Amazing Arizona

Me and a cactus

Now that all the conference stuff is out of the way, here's the touristy, family vacation part of my Arizona experience!

I said before that the flight down was a little rough, but at least I got to see things like Utah's Great Salt lake and the Grand Canyon on the way down.

As soon as we landed in Phoenix, I was floored by how beautiful, and different, Arizona was. Cacti, palm trees, mesas, adobe houses that looked like they were from the Flintstones. And that was just during the Uber ride to the hotel! If someone had asked me to picture the furthest thing I could from Ottawa, that would've been it. The only negative was the desert heat which, contrary to what a lot of people say, wasn't all that dry.

One of the first things my family and I did on our first night in Scottsdale was to take advantage of American junk food. My sister had been to an In 'n Out Burger on a trip to California and told the rest of us how good it was, so late on our first night, we stopped at one and brought a bunch of food back to our rooms. And it was good! Also, because it was the States, I immediately went for the Fritos Twists and sweet tea.

Throughout the week, when nothing was going on at the conference, we periodically toured around the city.

One day we went to Old town Scottsdale and did some shopping. Very Western-y. Like Prince Edward Island, they had their own dirt shirts, dyed from red-brown clay. I got one of those and a Mexican Coca Cola, which I had been told about by the guy who drove us to the hotel.

It was made with real brown sugar, so it was sweeter and less carbonated than the usual stuff. Very good!

After the conference, we stayed in Arizona a couple extra days so we could really play tourist. Originally, we had planned to take a day and visit Sedona, Winslow (Eagles fans, remember?), and Flagstaff. We left early and headed out from Scottsdale. Just the scenery during the drive was worth the trip!

We stopped at a rest stop and were advised not to go to Winslow. For just a statue, a flat-bed Ford, and some music, it didn't seem worth it and would've been out of our way. Instead, we went to Montezuma's Castle, an ancient, allegedly Aztec settlement dug into a cliff in the desert.

I'm a fan of anything and everything ancient or prehistoric so, to me, this was a lot better than some Eagles thing. The weather was prefect for the short but decent walk around the site. We browsed around the place's gift shop where I got a pretty interesting book. We also got prickly pear jam which tasted great on a peanut butter sandwich!

Afterwards, we made our way to Sedona. First, we stopped at a look-out and took loads of photos of the scenery and approaching storm clouds.

Closest I could get to any kind of Arizona wildlife, javelinas (wild pigs!)

We made it back to our car just as the storm came in. Now, we were in Arizona during their storm season, and it poured every day for at least a little while so we were used to it at this point, but this storm was pretty nasty. We had lightning strike right in front of our car! The sky eventually cleared up a bit and we continued on to Sedona while we could.

In a way, it was lucky for us because the rain had made Sedona's red rock look even redder and we got even more photos.

Waterfall that, according to locals, almost never happens.

We didn't make it to Flagstaff due to flood warnings, but it was still a great day!

For our last day in Arizona, my family went to a place for brunch to celebrate my mother's birthday, spent a long time lounging in the hotel's pool and then went to Hole in the Rock, Papago Park to watch the sunset. Hole in the Rock is a natural lookout point people can walk up to, climb through, and get a really good look at the surrounding landscape.

While my mother and sister went up there, I chose to stay closer to the ground, where I found a Flinstones couch to sit on.

Then, as the sun was setting, my Dad got, in my opinion, one of the best photos of the whole trip.

Just wow!

Leaving for the airport the next day, I was kind of surprised by how sad I was to leave. Had to come to an end eventually, I guess.

That evening, we had a lay-over in Calgary. We met my Uncle Bryan for dinner, who took us on a tour of the city afterwards.

We got home the following evening, and that was it.

Between the state itself and the conference, Arizona was one of the best vacations I've been on in a while. I would go back in a heartbeat, though maybe in the winter when it's not so hot!

Cheers