Grand Canyon (Day 4)

On the fourth day of my trip to Arizona, I went to the Grand Canyon. Finally, the reason we were there! Some of you might remember that earlier this year, I saw the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. Now, I bring you - The Grand Canyon of Arizona! 


We drove up to the South Rim, which is the usual spot for tourists to take pictures and walk along the rim.  After we got our fill of the view from here, we got on the Grand Canyon Visitor Shuttle. Someone familiar with DC might ask me, why would I willingly take public transportation on vacation? (Sidebar: check out "Metro Rap" to understand my plight.)


I had put my Grand Canyon trip into the trusty hands of Mr. Moon Guidebook, which had told me, for example: "Don't bother with driving, take the shuttle, which is GREAT!" and "The lines at the entrance are SO LONG!"


The shuttle? Now I know where fired Metrobus drivers go to get a job. Our driver was completely out of it, prompting one person in the back to shout, "Snap out of it, Jerry!" which garnered chuckles from everyone else on the bus. 


Luckily, even though the guidebook I had was filled with dumb advice about how to avoid long lines of 2-3 cars,  the park ranger gave us a free guide which told me everything I wanted to know about the park, such as how to identify plants and wildlife in the park. Thumbs up! 


Views at Grand Canyon of PA: One gorge covered in trees. 


Views at Grand Canyon of AZ: 

We went to the Bright Angel trailhead where we did some hiking into the canyon. 

Hike in Grand Canyon of PA: Moderate to Strenous - lots of stairs on the path and a steep climb back up


Hike in Grand Canyon of AZ: Moderate - but with more inclines than stairs, it made it fairly easy to return back to the top


On our way home after our excursion, we stopped in the town of Flagstaff, AZ, which is halfway between Sedona and Grand Canyon. Cool town, with a main street-meets-hippie vibe. We ate sushi for dinner at Karma Sushi, because no road trip is complete without me indulging my love for tuna and salmon rolls. I may travel, but I take no vacation from eating sushi. 

Awesome Red Rocks of Sedona (Day 3)

Today's post is about Day 3 of my trip to Arizona. We spent most of Day 3 (Sunday) driving from Phoenix to Sedona. We made a short (2 hours) but scenic drive between the two. I took a lot of pictures on our drive from inside the car. Outside of Phoenix are big rocky hills covered in saguaro cacti, and as you get closer to Sedona are forest and mountains which eventually cede to the Red Rocks that Sedona is known for. The rocks are staggeringly beautiful.

I have to say that I enjoyed the scenery here even more than the Grand Canyon. I know the Grand Canyon is one of the 7 wonders of the world, and maybe it is blasphemy against nature to say something looks better than the Grand Canyon. But I have to admit that the Red Rocks are just as striking and even more fun to explore because you can see different rocks as you drive down the highway (instead of having to hike or drive long distances to see a different point of view of the Canyon). There's not as much instant gratification with the Grand Canyon.

I will never forget the hotel either. The pool and hot tub were surrounded by the red rocks - this was one pimp hotel. Sometimes with all the stress of life I forget that there are simple pleasures in life, like the feeling of warm bubbles and wind in my hair.

Floating the day away in Phoenix (Day 2)

Today I will tell you about Day 2 of my recent trip to Arizona. On Saturday morning, the first thing we did in Phoenix was to follow the advice of our guidebook and eat brunch at a place called America's Taco Shop where we ate huge bowls of shrimp ceviche. That is the way to start the day off. Tortilla chips and seafood.

For most of the afternoon, we enjoyed life and the heat at the water park at our hotel. Yes, you heard me right. There was a lazy river, a "sports pool," lots of waterfalls, and another big pool at the hotel. We swam around in the lazy river for awhile, and then we played a game of water volleyball with some kids that were in the pool. We sat in lounge chairs that had little flags to flip up whenever we wanted refreshments. Whenever I am stressed out in life, I will think of this perfect moment of floating around in the pool in the sunshine on a hot, hot day. 

In the later part of the day, we drove around Tempe, where my boyfriend used to live for awhile and also where the ASU campus is located. The Phoenix area itself is in a valley surrounded by desert mountains, and at Papago Park in Tempe there are some large rock formations. We climbed to the top of a rock called Hole-in-the-Wall and watched the sun set over the city. The city lights were beautiful. 

Phoenix, the "Dry Heat" (Day 1)

Someone mentioned to me the other day that I haven't posted in awhile, and I tend not to post when I get busy or when I've just returned from vacation. It always takes me about a week just to catch up on everything in my life after my travels! Luckily that is the case this week. In the next few days I will be sharing stories and pictures from my recent trip to Arizona.

A lot of times I hear, "Boy, you sure do travel a lot!" Yes, I love seeing new places, taking pictures, trying new cuisine, walking around, and hiking around in nature. I hate booking hotels and flights though. Whenever I log onto priceline.com, I feel like my soul has been crushed. Luckily for me, my boyfriend is a hotel and flight booking wizard. To paint a picture for you, he looks up hotels in his spare time for fun. He also has some pretty awesome travel benefits through work, which has afforded us an incredibly valuable opportunity to travel as often as we do. That being the case, we're a little "biased" in the hotels that we stay at, so I won't mention those by name.We want to take advantage of the opportunity while we have it, because you never know when things might change.

We left on a Friday evening after work and got into Phoenix, AZ late at night. Just about the only place open to eat was a 24-hour-diner, 5 & Diner, so we went there after a local recommended the chicken pot pie to us. I have never seen this before, but in Arizona, because of the dry heat, all the outdoor patios have misters (Not like Mr.'s, but you know, misters). Coming from DC, I had a hard time believing anyone would want to actually add humidity to the air:

I also spotted this kooky van outside the restaurant - with a wizard riding a horse, chasing a flying dragon, flying towards a tiger, outside a castle. Drug reference or mythical fairy tale?