Every year I have gone away with each of my sons, Brad and Daniel for a weekend. We just talk about our lives and have a good time being with each other.
I figure it is good for our health. The boys agree.
My readers have had an extremely positive response to past where I have written about these one on one trips.
Readers know my bother and I are very close. He also lives in Dallas. We meet and have a pastrami sandwich together once a month whether we need it or not.
We have also gone away for weekends in the past with all the Feld men, my two sons and my brother’s two sons.
These weekends have been great for all of us. My sons live in Boulder Colorado, Kenny lives in Atlanta and Jon lives in Dallas.
The boys were close as kids. They have not gotten together very much in the last few years.
However, they love the weekends we have had to bond and just have fun.
It has been very difficult to get everyone together the past four years. This year Brad was determined to make it work. He got tickets to the NCAA finals.
The notification said anyone who can come should come. Unfortunately, Daniel could not come. He and his family were going to be in Japan that week.
The Feld Men have officially added a new member to the group. Jon’s son Jack is now 16.
Jack is a very smart kid. He kept up with all of our conversations. He even taught us a bunch of things.
I welcome Jack to the club!
My brother and I took 7.30 am Southwest Airlines flight to Phoenix on Friday March 31.
Kenny, Jon and Jack were not coming in until Saturday at 10.am. Brad was in Scottsdale for the previous month.
Charlie and I decided we wanted to hang out with Steve Hochschuler and his wife Kim all day Friday.
Steve is co-founder of Texas Back Institute. He has been a good friend since 1970. We both graduated from Columbia College.
Steve now lives in Desert Mountain part-time. He and Kim showed us a great time. Desert Mountain is very upscale. There are lots of big houses, and fancy cars.
There are very few trucks in his neighborhood. Steve has been irreverent all of his life. Steve has the biggest truck with the biggest and bad-est tires I have ever seen.
Their house is magnificent. Lunch and diner at local Desert Mountain restaurants were wonderful.
Steve and Kim took us to a neighbor’s house for a wine tasting with food before dinner. Both the wine and the food were out of sight.
They are living the good life.
This was a good start for the weekend. Charlie and I then drove to the Sanctuary in Paradise Valley to meet up with Brad.
The house Brad rented was beautiful. It had a pool and a tennis court with magnificent mountain views.
I was so tired I fell asleep instantly.
On Saturday morning Jon, Kenny and Jack all arrived at 10 am. We went out for breakfast/brunch to a place Brad and Amy found called Scramble.
Scramble looks like a PF Changs with menus on the sidewall as you wait on line to order and choose your food. The have everything from the simple breakfast to the most exotic omelets, waffles and pancakes.
We ate enough breakfast for a week but we were not finished.
Our next stop was Dairy Queen. This old Dairy Queen was a standout in a contemporary designed Scottsdale shopping center.
Neither Jon, Kenny nor Jack ever had a Dairy Queen Blizzard.
Brad and I told them they had to have a Chocolate Extreme Blizzard.
All three were hesitant by finally complied.
They all loved it.
DQ icream thick enough not to spill.
Next back to the Sanctuary and Brad’s house. It was time to hang out with each other.
After a while we all took our Feld traditional afternoon nap.
I learned to nap in a chair as a medical intern in 1963.
The “car” picked us up at 2:15 for a 5:09 starting time for Gonzaga vs. South Carolina. The games were being played at the Arizona Cardinals football field in Glendale Arizona.
It was far from Scottsdale and the traffic on Saturday afternoon was horrible.
Brad had Jon pick the seats because Jon was experienced in watching basketball in a football stadium.
He picked great seats on the 50 yard line in row D of the first deck. The people watching on the floor had to strain their necks. They were always looking up. The playing field was raised a couple of feet.
The North Carolina vs. Oregon game followed. It thought both games stunk. All four teams had terrible shooting percentages.
The television timeouts were endless. They took up more time than the regular timeouts. It became annoying.
The food was the typical terrible stadium food. Some stadiums and arenas I have been to have pretty good food including Coors Field, Fenway Park, the Yankee Stadium and the American Airlines Arena in Dallas.
After the games we found our driver easily. He was a master of heavy traffic driving and got us home nicely.
All of us were bushed except for Jack. He was hungry. He wanted a hamburger at 10:30 pm. I guess this is what happens when you are a sixteen year old.
On Sunday morning we all met at 9:30 a.m. for a 9:45 a.m. reservation at Rita’s Kitchen at the suggestion of Kim Hochschuler.
She took Cecelia and me to Rita’s once before. The atmosphere was as good as ever. It was a two and a half hour brunch.
After brunch some quiet time at the Sanctuary. At about 2:30 I went to the fitness center to work out and then to the pool.
We had a six o’clock reservation at the Wildfish Sea Food Grille in Scottsdale. Jack picked up the fact that the font on the menu and the description of the dishes were the same as Eddie V’s in Dallas.
Everyone wiped out their cell phones to see if there was a relationship. There is. The Darden Restaurant chain owns both restaurants as well as Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Seasons 52 and the Capital Grille.
Three of us had steak and three had fish. The waiter was upset that the chef undercooked the steaks. He complimented desert for the table.
I was afraid we were all going to miss the hot fudge sundaes at the Sugar Bowl in Downtown Scottsdale.
The desert was fair. They did not have chocolate ice cream in the restaurant.
After diner we went back to Brad’s rental house. We all watched 1941. I thought it was the dumbest movie I ever saw.
It was a 1979 flick for teenage boys. My bother and Kenny baled after 20 minutes. I stay to the end. Brad and Jon were teenagers in 1979. They thought it was great then but lousy now.
Monday was the day of the finals between Gonzaga and North Carolina.
We had lunch at a Sports Bar. Then we finally got to the Sugar Bowl to have their fabulous hot fudge sundae.
Brad and me eating at Sugar Bowl
We left for the NCAA Final at 2:30 to beat the traffic for a 6:09 p.m. game.
I will not complain about the traffic in Dallas, Texas anymore. We got to the stadium at 5:30 p.m.
Both teams played a lousy game. Shooting percentage for both was under 40%. Free throw percentage was not much better.
However, the festival of the NCAA final and the excitement of the crowd made the lousy game worth it.
When we arrived at Brad’s house Jack needed a hamburger at 10:30 p.m. again.
I went to sleep immediately because we were leaving for the airport at 5.15 a.m.
I slept on the plane for the entire ride home.
This was another successful “Feld Men’s Trip.” I can’t wait until next year.
The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are mine and mine alone.
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