Hurry Up and Wait; Time for a Tiki Tour?

So, following up on the web-related workshops I attended at the Ministry Fair last weekend, I finally secured a domain for St.Michael's and All Angels so that it doesn't have to piggyback on mavarin.com any more. Don't rush to find it, though. It's not there yet. The automated email I got a minute or so ago says:

While your hosting account is now active, it typically takes between 24-48 hours before your hosting account is ready for you to upload your Web site.

Oh, good. I just spent two or three hours navigating all those screens, choosing the right available version of the screen name Father Smith and I agreed upon, accepting some services and passing on others, registering the Whosis stuff, unlocking the account, setting up the email, and finally updating several key web pages so I'd have something to upload. Now it turns out I can't upload anything yet. Phooey. I wanted something more than a handful of automated emails to show for all this work!

The other thing I did tonight, aside from chatting with friends, updating last night's entry and writing capsule reviews of Beatles films on flixster.com, was research where the heck we're going this weekend to celebrate the Big Five-Oh. John doesn't want to spend the whole weekend driving to and from somewhere (can't blame him for that!), so we're pretty much limited to Arizona, or maybe a little way into NM or Southern Cal. The condition I've placed on it is it's got to be someplace I've never been, doing something I've never done. The choices at the moment seem to be more or less as follows:

• The Verde Canyon Railroad - billed as "the finest train ride in Arizona" and "Arizona’s longest-running nature show." I was hoping it was a steam locomotive, but the photo shows a rather pretty diesel engine - turquoise, of course.
  
• Bisbee, AZ - the hilly home of a huge spiral shaped open pit mine in the middle of town - and yes, there are tours. The Copper Queen Hotel is historic, almost legendary, but there's another set of lodgings that's even more compelling: the Shady Dell, where you stay in a retro-themed bus or trailer. Haven't checked yet whether the Tiki bus is available. Bisbee isn't too far from Tombstone, so we could conceivably run down there and see the World's Largest Rosebush, and check whether the little figure of Virgil Earp still falls over with an audible clack at the Historama. Tombstone itself can't be the main destination, because we've been there at least twice before (see photo).
  
• Roswell, NM - John may decide it's out of reach for this weekend, but it's hard to resist the allure of two alien contact museums, Alien Resistance HQ and tacky souvenirs.
• Tiki tour of Funky Phoenix - I've been to Phoenix lots of times, but I haven't been to Trader Vic's (new, unfortunately), Mystery Castle, a reputed 1947 UFO crash site (but a lot closer than Roswell), a huge high-tech spire designed by Frank Lloyd Wright decades ago but only just built a couple years ago, the Hall of Flame, the Confederate Air Force Museum, and Organ Stop Pizza, where you can listen to a theatre Wurlitzer organ while munching your mushrooms and extra cheese.
• Palm Springs - Frank Sinatra had a home there, recently restored but probably not open to the public. There's a restored Tiki hotel and lounge, the Caliente Tropics Resort, and a Hawaiian furniture store, and Toucans Tiki Lounge. We've never stopped for more than gas or a burger, except for the time Teresa and I took a cab to the airport there when my Mercury Capri died. So it counts as someplace new - sort of.
  

John, if you have alternate suggestions, today's the last day to make them! That goes for the rest of you as well.

Karen