Damn Dirty Apes

So the NRA was in town this weekend and the urban exploration team consisting of Sarah, Me, Penelope, Ben and Hannah, made an excursion into the concrete wilds of Downtown Phoenix. We had several objectives
A) To pry some guns from some cold dead hands (which would have been a realistic possibility as the majority of people at the Phoenix Convention Center were eligible for the senior citizens discount)
B) Go to the downtown Farmers Market (missed that)
C) Get to know what gentrification has done to this dust spittin' cowtown

We drove down to the library and parked there as the rest of our adventure would be by foot or train.

The goal here was to check out a culture pass so we could go to art museums free of charge....we failed, they were all checked out. But we did get some good city views from the 5th floor. Above is not one of those, its of the reading area. I really like this place its so sanitary feeling.

Next we hit the trains, were all the ww2 hat wearin' NRA convention going folk gave there seat up to Sarah who was strapped with a baby, thanks doods.

We hit the central and Van Buren station to find a roadside coffee shop at the Hotel San Carlos, it was decent, the price was right and the hotel is friggin cool, its like the Monte Vista in Flagstaff only kept up well and with a pool on the roof that hosts "Adult Swims" ie: bands or dj's playing while people "swim"

After that we decided to get a better view of our surroundings so we headed up the Hyatt glass elevators to the compass restaurant (the round hockey puck thing) the views from the 21st floor signaled that we needed to check out the Rossen House (pictured above)
The Rossen house is in Phoenix heritage Square, next to the Science Center, Phoenix History Museum, The Rose and Crown bar and Pizzaria Bianco. It was built in the 1890's and its pretty rad, worth the $5 entry.

On our way back to the train station, we passed the old Professional Building. An art deco staple of Phoenix that was once the head quarters of valley national bank. It is currently completely gutted and empty. It was supposed to be "Hotel Monroe" but the funding all went dry and all that stands is a monument to gentrification and bad economy's. Above is a picture of the less glorious west tower, the east tower looks straight out of batman, but is covered in scaffolding.

So that was it, Penelope had fun I think, I got hot and pretty tired, the night before I played at an Art Gallery with some folk dudes from Memphis who I have no business sharing the stage with


So talk to you doods and dood-ettes later.