My quiet patio view.
This past week I realized my life is too noisy. Maybe yours is too?
Here are some suggestions for correcting this “issue.”
To escape the noise:
Take a visit to Tucson and stay at the Hacienda del Sol resort. There, you can get a room with a patio that overlooks the Santa Catalina Mountains framing the Sonoran desert lit up in colorful wildflowers and scrub brush. Enjoy the quiet. Of course, you may still have the noise rattling around in your head and that could be a problem. But the desert in all its cactus glory utters nothing except for the occasional chatter of a bird. No political campaigns, no commercials talking about erectile dysfunction or how to lose 50 pounds on Nutrisystem. No whoosh of traffic, no trucks blowing their horn because you were reading a text message on your phone when traffic stopped and you didn’t notice it had started moving again, no landscapers shaping hedges with sputtering trimmers that sound like rocks in a blender. Just you and a peaceful desert breeze with the scenic view of creosote bush, teddy-bear cholla, and the deep pink blooms of the hedgehog cactus.
In April, the hedgehog cactus brightens the Sonoran Desert with colorful blooms.
You might think, as I did, the beautiful, serene moment on the patio calls for coffee. You just witnessed the sun cast a golden glow over the graceful desert as it rose above the proud mountains. How can you truly savor the moment without your morning coffee? You can’t.
The hotel room provides a Keurig coffee machine placed conveniently next to small bottles of water with large tags stating $3 if you choose to use one. You think, I’m paying the big bucks for this room and now I have to pay three bucks just to make coffee on a machine that has no instruction on how to operate! You’re feeling perturbed that you have this quiet, scintillating view out on the patio and no coffee. You might feel, as I did, a bit grouchy.
Although I didn’t have coffee while enjoying the view on my patio, I did have an outdoor shower. The outdoor shower will help me feel “one with nature,” my sister said. I prefer to be “one with coffee.”
I loved the view from my room, so that is why I woke early to watch the sun rise. I ordinarily would never get up that early.
You consider complaining about the coffee dilemma but you already complained yesterday about the hotel’s neglect of providing the robes promised as one of the room’s amenities. “Oh, we didn’t give you robes?” the hotel clerk asked when you called the front desk. The thought came to you, yes, that is what I just said. The clerk didn’t wait for your answer and said, “I’ll have them to you a.s.a.p.” Soon you had two plush robes, one for the room and one to wear to the pool, not to mention a cellophane wrapped package of five gourmet chocolate chip cookies adorned with a white ribbon. Maybe a peace offering?
Your sister and brother have a room next to yours and are sharing the vacation with you. The three of you head out to the pool, you wear your hotel robe over your swimsuit. You and your sister planned the vacation around your brother who is wheelchair-bound due to his military service in Iraq and the injuries suffered when an IED blew up his Humvee and put him in a coma for a year and a half. You came to the hotel for the lift at the pool, a must for non-ambulatory persons who need to be lifted into the pool. You had looked forward to enjoying good times swimming…your sister, brother and you.
To the left of this infinity pool is a fire pit, which we sat around in the evening and chatted with other hotel guests, all from Washington state. Arizona has more people from Washington state than from Arizona.
But the lift doesn’t work. Your kindhearted brother says, “Go ahead, get in. I’m fine. Enjoy yourselves.” He watches you and your sister languish in the bubbly froth of the Jacuzzi. Of course you feel guilty.
I think we need to complain, you say to your sister. She is also kindhearted and complaining is not her usual style. But she concurs and the two of you request a chat with the manager. He meets with you in the resort library. You and your sister express your disappointment about the broken lift. The manager, a very nice man, says he’ll have the lift fixed the very next day and offers a discount on your rooms.
Back in your hotel room, you flip on the 55” hi-def flat screen TV to catch up on the primary campaign results in Wisconsin and the commercials about erectile dysfunction and how Nutrisystem worked for Marie Osmond.
You mute the sound and watch the people on the TV screen move their mouths, but you don’t hear a word. You sink into the comfortable pillows and cool, soft sheets and take a bite out of your luscious chocolate chip cookie. Ahh, quiet and chocolate.
This may be as close to heaven on earth as you’ll get. But then you remember you won’t have coffee in the morning because it’s a matter of principle now~you’re not paying $3 for water.
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One of the gardens at Hacienda del Sol in Tucson.
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Thank you to Mauro, the wonderful manager at Hacienda del Sol who showed kindness and excellent hospitality to me, my sister Jodee, and brother Alvis.
Outdoor shower???
I hope Alvis did get to use the pool. Was it really fixed the next day?
I left a day earlier than Jodee and Alvis, so I never did get to enjoy the pool with Alvis. However, the lift was fixed and Jodee and Alvis were able to go swimming the next day.
And yes, there is an outdoor shower. But there is an indoor shower too.
I hope the lift was fixed so that Alvis got swim time. Please thank your brother for his service to our country!!
It sounds like a wonderful hotel. I love the desert. It has so many beautiful and interesting & unique adventures.
Phyllis, I will thank him for his service and tell him it’s from you. He has given much of his life for our country, and has suffered for it. But I know he wouldn’t have done anything differently. He is brave, through his current suffering and loss of the quality of his life as well as when he served in Iraq and earned two purple hearts. In the first situation, when an RPG came flying toward his unit, Alvis helped save the life of one of his buddies. He is an American hero as you are, Phyllis, and thank you Phyllis for your service as you also signed up to face harm and danger for the protection of our country. I know Alvis would love to meet you. I salute you, Phyllis!!