With four months of work in Portland finally ending last Friday, I detoured through Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon, and North-South through Nevada, before spending a few days in the Phoenix area.
Portland has been under off-and-on shutdowns for months - no bars, salons, breweries, day cares, gyms. And the shutdown continued through Washington State and Nevada, save for the gaming floors in Vegas where I spent a night at the Flamingo. Everything else about Vegas - the pools, nightclubs (DJing, bottle service), shows, buffets - is shutdown.
Then into Arizona, Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe couldn't've been more opposite in terms of business. Everything was open, mostly with no seating capacity limits. The open-air brunch spots lining Scottsdale BLVD were packed. College bars and taco shops in Tempe packed. Malls open across Phoenix. Everybody was wearing their masks, but in general bartenders and waitresses weren't militant about enforcing masks like what I ran into in Portland if I took one step away from the table, if things were even open in Portland. Lots of Texas and California license plates in Scottsdale, likely people enjoying what life was like before the pandemic shut down the economy last April.
