Favourite 2019 travel photos. Tokyo, Japan. October 2019.
Until the next visit…
When I moved away from the east coast more than four years ago, there was comfort in knowing that family back east were just a day and an overpriced airline ticket away. Now in pandemic times and with the borders to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia remaining effectively closed, I haven’t been back to visit family since late fall last year. I’m sitting on a host of Air Canada flight credits for trips that were cancelled with no prognosis on when I’ll be able to use them. Even worse, the small airport in my parents’ home town of Bathurst was taken off of Air Canada’s roster of places they fly, meaning this view I had on landing there last November is something I may never see again.
Murals of Roosevelt Row
While I was in Phoenix late in 2019, the Roosevelt Row area became a bit of a repeated destination for me. Initially, much of that had to do with my attraction to the amazing outdoor beer garden at Arizona Wilderness. On my walks to and from my downtown hotel to the bar, I took meandering routes as I discovered the neighbourhood was home to a plethora of vibrant murals. Here are some of my favourites from my time spent wandering around the Roosevelt Row area just to the north of Phoenix’s downtown.
On the side of Angels Trumpet Ale House (where I enjoyed a delicious outdoor pint one evening):
Patio beers in November
I was sitting on the tarmac in Saskatoon shortly after boarding when I started to hear a constant patter of freezing rain striking the body of my plane. Looking out the window into the dark of a November morning, hoping that we’d get loaded and de-iced before the weather got too bad to take off, my mind drifted to where I’d be landing later that day and my plans for my first night in Phoenix. As the freezing rain intensified, all I could think about was escaping winter and having a beer on a patio.
Leaving behind a few days of -15C weather and then a just in time escape from a freezing rain storm, I landed in Phoenix in 30C weather. It took remarkably little time for me to drop my bags at my hotel, change into shorts, and make my way to the Arizona Wilderness outdoor beer garden just on the north edge of downtown.
Favourite 2019 travel photos. Osaka, Japan. October 2019
Osaka alley cat
Into the desert
When I was planning my trip to Phoenix, I added an extra day to my itinerary for the sole purpose of getting outside the city to explore a bit of the desert. I wanted to see large cacti up close and I really wanted an experience different that the previous days spent exploring the urban environment of downtown Phoenix. Every local I met during my visit stressed to me that I had to visit the Desert Botanical Garden, located about 30 minutes outside the city. I’d get to see all the cacti I wanted in a well-planned garden that blended a rugged terrain with interpretive signs to help me learn more about the vegetation that is indigenous to Arizona.
Ballgame and a ballpark
With my next sports-related trip south of the border looking to be a very, very long time away in the future, I’m thinking back fondly on a couple of my last sports experiences during a visit to Phoenix late last fall. On account of attending a work-related conference, it gave me an opportunity for my first ever visit to the city, and the timing gave me a chance to take in a Phoenix Suns basketball game.
Just a couple of short blocks away from my downtown hotel, the Talking Stick Resort Arena, designed specifically for basketball, was cozy, with the seats all around the arena right on top of the court. While I didn’t pony up for lower level seats, I spent some time watching the pre-game warm-ups from down there.
The happiest place on earth
At some point in the spring of 2019 I watched an episode of the Netflix series “Street Food” centered on Osaka and the story of Toyo and his izakaya. I was transfixed by all of the food featured on that show, but the memory of Toyo’s tiny, open air bar stuck in my mind. I immediately wanted to visit it. Fast forward to June, and when I was planning my big trip for the year, the izakaya, Toyo himself, and the amazing food wouldn’t leave my mind. I ended up buying plane tickets to Japan and planned to fly home out of Osaka so I could visit Izakaya Toyo.
Sometimes the ideas of things surpass their reality. But not in this case. On my last day in Osaka, knowing how popular this little bar is, I walked past more than an hour before opening and gave Toyo a wave that he returned before returning to preparing his humble restaurant.
Exploring Osaka
I came to Osaka primarily for the food, and for the fact that I could save a couple hundred dollars in airfare by flying home out of KIX. I knew very little about the city before visiting, and thanks to a typhoon, I got an extra day to explore Osaka when I moved around my plans to avoid traveling during the storm. Osaka became my home base for four of my last five days in Japan and I enjoyed wandering the city in search of some fun. I found night to be when Osaka came alive, but there was plenty to enjoy in the city during the daylight hours as well.
Top of my list, and a perfect way to while away some time during that typhoon passing through, was the Kuromon Market. Its long aisles of merchants featuring exotic (to me) food was a great respite from the wind and rain raging outside.
Favourite 2019 travel photos. Denver, CO. September 2019.
Bluenose Traveler 