Great flight--got the emergency exit row with only two seats so Dave could stretch out!
Uber car rolled up within five minutes of us pinging it and brought us, after a Google-induced slight detour, to our Air BnB room.
Before we had settled in and started noticing our situation, I realized I had left my phone in the Uber car. I'm going to give major props to Uber--there is a very simple procedure to figure out who your driver was and get in touch directly with her. Half an hour later I had my phone back! Thank you, Uber! And thank you driver Heather for being so accommodating.
So back to our digs. They perhaps exaggerated a bit in the description of it. Here's the shot they included in their Air BnB description:
Keeping in mind this entire room is about 15 feet by 20 feet (and that includes the bathroom), here's the view from our side window (which they mysteriously did not include in the Air BnB description):
And then again, you get what you pay for. We are not paying a lot.
If you don't hear from us within a day of our expected arrival home, maybe call the police and have them check out our air BnB. It's a bit rough.
It's in the "arts" neighborhood, which is hipster code for slums.
A bit dicey. But hey, it's an adventure!
The two bicycles that the owners (who own a bike shop for god's sake) left for us to use--charming but also a bit dicey. If the front fender on mine makes it the whole three days I'll be shocked. It is a pleasure riding around a city announcing your impending arrival with a clattering ringing banging fender-about-to-fall-off noise. I think people love it. I know I do.
Other fun details: our front door has two locks, one of which does not work as it appears to have been busted when perhaps someone shouldered through the door in the middle of the night looking for drugs (ok, some of that is how I imagine the lock broke, but still, it is broken in a rather startling manner--see photo).
Also, no chairs. Well, ok two plastic Adirondack-y chairs outside the unit--because who doesn't enjoy sitting outside enjoying the Phoenix 105 degree days? We brought the plastic chairs in so we could enjoy the air conditioning.
We met two of the neighbors. Both very nice, welcoming and friendly. The young man next door works at Chase Field and gave us a dining suggestion for the ballpark. Nice kid. Covered in tattoos, but they all kind of are right now. The man two doors down from him told us all about the neighborhood and invited us in to see his art collection (remember--we are staying in an active art gallery). Eclectic stuff. Kinda neat. I think he was perhaps three or four margaritas into his afternoon.
We took our host's recommendation and went to dinner at a very local joint down the street (we rode our charming bikes there--twice! I put the bike lock key in the bike lock before we journeyed out and it had shaken loose and fallen out by the time we arrived at the diner, so we had to double back and look for the key as we retraced our steps. We found it--literally on our doorstep). Worth both trips, however. The Welcome Diner was great food, friendly people, and a relaxing, fun atmosphere. Had a fried green tomato BLT with chipotle sauce. Fantastic! Dave had a PBB--peanut butter burger. I'm trying not to make a face as I type that. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. Apparently it's very popular. Not my thing, but I did at least take a bite. Cause it's an adventure we're on, people! You have to try new things (without making faces).
So ended our first day. The bed was fine. The neighborhood was quiet. And nobody busted through our door looking for anything.
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