Arizona

Last week Art and I went to Phoenix, Arizona; I had a meeting there (an eyeball convention) and Art came along for some sun and relaxation.  While I was in meetings, Art laid around the pool, drove around Phoenix, and just generally relaxed.  He did take a day to go dirt bike riding (see next post).

On another day I blew off my meetings (hey, I'm Board Certified, I can do that) and we just drove.  We started up the highway and, because Art was driving, took a road that lead to Bumble Bee, AZ (he's much better just picking a random road and taking it that than I am).  The road quickly turned from paved to dirt, but the drive was amazing!  So much better than staying on the highway because we could see the 'real' Arizona.  We drove past Bumblebee, which is an old mining town:

and just took the road as far as it would take us.  We saw all kinds of cacti, a coyote, and I drove over a snake (I didn't turn around to see what kind it was, but I was just happy I saw a snake).  We had planned to drive up to Sedona because I had heard that it was beautiful, but by the time we got to Prescott (which is still quite a ways from Sedona) we were already missing our dirt road adventure and wanted to stay out of the cities and traffic.  So thank God for GPS!  We took Vulture Mine Road back towards Phoenix, drove by the old Vulture Mine (now abandoned but you can take a tour at your own risk), drove down some more dirt roads, and up and over the mountains.  Arizona is amazing because we went from the dry desert area of Phoenix up to the mountainous pines of Prescott.  It's not far of a drive, maybe an hour and a half, yet the landscape is completely different.  I preferred the desert as I am very taken with the Seguaro Cactus.  I think they are so beautiful! And huge! Do you know that they only grow an inch a year, and a cactus with five arms is at least 200 years old? I kept pointing out 200 year old cacti, I think Art grew tired of it, as they were everywhere.

The only thing I really wanted from this trip was my picture taken with a big cactus, and that was a really easy order to fill:

Towards the end of our stay we were both tired of eating out and because we stayed in a Residence Inn, we had a small kitchen.  The hotel even had a gas grill by the pool, so one evening we cooked corn, potatoes, and grilled steaks.  I'm not sure what Art is doing in this picture.

A random watering hole off one of the dirt roads we traveled (yes, Art is taking a drink. Gross. I tried to tell him not to, but he doesn't listen very well. I would also like to mention that we had a gallon of water in the car.)

This was the road we took up, over, and down the mountain- gorgeous views, but I was scared sh*tless driving it.