This Time Last Year...

I am currently in hibernation mode due to the current heat wave. Let's take a look at what I am accustomed to and what I am experiencing currently at 3:30 pm my time:


The high today was 118. My parents called me earlier this week to tell me they saw the weather forecast for Phoenix this weekend and suggested I investigate getting an automatic car starter as soon as possible.

In the past, when the temperatures exceed 120 here, the airport shuts down. They also sell cars here with cooling seats. I am at the exact polar opposite of where I grew up in Buffalo, NY. We too had automatic car starters but with heated seats and our hibernation took place in the winter, whereas here it takes place in the summer.

You can see that by Thursday, a "cold front" is moving in, and the high will drop to 106. I am still not adjusting very well to the heat. Once we hit 110, I am only leaving the house on the weekends in the very early morning to be back home by 10 am or after sundown.


Growing up (and even still today), my dad loves to reminisce by saying, "this time last year we were..." (he also does it with weeks and months).  I checked the weather for DC and was reminded that it was this weekend last year that was one of the worst weekends I had in a long time. We had my parents and uncle in town to go to the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club but the derecho came through and took down and tree, damaged my house and left us without power for almost a week.

Did I mention that John also got pulled over and ticketed for driving on an expired license that weekend (due to a DMV error that of course required going to court to correct), my parents' credit card was stolen while we were trying to get some relief from the heat at Pentagon City and we spent hours driving around Northern Virginia trying to find my uncle a hotel room since we were without power and it was in the 90s? The frustration and helplessness felt that weekend was stressful.

Remembering this weekend last year has put things in perspective for me today. I am home, relaxing with cold a/c, power, internet and all of our credit cards intact. That is a win in my book.

Now back to the "winter in summer" discussion. I wanted to know what people who live in this climate due when the temperature is this high. So I did some research. My findings are disappointing, at best.  Sure we can all think of the basics: mall, movies, bowling, museums, eat out. But there were very few suggestions I found outside the usual list. The only unique attraction I found was the Diamondbacks' baseball stadium that is covered and air conditioned and visiting Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West home.

I've been hanging out at Yogurtland (the root beer yogurt is amazing) to beat the heat but I am open to suggestions on ways to beat the heat! Let me hear your thoughts!