{"id":4722,"date":"2016-02-22T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-02-22T14:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=4722"},"modified":"2016-02-21T16:27:45","modified_gmt":"2016-02-22T00:27:45","slug":"trippin-in-tucson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=4722","title":{"rendered":"TRIPPIN’ IN TUCSON"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"It<\/a>

It pays to live on the west side of town<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

By Suzanne Sparrow Watson<\/p>\n

Tucson is not Phoenix.\u00a0 Ask any long-time Tucsonans about it and they will take\u00a0a certain amount of pride<\/strong> in that statement.\u00a0 Okay, maybe a lot<\/em> of pride.\u00a0 Phoenix – they say – has become Los Angeles.\u00a0 If Phoenix and Scottsdale are the city slickers of the state, Tucson is the proud aging hippie<\/strong>.\u00a0 It is a haven for the “anti” anything sort – big business, big box stores, housing developments and most noticeably, freeways.\u00a0 The city planners have consistently voted down any suggestion of bringing expressways or thoroughfares to cope with increased sprawl.\u00a0 Early on (in the 50’s) they were concerned that improved roadways would only encourage more people to live on the outskirts of town.\u00a0 So what happened?\u00a0 People came anyway<\/strong> for the beautiful scenery and warm climate, moving farther and farther from the town center.\u00a0 Now a drive that would take 10 minutes on an expressway takes 30-40 with seemingly hundreds of red lights.\u00a0 The\u00a0road maps look like they were assembled by Lady Gaga’s costume designer.\u00a0 \u00a0So with perhaps one of the most frustrating cities in which to drive in the United States, what is the attraction?<\/p>\n

\"Dash<\/a>

Dash the Wonder Dog and his hilarious father<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Well, for me, in addition to the beautiful scenery, it is home to some of my favorite relatives.\u00a0 My niece and nephew are there and they and their families are worth every second<\/strong> of waiting at stop lights to see them.\u00a0 As a bonus, this past weekend our daughter Wendy and family met us down there for a relaxing family weekend.\u00a0 I say relaxing because we stayed at the fabulous Westin La Paloma<\/strong> resort.\u00a0 In true Tucson style, the grounds and amenities are some of the best representations of desert landscaping and southwestern architecture in the state.\u00a0 When you enter the lobby you feel as if you have “arrived” somewhere.\u00a0 Huge picture windows provide a view of the magnificent Catalina Mountain<\/strong> range.\u00a0 I can’t be certain of this but I’m guessing that the blood pressure of visiting guests goes down significantly as they enter the hotel.\u00a0 But here is the best part about La Paloma – they welcome dogs!\u00a0 More on that in a bit.<\/p>\n

After checking in, our entire family decided it was time for a nap.\u00a0 To say that we like to relax would be an understatement – give any one of us a comfortable bed and a good book<\/strong> and we’re happy.\u00a0 Westin, of course, is famous for their “Heavenly Beds”<\/strong> and they do not over-promise.\u00a0 If I’m ever bed-ridden I’ve decided that I’m going to check in to a Westin for the duration.\u00a0 Once we all had our beauty sleep we drove over to niece Shelley’s house for a delicious dinner.\u00a0 Her two daughters are 17 and 15 and our grandsons are 15 and 12 and although they haven’t seen each other in years, we soon heard them laughing and having a great time.\u00a0 All four of them are honor students, polite and have great senses of humor so when I am discouraged after seeing pants-dragging, tattooed teenagers<\/strong> and despair for our future, all I have to do is remember that these four are also our future and my faith is restored.<\/p>\n

\"IMG953944\"<\/a> \"IMG953939\"<\/a>Sunday night brought family rivalry night to the fore.\u00a0 As it happened, University of Arizona<\/strong> (our daughter’s alma mater) was playing USC, whence our son-in-law graduated, in a rivalry basketball game.\u00a0 Since they have lived in Southern California for many years they have attended lots of USC events, but Wendy was anxious for the boys to see where she went to school.\u00a0 Fortunately they were able to secure tickets to the game but there was still the matter of sides to be taken<\/strong>.\u00a0 You can see from the pictures they were a family divided for the night.\u00a0\u00a0Jake, wisely understanding who packs his lunch, chose to wear the garb of his mom while Matt stuck with his favorite team.\u00a0 For the record, UofA beat USC so half of the family was happy!<\/p>\n

\"2016-02-14<\/a>

Overlooking the lovely generator<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

But back to La Paloma.\u00a0 The grounds are magnificent in part because it is built on a cliff<\/strong> so there are no roadways near the rooms.\u00a0 In order to reach your room you climb on a golf cart that then winds it way around the trails of the property.\u00a0 It’s surprising how relaxing that is – not to hear car doors slamming or horns honking in the middle of the night.\u00a0 On the other hand, if you leave your iPad in the car it’s not necessarily a simple matter to go retrieve it.\u00a0 So, fair warning\u00a0– if you stay there make sure you have everything out of your car before heading to your room.\u00a0 As mentioned, we especially enjoyed our stay because they allow dogs.\u00a0 Not only do they allow them, they provide a water dish and dog bed<\/strong>.\u00a0 Of course, Dash heard all the chatter about the “Heavenly Bed” so requested his own pillow up with us.\u00a0 As he snuggled into it each night he let out a huge sigh and was out for the night.\u00a0 In the mornings we sat in the lobby with Dash and were approached by\u00a0people, young and old alike, who asked to pet him.\u00a0 Even members of the hotel staff came out to see him and offered dog treats.\u00a0 I thought about charging them an\u00a0amusement fee<\/strong> – after all, they were charging me\u00a0 the “resort fee” for Wi-Fi and use of the pool towel.\u00a0 As I walked Dash around the property I was struck by a sign I encountered (right) suggesting that guests stop, take a photo, and then post it to social media.\u00a0 But as you can see, the “scenic view” was of the side of the conference center and its diesel generator.\u00a0 Call me crazy but if I were running La Paloma I think I’d move that sign to where the real view is.\u00a0 But, hey, for all I know people are really excited by large utility boxes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Now<\/a>

Now THIS is a photo spot!<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

All in all, we had a great time and would highly recommend a stay in Tucson and at La Paloma.\u00a0 One word of warning – do not let your dog sleep on the Heavenly Bed.\u00a0 There’s been no living with\u00a0Dash since he’s experienced the pillows at La Paloma.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Suzanne Sparrow Watson Tucson is not Phoenix.\u00a0 Ask any long-time Tucsonans about it and they will take\u00a0a certain amount of pride in that statement.\u00a0 Okay, maybe a lot of pride.\u00a0 Phoenix – they say – has become Los Angeles.\u00a0 … read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[2066,2067,2069,2068,939,2065,2064],"class_list":["post-4722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-a","tag-arizona-basketball","tag-cataliina-mountains","tag-lady-gaga","tag-tucson","tag-usc-basketball","tag-westin-la-paloma"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/westin-la-paloma-resort.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p31aN0-1ea","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4722"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4742,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4722\/revisions\/4742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}