Traveling to Phoenix to See Jeremy Zucker
Introduction
Happy Friday and welcome to my website! Thank you for stopping by. Today’s post will be pretty out of the ordinary. Fridays are always reserved for personal content, and today’s post is no exception. At the end of October, I took a trip to Phoenix, Arizona to see one of my favorite artists perform in concert. This is my first real event since the start of the pandemic, so I was both excited and nervous about it. While in Phoenix, I also took the opportunity to see some sights, read a little, and experience some local vegan food! The journey was brief, but I packed it full of experiences as best I could. Today, I’m going to talk a bit about what I did on the trip.
There’s a video version of this post available on my YouTube channel, which I would strongly suggest you check out because I took several photos and videos during my trip that will be best viewed on that post. You can view it below if you’re interested!
All right, let’s get started!
Food
I’m going to kick it off with the food. I mostly cooked for myself as I wasn’t in Phoenix for long and I had to spend two of my days working because I didn’t actually take time off for this trip (and I am immensely grateful that my job is fully remote). However, I got food from three different places while I was there and want to review my experiences at each of them. As always, I also post these reviews on Google Maps in case you follow me over there (some people do, for some reason; I don’t really promote it, but here we are).
The Coronado PHX
The Coronado was an excellent stop! I was in Phoenix just for the weekend and looking for a quick vegan bite shortly after I landed while I waited for my AirBnB to be ready. The Coronado is conveniently just around the corner from Sky Harbor, making it a really easy stop before or after a flight!
The service was remarkable both times I visited (I went after I landed and then I HAD to go again just a couple of days later right before my flight, waking up extra early to ensure I would have time to do so) and so was the food! I had the biscuits and gravy the first time (pictured) and then ordered the burrito for my second meal (not pictured because I was in a rush, sorry). Much like the service, the food was also incredible.
This place easily gets five stars from me and I see no reason why anyone would not stop here if they're flying into or out of Phoenix. It's right there! This is a convenient and delicious stop that anyone should check out if they're in Phoenix looking for vegan food.
Simon’s Hot Dogs
This place wasn't too far from my AirBnB so I had no excuse not to give it a shot! I'm vegan myself, so I tried to support spots that were either fully vegan or had vegan offerings. Simon's has several vegan options and they're hot dogs, so I definitely wanted to give it a go! We don't have much in the way of vegan hot dogs here in Kansas City, other than a food truck that is only active on occasion (often an occasion when I can't make the jaunt out to see them, sadly), so the chance to grab one at a restaurant was too good to pass up.
I stopped by Simon's and ordered the cowboy, made vegan, and really enjoyed it. The food was pretty solid--nothing super spectacular, but still really good. It was quick, I enjoyed it, and I could see myself stopping here often if I lived in the area. I'd love to have the chance to try some of their other options, as the cowboy wasn't personally my favorite, but some of the other choices looked good. If I'm ever in the area again, I'll be sure to come back and try something new.
The Herb Box
During my visit to Phoenix, Arizona, I was working and so wasn't able to stop by the Herb Box to experience the full atmosphere. I had to order out, so I'm purely rating that experience here. This is unfortunate because the photos of this restaurant look gorgeous and I'd have loved to stop in and get the full experience! Maybe next time.
The food I had was absolutely incredible. I was eager to support local restaurants with vegan offerings during my stay in Phoenix and this one was thankfully within delivery distance of my AirBnB, so I put in an order. I got the Vegan Nosh Board and an iced tea. While the latter of those items left something to be desired, the food was simply divine! It was just fantastic, all of the ingredients complimented one another so well and it was prepared to perfection. My only regret is that I didn't order two.
Hopefully, I can stop in for some more food again in the future, preferably while actually getting to experience the atmosphere of this restaurant.
Nature
I was right in the heart of Phoenix and the only day that I had to explore was the same day that I had the concert (which was my entire reason for wanting to go to Phoenix). Unfortunately, this meant I couldn’t drive more than a half-hour away from my AirBnB, so my opportunities for hikes were pretty bleak. That said, I did make a quick jaunt to Papago Park. This park was truthfully a bit disappointing because it’s highly industrialized without much nature. It was tough to get a single shot that didn’t have a street light, road, or power line in it. This was disappointing but understandable.
It was also considerably crowded, even in the early afternoon on a weekday, so that was a bummer, too. I was practically battling crowds at a few points just to get through, which isn’t really the experience I want when I’m trying to get a solid nature experience. However, again, I totally understand this as it isn’t exactly a secluded park and it isn’t off the beaten path like most parks that I visit when I’m on vacation. I was limited in my options, here, so crowds and signs of human development are all to be expected when I’m under these circumstances.
So, all of that being in mind, this was overall a pretty nice park. It was clean and pleasant, with some nice views of the city and distant mountains. I got a couple of photos, though once again it was hard to get a decent shot here. I wouldn’t come to this park with photography in mind, at least not during the busier times of day, but there were still some decent enough views.
When I return to Arizona in the future, I’ll be sure to book an extra day so that I can go farther from the city to experience the sights beyond Phoenix, as Papago Park just didn’t quite do it for me.
The Concert
Let’s get to the heart of my trip: the concert. I have wanted to see Jeremy Zucker in concert for several years now—really, ever since the song ghosts happened to play on a radio in my music player (it was Google Play Music back then, now it’s YouTube Music). I fell in love with the song, followed him, and started listening to his entire catalog. He never fails to impress me and tug at those heartstrings. His new album, in particular, CRUSHER, really hits home for me, especially songs like I can’t look at you and HONEST, both of which he performed live.
Going out there for the concert, I had a list of songs I really wanted to hear him play: you were good to me, always i’ll care, ghosts, Desire, I can’t look at you, HONEST, and talk is overrated, with I can’t look at you being the one I wanted to see most since it’s currently my favorite of his. He performed always, i’ll care and HONEST in his set and that alone was enough to make me happy—I even cried a little during always, i’ll care. It’s a beautiful song, sue me. However, when he closed out the set and there was no response to calls for an encore, I feared I wouldn’t get to hear my favorite song. People were piling out of the venue. I was still there, though lingering toward the back as I figured there wouldn’t be an encore.
And then, Jeremy came back on stage. He didn’t just perform my favorite song, I can’t look at you, but he also performed another one I’d really wanted to hear: talk is overrated. Not only did I get to hear two more songs I’d really hoped to hear from him as part of my journey out to Phoenix, but I also got to be really close to the front for them because so many people had disbanded and made their way to the parking lot by the time he came out for an encore.
Sucks for them!
He put on an incredible show; it was excellent enough that I would love to see him again, someday. Hopefully, I’ll get to see him perform with Chelsea Cutler—that would be a dream come true. He was performing such a concert as part of this tour, but I sadly couldn’t make it work with my schedule, so I missed out. Next time!
Conclusion
This has been a pretty brief post about my vacation in Phoenix, which makes sense given that so much of my time there was spent working rather than making memories. The joy of a full-time job. If you wanna see me escape from the travesty of full-time employment, you can do so by supporting me for free! The best way to do so is to subscribe to my YouTube channel, but you can also follow me on social media. I’m @tlbainter on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, with the latter being where I’m most active.
Thank you for taking the time to check out this post, your time and support—in whatever form it comes in—is tremendously appreciated. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Next Friday, I’m going to release a post about my NaNoWriMo experience, this year. I’m excited to be participating in that since it’s been a while. My goal is to get between forty and sixty thousand words written in my novel that’s tentatively titled Keeping Secrets from Friends, and I’m posting at least one update every day on my progress with this on Instagram, so be sure to follow me there if you want more consistent updates regarding it!
Until the next post, bye!
Seaport in the summerThe waiter pours me wineYou compliment my sweaterI think I got that shit onlineYou told me that you're soberBut get high with your friendsYou said that you were younger, and substance pulled you underI should've known how this would endWell, it's alright if you lie to meAnd I don't see throughWhy would I assumeThat you'd play me for a fucking fool?I'm not in the moodNow I can't look at youSomehow I can't rememberIf you're even aliveThank God we're not togetherAnd nobody asks if you're alrightI let friends go, I made enemiesBut never like this, now you're dead to meI blocked your cellphone and your handleI think it's over, I think you're cancelledYour dad called me when we last spokeHe asked about you, that's a bad jokeI should've left you a little soonerNow that's humorWhen you say that it's alright if you lie to meAnd I don't see throughWhy would I assumeThat you'd play me for a fucking fool?I'm not in the moodNow I can't look at you