We pass through Flagstaff often when we drive to California, this time we stopped for lunch. Flagstaff has a great downtown area, very charming with lots of little shops. We ate at a diner downtown and then wandered around for a bit. I love this part of Arizona, it's so green with lots of mountains and the perfect weather - 75 degrees.
There was one part of the trip that Cameron neglected to tell me about. The Grand Canyon! Every time we pass the exit on our way to or from California I beg him to turn and he never does. He's never been and it is a must see.
After an hour's drive north we arrived! I took a lot of photos at the Grand Canyon....it's kind of hard not to.
After the Grand Canyon we made our way to Phoenix.
On Saturday we went to visit the Mesa Temple. The visitor's center was great and the grounds where beautiful. There was a great exhibit of old photographs from when the Temple was being built (1927). I love old photographs. LOVE THEM.
We spent the rest of the day wandering around town. Phoenix is beautiful but I'm not so sure about the heat. It was about 110 degrees from the time we woke up to when we went to bed. No bueno. A hot and sweaty Natalie is not a happy Natalie.
We had lunch with two of my cousins who live there, made sure to visit Ikea and a few other stores we don't have in Albuquerque.
I have a confession to make. A big nerdy confession. I love capital buildings. Almost as much as I love old photographs and capital building always have old photographs. Every time I go to a capital city I have to go see the capital building. Every one is different and represents the place and time period it was built.
Unfortunately, the Phoenix building was closed so I couldn't take the tour (much to Cameron's relief) but I did walk around the grounds.
And here is Cameron with a giant cactus...I'm not sure what he's doing. Probably praising the gods that we didn't have to take the capital building tour.
That night we took the Metro Link (kind of like the Bart) into downtown and went to an Arizona Diamondbacks game. My first professional baseball game! I love sports and particularly baseball BUT the only reason I agreed to go to the game was because the ballpark had a roof and was air conditioned. Glorious air conditioning! They played the Houston Astros and won. We stuffed our faces with hotdogs, garlic fries, cotton candy, and pretty much everything else the vendors were selling, at one point I almost bought a margarita...almost. (By accident! It looked like frozen lemonade I swear.)
As we left the stadium it opened up and poured rain. Rain and 110 degrees is not the business. Standing for 30 minutes in a metro car packed with sweaty, soaked, mostly drunk strangers and crying children is definitely not the business. But I did manage to snap this cool picture of downtown Phoenix.
Turns out Cameron had an ulterior motive for going to Phoenix....
This just so happened to be opening weekend for The Dark Knight Rises and Phoenix just so happens to have the largest IMAX theater in the Southwest. Six stories tall and eight stories wide. You know how I know that? Because on Sunday morning I got to meet her in person. I'm pretty sure Cameron considered leaving me for her but I lured him back with the promise of In and Out before we left town.
The movie was amazing and a great end to the series. This movie only strengthened my husband's man crush on Christopher Nolan (the director). The car ride home was devoted to how amazing he is.
We are now back home and back to work and school. Cameron finishes up his classes this week then off to Ruidoso for 2 weeks for work then back to school. Work continues to keep me busy but I like it that way.
Sleep is for the weak.
1 comment:
This whole trip sounds great. Yes, the heat sounds like something you would not enjoy. An air conditioned baseball game - never heard of that before. the pictures are great.
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