed into the caboose where Jeff was waiting.
I just love his hand in his pocket in this picture.
Phin always gets a serious look on his face when he is first experiencing something. He may not look like he is having fun but he was.
We also toured a museum that had a presidential train car.
This is the exact spot that President Roosevelt sat in when he traveled.
After the train park Jeff took us out for some BBQ. We went to Little Miss BBQ near the airport. It was packed. There were tons of people wearing super bowl gear and we ended up in line behind some of the video crew for the super bowl half time show. We waited in line for over an hour for some of the best BBQ I have tasted. We were told that Little Miss BBQ was rated in the top 10 BBQ joints in the country. The line wrapped around the smokers...they have two that are about this big.
This is their logo. Little Miss BBQ is open from 11:00 am until they run out of meat. There were people in line at 9:30 am on this day.
While we were in line the owner came out and started counting people. Then he told people behind us in line that they may not get some food. They also hung up a sold out sign so people would stop coming.
We finally made it inside. We got some delicious brisket. We also cleaned them out of sausage and pulled pork...the people behind us in line groaned in despair because of that. The food was definitely worth the weight...my mouth waters just thinking about the brisket.
We spent the rest of the evening hanging out at Jeff's place. Phin loved Jeff's vintage leather motorcycle helmet.
Phin also made himself pretty comfortable on Zoe's bed.
We were up and in the car by 4:30 am on Sunday. Phin was a pretty good trooper for the ride home...as long as he had treats...
and some toys.
