Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Getting there is 90% of the fun!
This past Sunday, my family and I decided to have some adventure. You see, amongst all the brochure-making I've been doing, job hunting my husband's doing, and guinea pig caretaking my stepson is doing, we're trying to find as much time as possible to explore our new city. My husband and I remember reading an article several months ago in Sunset Magazine about this place, Water Works at Arizona Falls. It is described on the SRP site as "a restored hydroelectric plant and neighborhood gathering place where visitors can learn, interact and reflect. The new Arizona Falls combines art, history, and technology to generate clean electricity from the canal's waterfall."
We only encountered one problem in our quest. We got majorly, completely, totally, embarrassingly lost on our way. It's all part of moving to a new city, right? Now I would completely expect this out of me, and I WAS the one in charge of directions, but usually my husband is pretty quick to discover that we're not where we should be. This time it took him a bit longer. It should have been simple enough. I went to the Web site to get an address so I could Mapquest it. I know Mapquest isn't always the most reliable, but I choose to have faith in it because it's a huge improvement over my nonexistent internal compass. Usually. On the Web site, there is no address for Arizona Falls, which actually makes sense because it's just sort of there in the middle of the road. I guess there could be an address because there is an actual building, but there's not. The site directs visitors to "56th Street and Indian School Road." Good thing Mapquest does that intersection search.
So off we go with our directions that lead us about thirty miles northeast of our apartment. When we get off the freeway, there's MAJOR construction going on. They have a six lane road down to one lane on each side. We have plenty of time to enjoy the scenery as our car inches along. It was one of those "glad we don't live here" kind of places. Let me list the sights for you..."$1 move-in special" apartment building...beat up hot pink SUV parked on the grass...$249 furnished apartment (my husband wondered why I didn't find that deal of a lifetime before selecting our current place of residence)...two men dressed from head to to in black running across the intersection with their pants falling down...unattended case of Bud Light on the staircase of an apartment building...dead grass...dead grass...dead grass...and I won't spoil the rest for you in case you want to take the tour yourself. "How far did you say it is from here?" my husband asked. "Um...(checking my trusty Mapquest printout)...just under a mile." I reported. We finally found Indian School and hung a left. The construction eased-up, which was good, but the neighborhood didn't improve. No big deal. We can make it in the 'hood. So when we finally reach the designated intersection, all that's there is a house with boarded up windows and an old rusty lawn mower sitting in a field of...dead grass. "What intersection did the Web site say?" my husband asked. "It says 56th Avenue and Indian School Road on the Mapquest printout...that must have been what I typed in," I said. "Is that what the SRP Web site said?" he asked. "No, honey (getting testy now), I just typed in some random intersection." "Well it would appear so" he said. Hmm.
"Oh, well, we didn't find it. Let's just go home and go swimming," my stepson chimed in.
I suggested we go to the nearby Walgreens for directions, but first my husband had to check 59th street, in case I flipped the six with the nine, then check out a group of trees that ended up being a ghetto golf course, then drive up and down 56th street, then 59th, then..."Oh dammit can we just go to Walgreens and ASK?!" I said. Hubby whipped the car into the parking lot, and we all went inside. "We're looking for Arizona Falls. Do you know where that is?" we asked the man behind the counter. Blank stare. Good thing we didn't need a smog check, too. "Have you ever heard of it?" "No," he said, and slammed down the phone book in front of us. "Can we just go swimming?" Little B sung repeatedly in the background. While my husband searched the phone book, I called information and got the address and phone number, confirming it was the correct information for "Arizona Falls" three times. I thought the suite number seemed a bit odd. No luck with the phone book, so we get back in the car and just start driving. I call the number information gave me. The recording said "Thank you for calling the Arizona Fall Little League."
"I know!" hubby says. "I seem to remember someone telling me that Phoenix is really easy to get around in because all the avenues are west of downtown and all the streets are east. We went to 56th Avenue. I bet it's on 56th Street and Indian School!" Great! Only 112 blocks away! So we hop on the freeway, and lord only knows how, but my compass of a husband finds the damn place in about twenty minutes and it's in COMPLETELY the opposite direction that Mapquest took us. I think next time I'll just tell him the intersection. Much more reliable than Mapquest. It ended up being in this really nice neighborhood in Scottsdale. Ahhhhhh. Pretty. "Well, at least we got to see a side of Phoenix we never would have seen!" My husband said, cheerily. "Uh-huh," little B said, rolling his eyes.
Arizona Falls was a sight to see. We got to stand under sheets of water, climb the sides of the canal, and stand inside a "water room" with three waterfall walls and seats made of stone from the original dam that was there. It's amazing to think that the falls generate up to 750 kilowatts of electricity, powering 150 homes! And after all that, we're still one happy family. The water must have had a calming, soothing effect on us.
We only encountered one problem in our quest. We got majorly, completely, totally, embarrassingly lost on our way. It's all part of moving to a new city, right? Now I would completely expect this out of me, and I WAS the one in charge of directions, but usually my husband is pretty quick to discover that we're not where we should be. This time it took him a bit longer. It should have been simple enough. I went to the Web site to get an address so I could Mapquest it. I know Mapquest isn't always the most reliable, but I choose to have faith in it because it's a huge improvement over my nonexistent internal compass. Usually. On the Web site, there is no address for Arizona Falls, which actually makes sense because it's just sort of there in the middle of the road. I guess there could be an address because there is an actual building, but there's not. The site directs visitors to "56th Street and Indian School Road." Good thing Mapquest does that intersection search.
So off we go with our directions that lead us about thirty miles northeast of our apartment. When we get off the freeway, there's MAJOR construction going on. They have a six lane road down to one lane on each side. We have plenty of time to enjoy the scenery as our car inches along. It was one of those "glad we don't live here" kind of places. Let me list the sights for you..."$1 move-in special" apartment building...beat up hot pink SUV parked on the grass...$249 furnished apartment (my husband wondered why I didn't find that deal of a lifetime before selecting our current place of residence)...two men dressed from head to to in black running across the intersection with their pants falling down...unattended case of Bud Light on the staircase of an apartment building...dead grass...dead grass...dead grass...and I won't spoil the rest for you in case you want to take the tour yourself. "How far did you say it is from here?" my husband asked. "Um...(checking my trusty Mapquest printout)...just under a mile." I reported. We finally found Indian School and hung a left. The construction eased-up, which was good, but the neighborhood didn't improve. No big deal. We can make it in the 'hood. So when we finally reach the designated intersection, all that's there is a house with boarded up windows and an old rusty lawn mower sitting in a field of...dead grass. "What intersection did the Web site say?" my husband asked. "It says 56th Avenue and Indian School Road on the Mapquest printout...that must have been what I typed in," I said. "Is that what the SRP Web site said?" he asked. "No, honey (getting testy now), I just typed in some random intersection." "Well it would appear so" he said. Hmm.
"Oh, well, we didn't find it. Let's just go home and go swimming," my stepson chimed in.
I suggested we go to the nearby Walgreens for directions, but first my husband had to check 59th street, in case I flipped the six with the nine, then check out a group of trees that ended up being a ghetto golf course, then drive up and down 56th street, then 59th, then..."Oh dammit can we just go to Walgreens and ASK?!" I said. Hubby whipped the car into the parking lot, and we all went inside. "We're looking for Arizona Falls. Do you know where that is?" we asked the man behind the counter. Blank stare. Good thing we didn't need a smog check, too. "Have you ever heard of it?" "No," he said, and slammed down the phone book in front of us. "Can we just go swimming?" Little B sung repeatedly in the background. While my husband searched the phone book, I called information and got the address and phone number, confirming it was the correct information for "Arizona Falls" three times. I thought the suite number seemed a bit odd. No luck with the phone book, so we get back in the car and just start driving. I call the number information gave me. The recording said "Thank you for calling the Arizona Fall Little League."
"I know!" hubby says. "I seem to remember someone telling me that Phoenix is really easy to get around in because all the avenues are west of downtown and all the streets are east. We went to 56th Avenue. I bet it's on 56th Street and Indian School!" Great! Only 112 blocks away! So we hop on the freeway, and lord only knows how, but my compass of a husband finds the damn place in about twenty minutes and it's in COMPLETELY the opposite direction that Mapquest took us. I think next time I'll just tell him the intersection. Much more reliable than Mapquest. It ended up being in this really nice neighborhood in Scottsdale. Ahhhhhh. Pretty. "Well, at least we got to see a side of Phoenix we never would have seen!" My husband said, cheerily. "Uh-huh," little B said, rolling his eyes.
Arizona Falls was a sight to see. We got to stand under sheets of water, climb the sides of the canal, and stand inside a "water room" with three waterfall walls and seats made of stone from the original dam that was there. It's amazing to think that the falls generate up to 750 kilowatts of electricity, powering 150 homes! And after all that, we're still one happy family. The water must have had a calming, soothing effect on us.
# posted by Kristen–well minded @ 6:28 AM 
