Arizona

For my birthday, I was lucky enough to be able to go to Arizona twice. :) The first time was to Page, to spend time with my grandma and Uncle Kelly, who's birthday is the day before mine. It was good times! AND I got to have a steak. :)

The second time was a road trip to Phoenix, planned and executed by my friend Susi. I have to admit, that starting out, I was more than a little anxious about the whole thing.

If you haven't noticed, I'm somewhat obsessive compulsive.

Unfortunately, Susi is not, and she tends to like to 'leave me in the dark' on purpose to 'break' me of my OCD-ness. Good luck with that. ;)

SO, I'm sitting at home, worrying about not having enough stuff with me. Do I need a swim suit? Do I need some major allergy medicine? Do they have wi-fi there? You know, the norm. And the anxiety grows and grows all night. Thursday, (the day we left) I ask Susi stupid questions like: Are we hiking? (lol... not likely) Do I need a pillow? Is my bag too big? etc. I'm actually surprised that she was so patient with me. Maybe she took pity on me. :)

We left Thursday night, and took a 6 hour drive to Phoenix... wait. 7. It was a nice drive. I wish it was light... I like long drives where I can admire the scenery. Highlight of the drive down was DEFINITELY the Hoover Dam Suspension Bridge. Amazing piece of architecture. :) Also a highlight-- I got some cool glasses that I've dubbed 'Dorothy Glasses' because they remind me of the glasses that one of our volunteers, Dorothy, wears. :)

Some may ask, why did you take a road trip??? Well, the simple answer is... because we could. Also, it was supposed to be a combined birthday trip. We originally wanted to take our friend Lani with us, because her birthday is in April, BUT unfortunately she couldn't come. :( Any who... back to the story...

Phoenix is home to one of my favorite places to eat... The George and Dragon Pub. :) A pub with British food. Not really anything to blink at, but the food is exceptional, if not VERY good. (even though the service was atrocious. I think the waitress was wanting to serve the drunkards instead of us 'eating folk'...) While in Phoenix, we went to the Mesa Chamber of Commerce, the temple, and the Biltmore Shopping Center.

Saturday morning, we headed to Tuba City and Cameron. It was a really nice drive. On the way to Flagstaff, there were a lot of places that looked like Kona. It really made me homesick. :S Any ways...

So, we get to Tuba, and visit the Justice family. Super nice family. We actually met up with two of the older Justice kids in Phoenix. Their family is so nice!!! :) They also own all the "Pizza Edge" restaurants in the Tuba area. They totally hooked us up. It was AWESOME!!!

We stayed at the Cameron Trading Post. Really nice rooms and WAY good Navajo Tacos. :) Went to the Grand Canyon as well. SOOO beautiful! I really liked it a lot. We stopped at a gulch on the way back, and it was really cool. There were some really awesome signs along the way that explained flora and fauna. It was SUPER cool.

After the gulch, we stopped on the side of the road and Susi had some mutton and hominy stew. We also got some of the best fry-bread I've ever had.

On the way home, we saw the Vermilion Cliffs. I just really like that word. VERMILION... :)

All in all a great trip. I think on my next road trip, I'll have better musical selections. Also, probably will save up some more money, and look for antique shops. :)