I figured that since I did take a lot of photos while I was in Tempe, I may as well share them. What’s a blog without silly photos? You may want a high-speed connection for all of this bandwidth…

What was my first stop in Tempe? Well, Fatburger, of course!

Next, it was over to campus for the first time. That crazy building is a Frank Lloyd Wright design. He originally designed it to put in Baghdad, believe it or not, but it ended up in the Arizona desert instead.

The next day started with lunch, of course. Mmm — chimichanga!

(It’s the biggest chimichanga I’ve ever seen. That’s my hand, for scale.)

Rehearsal! I wish there were audio on the blog, so you could hear how great this band is.

Later that evening, Gary Hill and I headed to dinner. Where? Why, IHOP, of course! Man, I love the country griddle cakes…

Gary went with something a little healthier. I never would have thought of getting a salad at IHOP, but this looks pretty good. I don’t know that it’s particularly low calorie (check out that piece of garlic bread), but I’m sure it was tasty.

There was a great chamber winds concert that night. After it was over, we headed to Gordon Biersch for some beer…

… and carrot cake!

The most important meal of the trip, though, was the trip to…

Even the ketchup looked good!

Just to prove that I wasn’t eating alone, here is Serena — my guide in Tempe — and her boyfriend, Darren.

Mmm… How I miss the In-N-Out burger. I had mine “animal style.” (That means “with grilled onions and mustard” — not something risque.)

And before I knew it, I was stuffed.

(The “after” picture isn’t quite as appealing.)

The next day, I attended a rehearsal of Kendra D’s piece at ASU. Following the rehearsal, we went to lunch at a local pizza place. (The pizza, believe it or not, is not pictured.)

This is a local park called “Hole In The Rock,” I think. It is, in fact, a hole. In a rock. It’s beautiful. You can take stairs up there (it’s pretty high) and see the whole city. Here’s the hole…

This is me, heading up the stairs…

… and here’s the view from the top. AEJ likes this picture, with the mountains mirroring the skyline.

It turns out that Tempe has water, too!

After sightseeing, I headed to the hall. You can’t tell from this picture, but it’s huge (there’s a second balcony, not pictured), seating 3500. Hopefully it would be more full for the concert…

Here’s the band again, just about to start the final dress rehearsal.

And finally, here’s one last shot of the music building at ASU. See ya, Tempe!

I guess I should get some “work” done now. I have some fun ideas for the Arabic wind piece. Now to see if they pan out… While I work, I’ll also be awaiting UPS, who is bring my new toy! Thanks to Karl S. at ASU for getting me an Apple Store hookup!