Our Winter Vacation to Arizona... and Colorado!

We have had quite a winter vacation these last two weeks! We had only planned on being in Arizona for a week - we were there to visit Sara's best friend from high school, Jaime, and her husband, Jeff. What we didn't plan for was the blizzard that hit the Midwest on the day we were supposed to return home! We had a layover in Denver, Colorado and ended up getting stranded there because our flight to Grand Rapids was canceled. Thankfully, Sara's best friend from college, Sara, and her husband, Adam, live nearby and came to rescue us at the airport! We weren't able to book a return flight until Friday night - 3 days later! So we were fortunate enough to spend some unexpected time with Sara and Adam. Thankfully Kevin, Carson, and I all enjoy being spontaneous! We made the best of it and enjoyed our extended vacation. And how lucky for Sara to have spent some great, quality time with both of her best friends! Especially as they each prepare for the births of their first child!

We started out with our vacation in Arizona. Jaime and Jeff live in Scottsdale, just outside of Phoenix. This was our first time in Arizona - and what an awesome time of year to make the trip! The night before we left, the wind chill in the Flint area was 25 below zero. The coolest day we had in Arizona was our day in Sedona at 55 degrees. The rest of the days we spent in and around the Valley of the Sun and in the southern part of the state were in the mid-60s and 70s. It was awesome!

Our flights out to Arizona didn't really go as planned (maybe that should have been our first hint that this would be quite the adventure!). We made it out of Grand Rapids and into Denver on time and had a great flight, but our connection in Denver was delayed by about 3 1/2 hours. Which means we didn't get to Jaime's and Jeff's condo until nearly 2:00am local time. This felt like 4:00am to us, but we were surprisingly awake at that point. I guess since our bodies are used to getting up at that time on work days. We were able to crash pretty easily once we went to bed, though. It was a long day. Kevin and Carson got some good sleep on the airplane, at least. Not so much for Sara, but that's normal.

We passed all the extra time in the Denver airport by riding the moving walk ways. Carson loved those things!

The good thing about our delay is that we were all forced to adjust to the time change immediately. That helped a lot. We got up Wednesday morning and took it easy for a bit, taking our time getting ready, and taking a quick walk around the condo complex.  We thought it was awesome to see a gorgeous lemon tree growing right outside Jaime's and Jeff's condo! 

Then we took off for Sedona in red rock country. Sedona is gorgeous! We knew we'd love it since we loved the red rocks in Colorado so much, but it is just amazingly beautiful! We could easily spend several days or a week there, hiking, shopping, and just enjoying the views.

We took a Pink Jeep Tour while we were in Sedona. We did the 2-hour Broken Arrow tour. It is the most adventurous tour offered and it was awesome! If you love off-roading, this is the tour for you! We all had a blast! Carson was squealing and laughing, thoroughly enjoying the ride. He did want Sara to hold his hand through some of it, but he was loving it. It was like being on the roller coaster of nature! Navigating bumpy off-road trails, rock climbing, and traversing some very treacherous terrain. At one point you crawl down Mushroom Rock at Chicken Point at a 45-degree angle! We were thankful for our seat belts! They were the only thing keeping us in the Jeep!  The tour ends with a trip down the Road of No Return, which was definitely what it felt like!

We stopped a few times to take in the scenery and hike up some of the rocks. It was quite windy the day we were there, so it was a little extra nerve-racking having a toddler running around... I think my heart skipped quite a few beats a few different times. :) But Carson absolutely loved hiking on the red rocks. We all did!

After the Jeep tour, we took a drive through the mountains to the "ghost town" of Jerome. We tried to go to Tuzigoot National Monument, but it was closing as we arrived. Same with Jerome State Historic Park. Oh well. We got to enjoy the views anyway. You get a beautiful view of the mountains, red rocks, and the snow-covered San Francisco peaks in Flagstaff.

On Thursday, we got up and headed out to meet up with Sara's friend, Robin, from elementary/high school. She had been out in Chandler/Phoenix at her sister's house, so we met up while we were both out there. We all went hiking at Pinnacle Peak in Scottsdale. We can finally say that we climbed a mountain! :) It's a small one, with the highest point on the trail at 2,889 feet... but its still considered a mountain. :) I seriously did not think I was going to make it about half-way through the hike. You start out climbing up Pinnacle Peak, then down the other side, only to wind your way up the next mountain and down the other side. Its a total of 3 1/2 miles from start to finish. The back side of the second mountain is absolutely killer! It is very steep and full of huge steps and steep inclines. Our legs were all shaking after hiking back up that side. That's when I thought I just might have to spend my life on the mountain or get air-lifted off - ha. :) We just took a rest on a bench for a bit and had a snack before taking off again. And guess what? We all made it! It felt great to accomplish that hike. And I even considered going back to do it again another day. (How quickly we forget!) :)

After our hike, we stopped for lunch at Picazzo's, which is an organic pizza and salad place. We all had a slice of pizza and salad - it was so good! After lunch, we headed back to the condo to meet up with Auntie Jaime, who had gotten out of work early. We all headed to the pool to enjoy the awesome weather and sunshine. Later, we headed out to dinner at Joe's Farm Grill in Gilbert, which has been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. We had a delicious meal!

On Friday morning, Kevin and Jeff headed out early to conquer Camelback Mountain, while Jaime, Carson, and I hung out at the condo. Carson just wanted to play with Jack. Camelback is a pretty intense hike. Its very steep and difficult. Someday I hope to hike it, too. Kevin loved it! He said he wasn't sure he'd make it a couple of times, but the views from the top and the sense of accomplishment were well worth it! Too bad we didn't send the camera with them!  I did take a picture of Camelback as we were driving down the highway, though.

Once the guys got back, we loaded up and headed south to Tucson for the night. We drove through and did some hiking at Saguaro National Park West. We saw some petroglyphs, which Carson (and the rest of us) thought were very cool! We stayed in the park to watch a beautiful sunset! The sunsets in Arizona are just gorgeous with all the blues, purples, reds, pinks, oranges, and yellows. We got to see some wildlife while we were there, too. Some jackrabbits and some black-tail deer. We heard lots of coyotes howling, too, which Carson loved!

After sunset, we headed into Tucson to find our hotel and some dinner. We ate at a neat salad and soup buffet restaurant called Sweet Tomatoes. It was a great healthy dinner. Then we went back to the hotel to enjoy the hot tub and hang out.

Saturday morning we got up and headed out to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson. What a cool place! We all had a great time checking out all the aircraft. They had some really neat stuff, fighter jets, bombers, a Black Bird, old Air Force Ones, helicopters, even the jet from Top Gun!

After the museum, we stopped for a quick lunch at In-N-Out Burger (yum!) and headed south to Tombstone, the town too tough to die. We got out and walked around Tombstone, talked to some cowboys, and looked around in the shops. The power had just gone out when we got there, so there wasn't much else to do. Carson got some toy cowboy guns, which he has been wanting for awhile now and he was intrigued by all of the cowboys. We all got a kick out of some of them, as well as the signs they have around town.

Next, we loaded up and headed south, almost to the Mexican border, to the town of Bisbee. Bisbee is so cute! Its a very artsy town with lots of fun shops. We had a great organic dinner at the High Desert Inn while we were there. Then we headed back to our hotel for the night.

Sunday morning, we got up and headed back to Scottsdale. We stopped in Tucson to check out the University of Arizona campus. We walked around campus a bit - it was so beautiful! It felt like southern California! We picked some sour oranges while we were there, too. They were too sour to eat, but they were great to use in our waters. We stopped for a really tasty lunch at the Frog & Firkin on the main drag by campus, then headed back to Scottsdale.

Once we were back at the condo, Auntie Jaime, Jack, Carson, and I took off on a walk to a nearby playground, while Jeff and Kevin hit up the local brewery for a Growler. Carson loved playing at the park and met a friend, Aiden. We got to see another amazing sunset before we headed back to the condo.

On Monday, we headed into Scottsdale to do some exploring and shopping. We met Auntie Jaime in Old Scottsdale for lunch and then just enjoyed the plazas, fountains, shops, and sun for awhile.

Many of the trees are all green like this one... bark and all... they're crazy!

Once Carson was ready for a nap, we took a drive to South Mountain for some scenic views of the Valley.

After that, we headed back to the condo to cook dinner and have a birthday party for Carson. He was a little confused by the idea at first, but caught on quickly and was so thrilled! He mentions his party and his birthday muffins (cupcakes) with his auntie and uncle almost daily. :)

The next day, Tuesday, was the day we were to fly home.  We were made aware that a huge blizzard was headed towards Chicago and lower Michigan earlier in the week.  Sara had called the airlines several times on Monday and Tuesday to see about switching our flight to arrive sooner and beat the storm.  United Airlines does not seem to be too customer-friendly, though, and would not waive the change fees to take an earlier flight.  There was no way we were going to pay over $1,500 to chang our flights, we had to take our chances. 

On our way to the airport, we learned that our flight to Grand Rapids had been canceled.  But when we arrived at the airport, the flight was back on.  So we boarded the plane and took off for Denver.  Little did we know, they canceled the Grand Rapids flight not even 4 minutes after we took off.  We landed in Denver and learned that our flight was canceled.  DIA was a mess!  There were airplanes parked at angles all along the taxiways, the hangars were full, the gates were full.  Airplanes were pulling into gates, unloading, and then backing out and parking along the taxiways... grounded.  There were people every where in the airport.  We got in line to find out when we would be rescheduled and learned that we'd be in Denver until Friday night... 3 days later!  Thankfully, our friends Sara and Adam graciously welcomed us into their home! 

We spent our time in Denver just relaxing, helping Sara and Adam out with some projects to help them get ready for the arrival of their first son at the end of March, visiting the REI flagship store, and just hanging out.  It was great to spend some time with the two of them.  It was unseasonably cold in Denver while we were there... figures, right?  When we had really only packed for spring/summer weather.  :)  The good thing is that Denver has such low humidity, so even though it was 18 below zero when we arrived on Tuesday night... it felt like about 25-30 degrees in Michigan.  We weren't really chilled or cold at all.  It was great! 

We finally made it home late Friday night.  We got back to our house around 2:30 AM on Saturday morning.  It felt good to be home, though we are missing our friends, Jaime, Jeff, Sara and Adam a lot!  We cherish the time we had together and the memories and pictures we have.  And we look forward to the next time we get to see them all and especially to the arrival of Baby Nelson and Baby Stempihar in March and August!! 

Thank you, again, to Jaime and Jeff!!  And to Sara and Adam!!  We miss and love you guys!!!