We're Not in Jersey Anymore

First two days in Flagstaff:

Day 1

Fell asleep at 1am, woke up at Austin 3:16.  “Cuddled” with my lady and then it was time to take that first step out the door.  We’re about to go and there was no Matt.  I went up to M&M’s room and said good-bye, Matt’s alarm didn’t go off.  He came down as we were about to roll and gave me a hug and wished me all the best.  It felt like it was 4 o’clock on a Sunday in May, not January. It was a humid 51 degrees.  Laura ran me to the mailbox and I dropped off fantasy football checks and we were on our way.  We didn’t get far when the fog rolled in like a bad scary movie.  Visibility was next to zero and there were actually people out on the road.  We took a strange combination of highways to get to the turnpike talking like we had all the time in the world left to spend together, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

We took an earlier exit than I usually take to get to Newark Airport but we found our way.  We found my terminal and the game of drop-off spot Tetris was on.  Laura parked at an awkward angle as she was cut off then we began unloading my bags.  The D-Bag that cut her off had moved and she jumped at the opportunity to adjust her car so she wouldn’t “get in trouble” hahaha. Putting the car in “Park” must’ve activated the waterworks button because they were flowing when she returned to me on the curb.  I unzipped my jacket and wrapped her up inside it just as I’ve done thousands of times over the past 6.5 years.  I saw this day coming for months and I could never think of anything to say.  Things have been extremely difficult on my queen as of late and all I could muster up was, just remember to breathe.  My thinking, no matter how scary things get, just take a breath and you’ll get through it…by me telling her to remember I hoped that she’d think about my words for just a second…hoping that it’d take her mind off of all that trouble her…for just a second.  I followed that up with an “I’ll be home” soon and if she ever needed anything then I could get home in just a few short hours.  We held each other for a little bit, kissed a few last times, and then I never took my eyes off of her until the Giants Blue Corolla S was out of sight. Then, it was business handling time.  I turned around and walked into the airport, by myself, for the first time ever.

I followed the mass of people to a counter marked “baggage check”.  I’ll attribute it to lack of sleep but I was apparently joining a mob of people heading toward international flights.  Whoops, wrong terminal.  I was directed downstairs. Lugging 130lbs of baggage, I manned up and walked the stairs instead of opting the escalator or elevator.  I got to the landing and thought, “shit, where’s my boarding pass?”  I printed it out the day before from home but in my slew of coat pockets, I couldn’t find it.  I checked in at a kiosk and made my way to another “baggage check” counter with a MUCH shorter line than the one for international flights.  I thought it was my lucky day until I discovered it was the line for the “we think we’re hot sh_t” passengers. Damn it not sleeping! I noticed this when I saw a line similar in size to the one I left upstairs and thought, I’m never making this flight! Then I looked like a big dumb idiot getting out of line, sliding bags and ducking under all of those nice ropes.  Luckily, a voice came over the PA saying it was much faster to check your baggage outside with the Sky Cap and I thought “wait a minute, where have I heard that before? Oh yeah! That’s where my dad told me to go in the first place at least twice!” Stupid me not listening again haha. 

The Sky Cap was certainly faster, and I was surprised my duffel was under the 50lb weight limit.  Good thing too because my plane was boarding in just over a half hour. On to security. Given all of the media hype surrounding the TSA lately, I was a little nervous heading to those lines.  Wouldn’t you know it? They were actually very nice, and no they didn’t touch me haha.  I used to make fun of people that brought laptops onto planes, with their special instructions and all, now I was laughing at myself. I used like 3 of those scanner buckets and was asked if I had anything underneath my hoodie. I picked up my shirt to show the TSA screener that I wasn’t packing any heat but he made me take off my shirt anyway. Walked through the metal detector. BEEP BEEP BEEP. Forgot to take out my Droid…DAMN ANGRY BIRDS!  Made it through security, stopped for an iced tea, and then it was on to my gate.

Now I got my plane ticket from my father’s big shot frequent flyer miles.  On my boarding pass there was little memo saying that I was some member of some flying club so naturally I made my way past all of the tired travelers waiting to board when they called members of this group to board.  Unfortunately I was a lower level of this club (In COD terms, I didn’t Prestige yet.) so I wasn’t able to board yet, and once again I had to walk away in front of a group of people.  This other ghetto fab chica was also turned away, with her Juicy Couture bags and Ugg boots, and she decided to explain to me that she was making up her flight that got cancelled from 12/28, I replied yeah that storm was brutal.  She looked at my ticket and said “we’re in the same place”, now funny alert thinking Jeff would’ve replied “the Airport?” but I politely responded with, “oh yeah look at that, row 7” and walked away.  Sorry if she was looking for an opening but that’s a no-fly zone.

Finally started to board the plane and I immediately wished I didn’t pack so much in my carry-on.  I struggled to get that into the overhead compartment, my coat that I was now carrying fell off of my arm and landed on this young woman sitting in the aisle seat.  I later explained it as I was on a safari and I launched a net on some sort of animal I was hunting hahahahahahahahaha.  Made my way into my seat, loved the leg room but I had the window seat and when my seat was in the full upright position, I had to lean my head to the right as the side of the plane was curving toward the top of the plane.  The coolest thing I’ve ever seen on a plane, a personal TV on the wall in front of me with my own remote to control DirecTV.  Three movies were playing, Life As We Know It, Invention of Lying, and the new Harry Potter.  I caught a Christmas episode of The Office, dosed off (actually heard myself snoring) several times during a marathon of Two and a Half Men and I stayed awake for most of Life As We Know It...pretty good for a chick flick.  Katherine Heigl is hot again.  We were about an hour away when it was time for NFL Sunday Countdown, watched that until we landed but it just wasn’t the same without any fantasy football battles hanging in the balance.  Yes I was that guy taking pics outside the plane window.  I couldn’t believe that there were swimming pools open in January.  The runway runs parallel to the US Airways Center and Chase Field; I think that’s where the Phoenix Suns & Arizona Diamondbacks play. 

I texted a few people to let em know I landed, including my new roomie Nick, who was in town from New Year’s Eve and was gonna pick me up and take me to my new home.  We talked almost the entire 2 hour drive but I didn’t want to leave Phoenix.  I took a few pictures but we were mostly wrapped up in what lies ahead of us.  It turns out he had the same exact fears I had concerning what happens next.  Along the trip, I saw multiple wild cattle out in the desert and I think we passed some sort of roadkill mountain cat.  If these things are like squirrels then I definitely never want to leave Phoenix. If you ever take the trip from Phoenix to Flagstaff, pay attention because there’s almost like an invisible wall that separates cactus and desert lands and the snowy pine trees that overtake Flagstaff.  It’s almost like someone was living in Biodome, walked through the desert and into a room of Christmas trees.  Unbelievable.  There were so many people stopping almost right after this imaginary border and taking family photos in front of the snow.  One thing about this trip that I’ll remember the rest of my life was eating at Burger King and there was a massive snow/pine tree covered mountain almost right across the street from our window.

We made it home and I finally got to meet the woman who’d become a great friend to me, Jane.  She gave me a brief tour, explained how I had to walk outside across a patio into a small room to do laundry, showed me where the TV used to be (no TV no more haha), introduced me to my new buddy (her cat Fiona), showed me to my room, and we began talking like we’d known each other forever. I put away the little I had and just melted onto my bed (under my Indy blanket J ) for about 2 hours. Looks like I have to adjust to this 2 hour time difference.  I woke up long enough for a “welcome home spaghetti dinner” with Nick, Jane, & her friend Jim…spaghetti two nights in a row…SCORE!!!  We all talked for a little bit then I returned to my room to fight with the internet, and then worked on my resume until about 12:30am.  My eyes couldn’t stay open anymore.  Good Night Flagstaff.

Day 2

My second day in Flagstaff began the same way the first one ended, in bed at 730am working on my resume.  I finally got it done and sent it out to my friend Claire for review.  She gets paid for this sort of thing.  A couple of my friends suggested writing this blog so I decided I would tackle it, sharing my adventure with everybody I miss back home. Maureen called me at about 930 (AZ time) to inform me that my boxes were en route and should arrive on Friday.  At about 11am, Nick and I set out to scout Northern Arizona University’s campus for our WFR course that starts TOMORROW! While he printed out a campus map, I called the car trucker guys to see what was going with my whip.  The reiterated that the car would be here on the 4^th or 5^th, I implored them to shoot for a drop off time anytime after 5pm as I’d be in school.  They said they’d make a note of it and call me back with a better ETA…still no call.

It’s a good thing we set out on the recon mission because we were more lost than those people that island.  Everything looked the same and it was all snow covered. It doesn’t help that the university is GINORMOUS!  All of our wrong turns eventually led us to the campus bookstore. With only 2 sweatshirts to hold me over until Friday, I scored my first piece of official NAU swag…a bright yellow NAU hoodie.  I also picked up a sweatshirt blanket and an NAU Lumberjacks collar for Indy.  Nick got directions to the building where our NAU class was being held and it was just a short walk away.  When we got to the front door, we blended in with parents observing the campus for an open house, only to break away and give ourselves our own tour.  All I could think to myself was, “damn, this is what a real college looks like.”  There’s a target ON CAMPUS. They had several restaurants and vending areas that reminded me of a mall food court, and tons of hallways to get lost in.   We found the classroom and as fate would have it, it’s right next to the basketball courts and starting tomorrow, I can play there all I want.  We weren’t sure where to park so I contacted the WFR program and figured that out…sort of…then we were on our way to Walmart.

Thank goodness for Walmart gift cards!  I raided that place! I’ve never needed more than 1 shopping cart before but in my defense, I did pick up a desk chair, garbage can, some pillows, and a pop-up hamper.  I accumulated a lot of stuff that I can no way bring home with me so it’s a good thing that in our travels we found two thrift stores around the corner from our house so I’ll be donating some of the “furniture” I picked up to future residents and I plan on getting rid of a lot of these clothes I’m waiting on to show up at my house…because I plan on them all being too big for me when this is over & done with.

After Walmart we headed to the grocery store, Safe Way, equivalent to NJ’s Shop Rite but more expensive…so maybe Wegmon’s. Then this is where I started noticing a few differences.  The two super market chains that I’ve seen, Safe Way & Fry’s, have gas stations at them AND they sell beer and liquor…same thing at Walmart.  I’m gonna have to get used to pumping my own gas.  Along our journey we drove past the Chili’s I was hoping to work at if need be; it’s in a pretty cool location, close to campus and by a bunch of mountains!  After our journey, Nick & I returned home and he made burgers, broccoli, & mashed potatoes and we talked more about our fears heading into the next few months.  One good thing that we talked about…we actually have a WEEK OFF for SPRING BREAK!  March 13^th-March 19^th.  Laura’s birthday is on the 15^th so I’m trying to get her to come out here then.  Maybe fly her into Vegas and hang for a night or two then come up this way for a little bit!  We shall see.

Well I’ve been in my room pretty much the entire time I’ve been here and my friends Jane & Fiona miss me so I’m gonna go say hi and get ready for my…FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL IN OVER 5 YEARS TOMORROW!

Flagstaff Observations:

1.)    It’s colder than Phoenix

2.)    It has more snow than Phoenix but less than NJ, it snows 9 months out of the year here

3.)    I’m only about an hour from the Grand Canyon and I have almost a whole week off between WFR and Park Ranger Training…definitely see a trip in my future.

4.)    Dudes still have ponytails here.

5.)    On a whole, I think the nicest people in the world live in this town….I haven’t met a mean person yet, everybody is so friendly!

6.)    There’s a little bit of a culture difference out here as far as people go.  Pardon my ignorance but the majority of the people I’ve seen so far look like Eskimos.

7.)    I haven’t seen a movie theater around and I don’t think they have traditional malls.

8.)    Mountains are cool.

9.)    Grocery stores that sell liquor & have gas stations are cool.

10.)  I thought the amount of Mexican restaurants in NJ was bad…not even close to what they got out here!