I’m back from Arizona. My body is still adjusting. While the time difference should only be one hour, Arizona does not observe daylight savings time. Here’s an article that does a decent job of explaining why.

Yesterday I snuck off for a bit to have lunch with my great aunt and uncle. My uncle let me take some photos of his camera room. He’s 93 and has collected 1600 cameras in his lifetime. Many are rare and all are in working condition. He let me take some snapshots of his collection, which I’ll post after I get back home.

Today my brother’s wife was home all day, so I decided to rent a car and reclaim my freedom. I got a pimped out Buick Lucerne. Well, it was as pimped out as a Lucerne can be.

My foot was feeling a lot better, so I decided to drive out to the desert for awhile and hike around with my camera. It was 96 degrees out and the sun was blazing hot. I guess I was the only person crazy enough to be out, because I didn’t see anyone else around and the parking lot was totally empty.

When I stepped out of the car it was really peaceful and quiet, until I heard a rattlesnake in the near distance. Fortunately, it rattled every 10 seconds or so and I could tell it was getting farther away. Honestly, I was hoping to see a rattlesnake, but that didn’t happen, which I guess is a good thing. I kept on with my hike and had a great afternoon.

The flight down was uneventful, but it was the first time (post-iPod) that I haven’t listened to music on a plane. I read 65 pages of a book. Yes, a book!

I used to be an avid reader WAY back in the day when I worked at Waldenbooks, but then the internet, work, and (self-diagnosed) ADD took over.

I really enjoyed reading and it made the flight seem to “fly” by. Okay, bad joke, but what I realized is that reading is a bit meditative. It took me out of my life, thoughts and worries for a couple of hours. I think this could be the key to relaxing and getting back some control over anxiety.

What am I reading? Samaritan by Richard Price, the author of Clockers (one of my favorite books) and writer on The Wire.

Okay, back to my trip. I’ve had three good meals since I’ve been here:

1) An incredible spinach, chicken, avacado, cucumber, tomato, and feta salad with roasted garlic tomato soup at Chopped.

2) Seared lamb loin with fig, pureed chick peas with mint, and steamed arugula with feta at Feast.

3) Today I hit Chuy’s for some chicken tacos and a beer. Simple, tasty, and the perfect meal to eat outside under a hot, setting Arizona sun.

Yikes! My laptop just burned my left thigh. Ouch. No more charging and using it at the same time.

My mom has to go there for business, so I’m tagging along and sharing her hotel room. We travel together really well, so I’m not worried about that. Plus, she gets to stay in swanky hotels that I’d never spring for on my own.

It works out great for both of us. I have my days free to roam around and she has her #1 son to go out with for dinner and drinks in the evening.

The last time I was there with her, which I think was two years ago, I had an incredible time. Other than New York, it’s my favorite (US) city to walk around with a camera. I can’t wait.

Example:

“I just paid 30 American dollars for that CD?! Man, CD’s are shit expensive here!”

The streets of Copenhagen were still pretty busy at 4:30am Saturday night when we were heading home from the bars. When we were walking down to the square to jump in a cab, a couple of nice strangers came up to us and warned of Gypsies up ahead that were doing some razzle dazzle pocket picking.

Thankfully, we avoided the Gypsies and made it home safely by 5am. You’ll never get me, Gypsy!

Every day one of the papers features a new girl on page 9. I’ve heard of this type of thing before, but was pretty shocked to see it as I was flipping through looking at news photos and advertisements.

And when MTV switches over to “Party Mode” you better watch out. The videos get extra awesome. The European versions of rap videos get pretty crazy. I doubt 50 Cent minded having to film this alternate video footage.

I’m super excited to get away from everything for a couple weeks. I’ve been incredibly busy this summer and am getting a little frazzled. This will be a good break for me.