Arizona, Day 4

In the morning, we wanted to get a hike in. Now we had tried to hike the morning before and we could not do it because the parking lot was completely full on Christmas Eve! So again we tried to go to Camelback Mountain. Of course we ended up in a fight over parking and I ended up going alone. As it turned out, that was for the best. Because she would not have had a chance have lasting even ten minutes on that rocky Cholla trail that was so steep.

After 35 minutes, I made it halfway to the top, right around the helipad, which I believe was a little bit over one mile. Maybe if I had another two hours, water, and actual hiking boots, I could have done it. So we did go to Barry Goldwater Park, a tribute site to the US Senator, who nearly photography, electronics, and radio. He seems like he was an interesting man.

After a much needed shower., we went to the Musical Instrument Museum in northeast Phoenix, near Scottsdale. It was a very impressive place, there were galleries for certain musical artists, and certain instruments such as guitars and pipe organs. Then the entire upstairs was different geographic sections, showing the history of music from nearly every country in the world. And within the US and Canada, there were breakdowns of almost every genre from rock to ragtime jazz to polka to bluegrass. I never thought I'd see a wall of accordions from Italy or ukuleles from the Far East, but they were there. Definitely worth the visit, but you'll spend at least 3 hours there.

Then it was time to eat, so we drove south to Old Town Scottsdale and stopped in RA Sushi, where I'd made a reservation. I knew of the place in Chicago, but I'd never dined at one of their locations. Now I'm not a sushi lover, but it seemed like a good option with the limited availability on Christmas Day. 

For a drink, I decided to try the Emperor's margherita, made with the amazing tequila from Casamigos. It had a little Japanese yuzu floating on top as well. Wow! Super smooth, I was proud of myself for only getting one, because I could have drank three of those with no problem.

The highlight of the meal for me was the surf n turf sushi. It had shrimp, asparagus tempura; topped with seared filet mignon, green onions, red bell peppers, fried onions and garlic chips. It had a side of creamy wasabi sauce, which wasn't too spicy. Fantastic!

The shrimp fried rice was really good, I also liked the tunacado, which is seared ahi tuna served with fresh sliced avocado along with a creamy tzataki dipping sauce. And the Gyozu, the seared potstickers, had a nice sear on the outside, which is so key to a good potsticker.

After the meal, it was back to the room where I watched football and then I think crashed on the bed. All the traveling finally caught up with me. I may have finished off the leftover Lou's pizza in the fridge...