August 8 – 21, 2026
Upon my return to Tucson on August 10 after my trip to Phoenix, our stay began in earnest.
As I mentioned, the crux of this trip was my attempt at crossing stadium number 8 off of my Stadium Chase list. After that was complete, I still had two weeks to kill in Tucson.
An Arizona Oasis
Brandy somehow manages to find the most amazing AirBnBs on our travels and this one was no exception.
The listing on the AirBnB website was for a “desert oasis” and that is exactly what we got. We pulled into the driveway of the house at the back of a cul-de-sac. Behind a locked iron gate, the front door was tucked inside a small enclosed courtyard, reached through a long, shaded entry passage beneath heavy timber beams. It foretold a heavily Southwestern-influenced vibe to be found inside.
Sure enough, the house was filled with heavy, wooden, Southwestern-influenced furniture and cabinetry and colorful native-inspired decor peppered throughout the home.
The bathroom was an immersion in blue – blue tiles covered the floor and backsplashes, and the shower was tiled with tiny, iridescent blue tiles. The shower was one of those setups with a stationary head, an optional removable showerhead, and, a first for me, a lower spigot at about waist level that pointed straight down, perfect for washing off your feet, I suppose.
The back yard was modestly terraced – a covered patio with plastic-wicker patio furniture was found right outside the back door, a step down took us to an outdoor dining set where the grill was found, then another step down would take us to a wonderfully landscaped row of potted cacti and xeriscaping.
Off to the left of the covered patio was a walkway that took us past a group of massive, towering saguaro cacti, through a gate and to a large in-ground pool complete with a covered cabana and an outdoor shower. A water feature was nearby too, but we never saw it on.
Overall, the place was well-stocked – a well-appointed kitchen, plenty of dishes, pots, pans and pantry staples that made our stay extremely comfortable.
The Arrival of Melissa and Willie
The day after my re-arrival at the AirBnB, Melissa and Willie showed up and they wound up spending the rest of the week with us.
Brandy and Melissa are colleagues, so they spent most of their time together working. Willie was forced into retirement by health issues so while the three of us, me, Brandy and Melissa, worked, he sat and read. I felt bad that I couldn’t do more to entertain him, but he was understanding.
We planned meals then made a trip to the grocery store then spent the next week eating delicious Mexican street corn dip, carne asada, burgers and more. Melissa and Brandy left to go to the property a couple times but I never left the house, except to take Ash for short walks in the 100°+ Sonoran desert heat or grocery store runs, during the week Melissa and Willie were there.
Woodpeckers and Boars Javelinas
As I sat on the back porch one night, I watched as a woodpecker-type bird alit on one of the massive saguaros in the back yard. I did my proper research and discovered that we were looking at a Gila woodpecker. Apparently, these guys will knock holes into saguaro cacti then, in self-preservation, the cactus will harden the wound creating what’s known as a saguaro boot that the woodpecker will then use as a nest. Once the nest is abandoned by the woodpecker, other species may take over the nest.
One night, Brandy was out at the back fence of the property beyond which opens a small wash before reaching the backside of a business that faces the main road.
She suddenly called out, “There’s wild boars back here!” We all went running to see these wild boars and sure enough, there was a handful of these little fellas chilling in the shade under the creosote bushes in the wash.
Throughout the rest of the trip, they would reappear in the wash, then on the side yard of the property then, I watched as they paraded through the cul-de-sac.
Brandy did further research and discovered that they are actually javelinas, relatives of razorbacks and other wild hogs, but not quite.
Anyway, seeing these guys out and about was interesting to see and I had a great time watching them.
The Outlets
Oh, the Outlets. Leave it to Brandy to find an outlet mall near any place we find ourselves.
Once Melissa and Willie left Saturday morning, Brandy and I cleaned ourselves up and headed out to the outlet mall.
Do I mean the Tucson Premium Outlets, a mere 17 minute drive from the AirBnB?
Of course not, silly. Brandy wanted to go to the Phoenix Premium Outlets, over an hour and a half away.
On our way to the mall, Brandy looked up a store directory and discovered they had a Movado outlet there.
“Do you know what Movado is?”
“Yeah, high-end watches. Ya know, it’s funny, I’ve been wanting to get into watches. Not Movado-level watches, just give me a $100 Citizen and I’m good.”
We arrived at the Phoenix outlet mall just before 1:00. Needless to say, it was already a scorcher, topping out at 105°. Every chance we had to duck into a store for a reprieve from the heat, we took. First stop – the Calvin Klein store.
I’ve never even looked at CK clothes. I never had it in my head that they even made anything in my size. Well, since my recent weight loss, I’ve been able to fit into a lot of brands I never thought I’d fit into. Brands like Ralph Lauren Polo and Nautica.
Now, we can add Calvin Klein to the list. Their 2XLs are still a tad bit snug on me but losing a few more pounds will make them a perfect fit.
At the end of our run through the first store we visited, we were $500+ lighter, and three large bags heavier.
I knew I should have brought the wagon.
We continued on to the next store: the Watch Station. This store stocked some higher-end watches, such as Armani and Coach, but also had more entry-level opportunities, such as Skechers and Fossil. I browsed through these lower-priced options and selected three watches of varying aesthetic and paid a total of just over $120 for all three. Two of the watches also came with beaded bracelets, which is also something I’ve been wanting to try.
We continued on, making many more stops along the way before we found ourselves at the aforementioned Movado store. We walked in and I plopped the massive number of bags I was already carrying in front of the counter right inside the door.
We looked at the watches under the glass case, I spied one that I liked, and the lady pulled it from the case with white, cotton gloves and showed it to me. She handed it to me, pointing out the movement visible through the clear back and spouted off a bunch of technical jargon that I didn’t understand. I asked how much it was and, calculator in hand, told me that the amazingly discounted sale price on this piece was $1,700. A bit out of my price range, by about $1,600. I went to hand the watch back to her and promptly dropped it on the concrete floor right in front of the glass case we were standing in front of.
😶
I’m pretty sure it hit one of the many bags at my feet first, but still, the optics were not great.
I picked it up, handed it back to her, and we quickly moved around the corner where the more budget-friendly options lived.
Moving down the line, we saw a few that we liked before we landed on this one.
Very pretty watch, way out of my league, just like my wife. I asked how much it was and, after discounts, taxes, and the added $75 protection plan, the total was just over $400. Much better than the $1,700 watch we looked at as soon as we walked in, but still, way more than I wanted to pay for a watch.
We finished our rounds through the mall, picking up more bags along the way. By the end of it all, we came away with all this.
We made our way out of the outlet mall and headed back to Tucson, stopping at a nearby Barnes & Noble for a handful of books I’d been eyeing, then before heading back to the AirBnB, we swung through a nearby mobile home park that the owner of Brandy’s company is considering purchasing.
This park was full of amazing mid-century mobile homes. It was very indicative of the retired population that has to be ever-present in the community. The whole park was extremely well kept, and included a large community center where there was a dinner happening as we happened to pull through.
After getting all the info she needed, we headed back home to the AirBnB for the night.
An Amazing Sunset
Two nights later, I took Brandy back to the property for open interviews for some maintenance positions open after the maintenance guys that were there all quit after the transition. They were unhappy with the fact that they were being called out for not doing their jobs properly and decided it wasn’t worth the steady paycheck to be asked to work.
Brandy called for open interviews and I sat and read as one guy showed up in the couple of hours we were there.
After she’d decided that was enough, we headed out and, on advice from ChatGPT, we headed up to Gates Pass Scenic Lookout for sunset. We passed by the mid-century-heavy park we’d toured over the weekend, and kept going up into some low foothills dotted with tall saguaros, finally reaching the lookout at 6:45, just before the scheduled sunset.
The Camera
One thing I failed to mention in my post about our adventures on the Western Slope of Colorado is that on our trip to the Goodwill there in town, I spied a Canon DSLR camera with a changeable lens locked in a cabinet. The tag on the camera priced it at $22. I assumed it didn’t have a battery or SD card with it, and it looked like an older model, but still, a frame and a lens, even a shitty kit lens, for $22? For a first foray into legitimate DSLR photography? Why not? I did a modicum of research to see if it was worth my while, and figured, even if I bought it, and a battery for it, I’d be fifty bucks in so if it wound up not working, it wouldn’t be a terrible loss. I’ve spent more on stupider shit before.
I pulled the trigger, bought the camera, and ordered a couple batteries with a charger and a pair of 32GB SD cards to be delivered to the AirBnB.
The reason I bring this up now is because I wish I’d gotten the accessories prior to our visit to Gates Pass for sunset.
As it was though, I did have my phone and got some halfway decent pictures with it.
And, after I did get the peripherals delivered, I was able to get some pictures before we left Tucson.
Pictures from this leg of the trip can be found in the Photo Diary.
Departure and “The Thing”
We left the AirBnB just before 6:30 Friday morning. We were expecting a 6.5 hour drive to Albuquerque, getting us in to town around 1:00 pm or so, giving me time to get my annual green chile haul, have lunch with Jarrod, then dinner with Alan in our one night in town.
As we appraoched the town of Benson, AZ, I started seeing signs for “The Thing,” a roadsife attraction that simply called to me. I had to stop to see what “The Thing” was.
We pulled into the parking lot around 7:30 am or so and I went in while Brandy waited with Ash in the truck. Turns out, “The Thing” was at the end of a walk through their museum. I decided, “what the hell,” paid the nominal admission fee and almost literally ran through the exhibit. I took plenty of pictures and videos of the “exhibits” (when the first thing you see when you walk in is a statue of an alien riding a velociraptor…
…you know you’re going to be in for a treat.)
Not wanting to keep Brandy and Ash waiting, I snapped pictures of the signs telling the story through the museum. The general gist of it was that aliens had planted dinosaurs on earth eons ago and have been in control of the advancement of civilization ever since.
Or, at least, that’s what I gleaned on my sprint through the museum.
I ran through waiting to see “The Thing” and before you knew it, I went through a door and was back out of the museum. I had evidently passed “the Thing” and didn’t even realize it. I could have run back through the entire museum to find it, but, again, Brandy and Ash were waiting patiently for me so instead, I picked up some snacks and went out to the truck and waited for Brandy to go in and do some shopping of her own.
Pictures from our visit to “The Thing” are where the rest of my pictures are: in my Photo Diary.
We’d burned a half an hour at the stop which meant we should have been pulling in to Albuquerque around 1:30, 2:00 now, right?
So why did Maps tell me our ETA was now 3:00 pm?
Because Arizona does not observe Daylight Saving Time. We changed time zones as soon as we hit New Mexico.
Well, that certainly put a damper on things.
Since I’d missed seeing Jarrod on my last visit to New Mexico, I made the tough decision to cancel my plans with Alan. He was bummed but understanding.
The rest of the drive to the Hilton Garden Inn in Rio Rancho was uneventful. We pulled in right at 3:00, as Maps predicted, checked in, I got Brandy and Ash settled, then Jarrod showed up at about 3:30. We headed out to Wagner Farm for my 40 lb sack of green chile to be roasted, then an additional 10-ish lbs of unroasted peppers in a mix of green and red for… something different.
After we picked up my peppers, we went for dinner at Turtle Mountain Brewing Company then back to the hotel where, after Jarrod left, we had a night’s sleep before continuing on our way.
Paranormal Cirque
We our way to Wichita on Saturday for our next adventure, the Paranormal Cirque by Cirque Italia. We got tickets for the 6:30 show so we had to boogie out of Albuquerque at 6:30 am to ensure we would have enough time to get to Wichita (counting an expected jump in time zones,) check into the hotel, get Ash settled, get freshened up and head to the nearby mall for the show.
We arrived just before 6:00 and headed in to the tent.
It was hot, having topped out at 92° that day. Add the Midwest humidity and the enclosed tent the show was held in, it made for a hot and sweaty affair. In the moment, it was rather uncomfortable, but in hindsight, a hot, sweaty evening in a circus tent in the late summer Midwest makes for the beginning of a terrific horror story. I realized only after the fact that it was actually a vibe.
Before entering the arena-proper, there was a short haunted house attraction type thing. I absolutely wanted to go through it. Brandy was not eager but she did anyway. The entire walk through, I felt her face buried into my back, pushing me to move more quickly. There wasn’t really much in the way of set decoration or theme or anything, but for something that was going to be up for a weekend, that was forgivable.
We exited the halls and made our way through a “graveyard” into the main tent and took our seats at the back of the big ring.
The show was reminiscent of what I imagined a Cirque du Soleil show would be like. High flying acts, including trapeze artists; a motorcycle riding a tight rope, beneath which hung a trapeze bar on two rigid steel rods, with an aerialist performing below; aerial silks; knife throwing; and some comedic bits strewn throughout.
But, the pièce de résistance was when they brought out a true-to-life wheel of death, one of my favorite circus acts. It was a thrill getting to watch it live in person.
Sadly, pictures during the show were not allowed but I was able to get some pictures before and after the show which are… you’ll never guess… that’s right in the Photo Diary!
After the show, we filed out, headed back to the hotel, quickly called it a night and the next day, made the last of our trip home where we stayed for less than a week.
Conclusion
A return trip to the Southwest, a stadium knocked off my Stadium Chase list, getting time with dad, Jarrod and making a new friend (which, in my youth was hard enough, but now, in my 50s, never though was gonna happen,) got my green chile fix and went to a Haunted Circus.
All in all, I would say it was a fuckin’ bangin’ trip!
Brandy has since reported that the company is inching closer to acquiring that mobile home park in Tucson, which, if they do, Brandy has said that we will buy a second home there and ask for free lot rent as a part of her compensation for her job. The thought of this absolutely makes me smile.
We were home for less than a week, giving us just enough time to unpack and repack, this time for Francesca’s inaugural trip, to the Gulf Coast of Florida. Stay tuned for the trip report on that coming soon!
Until then!
-Phil