Light Rail is finally here!!!

So the METRO Light Rail is finally open!  I arrived at the 19th Avenue/Montebello station around 1:00 this afternoon and encountered a massive crowd of thousands and thousands who were there to see the wonder of the Light Rail....  I waited in line for about 2 1/2 hours for my ride...    

The new light rail route is 20 miles long, took 12 years of planning, 5 years of construction, and cost $1,400,000,000  (that's 1.4 Billion dollars).  But it has definitely all been worth it if the reactions of the crowds were any indication...

As you can see, the light rail is as popular as any ride at Cedar Point (I spent 2 1/2 hours in this line... this photo only reveals a small part of this massive line)

And the new light rail trains are still shiny...  Wouldn't that train look great in any city?

Crowds of onlookers standing on the platform at Mill Avenue in Tempe watched as the fireworks exploded overhead at dusk to celebrate a successful first-day launch of the light rail network...

It's official...

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and Joyous Kwanzaa everyone!  Or perhaps I should just say happy Christmahanukwanzakah to you!   

So I officially closed on the house this afternoon.  We were able to get everything signed in less than 45 minutes. and when all is said and done I will be enjoying my new home for more than $300 a month less than what my rent here at San Lagos is... (and this is including home insurance and property tax!)  I was able to lock in my interest rate at 5.00% and will get the keys and start moving on Monday the 29th of December.  So now I have five days to get packing and thus far I have packed one box of stuff...  But five days should be plenty of time... right???

Glendale Glitters

On Saturday night Jenna and I went downtown to Glendale Glitters  (check out the link).  It is the kick-off to the Christmas season here in Glendale.  The city decorates the downtown in over 1.5 million Christmas lights and has live entertainment, food, and all sorts of other activities.  It is similar to the Toledo Zoo's Lights Before Christmas but free-of-charge, without the animals, and a lot warmer.  The temperatures were in the mid-to-low 60's on Saturday night when we went.  It is a huge event in Glendale that draws hundreds of thousands of people downtown.  As always, I had my trusty camera with me and snapped a few photos of the festivities.  

First, I decided to avoid trying to drive and park downtown and take the free shuttle busses.  This was the line at Glendale Community College as we were waiting to board the shuttle busses to take us downtown.  Surprisingly, there were enough shuttle busses running that we only had to wait about 5 minutes to get on a bus:

And once we made it downtown we were instantly greeted with the spectacle of lights:

We were able to make it to the upper levels of the municipal building to get a birds-eye view of the live entertainment and the crowds gathered below to watch in the downtown amphitheater.  The mini-Mickey mouses were performing a Christmas song on stage in this photo (I think...):

So what do you decorate in the desert for Christmas?  Why a palm tree of course!  I think it looks quite nice :-)

On the road again...

So here a a few of the random sights from my drive up to the Grand Canyon on Wednesday.  There is absolutely nothing in the hour drive between Flagstaff and the canyon... and I do mean nothing... although this was the first time I had driven on a two lane road with a 65 MPH speed limit... and it still was not fast enough.

We were the only human beings in sight... So we kept driving...

... And driving...

... And driving as we were heading back south towards Flagstaff.  Here we were on US 180 just before we had to drive through the San Francisco Peaks...  Still no people to be found...

Overall it is about 90 Minutes from the valley to Flagstaff and then another hour from Flagstaff to the canyon... and then back again...  not too bad of a drive all things considered.  

Earth's Biggest Ditch

So on the day before Thanksgiving I was able to finally go see the Grand Canyon.  My friend Jenna and I undertook the 2 1/2 hour drive through nonstop rain (yes, it actually rained everywhere in Arizona for 2 days straight) to get to the Grand Canyon National Park.  We spent about 3 hours driving around the south rim and stopping off at various overlook points to get the pictures.  It was quite cold (about 40 degrees, which for us is now considered freezing) and very cloudy throughout the trip but we still managed to have a good visit and see some breathtaking scenery.

Here is the required "me in front of the Grand Canyon with British tourists behind me" picture:

In the middle of this picture you can see the Colorado River which continues to carve out the Grand Canyon to this day...

And finally, this picture was my favorite of the trip.  I took this at an overlook west of Grand Canyon Village with the sun peeking out through the clouds to highlight a small part of the canyon. It is now the new background image on my MacBook laptop.

More potential home pictures...

Ok, so I thought I would post some of the views from the inside....

Heres the inside of the foyer...

And then if you would turn to the right you would be looking at the living room...

And then if you turn around you'll see the dining room and the garage to the left and the kitchen to the right and the stairs straight ahead...

Here's the kitchen from the dining room...

Here's looking up at the stairs... waaaay up....

Could this be the one???

So I have been home browsing all over the valley for the last few months and I think I have finally found "the one."  It is a beautiful, brand new, 1500 square foot, 2 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom home with a huge 2 car garage and a lot of fantastic curb appeal...

I will definitely keep y'all up-to-date as I go through the home buying process here....

My favorite view...

So here's one more beautiful waterside view...  If you look closely you might be able to see the ducks in the background...

Pompadour and Bear

So I was finally able to capture some pictures of the two most elusive ducks here at San Lagos, Pompadour (he has the plume on the back of his head) and Bear (the black duck who always stands up tall to intimidate the other ducks like a bear on his hind legs) 

Dinner with a waterside view

So here is a quick glimpse of the views from my dining room with a nice view of the lagoon that is outside my apartment (about 12-15 feet away)...

And just for mother dearest here is a picture of my master bath.... is it really that interesting???

Is he the father???

So Elizabeth has another duck companion... I wonder if he could be the elusive, mystery father...

They grow up so fast...

So Elizabeth and her ducklings stopped by the apartment this afternoon when I came home from school.  But her ducklings are twice as big as the last time I saw them!

And look!  Piper wanted to see what was happening outside too...  Hi Piper!

The Office

No, it's not the hit NBC television series... It's my home office.  A certain someone has been begging me to post some pictures of what my office looks like (::cough cough:: Mother) so he is my office in all of its glory...

Snowy's friend comes over to play..

So my neighbors have a cat of their own... Her name is Piper and she just loves to come over and have play-dates with Snowy.  Here is Piper playing hide-and-seek with Snowy in the living room:

And just look at how excited Snowy is to have Piper over to visit...

So my neighbors will be traveling back east for the next week to get married and Snowy will have her first sleep-over party with Piper while they are gone...  Snowy has been looking forward to this all week!

Sunset in the high country

On the drive back from Flagstaff last weekend I stopped by the scenic overlook off of I-17 and was able to capture some of the fantastic views of the sun setting over the high country  at this point the elevation is around 6000 feet (and it is 6000 feet downhill from Flagstaff back to Glendale).  Who knew Arizona could be such a beautiful state???