Back in State Forty-Eight! Part 1

Sorry for the hiatus from blogging, but as you might have seen on Facebook, we've been busy lately!

Zoe wants to know why these plants are so angry

A quick recap - although we really enjoyed living in Long Beach and absolutely loved being near Dad and Risa, the strain of a hellacious commute (generally, 30 miles in 90 minutes - each way - gotta love the 405!) coupled with a less than accommodating work culture wore Chris down over the past three years, and we decided the best thing for our family was to look elsewhere.  Thankfully, Chris' old firm, W.L. Gore and Associates, was happy to have him return, so it was back to AZ for the Olsen clan!

Over the past six weeks, we've worked with several dozen sets of packers, movers, drivers of various and sundry trucking vehicles, realtors, and the like as we relocated our household from the LBC back to the Phoenix metro area.  We started in early January, when Chris formally accepted the position with Gore, and the planning began in earnest.  Xonex, the relocation company to which we were assigned, found us a fully furnished apartment in northeast Scottsdale, and we planned to move Chris in the weekend on January 26th.  We also met with a few realtors for the Long Beach house during this time period, settling on David Hein, who did a wonderful job shepherding us through the process.

We both took the entire week of the move-out off (well, I took it off from work - someone else was between jobs at the time!); as it turned out, the tickets we'd bought months earlier for Elton John's farewell tour were for that Tuesday evening, so we made the most of what would likely be our last trip to DTLA for quite awhile.

Fancy gin cocktails at the bar inside the Hotel Figueroa -

they made these with dry ice -

it was quite the presentation!

Some in-room art at the Luxe City Center Hotel,

where we stayed.

On our way to dinner, we wandered around the Staples Center;

the concert was held here, and we got a chance to see

the statues of notable LA sports figures

before the crowds descended.

That's Luc Robitalle, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

is in the foreground of the upper shot.

Me with the Great One

As you might imagine, we had a great selection of amazing spots to eat, but we chose The Nest, the lounge area inside Wolfgang Puck's WP24 restaurant, on the 24th floor of the nearby Ritz-Carlton hotel.  The food and drinks were delicious, and the view was great, too.

Ah, the freeway!  Ever present in this city.

After stuffing ourselves silly, it was time for the show!  Captain Fantastic was outstanding, and we had a great time sitting in the cheap seats, hopping and bopping not just to the Crocodile Rock but all of the hits.  Lady Gaga even showed up, but she just sang along from the orchestra pit, not appearing onstage.

Almost showtime!

It's like this concessions stand can read my mind!

Wednesday was mainly a day of getting back to Long Beach (we knew the concert would be over late, so we stayed in DTLA Tuesday night) and ensuring everything was ready to go for Thursday morning, when we'd start our drive to Phoenix. 

Always supervising, this one

We'd stay in a hotel in the Biltmore area for two nights before we checked into the temporary housing, which we took to calling the Bro-partment, after its location in the bro-iest section of the city.  The trip from state to state went fine; we took turns driving, and we even made lunch to bring with us (homemade chicken salad sandwiches), which we ate at a rest area en route. 

All packed up!

It's a bit windy out here!

I'd be flying back to the CA house at the end of the weekend, so while we left a "still recovering from spay surgery" Zoe there with the pet nannies, Snuggles the fish came with us, and he made the trip without issue, despite the naysayers at PetSmart, who believed he'd kick it en route.

Snuggles in his temporary home at the Courtyard Marriott

After a lovely dinner at the Pizzeria Bianco in the Town and Country area (just behind the hotel), we settled in for a restful night, only to find Chris having anything but.  He woke up several times, throwing up and having other...issues...while I slept on.  Early Friday morning, I headed to a nearby grocery store to buy him Saltines and ginger ale, hoping he would rally by the time our amazing Phoenix realtor, Melissa, arrived to take us for a tour of homes we'd seen online.  Unfortunately, that was not to happen; I met Melissa and we started the tour just the two of us, although Chris joined midway through the day.  Although we never 100% figured out what caused his illness (we split all the food we ate throughout the day, and I didn't have any concerns), we think it might have been the family member pictured above.  At the rest area where we stopped for lunch, Chris opened Snuggles' tupperware container, and in doing so, splashed some fish water on his hands.  Thinking nothing of it, he didn't bother to wash his hands with soap and water; instead, he wiped them dry on his jeans and then picked up his half of the sandwich.  Moral of the story: your fish will try to kill you.  Wash your hands, folks.

Anywhoo, after an afternoon of looking at houses, Chris was beat, so we thanked Melissa and then headed back to the hotel for a nap.  He stayed in for the evening, but I was still able to meet our buddies Tara, Ryan, and Luis at Arizona Wilderness Brewing for dinner, and it was awesome to catch up with them; we even set up a recurring running/breakfast meetup for when we'd officially be back in town!

One of the houses we saw on the tour;

an amazing place inside, but that's the freeway in the backyard.

That's gonna be a no for me, dawg.

Sad, broken husband.

He has the fish illness.

Me with Luis, Tara, and Ryan,

having a waaaay better time.

By Saturday morning, Chris was mostly recovered, although he was still moving pretty slowly.  We took in a few nearby open houses, and then we collected the fish, checked out of the hotel, and headed to Scottsdale.

Of course, we were early for the first open house,

so we stopped at a local bakery en route.

Good stuff!

The Scottsdale spire, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

We're not too far away from his AZ home,

Taliesin West, and we're near the intersection

of Scottsdale Road and the street that bears his name,

FLW Drive.

We got all checked into the apartment, which we found suitable for our needs (although your definition of what "fully furnished" is changes considerably from age 25 to age 40 - I was like, yeah, we're going to need our real cutting board and the 10" omelet pan).  After unpacking and settling in a bit, it was time for another friends dinner at yet another brewery!  We're only a few miles away from the Scottsdale location of Four Peaks, and Jake and Keeli met us there for some brews and noms.  Of this, I have no pictures, but trust me that we had a lovely time being able to catch up with them.

Sunday morning dawned, and we woke up in the Bro-partment, made some breakfast, and headed out for yet another morning of open houses before it was time for me to catch my flight back to the LBC.  Along the way, we had a delicious lunch at the downtown Pita Jungle (one of the best parts of being back in town is eating at the spots we missed, like PJ and Cornish Pasty Co) and then some meh beers at Helio Basin Brewing (the brews had promise, but we mainly got the taste of sanitizer from their lines).

ALL HAIL THE HUMMUS!

Cool flight presentation

We also saw the Google Street view car!

The flight back to Long Beach was uneventful, and I made it home, happy to be reunited with this little face:

"Hi, Mom!  Where's Dad?"

In Part 2, we pack up and move the rest of our crap (and the dog and the rest of her crap!) eastward!

Later!

Amy