I am taking some time off of work today to go to the valley and get my hair done.  I talk about that more on my Justin Germino personal blog, but I also wanted to talk about driving to the valley.  Unfortunately there is not very many routes from Casa Grande, Arizona to Tempe, Arizona.  There is one freeway the I-10, and if you are on this freeway and there is an accident that closes the freeway ahead of you.  You are stuck in traffic for hours, literally this one freeway you take for about 50 miles between the two cities and there is an alternate route, but once you pass the first 3 exits on the freeway, you have a gap of like 10 miles with no exits.  This is because the freeway passes through Indian Reservation.  If there is any accidents in this ten mile stretch, then you are just hosed.

I was stuck one night from 7pm until almost 11pm because of a crash on the I-10, and on another incident we travelled 1 hour in traffic just for the policy to force everyone to turn around and drive another 45 minutes back to valley for a detour.

The Cities really need to build another freeway alternative or something.

-Dragon Blogger

Tonight at The Waters Edge Bar in Chandler Arizona, Rock Along Productions has put together their first of many shows.  This event called “Burning up the Night” features four of some of the best Local Arizona Rock bands.  Razer, Bomber, Big Mouth Mason, and Eight Day.   Phoenix Metro fans can show up and pay cover at the door, at only $10 per head, it is like paying $2.50 per band.  Show starts at 9pm and goes until 1am.

Dragon Blogger himself is the doorman, and I will be greeting people at the door.  I also run the tech side of Rock Along Productions, as well as graphic design.  I did the poster for the show, Myspace Page, and am working on a new website and blog for the company.

Everyone in Arizona show your support for local bands and come out to what is going to be a great show:

Here is the official poster:

• Here are some pics of the bands:

RAZER

Bomber

Big Mouth Mason

Eighth Day

-Dragon Blogger

PS:  What do you think of the poster, do you think I did a good job?

The other night I was out on the town on some business with my lady and we got a little hungry at around midnight or so.  We were driving down Chandler Blvd and came across Juan Jaime’s Tacos and Tequila.  My wife and I both love Tequila and having come back from Cabo San Lucas a few months ago, we liked the idea of stopping for some food and a drink or two.  I am always designated driver, so I don’t drink publicly almost never, but I enjoy tequila shots at home once and a while.  The atmosphere of the place was laid back and relaxed, some light music played in the background.  They have a generous amount of seating in-door’s or out on the patio.  They have four different types of salsas and the mild and green Jalapeno salsa are both very good.

The taco’s themselves, cheese crisps were very good and actually had us come back to this place twice in two weeks which says a lot.  Their menu also has dozens of tequila’s on it listed by type Rested (Reposado), Aged (Añejo), Gold (Oro), or Blanco (Silver).  They have tequila shots ranging in price from $6 to over $30 dollars a shot to satisfy any thirst and yearning for elite tequila’s.

So, if you are out late in Chandler it is nice to have a place that serves food all night long so you can sit back and eat a little something while you are enjoying the company you are with.

I highly recommend anyone to this restaurant which has many Baja Mexican dishes including steak, chicken, mahi mahi, burrito’s, salads as well as enchilada’s.

Juan Jaime’s Tacos and Tequila
2510 W. Chandler Blvd Ste 1
Chandler, AZ 85224
480.821.JUAN(5826)

The family decided to go on a spur of the moment camping trip on Friday September 5th and we returned this afternoon on Sunday September 7th.  We decided to try renting a cabin from a place we haven’t stayed before in Lakeside Arizona.  This is an almost four hour drive from Casa Grande, Arizona along the Highway 87 and US 60 East past Superior and Globe until you enter Showlow and PineTop/Lakeside.  The name of the establishment is called Lazy Oaks Resort.  We chose this place because it has one of the best rates for a cabin that sits within 4 minutes walk of a private lake, this means you can fish without purchasing a fishing license which can quickly add up additional costs.  Lazy Oaks Resort also has one of the best pet friendly policies, requiring no extra pet deposit and allowing you to bring your canine companion with you.  We did bring our Boston Terrier who is 7 years old and he had the time of his life playing frisbee in the woods.  He even jumped in the lake and attempted to swim out and catch ducks.

Here is a picture of our Boston Terrier with Frisbee in mouth.

The cabin we stayed at was a 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom cabinet and cost us $159.00 per night, the private lake that the cabins rest near is called “Rainbow Lake”.  The cabin itself was called the “Tamarack” which at 880 square feet was a very large cabin.  This cabin could easily accomodate six to eight guests as it has 1 bedroom with two queen beds, and another bedroom with a single queen bed, plus a sleeper sofa in the living room with a queen bed.  The wood fireplace was also very nice and received alot of use while we stayed at this establishment.

The cabin’s only major flaw was the beds themselves.  They are plastic and very noisy, like trying to sleep on bubble wrap.  They were also very uncomfortable, so much in fact that I elected to sleep on the floor in the living room while my spouse slept on the couch in the living room.  The lake itself is fairly small and covered in green algae, there didn’t appear to be too many fish but after fishing on and off for about five hours my spouse had caught 3 bluegill which were between 3 and 4 inches long.  There is rumored to be catfish and trout of some size in the lake but we didn’t have the right bait or luck to procure either species.

One of the cabin renters who was near the lake showed us this large dead beetle they had found outside of their cabin.  This is a very strange beetle, grey with black spots and large mandibles.  It almost looks like a stag beetle except it isn’t black.  Does anyone know what type of beetle this is?

Though the lake on the cabin wasn’t terribly impressive, it was still fun to fish with the family.  Also there are numerous other lakes within a few minutes drive so it is still a decent place to have a weekend retreat.  The rates were pretty good, the cabin’s were very clean and very large and the pet friendly policy is unbeatable.  I would recomment the Lazy Oaks Resort to anyone who wants to spend a weekend or a week at a cabin in Arizona’s Rim Country.

Oh, one other thing for a cabin, they also have wireless internet access available to most cabins.  This is a rarity for cabins, and I didn’t bring my laptop because I was supposed to be vacationing, but for those of you who can’t live without the internet even for a weekend, this is a very neat touch as most cabins don’t offer this luxury.

Here is a picture of the Tamarack Cabin:

• UPDATE

The owner of the Lazy Oaks Resort contacted me after reading my post and expressed how concerned they were about our sleeping arrangements (disappointment with the mattresses).  They explained that as they replaced the mattresses they were removing the plastic covering and that had we mentioned them they would have taken care of it right away.  So realistically we dealt with uncomfortable mattresses only because we didn’t speak up and mention something about it, if the owner’s weren’t aware, they really didn’t know.   So let this be a lesson to anyone, always let the business know right away if anything isn’t up to par, many businesses will do whatever they can to make it right.

Thank you Lazy Oaks Cabin for being so easy to work with.