PDX & PHX

At the end of September, I visited my father outside of Portland, Oregon, where many people refer to the city by its airport code as if coming and going by air was the Number One recreational activity. (I already know their favorite pastime isn't going to see professional baseball.) Maybe it's the "iconic" carpet.

"The iconic PDX Carpet in December 2014," by Travis Thurston, used through Creative Commons license.

As Dad gets older, the visits get shorter, too short now to justify the indignities and cost of cross-country travel. I invited Melvin to meet me in Phoenix to round out the trip with some Arizona Fall League action. And while I am making music for airports, there is no harbor in the sky or anywhere else at PHX, which is of course in a desert.

Thursday

When my brother or I visit our father, he likes to take us to commercial establishments. A cynic would call this a ride-along while Dad runs errands but I prefer to think of it as a guided tour of his day-to-day life, which I only see once a year.

This trip began with Bottle Drop, a subsidiary of the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative, a "member-owned, cooperative corporation in charge of picking up and processing nearly 100% of all containers redeemed in Oregon." I don't understand the business model but that only feeds my fascination. If the system is the same as in New York, the co-op profits from the handling fee paid over-and-above the deposit redemption.

And every trip absolutely must include Grocery Depot, which sells discount salvaged food, some past the 'best-by date.' Alas, I am my father's son so I bought a one liter bottle of Pellegrino sparkling mineral water (best by 07.04.19) for 59 cents, a 2.7 ounce package of Krave Chili Lime "Gourmet Meat Cuts" jerky (best by 07/13/19) for $1.99 and for $1.19, an 80 gram bar of Dagoba organic milk chocolate (best by 06 2019).

agreed, not as interesting as Andreas Gursky's 99 Cent (1999)

Then we were off to Jack's Barber Shop, where Jill is back on the job amidst the taxidermy after her motorcycle accident, followed by Lowe's for shorter bolts to fix the rocking chair. (That's right, Jack and Jill, and before you make some smart-ass comment, let me remind you that she rides a bike and wields a straight-edge razor.)

My stepmother suggested Market of Choice for lunch but it seemed too something (not just expensive) for my Dad, so we ended up instead at Izzy's. Our first meal together when we both received the senior citizen discount! (He asked, not me.)

Dad agreed to a tour of the Linn County Historical Museum but didn't agree with my directions, which is okay—he often tells his GPS that "she" is wrong too. The consolation prize was the Willamette Floodplain National Natural Landmark, "the largest remaining native unplowed example of bottomland interior valley grassland in the North Pacific." (I might have put the same words in a different order.)

there was evidence of a controlled burn

It was my stepmother's birthday so at her request we had supper at Burgerville, an Oregon chain in the mode of In-N-Out Burger or Shake Shack. Before retiring for the night, I had a bottle of Anderson Valley Salted Caramel Bourbon Barrel Aged Porter, a souvenir of Market of Choice.

Friday
Reverting to the outline format in vogue amongst myself since 2017:

Little Wuesten German Foods for breakfast
WinCo, a low-priced, employee-owned chain of supermarkets primarily west of the Continental Divide, plus Texas and Oklahoma
lunch in the Ashwood II Dining Room at Mennonite Village
The Mule (Clint Eastwood, 2018) because it arrived in the mail from Netflix and therefore should be watched, like, now

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry for everything." Me too.

college volleyball: the Linn-Benton Community College Roadrunners over the Mt. Hood Community College Saints in straight sets; 25-20, 25-15, 25-17
nightcap: Ninkasi Brewing Total Domination IPA, from WinCo

Saturday

Melvin flew in from ORD; I flew from PDX to PHX by way of SEA

off the starboard, Mt. Rainier, named for the Mariners' Triple-A affiliate

excellent Octoberfest—who knew?—at Peoria Artisan Brewing
Scottsdale Scorpions 2, Surprise Saguaros 0 at the Peoria Sports Complex because Scottsdale Stadium is being renovated

the first RBI was plated by Phillies prospect Alec Bohm, who would finish second in the AFL batting race (.361/.397/.528) but had a sizzling .435 BA when we saw him

Sunday

Barry Goldwater Memorial, Paradise Valley
Arizona Biltmore Hotel (Albert Chase McArthur, 1929)
Matt's Big Breakfast, Downtown Phoenix
a first: three games at three different stadiums in one day

San Diego Padres 0, Arizona Diamondbacks 1, a walk-off win in the final inning of the season
Mesa Solar Sox 7, Yaquis de Obregón 0; 14 hits for the Sosox, eight for extra bases
Scottsdale Scorpions 17, Cañeros de Los Mochis 0, an even worse mismatch at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick

Citizen Public House for a late supper

Monday

drove Melvin to PHX so he could fly home for Conversations with Nick Cave; he (Melvin, not Nick) wrote later, "The cumulative effect was one of great communal empathy."
five-stop Atlas Obscura circuit

Tom Mix Monument, Florence
Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch, Picacho

it ain't just ostriches: denatured goat with existentially tired face

Corona Satellite Calibration Targets, Casa Grande

X marks the spot, or at least one of the 145 extant targets

The Domes, Casa Grande
Movimiento del Viento, Chandler

"happy hour" at Craft64

Tuesday

chicken breast with Vietnamese sauce and a coconut-lime "pop-out" at Welcome Chicken + Donuts
Mesa Solar Sox 4, Glendale Desert Dogs 0

Nolan Jones, who the Indians drafted out of high school in 2016, showed off his raw power with a three-run bomb in the third

photograph by Thomas Hawk used through Creative Commons license

Three hours until the next game; what to do? The Sun Cities Museum is only open MWF. I was curious to see Yayoi Kusama’s You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies from 2005 (above) but didn't want to pay $18 to see one piece of art. The Mystery Castle is open Thursday-Sunday. The inhabitants of the Phoenix Bat Cave are asleep in the afternoon.

All tours of Tovrea Castle were sold out through the end of the year. The Pioneer Living History Museum, current home of the Flying "V" Cabin, is open Wednesday-Sunday. And the Eisendrath House is open Thursdays and Saturdays. So, instead, I drove through the construction on Loop 101, ate leftover pizza from Craft 64, and got back on the Pima Freeway. Just like that, three hours of my life went away.

hasn't ADOT heard about "induced demand?"

Surprise Saguaros 1, Peoria Javelinas 3

until Nick Banks (Nationals) hit a solo shot in the top of the eighth, I had seen 50 innings of shut-out ball over four days

Wednesday

PHX to JFK to the AirTrain to the A, C, S and Q, which sounds much worse than it was (and a little bit like the Bonus Round on Wheel of Fortune)