Not long ago - shockingly with my lack of blogging time as of late- I went to Arizona! I did not take on this adventure alone! No, I went with the Mahster Trip Planner. The trip was awesome. Rushed, a TON of driving, lots of drinking, and way too much bad food! My kind of trip! Wait, I meant drinking water - don't go reading into things. Sheesh!
Anyhow, our adventure started with our flight- it was soooo early. Thanks to the fact that I've taken Ani to the airport a dozen times or so, she was able to pick us up at 5am and we were at DCA in plenty of time to see the sunrise....Ouch!
Dani discovered 'mountains' - I still call eastern hills Mountains, but these were definitely bigger and well....Uglier! Eastern mountains are so Green and alive. Western mountains look all dry and pointy! Now, just cuz I say Uglier, doesn't mean I don't love them just as much if not more than those I'm so used to seeing. Actually, Brown is my new favorite color! When you grow up in green country, it becomes boring. To tell the truth, for years I've noticed weeds and underbrush and just thought- these woods have become too green! Fall is my favorite season for a reason! Everything changes colors and then DIES! Maybe I
should live in the desert.
Okay, enough about that. Anyhow- we took a few fun pictures from the air, and even came up with a fun game of 'keep the jet in the center' - its much harder than it sounds!
Anyhow, we took off in our fabulous gas-guzzling Jeep Liberty (which was pretty comfortable) - and headed to the Grand Canyon. We made a lot of stops along the way. Chick-Fil-A for lunch, Montezuma's castle, Sonic for drinks, and Sedona for the red rocks! We drove the route that took us through Sedona, that was a little strange, but awesome country side. I think we stopped at 3 lookout points...Loads of fun and pics!
We drove, and drove, and drove, and suddenly we were in more flat territory and were wondering when we would see the canyon. Its kinda crazy, you're driving along and then BAM! There's a HUGE Canyon on your right.... Seriously!!! Who saw that coming!? I didn't! I mean, I was anticipating something, but I do believe my heart skipped a beat or three when it just opened up into view! Wow!
We checked in and headed out for sunset! The walk was a little farther than we expected, but we saw many critters on the path...Deer in Az are HUGE compared to my little white tailed button bucks in PA. Still super cute though...their little, and by little I mean HUGE, ears! Too Adorable!
We scoped out our spot for sunrise, a cool little ledge that not too many people go out on apparently-I guess it wasn't as much of an adventure as we though...it was still fun though and made for great pics. Then we went to get food....I don't think we were hungry or anything- we only spend $48 for food which we thought we would use on a short morning hiking experience. That's right - $48. Okay- so in the long run, that food ended up getting us through all of our long drives, midnight munchies, and we had loads of fluids which were more than a must, but we may have taken the pamphlet just a tad too seriously when it read 'eat plenty of Salty foods and drink lots of water.'
That night I slept through the premiere of Grey's Anatomy and 5am came way too early, BUT we managed to get up and get the early bus to our sunrise spot! A large slow-moving cloud damaged our view for the initial moments of sunrise glory, but it finally moved and we were able to see some great colors and take some fun shots! We moved around some after that, and jogged maybe 30 steps up a slight hill...I about died! My lungs felt as if they were not getting any Oxygen at all... SAD!
We met our friend Rory at our next stop, and decided to spend our morning adventures with him rather than the unexciting trail hike we had originally set out to take on that morning. Rory was a cool guy- UK born but living in Kentucky, Rory told us of his many adventures and then treated us to breakfast! Can't beat that! [Again- you find us eating]
After checkout- we headed back to Phoenix...yes, another long drive! Remember though, we had loads of food and drink for the trip. Good times! Phoenix was surprisingly small to me, but not too bad. A stop at ASU (for some shorts), a visit with Dave, and a quick moment to relax - and we were off to see Blackbeard! A rather popular show amongst the LDS in Phx. It was quite good... 'If you wanna be a pirate!'
We tried to stay up talking with our friend, but I was unsuccessful. I finally gave in and literally did not wake until morning. Not even a little. I didn't even put on blankets I was so tired! Next day, I needed a workout. I was craving sports, but there were none to be played. Our guy pals didn't even have a football to toss around! So we walked....and walked...and jogged a little. That felt fabulous. Dave took us to TC Eggington - that little place rocked the house! I got the 'Piglet Special' Omlet. I did take away 2/3 of the Piglet within, but it was still not good for me! I'm sure.
Next it was off to Tucson (Tuck-sun). Long, Flat, Boring drive! It was good though. First time having In-N-Out Burger...not my favorite but tasty nonetheless. Our hotel was awesome (esp. for $50). The pool was small, but wet! And Matt caught up with us for some late afternoon poolside chatter! I miss that Guy! Then it was a quick get ready to go, a stop at a terrible bbq joint (food, yet again), and then a UofA Women's Volleyball game. It was a lot of fun, although the game went on forever and UofA tanked when it counted most.
Ice Cream, and then Bed - Finally!
Up with the sun, I went for a jog. I needed to work of at least a little of the mounds of food I'd been eating. It felt so good to jog without humidity! If I had been in shape- I could have run forever.
We went to church with 1 mission. To meet Jose! I'm not usually one for LOVING the visit to foreign wards, but we new we just had to hear the accent so humorously impersonated by Matt. Mission accomplished within moment of sitting in the chapel. Piano playing Jose (See yo-yo's videos for impersonation) gave us plenty of entertainment to get through the painful ward conference sacrament meeting! Tucksun's people were not very friendly. Do you think they knew we were mocking one of their own?
Post church -more food, a visit to the UofA bookstore (bought xl pants so I had something comfortable to wear), and we were back on our way to Phoenix for our flight home.
It has been settled in my head that I am not ready to move to Arizona. Not yet. I love the fact that you can get lost in DC. I love the fact that people are ACTIVE. I love that I can play sports every night w/ friends. I would miss that too much. However, I do really like Arizona, and could see me living there if I had a family!
Peace out- and happy border patrolling.
