Jets and a Timmies

Thursday we headed off to see our boys in blue at the Gila River Arena.  We left about 3:30 for a 7:00 game figuring that with an hours drive we would still have lots of time to browse the shops and restaurants around the arena.  Unfortunately we didn't account for Phoenix's rush hour traffic.  It ground the freeway down to a crawl and the drive took just over 90 minutes.  Still time for a quick walk around and find a restaurant to have dinner.

A selfie from our table on the restaurant patio.  We were on the second level and had a great view of the huge courtyard and fountains (a mini version of the Belagio in Vegas).







Surprise Lori.  I'm snapping your picture.

Note the burger on my plate.  Lori said it looked undercooked.  I really should listen to her more often.

We expected to see some other Snowbird Jets fans but we weren't quite prepared for what we saw.  The restaurants, bars and courtyards were packed with fans of all ages wearing Jets jerseys.  Obviously, in addition to those spending the winter here, many fans make the flight down to see the game and have a fun filled weekend in the sun.

 The area around the arena is filled with restaurants, bars, movie theatres and shops with a huge courtyard and street lined with fountains.  Really quite lovely.

I can see why the Glendale City Council kept throwing money at the Coyotes to keep this all running.  Although from the crowd at the game, only about 1/2 full and 1/2 of those were Jets fans, I hope the new owners of the Coyotes have lots of money.  We got 2 tickets and vouchers for 2 beer for just under $100.  We were 13 rows up at the face-off dots in the Coyotes home end.  Pretty good seats.  One ticket in the nosebleed section in Winnipeg would be more than that, if you can get a ticket.  Should have known that Az still hasn't embraced hockey when I pulled into the parking lot and joked with the attendant that we beat the crowds.  She replied, there are never any crowds to Coyotes games.

The game itself was a bust as the Jets put on one of their least inspired performances of the season.  The above picture was the best they looked all night.  Opening warmups.


We did however find the only Tim Hortons outlet in Az so at least the whole evening wasn't a loss.






On Friday we headed to the Mesa Market Place Swap Meet.  It is a huge flea market with a few hundred vendors selling a variety of products.

I took this from the middle of one of the rows.  There are 4 rows.

Lori is never happier than when she is shopping.











We made our way around about 20% of the vendors when the effects of an undercooked hamburger from last night started to turn my digestive track into a bubbling cauldron.  After a few quick visits to the bathroom we decided that it would be safest to head home where the bathroom is never more than a few feet away.  Lately I'm not having much luck with health issues.  Feeling better tonight and hopefully we can put this all behind us, pun intended.

Tomorrow we have a pancake breakfast, the Season Kick-off Party and hopefully a long walk with Charli to burn off some of her energy.

Later