Of weddings and monsoons

This past two weekends Julia and I had the pleasure of witnessing the marriage of some good friends. Unfortunately, the first one was in Tucson. Not that I have anything against Tucson (other than the heat, long drive and total lack of freeways) The wedding was like most weddings, average looking people suddenly looking great in gorgeous dresses and rented tuxedos (respectively). Family and friends gathered to watch as yet another couple joins together in a covenant relationship with each other. The alter nearly catching on fire from drooping candles and the death and destruction from seasonal monsoons.

Ok, I made that last part up. The monsoons weren’t until the reception. And nobody died. (that I know of)

If you’re not familiar with the Sonoran Desert it’s famous for it’s monsoons. of courses these are not typically as bad as those found in Asia but they can get pretty bad. After the wedding, all the guests left the church and drove to the reception which was a local resort. As the wedding party took pictures on the lawn with the beautiful backdrop of the grounds, the guests mingled and drank refreshing lemonade, iced tea and water. Eventually, we were all directed in side just moments before the rains came.

Now monsoons are typically heavy rains accompanied by violent winds. We didn’t notice any of this at the reception thanks to very insulated walls and thick windows. Our hotel on the other hand…

As we were driving back from the reception, Julia and I had considered stopping by Dairy Queen (something we don’t have many of at home). It was around 10pm by now so we didn’t know if it would be open or not. They were not. As we drove past, we saw that they had all the lights off (which made it hard to find) so we continued on to our hotel a couple of doors down. We missed the first driveway and barely saw the second. As we pulled in and were blinded by the headlights of a tour bus, we sat there wondering what’s wrong with Tucson that they can’t have better lighting.

You’re pretty smart readers so you’ve probably figured out that the power had gone out on our block. It wasn’t until we saw candles in the hotel lobby that we figured it out. We pulled up and asked one of the staff what was going on. She explained the power was out and that the city was working on it. We could also get to our rooms but we should be careful because a couple of trees had fallen and were blocking the driveways. She also said ” if you drive back there and scratch your car, please don’t sue us” we said we’ll try.

A not so small tree had in fact blocked most of the main driveway that leads to the guest parking but luckily, our room was on the far side where there is another driveway so we should have no trouble leaving the next day. As we meandered through the parking lot in the dark, we were very careful not to hit any wind strune debris. We made the last turn into our parking area and we noticed something a little odd. Like the mass of shrubbery they planted in the middle of our second driveway. Oh wait, that’s just another fallen tree blocking our exit completely.

We got to our room easily enough and discovered that yes, those electronic key cards run on batteries so we were finally safe in our room. A room with now power. No power for the lights, the TV or the AC. When the overnight lows are 80 F (29 C) you kind of want AC. And when you’re on the ground floor, you don’t want to open your windows. Oh, and trying to get ready for bed in a strange hotel (remember, bathrooms don’t have windows) you come to appreciate any remote light source. like the color display on your cell phone. Good luck getting you contact lenses out and into their case.

It all ended well enough. The power was restored (3:20 am) and we could find or way out through the maze of fallen trees. The hotel even discounted or room for the night. Now let me tell you about receptions them selves….

next time.