canyonwalker | Entries tagged with pool life

I woke up this morning aching all over. Actually, I tossed and turned from sometime in the middle of the night, achy in various places. It wasn't surprising since I got my Covid-19 booster shot yesterday. And a flu shot, too. But the Covid booster has pretty much always left me feeling achy and tired the next day.

I finally dragged myself out to the hot tub for a soak this morning. I say finally because I've been telling myself, "A soak in the hot tub tonight would feel really nice" all week. But then I've felt tired and lazy and have just laid around the house instead of going out. Today I decided Just Do It after despite the body aches. Actually it was because of the body aches I went. I hoped the soak would help! Alas it did not. I was still achy after.

In a way, being tired and lethargic this morning helped me match Hawk's energy level. She's still healing from her surgery two weeks ago. She also recently adjusted her pain medication because the previous regimen she was on left her with a lot of residual pain and caused nausea. By increasing one med and decreasing another, she's now reduced the pain and gotten rid of the nausea— hooray! But she's traded one side effect for another, in that now she's more tired out. After she almost face-planted in her hash browns at Denny's the other night, last night she almost face-planted in her bowl of chicken tortilla soup at a favorite Mexican restaurant.

Update: Although painkillers didn't do anything for my body aches the aches kind of wore off on their own after lunch. Hawk and I then went shopping at Costco. It was a lot of walking for her, on crutches— about a mile! She's tired after that though not sleepy tired. She's spent the afternoon crafting downstairs while I've vegged with my computer.

I've been "caving" recently. As in, hiding in my cave. Oh, there are outward signs of life. I show up to work, I'm cheery at work, I've gone out for lunch most days this past week. But inside I've felt dead. I haven't wanted to do anything. For example, I haven't even been able to get myself out to the hot tub to enjoy a soak. Oh, I still still make forward plans for it. "I'd like to use the hot tub after dinner tonight," I tell myself. Then when 8pm or 9pm comes around I decide I'm just as relaxed lying on the floor in the house and would rather not change into swim trunks and go outside.

Things have looked up a bit this past week. I got back on the cadence of blogging. I had 7 "skip days" earlier this month, days when I didn't write to my journal. I think the last time I had that many skip days in a month was 10 years ago. But now I've been writing daily for a week-plus, including some days where I've posted twice. Small steps forward.

And this weekend I finally mustered the will to go out to the hot tub! I was going to do it Saturday morning but then the I-don't-wannas hit... but then I did it Sunday morning.

And Sunday afternoon I did a legit, major chore by dealing with the clothes washer. And good news after my check-it-out and clean-it-up efforts: it's not broken!

This morning I wrote about the changing seasons. While changes such as wearing pants (instead of shorts), the rainy season starting, and the weather turning cool enough to need the heater at home are indicators that fall has arrived, fall here does not mean they happen every day. That's winter! And since it's just fall it turned out I didn't wear pants today. It was warm enough that I wore shorts and was comfortable.

Also, when I went out to the hot tub this morning it was already somewhat warm and... not gloomy.

Visiting the hot tub in the morning on a... not actually chilly October morning (Oct 2025)

Visiting the hot tub in the morning on a... not actually chilly October morning (Oct 2025)

The air temperature might have been only 66° F (19° C) but it felt warm with the sun shining. Yes, the sun was shining by not long after 11am. That's a change from most of this past week, when the sky remained gloomy into the afternoon. The overcast was part of why temperatures remained pants-appropriate. But today it warmed up to 73°. It almost felt like summer... especially after a cool summer this year in the region.

After a late-morning soak in the hot tub I went out for lunch, did some food shopping, and then came home and frittered— much as I expected I would today. But then around 5pm an Amazon delivery arrived. It included a pair of free-standing shelves we ordered to sub in for our pantry while our pantry is cleared out due to a plumbing leak.

Yes, that leak started 8 week ago now. We've left most of our pantry foods stacked up on our dining room table since then. But now we need to clear the table (and other surfaces in the dining room) because Hawk needs the space for nesting while she recovers from foot surgery that's scheduled at the end of this week.

Putting the shelves together was a fun bit of productivity. Now our dining table is mostly cleared off. That's the first step toward building a nesting spot in the dining room. It'll be similar to the last time Hawk build a nesting spot in the dining room... but this time slightly more organized with temporary furniture she can sit up on.

I noted ten days ago that the observed season of autumn had started. ...The observation being, "Hey, it's raining!" 🤣 Other observations I use to mark the start of fall and winter include "It's cool enough to turn the heat on in the house" and "It's cool enough that I prefer to wear trousers instead of shorts during the day." We're on the cusp of those markers now.

Yesterday evening I changed into pants to go out to dinner... not because I felt I needed to for fashion's sake but because I wanted to for comfort's sake in the cooling evening weather. Though as long as I was wearing pants for weather I classed it up to be fashionable by wearing a natty sport coat with an artfully folded pocket square.

Overnight it got cool enough outside that the temperature downstairs in our house was a brisk 66° (19° C) when I got up this morning. Up in the bedroom is was warmer, at about 68°. I hadn't actually felt cold overnight even though all I slept with was a light sheet and I'd left the bedroom balcony door open a few inches. Maybe chalk that up to reading articles recently that the ideal temperature for sleep is cooler than most people think. at 64-68°. (I'm glad my autonomous nervous system read those articles, too. 🤣)

Enjoying the hot tub on a cool fall morning (Oct 2025)

Enjoying the hot tub on a cool fall morning (Oct 2025)

As I got up and started puttering around the house with my normal breakfast routine it occurred to me that a soak in the hot tub would be a great way to shrug off the slight chill of the morning. I pulled on a light jacket for the walk out to the pool area. The jacket turned out not to be necessary as the air didn't feel that cold. Despite it being only about 62° the sun shine and lack of breeze made it feel warmer.

And once I got into the hot tub... well, all the thoughts of chilliness went away. Daaang, that water felt hot this morning! It was so hot it was bracing at first. Any weather is pool weather when the water's 103°!

Phoenix Getaway travelog #14
Retrospective

Our relaxing weekend in Phoenix last week Saturday through Tuesday was enjoyable. We didn't get out for the hiking we'd originally intended. Hawk's broken less than a week earlier put the kibosh on that. But just taking it easy at the resorts with the splashy pools for 3-4 days was more fun that I thought. Here's the sad thing, though. For one of those splashy resorts, an old favorite, our visit there last week may have been our last hurrah with them, forever.

The Hilton Resort at the Peak has been going downhill for several years. We've noticed the compounding effects of deferred maintenance on return visits year after year. The facilities have all been getting older and parts of them haven't been kept up. For example, I haven't seen the swim-up pool bars open in several years. And the rot on their window frames shows management has simply let them go. This trip the hot tubs were broken, too. One's heater was busted, the other's jets were busted.

One of the hotel's two wings was closed on this visit. I knew that when I booked our stay several weeks ago as the rooms in that wing were all marked unavailable. Hooray for renovations, right? The place would certainly benefit from an update. And once that wing is open— which might be within a few weeks— they're closing down the other wing, the one we stayed in, for renovations. I allowed a certain about of forbearance on things like the busted hot tubs and the long-closed pool bar, figuring they'll fix those in the imminent renovation.

The renovation had drawbacks, though. Perhaps because they only have half the rooms to rent, or perhaps because the reno— or the property's declining state— is scaring guests away, they had shorter hours on various things in the water park. "We can't afford the staff right now," one manager told me. I repeated that phrase to another manager when we checked out on Tuesday. "If you can't afford to staff the facilities, I don't like that I was asked to pay full price for them."

To his credit, the manager I spoke to at checkout acknowledged the problem and gave us a discount on the bill. I was ready for them to put up a fight about that and had prepared my arguments, but the manager offered the discount immediately. His quick agreement told me he gets such complaints a lot.

With the good service recovery I would be willing to try the hotel again once renovations are complete. As I was discussing the plan of those renovations with the manager, though, it became unclear whether we'll want to stay at the renovated hotel.

It sounds like the owners are trying to push the property more upscale, with fewer splashy pool and more posh event spaces, like for weddings and company sales meetings. The property moving a bit upscale per se wouldn't bother us; especially as it's become rough around the edges in so many places through deferred maintenance. But we like the splashy pools! Nicer rooms with fewer pools is not a tradeoff we'd appreciate. And it looks like the rates will being going up, too. Fewer pools and substantially higher prices is definitely not a combo we'd return for.

So it seems like the Hilton Phoenix Resort might have to drop off our list of places to return to every year or two. That's sad because we've been going for over 12 years now! At least there's another splashy-pools resort in Phoenix we've found. It's actually got a slightly better water park... though it's always more expensive. This trip, for example, it would've cost us $150/night more to stay there than the Hilton. I'm not sure if that's worth it.

Phoenix Getaway travelog #12
Now at PHX airport · Tue, 23 Sep 2025. 1:30pm

We're at the airport now, chilling before our flight home in 2 hours, but before coming here we did enjoy a last hurrah at the resort this morning.

We got up early this morning, around my usual weekday 6:45am alarm. Aren't we supposed to sleep in on vacation? Well, yes and no. When the sun's up early and sets early it makes sense to make good use of daylight. And it's not like we were up late last night anyway. We tried using the resort's hot tubs after dinner but both were broken. One had no heat, the other had no jets. So after a short soak we returned to our room for the evening.

Breakfast at the Cafe

Since we were up early today we opted to sit for breakfast in the hotel's small restaurant. The past few days we've contented ourselves with eating protein bars in the room so today we decided to splurge a bit. Plus, one of my elite benefits here at the Hilton hotel is a $30/day food credit. Yesterday we used the credit toward our lunch at the pool cafe. Today we figured we wouldn't stay late enough for lunch so we used it toward breakfast. Not that it covers breakfast. $15 each doesn't even get the job halfway done when breakfast plates are around $20 apiece, plus $5 for a juice or soda, plus tax and tip. But it changes the cost calculus enough that we enjoyed dining out instead of eating protein bars in the room.

Quiet Morning in the Water Park

After breakfast we returned to the room, relaxed a bit, and changed into our swimsuits to hit the lazy river just after its 9am opening time.

The water park at the hotel isn't very busy on a Tuesday morning (Sep 2025)

The water park at the hotel isn't very busy on a Tuesday morning (Sep 2025)

Yesterday was pretty quiet at the water park. Today seemed even quieter. Even though this is a great time of year for #PoolLife in Phoenix— the weather is hot but not too hot— the resort hasn't been too busy. I figure that's because school's back in session, so families aren't taking trips outside of the weekend. And even on the weekends they're buying fewer day-passes as kids are busy with sports and other activities on the weekends. And that was all part of my plan for why to make this trip now. We balance great summer-y weather— even though today's high of 100° is crisp Fall weather by Phoenix standards 🤣— with less crowding.

We spent a few hours at the river ranch this morning, alternating between floating around the lazy river and relaxing on lounge chairs in the shade. Come 11:30 or so we decided to call it a day... er, morning... and headed back to our room. I'd arranged a late checkout of 1pm so we could shower, change, and pack our bags after using the pool.

Making Time to Shower and Change

The late checkout wasn't strictly necessary. The hotel is fine with guests staying in the water park all day after the normal 11am checkout. We've taken advantage of that policy several times in the past... packing our bags in the morning, stowing them in the car, staying in the pool area until sometime mid-afternoon, and changing in one of the bathrooms when it's time to leave for the airport. But having a room to go back to is more civilized, and today the timing made sense for that. Plus, taking a shower in our private room instead of changing quickly in a public bathroom has made me feel a lot more refreshed.

Little Charge for Charging

Like I said at the top, we're chilling at the airport now. Oh, returning out rental car involved a bit of... weirdness. Remember I maligned renting an EV because figuring out charging without an annual subscription is a pain in the ass. And expensive. Well, I decided to simplify the conundrum of "a pain in the ass and expensive" down to just expensive and return the car with 60% charge to the rental depot and pay whatever ridiculous marked-up rate they charge for electrons. Y'know, like how they charge you $6/gallon for gas if you return the car less than full.

I noted the less-than-full battery to the attendant processing car returns and asked about the cost.

"It's only 12 cents," he said with a chuckle. "We'll email you a receipt."

"12 cents per kilowatt hour," I responded, "That's great. Without a membership the commercial recharging stations are charging 48 cents on up."

Except I'd misunderstood him. The rate wasn't 12 cents per kilowatt hour— which I estimate would've come out to $4 or $5 total to top off the battery. I checked the emailed receipt just now on my computer, and it shows 12 cents, total, for the electro-fillup. Bonus!

Phoenix Getaway travelog #11
Hilton Resort · Mon, 22 Sep 2025. 6:30pm

Being out in the sun and the heat (high in the 90s today) at the pool takes a lot out of us. Even if we're mostly lounging on lounge chairs and floating in the lazy river. Oh, and riding the water slide after lunch. We did the lazy river and the lounge chairs for another few hours and then went back to our room for a while. We were tired! But also, Hawk wanted to go shopping. 🤣

After some shopping, which started with a gem shop but then extended to visiting the hoity-toity AJ's supermarket to buy sushi for dinner, we were hungry. We started eating our take-home dinner even though it was before 5. But then we started to wonder, "Is this it? Are we 'done' for the day?" I pressed for No, we're not! We put down our sushi after eating lightly, put back on our swimsuits, and headed out for a late-afternoon round at the pool at 5:15.

Late afternoon ride in the lazy river at the Hilton Phoenix Resort (Sep 2025)

Late afternoon ride in the lazy river at the Hilton Phoenix Resort (Sep 2025)

After 5 the sun's already starting to set in Phoenix. Remember, Arizona doesn't do Daylight Saving Time. And since today's the autumnal equinox, sunset is around 6pm. But we decided to make the most of the last 45 minutes of daylight at the waterpark.

Late afternoon ride in the lazy river at the Hilton Phoenix Resort (Sep 2025)

And by "make the most" I mean we floated loops around the lazy river until closing.

Late afternoon ride in the lazy river at the Hilton Phoenix Resort (Sep 2025)

We did our now-usual tandem arrangement. Hawk grabbed a double float so she could protect her foot (the one with a broken toe) in it, while I said in a single raft behind her and hooked on. Occasionally I switched positions between sitting up (as above) and floating on my belly (as below).

Late afternoon ride in the lazy river at the Hilton Phoenix Resort (Sep 2025)

Just before 6 the staff started doing rounds telling everybody it's time to get out of the pool. That was when I realized I'd lost my refillable water bottle. ...The one that, this time, I had refilled with white wine. 😆 Yeah, it was fun floating around in the late afternoon shade with two glasses worth of wine in my belly.

It was also kind of fun going looking for the refillable bottle. I put up my raft and went walking through the lazy river. Doing a swift, even in the direction of the slow current, is quite a cardio workout! I walked a full lap around the river and caught up to my bottle just as it was reaching the pull-out point. I could've just stood there for a few minutes and caught it! But hey, the cardio was a good way to cap off the day.

Phoenix Getaway travelog #10
Hilton Resort · Mon, 22 Sep 2025. 1pm

We got off to a slow morning this morning at the hotel's water park. First the sky was overcast and the air was cool (for Phoenix) so we sat in lounge chairs on the deck. Then we grabbed our inner tubes and took several spins in the lazy river. Then we walked over to the cafe for lunch. Now it's afternoon and it's starting to get HOT. I decided to kick off the afternoon by taking several rides down the water slide.

Watch on YouTube

In visits to waterparks in past years I tried make videos like this while carrying my iPhone in a waterproof plastic bag. Let me tell you, that never worked out. Video and stills were always blurry and fogg. Plus, plastic bags interfere with the capacitive touch screen controls, so often your phone won't start recording or something else will be wrong. This time I raw-dogged it. And the videos I captured are fantastic!

I mentioned in a previous blog that iPhones are water resistant. Not water-proof but water resistant[1]. I discovered one of the limitations after posting that blog. Later that evening I tried charging my iPhone— the battery had run down with me using it so much in the lazy river!— and the phone popped up a warning, Water detected in USB-C port. It refused to charge. It still worked; it just wouldn't charge or connect through a data cable. After I let it dry out, which took a few hours, it accepted connecting via USB-C cable again. Thus today I made sure my phone was well charged before getting it soaked on this water slide. 😅

_____

[1] Technically the iPhone 16 has an IP68 water resistance rating and can be submerged up to 6 meters under water for up to 30 minutes. Ratings vary by model, and damage to the case or buttons can compromise their seals leading to quicker water damage. Do your own research before taking your phone into the water

Phoenix Getaway travelog #9
Hilton Resort · Mon, 22 Sep 2025. 11am

Last night at this evening we've been taking it easy. ...Which has 100% been our plan, because we're on a taking-it-easy short vacation!

Last night we went out for dinner after we were done for the day with floating around the resort's lazy river. We found a pizza place we agreed on and split a pizza there. Afterwards Hawk announced that she'd like to visit a grocery store to buy some dessert (for back in the room) and possibly breakfast for the morning. We found a nearby branch of A.J.'s— the bougie grocery store we bought take-home dinner from last night— and went there. On the way we passed approximately 351 other pizza restaurants. Yes, I counted. Though I may be off by a few. 🤣

When we got back to the room we dug into our desserts right away. Mine was a delicious chocolate ganache cheesecake... and I'm glad to say I only ate half of it. (The other half's for tomorrow night!) We just vegged on the sofa for the rest of the evening. We forgot all about our plans to use the hot tub together and just went to bed a bit after 9pm. OMG we're getting old! 😆

This morning we slept in a bit. The weather was kind of crummy— for Phoenix. It was cloudy and only 80° out! But still we changed into our swimsuits and headed over to the River Ranch in time for its 9am opening.

Taking it easy at the Hilton resort in Phoenix (Sep 2025)

Taking it easy at the Hilton resort in Phoenix (Sep 2025)

We decided to wait out the dodgy weather by curling up on a pair of chaise lounges. 80° isn't exactly let's-jump-in-the-water weather but it is comfortable sitting on a lounge chair weather. We passed the time reading on our phones and chatting about things. And within an hour or so the sun came out. So we grabbed our inflatable rafts and went for a spin.

Now it's 11:00 and we're kind of hungry. That's not surprising as breakfast, at least for me, was a protein bar in the room this morning. We'll head over to the poolside cafe in a few minutes to place an order. If it's a long wait I may even ride the pool slide a few times while waiting for our food.

Phoenix Getaway travelog #7
Hilton Resort · Sun, 21 Sep 2025. 3pm

I mentioned in my previous blog that we didn't spend more time at the pools at the Scottsdale Resort because we had other plans. As nice as that hotel was with the upgrade they gave us our plan had only been to stay there one night. Tonight and tomorrow night we're at the Hilton Resort at the Peak, one of our favorite "splashy pools" places in Phoenix.

Before splash down, though, we had a few other things to do. We grabbed some lunch on the drive over and also shopped at two jewelry stores. One in Scottsdale was pricey, but Hawk bargained them down for a few thunderbird pieces by knowing what pieces are worth and offering to pay in cash. The other store, in an industrial complex near the airport, had been Hawk's bonanza in the past but since our last visit they've raised their prices significantly. You win some, you lose some.

Then it was time to hit the Hilton!

Floating around the lazy river together at the Hilton Resort at the Peak in Phoenix (Sep 2025)

Floating around the lazy river together at the Hilton Resort at the Peak in Phoenix (Sep 2025)

Once settled in our room we changed into our swimsuits, packed a day-bag, and made a beeline for the pool area. Well, not exactly a beeline; there was some construction we had to go around. But if there's a type of bee that won't fly over or through fences, we were that type of bee. 🤣

The photo above shows us floating around the lazy river together. Hawk's in a dual tube because it allows her to keep her foot— the one with the broken toe— elevated. I'm in a tube behind her. That's my other hand (the one not taking the picture) holding onto her raft at the bottom of the frame.

BTW, did you know that iPhones are waterproof? The last several generations, at least, are. That's why I boldly took mine with me on loops around the lazy river, not worrying about it getting wet. I discovered that a year ago when my father-in-law accidentally left his iPhone in his swim trunks pocket when he went swimming for 10-15 minutes. He took it out and it worked fine. So I looked up online, "Are iPhones waterproof?" Long story short, they're water resistant at shallow depths for certain periods of time.

Phoenix Getaway travelog #6
Scottsdale · Sun, 21 Sep 2025. 10:30am

Last night we sat out on the patio of our casita until it was time for dinner. We enjoyed watching the hummingbirds come out as the sun began setting. At first it was one or two. Soon we saw at least 5 different hummers.

For dinner we decided to get food from the grocery store instead of visit a restaurant. We were still partly full from the surprisingly great taco-truck lunch we ate so we figured it'd be easier to eat lightly with stuff from the store. Plus, since this is the hotel I stayed at on a business trip a few months ago— though not in a room anywhere as nice as this— I remember a nice, high-end grocery nearby that sells plenty of ready-to-eat food.

Enjoying dinner from the grocery store at the resort (Sep 2025)

Enjoying dinner from the grocery store at the resort (Sep 2025)

My dinner was a couple dishes of sushi— albacore sashimi and a salmon-avocado roll— plus a few cans out of a six-pack of good beer to wash it down. (Alaskan Amber Ale is one of my top picks in the beer tasting I've done over the past few years.)

After dinner we considered going back out to the pool, perhaps even the hot tub, but we were both feeling kind of tired. So instead we holed up in our living room.

When we're tired of the heat it's beautiful inside at the resort (Sep 2025)

When we're tired of the heat it's beautiful inside at the resort (Sep 2025)

This is one of the areas where having a casita, or even a genuine suite, shines. There's all this space to sit. Or stretch out... not on the bed.

Sunday morning I began down here again. But then it occurred to me, "Hey, it's probably nice outside right now!" Indeed, at 8 in the morning it's only in the low 80s in Phoenix this time of year. 😅 So I went back outside to the patio to enjoy my breakfast.

Private patio at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort (Sep 2025)

Private patio at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort (Sep 2025)

Sorry, no breakfast picture here. My breakfast was just a protein bar, a few pieces of dried sausage, and a Coke Zero anyway.

After we both had a bite to eat this morning we walked out our gate over to the hot tub. Like the pool, it's just steps away.

Last night I saw other people using the hot tub searching around for the switch to turn on the jets. They were poking around all over the walls of that stucco cabana and couldn't find anything. That made me concerned the hot tub is broken and has no control. Well, this morning I looked around and saw a sign behind the hot tub "HOT TUB CONTROL" with a pointing arrow. Yay, being able to read. Though boo, the jets in the tub weren't very strong.

After a good soak in the hot tub (sorry, no pictures) we went over to the pool. The air was getting warmer but it was still a bit too cool to really enjoy the pool. So we sat on chaise lounges and enjoyed the warm air. It felt better stretching out on the lounge chairs than sitting up on the chairs on our patio.

Now the hour's winding on toward 11am, checkout time. Yeah, we could ask for a late checkout here, to enjoy this upgraded casita longer and have a dip in the pool, but we've got other plans for today. Bigger plans. Today we're moving over to the Hilton resort with a lazy river. An hour spent here in this bougie casita is an hour not spent floating around on inflatable inner tubes!

Phoenix Getaway travelog #5
Scottsdale · Sat, 20 Sep 2025. 5pm

We've spent the past few hours enjoying the pool at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. Well, Hawk spent a bit more time out at the pool than me. I started just taking it easy sitting on the private patio of our upgraded two-story casita.

Private patio at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort (Sep 2025)

Soon I joined Hawk at the pool. It wasn't very far away; just through that gate on our patio then a few steps diagonal to the right.

Villa Pool at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort (Sep 2025)

Villa Pool at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort (Sep 2025)

The pool's right in the middle of of the "villa" of casitas surrounding it. It's nice to have this pool-front ~~room~~ casita.

Villa Pool at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort (Sep 2025)

The nice thing about the temperature topping out at 102° F today (39° C) is that we could walk straight into the water. There was no moment of, "Brr, this water feels cold." Just walk right in and, "Ahh, that feels nice."

Walking out of the water was another matter. Walking out, it was like, "How TF can 99° [it cooled down a bit from the high of 102] feel so chilly?" The scientist in me knows it's because evaporation is an endothermic process, but still it was disorienting to experience such science in the first person. Layman's translation: it feels cold for a minute in the warm air because the water drying off your skin draws out heat from it. Bonus factoid: It's also why the hot-air hand dryer feels cold at first and only seems to get warm right about the time it stops. It's not actually cold at first, it only feels cold because it's working. Once the water's dried off your hands, the air feels hot and it's done.

It's been another taking-it-easy around home weekend here. That's much like last weekend. And much like last weekend, taking it easy around home was Plan B. Plan A this weekend had been to stay at a resort in Mammoth Lakes on the eastern Sierra but heavy smoke and a road closure due to wildfire led us cancel the trip Thursday. So, what did we do instead?

Saturday morning Hawk went to the monthly flea market at DeAnza College in Cupertino that she likes to visit. She trolled primarily for gems but also found some cookware and a boardgame worth buying. Meanwhile I stayed home and slept in.

Saturday afternoon we went out for lunch together then visited the Mountain View Art & Wine Festival. While it had some of the same vendors as the Los Altos Art & Wine Festival in July it had a fair number that were different. We enjoyed strolling around past all the booths. Ultimately we didn't buy anything.

One reason we didn't buy anything is that while wine is right in the event's name, and I really enjoy wine tasting, I just don't find what's on offer at these festivals that compelling. It's too expensive. Ditto for the beer they offer, too. And that beer is generally stuff I could find in any supermarket anyway. I look at the prices and selection and think to myself, "I'd be way happier drinking at home on my patio." So that's what I did!

Relaxing outside with a beer (Sep 2025)

I even tried a beer that's new to me. It's one I picked up during a shopping trip at the liquor store a few days ago. Mostly I was buying beers I already know and enjoy but I saw this one, a variety similar to one I've enjoyed before from the brand, and figured it'd be worth a try. It was more or less what I imagined it would be. And it was good.

Saturday evening we went out to Comedy Sportz in San Jose. Wow, it's been like 20 years since we last saw a Comedy Sportz show. (They're a small chain of community-level improv comedy theaters.) They have changed... pretty much not at all... in the past 20 years. That's both a good thing and a bad thing. And it reminded us that we need to get back into going out to live shows more often.

Saturday night we capped off our "date night" with a late dinner after staying for the encore performance at Comedy Sportz. There aren't a huge variety of restaurants open at 10:30pm on a Saturday evening anymore. Covid and its aftereffects have really slammed the restaurant industry. But the chain restaurant we stopped for dinks and appetizers at was doing brisk business at 10:30pm, so it's clear there's still some demand out there even if most businesses can't figure out how to serve it profitably.

Sunday morning we both puttered around until almost noon, then went out for what we call a "ritual" lunch. Our lunch ritual is to eat at a casual restaurant and linger over the food with our smartphones/tablets out. 15+ years ago we did it with the Sunday newspaper! It's fun to have these long term habits and update them with the times.

Sunday afternoon we treated ourselves to ice cream then came back home for an afternoon at the pool.

Relaxing by the pool instead of traveling this weekend (Sep 2025)

Relaxing by the pool instead of traveling this weekend (Sep 2025)

As is our usual for the pool, we spent some time doing walking laps in the water, then relaxed floating around, then took a soak in the hot tub (well, I did that solo while Hawk stayed in the main pool), then dried off on lounge chairs while reading from our smartphones/tablets again.

Now we're taking it easy indoors (walking laps in the pool takes a lot out of us!) until dinnertime. We're talking about grilling hot dogs for dinner. Exact plans are still up in the air.

Tomorrow will be back to work for me— including 3 or 4 days of travel. So on that basis I'm not totally pissed about giving up our Sierra trip this weekend. Call it only 50% pissed. 🤣 Relaxing at home this weekend has been a nice alternative.

How apropos that today's Labor Day and I'm continuing to take it easy. This is the third day in a row— the whole holiday weekend— that Hawk and I have relaxed at home, spending warm afternoons by the pool.

No laboring for me this Labor Day (Sep 2025)

No laboring for me this Labor Day (Sep 2025)

Why spend a holiday weekend at home? Don't we have places to travel? Well, we just got back Friday night from a week in Canada. Originally we had planned to be there through last night but called an audible to rebook to go home 2 days early due to a problem with dry balls. It was hard to come up with another weekend trip on the spur of the moment. And ultimately both of us felt we'd be happier just taking it easy for 3 days and enjoying the pool in the warm weather.

This weekend has actually been some of the summer-iest weather we've had all year. Several cities around the Bay Area saw their warmest day of 2025 yesterday or Saturday. Locally the temp peaked at 94° F.

The photo above shows that our community pool with only a few people in/around it. That's often the case with our pool— few people use it. But Sunday and especially today it's gotten crowded later in the afternoon. Yesterday there were 5 families (including ours) out there at the peak. Today by 4pm it was similar. The crowding is a bit of a nuisance because we no longer have the water to ourselves. But at the same time we're glad to see more of our neighbors enjoy it, too.

When we decided to cut short our Canada trip several days ago I immediately started thinking, what else can we do instead? By coming back Friday night we'd have a whole, three-day weekend (Labor Day in the US) ahead of us. I feel like whenever we have an extra day like that we have to go somewhere, as time for travel is so limited for us US working stiffs. There are so many places we could go! And yet... I'm also ready for a break from travel. Thus enter Plan B— or is it more like Plan C at this point? Taking it easy at home.

Relaxing in the pool on Labor Day weekend (Aug 2025)

Relaxing in the pool on Labor Day weekend (Aug 2025)

Of course, "taking it easy at home" doesn't just mean moping around, sitting in the dark. It's summer, and the weather's beautiful. We're spending afternoons out by the pool!

Saturday we went out for lunch together, ran a few shopping errands, and came back to relax in/by the pool for a few hours. We grilled hot dogs for dinner.

Today (Sunday) is more of the same. Well, not the same, but similar. 😅 We went out for lunch again then relaxed in/by the pool for a few hours. We'll run a few errands late in the afternoon then come home for dinner. My plan for tonight is grilling burgers.

If there's one word that describes this week it's "Busy, busy!" Okay, that kinda two words... but also just one. 😅

It has been a busy-buy week starting with heading to Phoenix on Sunday for an important business meeting on Monday. It wasn't just "travel to Phoenix, attend one meeting, then go home" though. The flip side of remote work is that the modern business traveler is expected to stay plugged in all day, including attending remote meetings, even when traveling for a high profile meeting. Thus I was busy all day with meetings, including taking them from my hotel room in the morning and an airport food court seating area in the afternoon.

Tuesday the busy-busy at work continued with a face-to-face meeting with a client near home and then lots more remote meetings. Basically I was running flat out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I had hoped that Friday would be my take-it-easy day, but instead I ended up with 5.5 hours of work.

Amid all that busy-ness this week we had a few days of hot weather here in Silicon Valley. Wednesday and Thursday were the hottest, with highs near 90 in Sunnyvale. Yeah, that's not hot compared to some parts of the country in August, and it's not even a real heat wave by local standards. Often we get a week or two of highs near 100 each summer. With a cooler-than-average weather pattern still holding after 4 months, though, I don't think we'll see that this year. But 90° was plenty warm for us to want to cool off in the pool in the afternoon!

Sitting in the shade on a hot day (I'm behind the camera) after swimming in the pool and soaking in the hot tub (Aug 2025)

Sitting in the shade on a hot day (I'm behind the camera) after swimming in the pool and soaking in the hot tub (Aug 2025)

Hawk and I celebrated the hot weather by enjoying some #PoolLife both Wednesday and Thursday. Yes, I did say above I was working flat-out all week. The thing is, I was basically fried by 2 or 3pm those days and needed a break. I carved out 90 minute or so each day... and returned to work afterwards. Enjoying the pool in the warm weather is a small luxury that makes the week feel nicer. And with a busy-busy week like this I definitely needed to seek small luxuries.

Yesterday it was overcast until about 3pm, spoiling our plans to hang out a the pool with a friend from San Francisco. It's like he brought the crummy summer weather down her with him! Instead we spent the afternoon chatting on the patio. The patio was more enjoyable to use thanks to a quick cleanup Hawk and I did after we came home from lunch.

The patio is more satisfying to use after a good sweeping (Aug 2025)

The patio is more satisfying to use after a good sweeping (Aug 2025)

Hawk swept the patio, then I swept it three more times, each time getting another layer of crud off it. It's amazing how many leaves were on our patio given small number of leafy trees immediately around our townhouse. Of course, some of the mess was from the blasted landscapers who use their leafblowers to blow leaves off the walkway behind our unit and onto our patio. We've spoken to the landscaping supervisor about that...

Anyway, it was nice to relax on a patio that suddenly felt suitable for sitting on. When it was covered in leaf crud it always felt like... "Eww..." plus, "Ugh, I don't have time or energy to clean this today, maybe next weekend." Well, "next weekend" finally came, and now that I've done it I'm glad I did it.

Overcast yesterday, so we visited the pool on a sunny morning today (Aug 2025)

Overcast yesterday, so we visited the pool on a sunny morning today (Aug 2025)

After we didn't get to the pool yesterday I suggested to Hawk that we do it this moring. The clouds that held over us until 3pm yesterday? They were gone after sunrise this morning. There's an old saying, "Make hay while the sun is shining." My modern analogue is Hang out at the pool while the sun is shining! So that's what we did this morning.

Other days we might wait until mid-afternoon when the air is warmer to really enjoy the pool. Today, though, we're leaving town after lunch. I'm headed out to Phoenix for a work meeting that's tomorrow morning. We decided Hawk would come with me to spend half a day at the hotel and rock-hounding while I'm working. I'm glad we found this rare opportunity when combining work travel and leisure actually works. I'll write more about that later today.

Today (Saturday) has been a taking-it-easy day for me.

Taking it easy started last night actually, when after feeling pooped out from long days and short nights of travel earlier in the week I fell asleep around 8pm. I slept through until almost 8am this morning. Sleeping 12 hours might seem to stretch past "decadent" and into "are you sure you're not sick?" territory, but when I consider that across the four previous nights I averaged just 6 hours/night of sleep it seems not outrageous.

After waking up this morning I puttered around the house until after 11. The time snuck up on me. Around 11:30 I asked Hawk when a friend of ours, David, would be coming over; he hadn't reached out to us yet today. She texted him and found he was already on the train, and was just 20 minutes away. Ooookay then, time for a couple of quick showers! We met him just before noon and went out to lunch together.

After lunch we came back to our place. Our plan had been to spend the afternoon by the pool, but even by 1pm today the morning cloud layer was still hanging over the area. This is part of the still-ongoing mostly-cooler-than-normal spring and summer we've been having. Instead of decamping to the pool we swept the patio and sat there. Eventually the sky cleared and the air warmed a bit. By then we were happily enjoying the patio— more enjoyable now that it had been swept! We skipped the pool.

Once again time crept up on me. Suddenly it was 6pm! Time to start talking dinner. Hawk bowed out due to aches, leaving David and me to pick a place nearby. We aligned on Oren's Hummus in Mountain View. The food there was good, as always, though the restaurant was surprisingly almost empty— surprisingly because neighboring restaurants were packed indoors and out.

After a good dinner David got on the train to head north, back home. I walked him to the station then walked back to my car with a take-out container Hawk had requested. By 8pm I was back home... and not feel like doing much else for the day.

Chicago Trip Log #n+1
Back Home for 18 hours

I'm worn out today. I got home from a business trip late last night and I've just been kind of coasting all day. I would've slept in if I could, but I had to start my workday with an 8am meeting. Fortunately today was meeting-light— light being a relative thing meaning only slightly less than half the day tied up in meetings 😨— so I could take it easy.

Mid-afternoon I went out to the pool with Hawk. She'd already been there for at least 45 minutes. I did slow walking laps in the pool for a bit, hoping the exercise would wake me up. It didn't. Though it did help a small bit with stretching sore/tired muscles. Then I sat for a soak in the hot tub. I could've vegged the rest of the afternoon on a lounge chair after that, but I did need to get back to my desk to finish up a few late-day responsibilities. Taking 90 minutes for a pool break wasn't a problem as I'm already at over 55 hours marked for the week.

Now it's Friday evening and... I'm glad I don't have any plans. Hawk and I discussed going out for dinner but then decided to stay in as we both felt we didn't have the energy to dine out. Then I decided to get a take-in pizza as I lost the energy even to cook dinner. For tonight I'll probably just fritter on my computer for a while then get to bed early. Getting older sucks.

It's been getting warm this week. Not hot, per se, as this whole summer so far has been cool out here in the SF Bay Area, but comparatively it is. Today was 88°, which is a whole 7° above average! Wednesday was warm, too, though Thursday in between barely beat the average at 82. So Wednesday and today I took a break in the pool in the afternoon.

Warm afternoons lately? Pool break at 2:30pm! (Aug 2025)

Warm afternoons lately? Pool break at 2:30pm! (Aug 2025)

My work schedule tends to clear after 2:30pm most days. It's a combination of people in time zones to the east of us finishing their workdays and people in this timezone avoiding scheduling meetings because they have pick-up-the-kids-from-school type responsibilities. Some days I feel tired out and use this mid afternoon respite as a siesta. On warm days like Wednesday and today I decided instead to turn it into a pool fiesta!

Taking a break for the pool doesn't mean I'm slacking at work. It's been a busy week, starting with a bungee trip to Phoenix on Monday and days packed with meetings from my home office since then.

Moreover, just because I go for a dip in the pool doesn't even mean I'm done for the day. Both Wednesday and today I got back to my desk around 4pm and still had work to do. Today I even had a customer meeting at 4:30pm. It was the customer's idea. Who TF wants to have a meeting at the end of the day on a Friday? "Tell me," I wanted to ask at the start of the call, "How long have you hated your family?" 🤣

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canyonwalker

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Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

Entries tagged with pool life

Post-Shot Achiness, Hot Tub in the Morning, Shopping After Lunch

Signs of Life This Weekend

Shorts, Pool Life, and Being (a little) Productive

The Weather is Cool, the Hot Tub is Warm

Last Week may have been the Last Hurrah, Ever

Last Hurrah at the Resort Tuesday Morning

Breakfast at the Cafe

Quiet Morning in the Water Park

Making Time to Shower and Change

Little Charge for Charging

Afternoon at the Lazy River

Riding the Water Slide - with Video!

Easy Evening, Easy Morning in Phoenix

Lazy River Afternoon in Phoenix

Easy Evening, Easy Morning in Scottsdale

Pool Day Afternoon in Scottsdale

Another Take-it-Easy Weekend around Home

Relaxing by the Pool on Labor Day

Plan B: Lazy Afternoons by the Pool at Home

Busy, Busy. Hot Times. Pool Life.

Pool in the Morning Before we Leave Town

Taking it Easy Saturday

Pooped Out After a Business Trip

Afternoon Siesta? More like Pool Fiesta!