Back to the desert

Immediately after our road trip, I was off and at it again for work. It was a trip over a sun scorched plateau in in the center of the American west. This time, I was going a little faster than the 70 mph we averaged coming home from Utah... and it was even hotter when I landed at Sky Harbor airport!

There were thunderstorms nightly. You could see them coming for miles.

My training was at a customer in Mesa, Arizona. I walked around downtown one afternoon and visited Lost Dutchman coffee. I was a little miffed as to why my coffee was called a "Gold Mine" latte, until I started talking about hiking with my class the next day. Turns out there's a legendary lost gold mine near Supersition Mountain. A Mr. Waltz (Deutsch, not Dutch) found the mine in the 19th century. Today, people get stranded in the desert looking for it.

Inspired by the intrepid desert hikers, I decided to go on my own mini-hike after the last day of class. I rode the light rail in from Mesa to Tempe and hiked the butte above the ASU football stadium. It was sure hot! It also gave me an excuse to check out the beautiful waterfront at the north edge of campus and the shops along Mill Ave. As far as huge university campuses go, it had a great vibe and was very well connected. I'm not saying I'm planning on a masters, but if I were, this wouldn't be a bad place to do it!