Bless Your Heart Arizona

My year of travel adventures continued this past weekend in Arizona.  Rich joined me to visit a bunch of our Burning Man friends. MoMo and Ian hosted us at their house.

You know the laddering game? It’s a common exercise in the world of marketing in order to discover emotional connections between a brand and consumers.  You are asking yourself why I have disconnected from the first paragraph, aren’t you?  You are wondering why I started on a trip to Arizona and now I’m on marketing? Well, that is a clown question, bro.  Hang with me and it will all make sense.

What does McDonald’s sell? If you said hamburgers, you lose.  Burger King sells burgers (charbroiled) and that’s one reason why they will forever remain in second place.  McDonalds sells quick service that is friendly and affordable.  Duh. 

How bout’ Coca-Cola? What does Coke sell – soda (or are you a pop person)? Wrong.  Pepsi sells better tasting cola (they have the taste tests to prove it) but Coke sells smiles.  Happiness wins again.

One more? Okay, you know the Michelin commercials that had a baby in the tires? That’s a setup for you – what are they selling? Good tires with the best tread? Why is that important?  So you won’t crash?  Why is that important? So nobody gets hurt? Why is that an important? Because you have kids?  Hello baby in all their tire ads. Michelin isn’t selling tires.  They are selling safety.

So I went to Arizona with Rich to see MoMo, Ian, and our other Burning Man friends. 

We ate and drank all over Scottsdale.  We had the best Thai food I’ve ever had.  We had cocktails at awesome dive bars (Coach House and Tally Ho) and fantastic trendy bars (Kelleys and R&R’s).  We had huge yummy breakfasts (Orange Table and Daily Dose). We even catered to my perversion for midgets by going to Gilligans.  

And we had an awesome time with the Obscene T-Shirt party at MoMo and Ian’s house.

We jumped in strangers’ pictures. We made friends.  We spun drink wheels and downed something called White Hot Load. 

We made fun of people and hall-passed ourselves by saying “Bless their heart.”  We went on a hike through the wildernesses of cactuses (cacti? – spellcheck likes them both) and Costco (MoMo is not afraid to aggressively steer a cart through a traffic jam of senior citizens).  

We sang Don’t Stop Believing. I use the word 'sang' very loosely.  

We tried to get a word in when MoMo wasn't talking. We ate the world’s largest pizza and went to a party that had as many dogs in it as people.  

We saw a fat necked broad shouldered giant breasted woman with skinny chicken legs get served by a waitress that couldn’t remember to bring us our food which might be good since we saw her fluff calamari with her bare hands on the way out of the kitchen.

We had fun.  So much fun. I travel a lot because I like fun.  Who doesn’t?  But I can find fun close to home.  Let’s play the laddering game again.

Why did I go to Arizona? I went to Arizona to see our Burning Man friends. 

It was another good bonding trip with my buddy Rich.  

It was good to get to know Ian better.  

It was good to have a visual of everything for when I talk to MoMo now – I know her world better.  I had great conversation and silly laughs.  I had fabulous food and plenty of cocktails.  I met new people.  All fun. But really, Arizona was about strengthening an already solid friendship. 

Haha, okay fine, my relationship with the hot Asian Little Person cost me a tip and isn't really all that solid.  Let's get back on track.

I have always felt close to MoMo.  I ‘met’ her years ago in the blogging world and we never met in person until not too long ago.  That seems so weird, I know. Thank goodness we both like to write, even if I’m the funny one and she’s the heart and soul dump.  At least she is funny outside of blogland.  Writing brought us together.

I have lots of great friends.  I cherish the unique bond I have with each of them.  People connect on all kinds of different levels.  I like my connection with MoMo.   It is special because MoMo is special.  So thank you MoMo.  You always tell me how lucky I am to know you and how great it is for me to get to spend some time with you.  Well, you are right.

Midgets, food, drinks, cactus hikes, Costco cart wars, obscene t-shirt parties and traveling all make me happy. But the best part of the trip is the meaningful happiness I get from having MoMo as my friend.