Praising Arizona, Part 1

Just got back from a week and a half in Arizona. The Southwest is a place I've long wanted to see and not only were our expectations exceeded, but a lot of our preconceptions overturned.

Because light snow in Toronto delayed our departure, we had only twenty minutes to make our connection in Minneapolis. We arrived at concourse A and had to leave from concourse G. It's a good thing Minnesota is flat, because it felt like we ran halfway across it. We made our flight to Phoenix, only to discover at 1:30 am in the deserted terminal in Phoenix that our baggage hadn't. Delta said they'd try to get it to our hotel by the next afternoon, and off we headed (in the pouring rain – in Phoenix?) to the Crowne Plaza Phoenix Airport. A shout out to Nicole, who took pity on us and upgraded us to a suite (sweet!).

The next morning we headed to the Heard Museum. The Heard is outstanding. We spent the entire day there and received a solid orientation in the history, culture, and arts of the native peoples of Arizona. You can explore it for yourself by clicking on the link above.

How we got there will be of interest to people in Toronto: by light rail. There was a stop in front of our hotel and another a block from the Heard.

Phoenix has recently constructed a light rail system about thirty-five kilometres long, running from northern Phoenix, south into the downtown, and then east past the airport to the suburbs of Tempe and Mesa. The trains run down the middle of the street and seem to have signal priority, because we never stopped at a red light. We seemed to travel at 50-60 kilometres per hour and stations were about a kilometre apart.

Each train consists of two cars, though the station platforms are long enough for three-car trains. Each car is articulated, and has four doors on each side. The entry is low to enable wheelchair access.

Tickets are $1.75 a ride or $3.50 for a one-day pass, and are purchased with a credit or debit card on the station platforms. The cars were full, but not crowded on the Sunday morning and afternoon we rode, and people were proud and eager to talk about their new rail and how it was reviving Phoenix's downtown, where projects like Chase Field, the retractable roof ballpark, have recently been built. When the airport SkyTrain is completed, it will link to the light rail and mean a trip to downtown will take 15 minutes and cost $1.75.

We wanted to buy Bob and Doug tickets to Phoenix so they could see that light rail does not mean streetcars getting in the way of cars. This system seems tailor-made for arterial roads like Sheppard and Finch. We saw a lot of other things in Arizona that would scare the Ford twins, like roundabouts and bicycle lanes. These guys really need to get out more.

When we got back to our hotel, our bags were there. We watched the Oscars right to the end (the two hour time difference meant they were over just after 10:00), and got ready to head to Sedona the next day.