The beginning of March was a time for us to head to the Southwest. I Chair the jury process for the American Society of Hospital Engineering / Architectural Institute of America Vista Award which is given annual to a Health Care New Construction project, a Renovation project and an Infrastructure project; all of which have displayed teamwork between the Planners, Designers, Contractors and Owners in delivery of the projects. The annual Planning, Design and Construction Conference was being held in Phoenix…in March…so you can understand why Cheri joined me.
Besides some time in the temperate southwest, this trip gave us an opportunity to meet up with Jess and her fiancée PJ (they flew in from Denver), and even more importantly for us to meet PJ’s parents, Larry and Ditas.
We arrived in Phoenix on Friday the 2nd at a time that seemed continentally late for us (with a 2 hour time change…it was 7:30 there), so Jess and PJ picked us up at our hotel and we were off to dinner at a southwestern restaurant. It gave us a chance to visit and catch up.
Saturday, we were up fairly early (the 2 hour difference again) and we used the light-rail system to take us downtown. That way we could scope out the convention center where the conference was being held and then we set off walking around the area for about ninety minutes. It was a beautiful day, obviously low humidity and the temperature was very comfortable.
We did work our way back to the hotel so we could shower and change before heading over to Larry and Ditas’ house for a family gathering. Many of PJ’s cousins and their families live in the area so this was a chance for Cheri and I to meet the larger family.
It seemed that everyone kicked in on the food preparations so we had a wide range of home cooked southwestern fare. The food was all outstanding and we very much enjoyed meeting so much of PJ’s family.
In the top photo are Cheri, myself, Jess, PJ, Ditas, and Larry; then in the lower we added PJ’s sister Veronica, her husband Matt, and their daughter Ana.
Sunday evening just seven of us—Jess, PJ, Larry, Ditas, PJ’s niece Ana, and two of us—went to Lon’s at the Hermosa Inn for dinner. We were able to eat under the stars (and a propane heater for Cheri…it gets cool in the evening in the desert) with some live cowboy music—Shenandoah, Home on the Range, Tumbling Tumbleweeds…you get it—to round out the mood; a wonderful evening to get to know Larry and Ditas even better.
The conference went well from Monday to Wednesday—I presented the awards during the opening plenary session and then had the rest of the time to attend the conference. I heard some very good speakers and presentations and came away with some useful ideas.
We did have one other time on Tuesday for the six of us to get together…and if you can believe it we were eating again. Jess and PJ were flying back to Denver that evening so we all went to a diner that is featured on the Food Network’s Diners, Dives, and Drive-in’s (Chino Banditos...we went once before with Jess on an earlier trip to Phoenix). Another great evening before we all headed our separate ways.
More Adventures…and some weddings to come!
