Damn glad I live here and not in Phoenix! The fucking heat is brutal and it was accompanied by humidity as thunderstorms rolled through the area. While the rain and lightening was kinda cool to see (and did cool things down about 20 degrees for a short time), the weather was extremely unpleasant overall. It was quite refreshing to step off the plane in Burbank to slightly overcast skies, much cooler temps and far less humidity.

In my opinion, Phoenix is a very ugly town. When commercial buildings (like strip malls) fall into disrepair, many of the spots are just left empty and new buildings go up somewhere else. We stayed in Mesa which had some nice places, but lots of areas that looked like slums. Tempe–the home of Arizona State University–was a really nice college town with lots of restaurants and shops. It appeared to be an oasis in the middle of a desert area inhabited by low lifes.

It was extremely difficult to figure out directions, and we found ourselves lost more than once. We couldn’t even make it to the airport this morning without going too far and having to turn around. It was very frustrating.

It was nice to visit with family and become reacquainted with cousins I hadn’t seen since they were quite young. We also went out to an Indian casino on Saturday night where we all lost $50-$100 playing the slots. Kinda fun, but Vegas is much better.

Still have to unpack, but am going to take a nap first since I’ve been up since 4 am! Did I mention how good it is to be back home?!