Kind of a short stop in the Phoenix area – an area we have been many times before and still really enjoy, but honestly a lot of bang for the buck on this short stop.  We did a cool tour, had lunch at one of our favorite (pizza, no less) restaurants, met up with friends/ex-neighbors, shared a drink at a cemetery, and enjoyed some food, beverage, and much laughter.

We stayed briefly at White Tank Regional Part (north and west) to get into the area, and then moved to Cave Creek Regional Park (north) for a few nights to meet up with friends.  Both are excellent places to camp, with water and electric, and similar to McDowell Regional Park in Fountain Hills (north and east) where we have stayed many times before.  The northern region of the Phoenix area is beautiful.

First up, we did a one-hour tour of an Amazon fulfillment facility in Goodyear, a highly automated facility that is simply amazing, although no pictures are allowed.  If you’re old enough to remember the Jetson’s, this facility is rooted in the future.

Not all Amazon’s 125+ centers are the same – some specialize in different products (like pharmaceuticals), package sizes, location, and any other number of characteristics that match their logistical needs.  Each facility is named after the closest airport, so in this case the facility is called GYR1 – for the Goodyear airport nearby.

This million+ square foot, 4-floor automated facility has an obvious huge amount of technology (artificial intelligence), robotics, and computing and electrical power to keep this place humming – and that’s what it does – it hums.

The fundamental steps, as you would imagine, are to receive, store, retrieve, package, label and ship, and every activity is highly prescribed.

Products are received and then stored randomly.  Imagine a pallet of Calloway golf balls arrive at this facility.  Amazon will receive the pallet and break it down into the respective packaged golf balls of, say 18 golf balls.  Each of these packages of golf balls will be stored randomly, meaning each individual package will be placed into random and discrete storage bins by an employee, those specific bins selected by the AI system by lighting up the specific bin for that package of golf balls to be placed.

The reasoning behind this adherence to randomness largely benefits Amazon when the products are ordered by customers.  Remember, the Amazon floor employees do not go to the storage shelves – the storage shelves come to them.  And when the automated racks of goods comes to their stations for products to be picked, the system highlights the storage bin where the specific product to be picked resides (by shining a light on that specific bin), and shows on a video screen for the employee what the package looks like, to make sure the right package is selected.  If you were thinking the employees went to the shelves to pick orders, like I did, you would be incorrect.  A single package of golf balls is not stored with other golf balls.  More likely, they are stored with shampoo, or wipes, or some other completely random product.

When you order a package of these golf balls, the employee picks the product, as described above, and then the product is sent in a tub to a packaging station to be packaged, labeled, and shipped.  Assuming the product needs to be packaged (i.e. cardboard box or plastic bag), the packaging is automatically selected, and an employee then places the product in that packaging, where it is  labeled (automatically), and then sent via conveyor belts to be loaded onto a truck. This truck, by the way is not the truck that shows up to your door.  The package goes to another facility where it will then be loaded on another vehicle for the final mile to your doorstop or final destination.

From the customer perspective, and in a further twist of the delivery options available, Amazon offers “hubs”, which are final delivery locations (like at a gas station) where one can have their package delivered.  For those who desire not to have packages left on their front door, or if you need a temporary delivery location (like a traveler in an RV), this presents a pretty clever option.

These hubs have multiple storage bins of various sizes.  The Amazon driver scans the package, and the hub determines the appropriately sized and currently empty locker and opens its door for the driver to place the package inside.  When you arrive as a customer, you scan your order number into the display and the door to your locker opens so you can retrieve your package.  Boom.

While in the Phoenix area, we revisited our (still) favorite pizza place for lunch – Pizzeria Bianco.  Chris Biancho founded this restaurant years ago, and in 2003 he won the James Beard Award for Best Chef (southwest), and notably the first time a pizza chef won the award.  This place is a treat.  Karen found out about it several years ago when the New York Times food critic named it the best pizza in America.  This trip we both ordered salads (OMG), I ordered a pizza, which was devoured (two sittings), and Karen ordered a pasta dish that was treated similarly.  Just fantastic.   And their olive oil and bread?  You would be making a terrible mistake visiting Phoenix and not going here for a meal (or two).

Staying in Cave Creek, we met up with friends, which was, as it always is, awesome.  We met up at an olive oil tasting place, and then moved on to a cemetery, the Cave Creek Cemetery in nearby Carefree.

The cemetery was created in 1955 with land donated by the US National Forest Service and was created to help preserve the desert nature of the area.  Why visit you ask?  The cemetery truly captures the vision of preserving the desert look and feel of the area and is worth the visit for no other reason.  While being respectful in such a location, with long-time residents and veterans interred here, one resident, Mark “Bo” Nelson, asked that you come to share a drink with him, which we obliged.  RIP Mark and all your neighbors.

Afterwards, we met up for some nourishment in Cave Creek at Harold’s, a thriving western bar and restaurant.  Even for a Wednesday evening, this place was hopping and offered live music.  Our waitress told us on a weekend the place was jammed.  You would be pardoned if you do not share their obsession with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but this place has a heavy black and gold connection.

Onwards to Colorado!