After ten days visiting my family back East, I’ve returned to Arizona in the middle of our first triple-digit heatwave of the summer. Talk about whiplash! While the weather in Maine was beautiful, it was a tad more humid than I would have expected for early June; my memories of early summer are nearly three decades old now, so it was probably wise for me to have shifted my vacation window from Fall to Summer last year. I’m not sure Sean will appreciate his version of Maine adjusting to this updated reality; in fact, he’d probably argue that as a fictional character in a fictional version of my home state, the weather can be just as nice as it could be.
But where’s the fun in that?
One other downside to visiting after Memorial Day is experiencing first hand the incredibly busy tourist traffic that seems to descend on coastal communities whenever the sun is out. That meant getting around to some of my favorite locations was something of a challenge. L.L. Bean wasn’t on the itinerary this year, but I did manage to sneak in a trip to Congdon’s Doughnuts in Wells. A fixture since the mid-1950s, their handmade delights usually sell out completely before noon, so getting there while there were still items on the menu is always a win.
As is tradition, the next stop was a parking spot at Gooch’s Beach where I could enjoy both the donut and the fresh cup of hot coffee that came with it. The view that morning was extraordinary, and the beach itself rather quiet. I suspect the water temperature hovering in the fifties likely dissuaded anyone from going in, especially without a wetsuit.
Weather moved in shortly after that expedition; Maine is well known for being temperamental in that department, going from sunny skies to dark thunderstorms in the space of just a few minutes. That uncertainty kept me close to my folks for a bit, though it did offer an opportunity to simply sit and enjoy the beauty of a gentle rainfall. We don’t get that very often in Arizona — our rain tends to dump a significant amount on us in mere minutes — so being able to ponder nature at its finest was an incredibly relaxing way to pass the time.
Seafood was a must, of course. I am only partially ashamed to say I snarfed down a fair share of shrimp in a few different forms. Truly fresh seafood is hard to get in Tucson; I’m especially picky, having grown up where something you are being served for dinner was likely caught just a few hours earlier. Prices were just as bad as I remembered, though, mostly due to it being firmly in high season.
All in all, in was a very relaxing visit, one that also included being able to watch my nephew’s graduation from high school. While I had to stream it offsite with other members of my family — space is always at a premium at these things — it was cool to see him transition to his next chapter. It also made me feel very, very, very old, for the ceremony took place in the same gym where I graduated back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I thought the lighter coat of paint was a nice touch, but my understanding was that the bleachers were just as uncomfortable as always. Afterwards, I looked up the staff at my old high school just to see if any of the teachers I had were still there; unsurprisingly, none of the smiling faces were familiar. About the only thing that is the same from my time there is the building, and even that has tripled in size since I last walked those hallways. Everything changes, I guess.
My time to return came far too soon, and before I knew it, I was sitting in the airport in Portland awaiting departure. Having downtime to reset and regroup turned out to be rather valuable, for the trip home wound up being an adventure in its own right. There are very few options for getting from Arizona to Maine, and the ones that do exist tend to require at least one, if not two layovers; in past years, I’ve paid the premium to keep the stops to a minimum, but this year that was nearly impossible to do. Heading home required me to go first through Chicago, then Denver before arriving in Tucson.
The first leg was uneventful, but the moment I took my phone out of airplane mode after we landed at Midway, I had a stream of texts from the airline warning me that weather in Chicago was, essentially, creating havoc. Havoc in my case resulted in being delayed nearly two and a half hours before finally leaving for Denver; since my layover there had originally been a hair under three hours, I was understandably concerned about missing my connection. Kindly fellow passengers let me bolt from the plane shortly after we landed, and in a wild stroke of luck, the gate for my Tucson flight was literally two down from where I came in. Even then, it was a near thing; I had barely minutes to spare before the door closed. I leaned back into my seat, breathed a sigh of relief and settled in for the short flight home.
The relief was short-lived. Once we reached Tucson, massive thunderstorms over and around the airport forced us to circle for nearly an hour; that, apparently, was the limit of how long we could go before refueling, so the pilot headed for Phoenix to tank up and wait out the storms. Those same storms had stirred up a haboob in Phoenix Metro, but thankfully, didn’t interfere with our ability to land.
And there we sat. For almost three full hours. By the time we finally got back into the air to return to Tucson, my “short” flight from Denver had stretched into six hours, start to finish. That was longer — by quite a bit — from the flight to Hawaii my wife and I took twenty years ago. The final challenge wound up being my luggage; that tight connection in Denver? I made my flight, but the suitcase didn’t. We wound being reunited the following day.
Needless to say, it was an exceptionally long day of travel; I had to work the following day, but was incredibly thankful for the three-day weekend right after so I could recover.
Who knew I’d need time off to recover from my time off?
In unrelated news, I’m happy to announce that digital versions of my books will soon be available through e-lending options at public libraries. I’m in the process now of getting everything arranged and ready to go, and will have more information on my next post (hopefully) on how you can request access through your library.
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