Championing the makers, artists, and wanderers in all of us.
It’s not every day that your mom gets her master’s degree. So if her graduation is in another city, you make travel plans.
After getting back from our last big extended-family trip to my cousin’s wedding in Virginia, we started planning for Mom’s Northern Arizona University graduation in May. We were looking for somewhere that everyone making the trip to Flagstaff could stay.
Continue reading “The Ups and Downs of The Canyon Motel (Williams, AZ)”
Here are a few shots from last weekend’s Phoenix Comicon. We’ll be filling you in more soon!
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Wading through the Phoenix Comicon schedule can be a bit daunting, so I wanted to highlight some panels and events I thought you lovely maker geeks might be interested in.
I’ve asterisked the items that don’t require a Phoenix Comicon membership pass for anyone who can’t make it to the whole Con but still wants to be a part of the action.
For more recommendations on what to eat/drink/see around the Convention Center, check out our last post.
3pm Cosplay 101 – From Closet to Convention Floor – I love that this panel is about making your own costumes with what you already have!
*6:30pm Comi-PAWn Pet Parade – Probably the cutest event of the Con, pet lovers can bring their dogs in costume to the Herberger Theater patio to be part of a show and parade.
7:30pm The Phoenix Ultimate Geek Smackdown (PUGS) – preliminary round of the annual, hilarious geek debate tournament
*8pm Star Wars vs Star Trek – The Music of Deep Space – The Phoenix Symphony will be playing music from Star Wars and Star Trek films, and the audience will vote for their favorite franchise! (Event tickets required.)
1:30pm Making the Game: The Art, Design, and Imagination of Iconica – how to design your own tabletop game. (More info on Facebook.)
*4:30pm Geek Girl Brunch Phoenix: Comicon Meetup – cocktail hour with a group of geek girls who usually meet for brunch. (h/t friends Anne and Eileen)
7:30pm The Phoenix Ultimate Geek Smackdown (PUGS) – geek debate tournament finals
8pm Star Party with the Phoenix Astronomical Society – telescopes will be set up for star/planet-gazing
1:30pm Cosplay for All Sizes – modify costumes and patterns to work for your body
7:30pm Dancing for Everyone! – introductory-level English and Irish community set dances
10:30am Confessions of a Cosplay Boyfriend – trials and tribulations of being in a relationship with a female cosplayer
4:30pm Phoenix Comicon Fan Fest Preview – apparently, this year’s Fan Fest will be at a new venue and in October (instead of December). Hopefully, they’ll let us know what’s up. (And hopefully I’ll make it to Sunday afternoon.)
While the car show will stay on Third Street (full schedule under Phoenix Comicon “outdoor events.”), there will be a lot happening on Adams Street, as well.
This year, Phoenix Comicon is taking over Adams Street, where there will be live music, a party pavilion, San Tan Brewery beer garden, and food trucks.
What are you looking forward to?
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PS Travelcraft Journal turns 3 today! I’ll probably raise a celebratory glass – or spoon – at Comicon. Cheers to all of you for being a part of this community!
Updated last: February 23, 2021 (to reflect permanent closures and changes, not temporary measures due to COVID-19).
Originally published May 30, 2016.
Let’s say you’re in town for a thing at the Phoenix Convention Center. You have a spare hour here and there. Maybe a spare afternoon. And then you have a flight to catch. How can you get a little taste of Phoenix while you’re here?
Or maybe you’re a local, looking for somewhere new to eat or hang out while you’re downtown for an event like Phoenix Fan Fusion (formerly Phoenix Comicon) or before you head to a symphony performance.
Here are some tips for a Phoenix experience with the Convention Center at the epicenter. All these locations are easy to get to from there without a car.
View: There are places to sit and experience the Arizona climate outside of all 3 of the Convention Center buildings (North, South, West). In the North Building, check out the view from the second- and third-floor (200 and 300 level) terraces on the south side of the building. Look for the mountains beyond the downtown. (Building maps)
Food: While all the Phoenix Convention Center Food is managed by Aventura, a Phoenix-based division of Aramark, they do contract with local companies such as City Central Coffee in the Metro Marché food court in the North Building. Some events (like Phoenix Fan Fusion) may also have locally-owned food trucks outside.
Music: The West Building of the Convention Center is actually connected to Phoenix Symphony Hall, where there is a variety of performances throughout the season. Check the Phoenix Symphony’s online schedule for concert and ticket information.
Bike Share: There are bright green Grid Bikes you can rent by the minute from kiosks outside the Convention Center, in Heritage Square, and several other locations downtown. Sign up first online or via the Social Bicycles app – membership is required even for a single “Pay as You Go” ride.
There’s tons of stuff to see/do/eat within walking distance. Here are some recommendations, in order of their (rough) distance from Phoenix Convention Center.
Relax and sip some really good coffee. It’s very close to the Convention Center, but just far enough away to be much less hectic.
They share space with Kaleidoscope Juice, in case you also need a smoothie, salad, or breakfast sandwich. Update: This Kaleidoscope location has closed. However, you can still find them in Scottsdale, Gilbert, and North Phoenix.
Two blocks of mixed-use space, including residences, offices, fitness centers, a hotel, salon, barbershop, drugstore, comedy club, shopping, and restaurants.
The best thing about Arizona Center is probably its Garden Grotto. Pathways wind through desert plants and past a pond. There’s a fair amount of shade and lots of benches. I feel like a little garden walk is a great remedy for convention hall chaos.
There is also shopping and restaurants.
Part of the original Phoenix townsite, the Square is now home to several museums, a couple restaurants, and cultural festivals throughout the year.
The Valley Metro light rail is a convenient way to get around Central Phoenix (some tips). There’s just one line and automatic ticket kiosks at each station.
You can catch westbound trains off Washington in front of the West Building / Symphony Hall. The eastbound stop is on Jefferson, just across from the South Building.
Hop on the westbound train (it’ll curve north) to check out these places, listed by number of stops from the Convention Center.
Collections include American, Asian, European, Latin American, and Western American Art, fashion, photography, and contemporary installations, such as the interactive You Who are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies.
The museum also hosts traveling exhibitions, like Hollywood Costume, Michelangelo, and Super Indian – Fritz Scholder’s bold, bright pop art.
Fantastic museum of the historic and contemporary culture of indigenous peoples of the Americas, especially the Southwest. Collections include work on canvas, jewelry, pottery, texiles, and video interviews.
I mostly know Martha’s Vineyard through podcasts. Of course, I’ve heard it mentioned on the news as a place where presidents and hoity-toity people go to vacation.
But the year-round residents are a close-knit community – one that, I learned from This American Life’s annual poultry slam episode, is sometimes plagued by roving bands of wild turkeys.
The most recent podcast to bring Martha’s Vineyard to my attention was The Moth. One of the storytellers is a farmer and chef-owner of a restaurant on the island with food sourced from the area and his neighbors. The menu changes daily and may include ingredients like the mussels his friend grows just off the nearby shore or shiitake mushrooms from a family farm down the street.
The restaurant is called Beach Plum, and they also have an inn and rental cottages. It sounds like a really lovely place to be.
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Photos by Gabriela Herman via Beach Plum Inn.