My niece Kristal lives in Phoenix.  We had lunch last Saturday morning at Thefarmatsouthmountain.com, an organic farm with three restaurants, including a breakfast cafe, where we ate al fresco.  It was conveniently located between her place and where I was staying with friends in Laveen.

Then, on Monday, we drove up to see Uncle Danny Stief (of Sedonatalkradio.com).  He gave us a great tour of that stunning area, explaining to us about the vortexes and other metaphysical anomalies in the area (making Kristal’s name quite appropriate).  We had lunch and then Kristal and I drove back to Phoenix in time for me to catch my flight back to San Francisco.  On the way to Sedona, however, Kristal and I were talking so much that I forgot to get gas, and so to be sure we didn’t have to walk in the desert heat, I let the car coast down a mountainside for about eight miles to get to the next town to fill up!

Sedona is magnificent everywhere you look, with it’s vortexes and it’s manmade and natural monuments.  It was great to see my uncle, who is a talented singer, and touched Kristal and me with a few live performances of Elvis songs.  It was the first time Kristal and he met each other, so I was glad to facilitate their meeting and for us all to learn more about other parts of our family.

I’m also glad to have a nice base tan from Arizona last week for the two weekends in NYC I’m going to enjoy later this month!