As Long as We're Here...

There are a handful of NPS units within a couple of hours' drive from Phoenix. When we were here in March for spring training, we stopped to visit Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, but didn't have time to visit any of the other sites.  So, on this trip we decided to check out Tonto National Monument, which preserves the ruins of 700-800 year old Salado cliff dwellings.

From Glendale, we headed east towards Mesa, took the 60/Superstition Fwy to Globe, and turned north on Rt. 188 to the monument. It doesn't look like it's that far away on a map, but it still took us a little over 2 hours to get there. The scenery along the drive was pretty, but man, beyond Mesa, you are really in the middle of nowhere!

Bear Down, Chicago Bears

Game Day! We went to breakfast in the lobby this morning, dressed in our Bears garb. I was happily surprised to see that everyone else here was too! After that awful beating of the Giants fan at Dodger Stadium and reading a couple of Rick Reilly's columns online (see here and here), I have become more than a little leery of being a fan of the visiting team. But thankfully in our experience, Cubs/Bulls/Bears fans travel well (safety in numbers!) and we haven't had any issues at the Dodgers or Clippers games that we've attended.

We were staying within walking distance of the stadium, so we headed out early to grab lunch and watch the first set of today's NFL games at a restaurant nearby. Nearly everyone there was a Chicago fan - a very good sign!

I'm Dreaming of a Blue/Orange Christmas

At J's basketball travel team practice about two months ago, I was talking with another parent who also happens to be from Illinois. The Bears were off to a hot start, and we were excited about their playoff prospects! He mentioned that he had thought about getting tickets to the Monday night (11/19) Bears-Niners game in San Francisco or to the Bears-Cardinals game in Phoenix (12/23). That brief conversation started the wheels turning -- both cities are a reasonable drive away and both games fell during times when the boys would be on break from school. Hmmmm....