Our son Gregory suggested we climb up out of the heat for a couple of days. We took him up on it.
It’s too hot for him to drive his family eight-plus hours to get to our home in Tucson. Too hot for us to drive to their home in Las Vegas. Too hot in either location to venture outdoors during daylight. The compromise: meet halfway at Flagstaff, up in the pines where it’s cool(er).
That’s the cabin we booked through VRBO, an Airbnb-style vacation rental service. It’s in Munds Park, Arizona, a few miles south of Flag, elevation 6,500 feet. We stayed three days and two nights, with a side trip to Flagstaff. Here’s a closer look at our gang of climate refugees:
Absent: our daughter Polly, who started a new job in Tucson last week and had to stay behind; our granddaughter Taylor, who lives in Las Vegas like her parents but who also couldn’t get away from work. Notice, though, that the dogs were very much with us — our three dachshunds and their terrier Piper. How nice that so many rental cabins are dog-friendly these days!
I posted photos and updates to Facebook and Instagram during our getaway. Some of our friends Googled daytime highs in Flagstaff, wondering in comments how 90°F can be considered “cool.” Let me tell you, when you’ve endured five to six weeks of 112 to 116° days in Tucson or Las Vegas (with nights that never drop below the mid-80s), 90° days and 55° nights feel mighty good. As the man says, it’s all relative.
I think the trip was stressful for our dogs, though. Donna loves to travel with them but I’m increasingly resistant to taking them along. It’s just too hard on them, and even though they do their best to be good citizens, three dogs is a handful. Not to mention the peeing and pooping!
Well. Home now. There was a huge monsoon storm while we were away, with downed power lines all over town. Our neighborhood escaped the worst and Polly says the power never went out here, as it has in many parts of Tucson. And there’s no end in sight with these record temperatures. Climate migration, anyone? You know we’ll all be squeezed up along the Canadian border (and farther north, if they’ll let us in) before our political and corporate leaders lift a finger to address global warming. But who am I to talk, having just driven a two-ton gasoline vehicle 400 miles & change to beat the heat? Part of the problem, I am, along with everyone I know, and that includes you.
Stay fresh, cheese bags!