Domo Does the Desert

Happy New Year!

Domo has already taken his first trip of the year ... to Phoenix! In case you aren't familiar with Phoenix, please view this brief video from Fedex/Kinkos.
 

Driving to the Desert

Domo used to live in Arizona and has driven there so many times that he can do it in his sleep. When he found out that he'd need to go to Phoenix with Monika for a tradeshow, he decided they should drive instead of fly. Hey, its only 375 miles!

 

Domo has a new car now (which he'll talk about in a future blog post) which shows an instantaneous MPG and an average MPG for the tank. Domo is moderately obsessed with his fuel efficiency now and can't stop checking the MPG reading. Domo noticed that his MPG dropped significantly when he drove over 80mph (Monika's Dad - please note that *Monika* would never drive 80mph .. this is speedy Domo we're talking about!) In an obsessive compulsive game of saving fuel, Domo kept his speed set at a much lower pace than usual, and the 5 hour trip somehow took 6 1/2 hours Oh well.

Desert Resort

The tradeshow that they were attending was held at the JW Marriott in Phoenix, which oddly enough, was just down the street from Domo's old house. Domo used to drive by the resort everyday on the way to the freeway. Its a small world!
 

Domo Does Camelback

Since Domo got to Phoenix first, set-up the booth, and worked the whole first day as his coworkers came and went, he was allowed to take a late morning on the second day. Domo thought about running along the canals where he used to train for marathons in Phoenix, but instead thought aha! Let's do something different! Domo decided to hike Camelback Mountain for his third time ever.

 

Camelback mountain is prominently located in the center of Phoenix, and has two trails that make their way to the top via a rocky, treacherous path. One path is 1.2 miles and the other is 1.4 miles. The shorter path is steeper, but also has better parking. So guess which one Domo did? Hello! Good parking!

 

Domo did Camelback when he first moved to Arizona in 2002, and again in late 2004. The 2nd time Domo hiked Camelback is actually a special day for him which he will always remember.  On that day in 2004 he decided to train for his first half marathon. (Mostly because his undiagnosed exercise induced asthma had him huffing and puffing and gasping up the mountain, and was the final straw in a string of events that made him realize he needed to make a life change and give up smoking. Yes, Domo used to smoke. Don't judge him. Its what brought him to marathoning!)

 

There are parts of the hike up that are like walking on a path, but there are many more parts that involve climbing up and over rocks. Domo got a good upper and lower body workout this day! At the top of the mountain there is an incredible panoramic view of the greater Phoenix valley. You can see for miles!

 

Its so fun to get up to the top and look around ... but then you realize crap, now I have to climb back DOWN all of those rocks I just crawled up over. Domo has always been more scared on the way down versus up.  Domo was really conservative and reverse-spiderman crawled his way down and did his best not to slip on loose rocks.

 

Visiting Friends

The next night Domo, Monika, and David had plans to meet up with Monika's good friends Jenna and Diane at Diane's house. Interesting fact of the day - all of them are half Swedish! As you can probably tell from their blonde hair. Wait, who invited the brunette to the party?

 

Jenna brought her sweet bay Conner to the party making him the 4th partial Swede in the group!

 

Everyone had a lot of fun and Jenna gave Monika a belated Christmas gift which combined two of her loves into one! Hello Kitty champagne in a sock monkey wine cover? WOW!!! As you might remember from a previous blog post, David's family has a thing with sock monkeys, and for David's last birthday Monika made him a sock monkey from scratch. YES! From scratch! Well, from a kit. More on her blog "The Making of  a Sock Monkey".
 

Everyone had a lot of fun at Diane's house as usual, and before we knew it, it was back to the last day of the tradeshow, and then back to San Diego. Domo never really liked Phoenix when he lived there (okay, he hated it!), but now that he is gone he really misses some of his friends there. Its always nice to go back and spend time with your favorite friends. Domo misses you Jenna and Diane!!