December 12, 2017 –
Over Thanksgiving we went to Arizona for our first time and WE LOVED IT! I’m not being dramatic when I say that it was the best thing that could have happened to me.
You know how it goes, fall turns to winter dramatically in Idaho and I was sucked into the gloom and doom that matched the weather. After one too many gloomy days we flew out to Arizona and let me tell ya, traveling is the best medicine! Getting out of the icky Idaho weather was EXACTLY what I needed! Landing in that dry warm air was puuuuuure money! However, that only happened after a 3 hour delay and a really crowded flight. But all good, I sat next to a guy with a dog so I can’t complain.
When we got off the plan I was so excited! The first thing we did was look for a cactus! I HAD NEVER SEEN A REAL LIFE CACTUS BEFORE! They are just as magical as I thought they would be!
We went on a hike during out trip but it was more of a rock climb. Not exaggerating! We increased in elevation of 1700 ft within a mile! Austin and I love hiking…well.. Austin loves hiking.. I only like it haha. I liked it a little less half way up the mountain only to realize we weren’t even close to the top yet. It didnt help that we only brought one water bottle.. that went pretty quick! When we finally got to the top it was breathtaking! I’m pretty sure we could see the earth slightly curve because we were so high up! It was all fun and games, we were just sitting there minding our own business when all of a sudden I was attacked. MY ARM WAS VIOLATED BY A BEE STINGER! That little loser bee stung my arm at the very top of the hike which meant I had to hike all the way down with that annoying stinging pain. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal had I not been allergic to bees… I’m not like “can’t breathe, close up my throat” allergic buttttt I do get insanely swollen wherever I get stung..soooooo… my arm puffed up to the size of an elephant and it itched like crazy.
We loved the shopping in Arizona! It had the most beautiful malls! I love shopping, but for the first time in my life, I just wanted to walk around and look at the architecture of the buildings instead because they are THAT nice! Since it was getting close to Christmas time, everything was lit up. All I’m saying is, if you haven’t seen a palm tree lit up, you are missing out!
A few days before we left to AZ, we ate at an Ethiopian restaurant. We thought would be a fun experience! Boy were we wrong. The food was okay, but it made us siiiiick! I was “lucky” enough to throw it up the next day, but it stayed in Austin’s system a little longer.. thus making him SUPER sick when we left for AZ! Poor Austin had never been that sick in his life! Thanksgiving is NOT a good time to get food poisoning! … but then again.. is there ever a good time to get food poisoning?
One of our favorite things to do in AZ was walk around Lost Dutchman’s park! The scenery didn’t even look real! In all of our pictures it just looks like a backdrop! This was the only day it got “hot.” All the other days of our trip were the PERFECT temperature!
We decided to drive back to Idaho after our little week in paradise. It was a lot cheaper to get a rental car and drive back because the flight tickets for the Sunday after thanksgiving were EXPENSIVE! This meant we had a 16 hour drive in front of us.
We decided to split up the drive and stop at a few national parks. I GOT TO SEE THE GRAND CANYON FOR MY FIRST TIME! It was amazing! Austin was freaking out about heights the whole time which might have made me smile more than the view. It was so cool to see all the different ethnicities that came all the way across the world to visit that beautiful sight! Everyone was wearing coats and heavy hiking gear.. Austin and I were wearing short sleeve shirts and flip flops! Idaho weather does that to ya I guess!
Anyways, Arizona is awesome and we’ll probably live there someday (mark my words). We need to visit again in the summer before we make that decision though!
