RxSw-Part One - By Guest Blogger E.O.

Dogtown Suite, Hotel Erwin

It was officially official, RxSw (Rome by Southwest) had finally begun! At 11:30 sharp last Friday morning I had made my bed all nice for the house-sitters, triple checked to make sure I had my passport and toothbrush and walked out the door of our Haight Street apartment. Down the four flights of stairs and one hill up I went to Tess' car with suitcase in tow. I was to meet Alex and E.F. in the financial district where they were both getting off work. This ended up being the most stressful part of the trip as this car-less San Franciscan was a lot more used to being a pedestrian. The people, the traffic, all the stop lights and one-way streets made me so nervous I had to start listening to my mellow music mix just to get through it. But, I found them both and as Alex is a geography whiz; we ended up making it all the way to Los Angeles not hitting traffic once. In fact, we made such good time we decided to head straight to Silver lake to meet up with some friends for dinner.
At around midnight, we were all pretty beat so headed over to the Hotel Erwin where we were just looking forward to a comfortable room with two beds to rest for the night. Much to our surprise, when we checked-in we found that the Director of Sales and amazing friend of mine, Jairo has hooked us up with the Dogtown Suite! Our exhilaration overwhelmed our exhaustion as we were in awe over the awesome room. With its gigantic round bed over-looking the Ocean, the private roof-top deck and room decor I can best describe as quintessentially Venice Beach we were pretty stoked (also, a good word to use in Venice). The next morning, we decided on room service if only to enjoy the Suite a bit longer. But, by 11:00 or so we decided to bid the Erwin farewell and begin the 8 hour trek to Tucson, AZ. The morning before  I left on this trip I met for breakfast with a friend who had travelled extensively through the U.S. I told him that I was excited about the whole thing, but just as with the final scene from "The Graduate" it was finally here and I found my emotions to be...well not as ecstatic as what I had thought they might. His advice was to just wait until I got out of the State of California and then it will really hit you. He couldn't have been more right. Once I crossed the AZ border and especially once we made it to Tucson; I was feeling the thrill of the open-road and the excitement of exploring a new city completely. I was officially on an adventure and I was in love with it.

For our first night in Tucson, we stayed at the Hotel Congress which definitely added to the contentment level. This is one of the coolest hotels I've had the pleasure to check out. Think of the Ahwahnee, mixed with a bit of Ace Hotels, except in the Southwest. Ok, maybe that won't work for you but hopefully you'll get an idea of the place with the photos below. Our first night there we sat outside with our drinks, enjoyed the warm night air and listened to the sound of trains coming in and out of the station. It was a great feeling.
The next morning after a hearty breakfast of huevos rancheros, we headed to the Saguaro National Park. Coming from San Francisco; the desert-scape, vast amount of open space and warm weather is the exact opposite of what my life is like on a daily basis so I was reveling in the difference...we all were. We went along a few nice trails through the park and then decided it was time for lunch and then a swim at our next hotel stop the Westin, La Paloma.
La Paloma Resort is a great large resort with bus loads of groups coming in, plenty of recreational activities on-site, restaurants and lots of hotel rooms. I must admit that this "boutique hotel" kind of gal found it to be a but daunting at first. But, as I'm sitting writing this from our sunny outdoor patio with a vast view of Tucson I find that I'm easily able to adapt. Plus, the best part of this hotel is the huge pool slide which is what Alex, E.F. and I will be enjoying until we decide it's time to head to our next destination. Phoenix, AZ. More to come...

That's me! Photo courtesy of E.F. 

Pool side/Pool slide