Well I’m back from my mini vacation, Jasper. I spent three days in the desert and I returned with only a hint of a sunburn on my face. 

I was absolutely blown away by Phoenix. When I got off the plane I immediately regretted wearing clothes suitable for the Canadian weather I had left. I quickly changed into something more appropriate, even though it was relatively cold for Phoenix – a mere 30 something degrees. 

I only had a few short days in Arizona, but my lovely tour guide Josh did his best to show me the sites – while keeping me hydrated and covered in sunscreen. 

The first thing I was greeted by were rows of palm trees and cacti. They really did have the old west saguaro cactus all over the place. It was my mission to get a picture by one, and I managed to do so without going head first into the prickly fellow, although I did trip over a rock and hurt my toe on the way up. It was a minor injury compared to what an encounter with a rogue cactus would have been. 

Josh took me on a tour of the Arizona State campus in Tempe, a southern part of the city, during the height of Tailgating. As a Canadian, I was curious about the spectacle that occurs hours before a football game and Arizona was probably the most insane school I could have learned at. 

Think more than 100,000 people dressed in the school’s yellow and burgundy, all excitedly skipping through the streets gossiping about other college football games going on, while betting with strangers. The Arizona State Sun Devils would play the tough-to-beat Oregon Ducks, and the excitement started well before both teams had even arrived at the stadium. 

Josh had to be careful while showing me the city. He realized that if I suddenly stopped asking questions about everything I had ever wondered about football or snapping pictures of adorable cacti, he had to get me inside an air conditioned building with a tall glass of ice water as fast as possible. He didn’t mind – with the Tailgating the cold beer was flowing at every establishment we took refuge in. 

We didn’t get to go to the game; I had a 5:50 a.m. flight out of Phoenix, with a layover in Denver, Colorado. When I arrived in Calgary I had every intention of taking the afternoon to get back to Jasper, but my 4 a.m. wake up call caught up to me somewhere in the line-up of 500 people waiting to get through customs (to speed up the process I scarfed down a sandwich I had planned on claiming in the line) so I stayed the night. I then had to leave for Jasper at 4 a.m. on Monday, making it the third day in the past five that I had woke up at such an inhumane hour. 

Seeing Pyramid Mountain as the sun finally rose over the Rockies at about 7:30 a.m. sure was a sight for sore eyes. As much as I enjoyed the Sonoran Desert, I was happy to be back in the mountains. I take back my previous complaints about the cold – I’d take wearing a sweater over struggling to walk in 40 C any day.

DISCLAIMER: The Last Word is an opinion column, it is meant to provoke thought and debate. As such, any opinions written here are the writers own and do not reflect the viewpoint of any other Fitzhugh staff member or the directors of the Jasper Media Group Inc.