My only recourse was to call my aptly-named college roommate, Art. Art was the longest-running film student in the history of the University of Arizona, having been
studying on the same Associate’s degree for eight years now (some say he fails
just so he can stay in until he makes the right contacts). He had even been a
grip on the set of a few low-budget films that went on to some relatively wide
distribution. I called him up and let him know what I was getting ready for,
and after I had assured him that the room was taken care of so he didn’t have
to pay half, he was definitely in.

I called the hotel next, having been told that it was better for me to book the room with the hotel directly instead of making a reservation with a VIP voucher online.

“Do you have rooms with two twin beds?”

“Our double-occupancy rooms have two Queen beds, actually,” was the reply, about
which I was wildly excited. “We also have Two-Room Family Suites available.”

I felt an eyebrow raise of its own accord. For a moment, I lost track of where I was and what I was doing.

“We’re… we’re not a family,” I said questioningly.

“You don’t have to be,” she replied. “The two-room family suite is just a larger space. It has a bedroom with two Queen-sized beds, a living room complete with an extra
Queen-sized pullout and another television, and some of them even have an extra
bathroom.”

With excitement clearly resounding in my voice, I finished the call and called Art back.

“Looks like we’re roomies again!”

TO BE CONTINUED

The whole zoo is set out in segments representing different climate zones and habitats. We wandered a bit around Africa and South America and finally the giant Aviary. We stepped
through the doors into the gigantic birdcage. Closing them behind us, we opened
the next door into the main aviary, and already the birds were all around us in
their own sunny, outdoor environment. There were some amazing-looking
specimens, some that I’d never even seen or heard about before: flying, perched
in branches, hidden by the lemons that grew wild in the trees, and some even
walking around on the ground and bravely strutting right up to us. They had
another walk-in environment for the monkeys as well which we planned to hit
next.

This had been the absolute best day possible, and I got a chance to share it with my wife. Not only that, but my next stay was on InnSuites!

“No thanks,” we both said, but then she directed us to the
Tazo tea. I just wanted to check in, but they had the Zen kind with lemongrass
and spearmint that my wife loves so much. While she went about pouring herself
some hot water and nabbing a couple tea bags, I started to check us in.

As I did so, I saw something that caught my attention as
well, and my wife and I were both left floundering about while the front desk
clerk stood by, smiling personably and being, I must admit, rather patient with
us both.

“What is this?” I asked, holding up a small card I found near the desk.

“That’s our InnSuites InnCentive Membership Card,” she replied. I may have seen the before, but up until now I really hadn’t taken notice of them. She explained how every night you stay gets you one punch on the twelve-point track around the card. For every three nights you stayed at an InnSuites Hotel, you were eligible for a free upgrade, and after your twelfth stay you received one complimentary night at one of the eight InnSuites-owned hotels. That would certainly help in my goal of staying at each InnSuites
hotel.

“I’ve been staying at your hotels pretty frequently,” I told her, not letting on that I was a hospitality critic writing about them, “and I haven’t seen these yet.”

“That’s not a problem,” she said, her smile still warm, “give me a moment to look into that for you.”

We had made her wait for a while as we snooped around her lobby, and now we had to wait a moment for her. I did grab that cup of coffee she had told us about, and Molly continued to sip on her piping hot Tazo Zen tea. After a few moments she came around the corner.

“I just called the Central Reservation  Center, and they were able to tell me all your previous stays because you’ve been booking with us on our website, www.innsuites.com. Here, let me take care of you guys.” She reached for the membership card I had taken
and punched all nine nights from my previous stays at the other InnSuites
hotels. “There,” she said, “now I can upgrade you to a Presidential Jacuzzi
Suite for free, if you like, and after these three nights your next one-night
stay will be on us!”

As I had come to expect from InnSuites, this young lady had gone over and above the call of duty to help us have the best possible experience, and it’s people like her that prompt me to continue writing this series on my trips to InnSuites Hotels.

“They have a children’s museum,” I tried, but she didn’t seem interested. “I’m not a child,” was her reply.

“How about Dreamy Draw  Park? I know you’ve been wanting to go hike Piestewa Peak for years now.”

“My trailblazing club is going to be taking a trip down there next month.”

“The Phoenix  Art Museum? The Arizona Science Center? The Phoenix Museum of History? The Challenger Space  Center?” Each try fell on deaf ears.

“How about the Phoenix Zoo?” she said. “Isn’t that within fifteen minutes of the hotel?”

“Just about everything I just mentioned is! We’re going for the whole weekend, if you wanted we could see it all!”

A devilish grin crossed her features. “Nope. Just the Zoo.”

And so it was settled.

She looked altogether too peaceful at the moment, so I slipped into the kitchen to make a sandwich. Before I did that, I opened up the container holding Pike’s favorite brand of food and plunged a one-cup measuring cup into it. The resulting sound of crumbling kibble went unanswered, which I at first found quite unusual.

“Pike!” I heard the angry shout from my rudely-awakened
spouse in the other room, and chuckled to myself. How typical, I thought.

“Sweetheart,” I called, stepping in the other room in time to see Pike deliver his final torrent of licks to her face before bounding away to his food dish. “I have an idea…”

TO BE CONTINUED

The drive to the foot of Mount Lemmon is not very long, but it takes about an hour and a half to drive up to the main peak. We weren’t going up all the way today, but there was so much here that I would almost certainly have to come back on another day so we could see everything. From the little town of Summerhaven, which although it burned down in the wildfires a few years back still stands just as bright and beautiful as ever, to the great
mountain trails and campsites, there was more to see and do there than one day
could provide.

Today, though, Pike and I were going to Sabino Canyon, because if there’s
one thing Pike loves, it’s water. You wouldn’t think a place like Tucson had a nice pond and waterfalls running down the sides of the mountains, but I learned my lesson (don’t judge a desert by its cover) on my trip to Tempe.

The entrance to Sabino Canyon is in a gorgeous wooded area where campers and picnickers gather on the weekend. A kite was in the air, and another dog was barking around a camper where his owners were grilling some steaks. Pike, a very well behaved dog, decided not to try and play, instead dutifully following me down into the canyon.

I could write the entire day, and it would be a hundred pages long if I put in all the experiences we had together. Most of my time was spent watching Pike run into the lake, scaring away the fish from the people lined up along one bank to catch them, and biting at the wake he made before retreating back to the safety of dry land. Even so, despite the fact
that he was acting like he’d never seen water before, Pike and I had a grand
experience all day long, and at the end we stopped on the way down to watch the
sun set over the entire city of Tucson, the view blocked only here and there by the majestic Saguaro cacti.

I scooted in next to him and kicked my shoes off the end of
the bed, stretching out and laying somewhat skewed around my too-comfortable
companion. I’ve been staying with InnSuites for a while now, but no matter how
many times I lay in one I’ll never get used to how comfortable these beds are.
They’re a bit pricey, but as soon as I save up the money I’ll be getting one
for myself: InnSuites has had so many compliments on their mattresses that they
make the information available for guests to buy them if they’re interested.

The next day would hold some pretty great surprises for my
canine companion and I, but first, we were going to have to get a good night’s
sleep. Luckily, these Cloud 9 mattresses weren’t going to stand in the way.

It’s always the same: whenever I take Pike along, he never
seems interested in sleeping in a bed that isn’t his own. You should see the
way he looks up at me with those deep, wet eyes when he first tries the
mattress. If he could talk, he’d most likely ask why we were going through this
again, and complain that we couldn’t get home soon enough.

Pike is a three-year old Australian sheep dog, purebred, and
the smartest animal I’d ever known. I got him as a puppy, and ever since he’s
been travelling with me, staying in hotels and sailing up the California
coastline. His favorite pastime is sailing with me, and he enjoys nothing more
than running back and forth up the deck making sure all my lines are secured.
He was staying with a friend when I went to Tempe, and I felt really bad that he missed Tempe Town Lake.  I thought I was going to the Phoenix Zoo instead, and Pike doesn’t get along very well with the Big Cats.

This time, however, my plans weren’t going to change, and I
was certain that Pike and I would have a blast at Sabino Canyon up in Mount Lemmon.

Hotel Tucson Foothills, like its sister InnSuites
properties, is a pet friendly location. It costs twenty dollars to have either
one or two pets of up to eighty pounds stay with you, and twenty dollars for
every pet after that. The fee is a one-time thing, so after the first night,
Pike pretty much was staying for free. They told me when I made the reservation
that he would need to remain crated if I were not in the room, but when we’re
together Pike and I are inseparable, so I didn’t think that would be a problem.
We’d find out soon enough…

Originally, I had planned on going to the Phoenix Zoo on my second day inTempe, but then I found out something that I think not many people are aware of: there is a lake inTempethat’s big enough to sail on in a small yacht. Located just 5 miles from the hotel, complete with boat rentals of all kinds, spending the day sailing in the desert wasn’t an opportunity I planned to miss.

Sailing isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, so I’ll spare you most of the details that you may not be terribly interested in, but I will tell you one thing: you can’t know until you’ve experienced it how thrilling it is to control a watercraft under the power of the wind. There’s no lanes, no traffic, no engine sound… just peace, and quiet, and the gentle rocking of the boat with the waves with the sun on your face, the wind in your hair, and brilliant blue all around. This was the perfect end to a trip that had been planned with the word “relaxation” in mind. I’d check out of the Hotel Tempe the next morning, but the next time I was looking for a break from the daily grind, I’d be picking up my phone and dialingTempe.