Arizona - The Battle

Well, it happened.  In Arizona, the hubby and I had our first fight of the trip.  


We made it to our second state before arguing.  I’m not sure if that’s good or pathetic, since we’re around each other 24/7!  As usual, it wasn’t over something earth shattering but rather over something so insignificant that later you wonder why you were arguing about it.  So here you have it, the first fight was over…drum roll please…what time is was.  


Yes, the time. It’s as simple as merely looking at your watch, but when you’re traveling from state to state, sometimes it can get confusing.  Regardless, with all the latest technology, you’d think the current time would be something we could figure out quickly and certainly not argue about.

Since the trip began, I’ve been using the alarm on my cell phone – something I’ve never done before the trip, but now I can’t live without my phone beside me while I’m sleeping!  Here I was, setting my alarm for 4:45 am to be up early to see the sunrise at the Grand Canyon.  This was not something I wanted to get wrong.  


Anyway, I noticed the time was an hour earlier than I thought it was.  I told the hubby that the time had changed, but he informed me that it didn’t switch from CO to AZ.  We adamantly went back and forth about this for some time.

Knowing my phone pulls the time from the nearest cell tower, I announced, “I think it’s 9:15.  Maybe you should call the front desk to see.”  (The hotel phone was on his side of the bed after all.)  “No,” he replied, “it’s 10:15,” and he didn’t pick up the phone.  Finally, after arguing for what seemed to be the same amount of time as we were discussing, he finally called the front desk and asked the question, “Ugh, what time is it?”  Can you guess what the front desk clerk replied?  “9:25”  As it turns out, AZ is in Mountain Time but does not observe Daylight Savings Time, essentially putting it on Pacific Time, so there you have it folks the end of the “What time is it?” dilemma.
 

Things improved in AZ after our first fight.  How could it not after viewing one of God’s greatest creations – the Grand Canyon?   The Grand Canyon and the Sedona area are, I believe, two of Arizona’s greatest, most beautiful, sites and shouldn’t be missed.
 

Being from Illinois, we also found the drive through the AZ desert scenery fascinating.  We especially loved the Saguro cactus, you know the ones with the funny arms!  I can see why it’s the AZ state flower.

Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) in AZ:

Best Memory:   Watching the sunrise in the Grand Canyon while huddling together because of the cold.

Worst Memory:  Driving in the middle of nowhere to the Grand Canyon and a warning light comes on on the dashboard.

Best Restaurant:  Euro Café in Fountain Hills, AZ.  The food was good, but the atmosphere was the best part.  We sat outside on the patio and watched the fountain in the distance. 

Worst Restaurant:  Subway in Sedona, AZ.  The customer before us accidentally took our sandwich, and the sandwich artist got so mad he cussed, threw things around, and slammed out the front door looking for her.  I was honestly afraid that he might pull out a gun or something.  Almost as bad was corporate Subway’s response when we complained, “Sorry.”

Biggest Waste of Money:  National Geographic Imax movie and lunch in Grand Canyon

Best Deal:  $1 baby gelati at La Scala gelato shop in Fountain Hills, AZ…mmh!

Strangest Food:  grilled cactus pad (tasted like overdone green pepper)

Best Hidden Gem:  Slide Rock State Park.  It is located on the scenic drive between Flagstaff and Sedona.  Running through the park is a creek that you actually slide down on the smooth rocks!  (The son did want me to mention that it hurt a little bit, but the daughter must have a higher pain tolerance:  she didn’t think so.)   The scenery was so beautiful and the creek so much fun, that we had a wonderful afternoon there.   

Worst Closure:  4 Corners Monument was closed for renovation

We’re moving on to Nevada.  I wish we could have seen and done so much more in sunny, warm Arizona!


Click here to see our pics and learn more about Arizona

- Sheri

Arizona - An Interview with the Boy

Hi everybody Dr. Dorito here, and I'm blogging about Arizona.
What were the major events in the state?
We did miniature golf at a hotel. It was an 18 hole course, and it was really fun. We also went to a zoo which had a short log flume ride.
What did you enjoy the most about this state?
My favorite thing about Arizona was miniature golf. I enjoyed the course because it had beautiful scenery and was partly easy. I also liked how it was free for the day.
What was your favorite food or restaurant?
There were many good restaurants in Arizona. My favorite was probably Euro Café because it had great food and nice scenery.
What was your favorite memory?
The one thing that I will remember for a long time is in Fountain Hills. There is a nice park there with Euro Cafe in it. I loved to eat at the restaurant and watch the fountain go off.
Please write about the zoo/mini golf:
Arizona's mini golf was fun.  It took skill and lots of luck.  I enjoyed how it also was in a nature spot.  My favorite hole you had to go over a bridge.   Over all I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
Please tell one story from the state:
Sorry, It’s Closed
The theme of our trip (unintentionally) has been just that. This story is timed in the day we are leaving Colorado. We are driving down a desert road (pavement thank goodness) on our way to AZ.  We thought we might as well go to Four Corners (always wanted to sit in four states at once). You guessed it, it was closed.  The monument was being renovated, so they closed the whole thing too. Well that's all folks.  This is DD signing off.


- Levi


Click to view where we went on Google maps


Click on the links below to see our AZ pictures!

• Grand Canyon
• Sedona
• Slide Rock and Fountain Hills
• Wildlife Zoo and Aquarium

Arizona - Chloe Meets Gelato

Arizona was awesome. My favorite town was called Fountain Hills. There was a really great restaurant called Euro Pizza Café. It had my favorite food – quesadillas, and right next store is a gelato shop. Most gelato shops import gelato, but at this gelato shop they make it right there. It's really good, and my favorite flavor was cookies and cream. There's also a fountain there. I guess that’s why they call it Fountain Hills. My favorite thing about Arizona was the gelato. My favorite memory was sitting at Euro Pizza Café watching the fountain go off.

There's a place called Four Corners. It’s called Four Corners because there are 4 different states connected right there. We went there, but it was closed because the monument was being fixed. We pretended that we were touching all four states. We put our hands and feet down in different areas of the ground.

The zoo we went to was great too. It was called Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium. I went on my first sky ride there. It was really fun. We went over a lot of cages, and we even saw a snake going into the deer cage. The log flume was short, but it was very fun as well. The brochure, which was kind of misleading, said the log flume had a three story drop, but it was more of a one story drop. There was also a boat and a train ride, but we didn't go on those. The petting zoo was the best part of the zoo because it was the first time I got to pet a deer. The baby deer was very soft. In the aquarium, you could also pet the stingrays, manta rays, and sharks. The most exciting animal was the baby lion. He was playing with the blanket, and there was also a baby leopard that was just a couple of days old. The baby leopard was so cute! It was curled up in a ball sleeping.

- The Daughter

Click on the links below to see our pictures!

• Grand Canyon
• Sedona
• Slide Rock and Fountain Hills
• Wildlife Zoo and Aquarium

Colorado - from Dad the Mountain Man

I loved Colorado.  It's almost not fair to the other states because, despite the strange weather, it felt like home.  I still recall standing humbly beneath the enormity of the mountains digesting the biblical "What is man that You are mindful of him?"

The state also holds some vocational benefits.  Though I enjoy the creative aspects of my work and the great people I get to work with, I am, at heart, a writer.  There are new worlds I still need to describe, emotions I need to draw from reluctant readers, and inspiration I must grant to those desirous of more from their lives.  My proximity to the mountains seems directly related to the ease at which my index fingers hunt and peck through a story.  The mountains somehow inspire us to do and be better.  Odd.

But on to the practical.  

We discovered Hotwire.com works quite well in Colorado's big cities.  We pulled a Hilton and two Hyatts for under $50 a night.  The Hyatts were especially wonderful as they had healthy options for breakfast as well as suites where each child had their own bed.  Our Hyatt in Colorado Springs actually became the first time we began referring to a hotel as "home." 

The drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park was glorious!  Sheer, rocky cliffs, a babbling stream, and strange wildlife littered the twisted road to our destination.  Part of the enjoyment was driving a rental car AND for the first time in our lives paying the extra $20 to take their "walk away insurance."  As a CPA, I can tell you it's not worth it - you most likely have enough insurance through your car insurance and the credit card you pay with, BUT we were going into the mountains on a trip already plagued with car trouble.  The Enterprise clerk told us that with the insurance we could drive it off a cliff and owe nothing.  We looked at each other, then back at her and said, "Sounds good."  She laughed nervously.

As you will see from the pics, Rocky Mountain National Park was one of the most beautiful places we have visited.  Hiking in 42 inches of snow at 9K feet wearing our little spring coats was a moment we will never forget.  While we could have spent much more time hiking, what we did spend was a great taste of the mountains.  

PHYSICS QUIZ:  Why is it colder in higher elevations when you are actually closer to the sun?

The weather was the most bizarre thing we dealt with in CO.  I scraped snow off our vehicle yet was literally putting sunscreen on in less than 24 hours.  We even played mini-golf while it was snowing at a great course in CO Springs called Adventure Golf.  

Fort Collins was a wonderful city with a view of the mountains that may call us back one day.  CO Springs was a bit too big for our liking, but still held some nice attractions.  We visited Pueblo for a meal and it may have been the first crime we were saved from.  Before I get to that story, though, didn't Pueblo, CO have some sort of phone book or something that was constantly advertised about 35 years ago?

Anyway, we decided to eat at this little Italian place in Pueblo and chit chatted with the owner.  Great guy, authentic Italian, running his small business, even insisting on staying open for us.  We succumbed and decided to eat outside at his one lonely table.  The sun was setting, beautifully, over a mountain and we suddenly became a bit more aware of our surroundings...

We we're a bit off the main drag, and there was a liquor store a few doors down.  Guys also seemed to be constantly meeting each other in the parking lot.  We noticed a sign with graffiti on it.  A gentleman parked at the liquor store with tattoos which I believe I recognized from Gangland on the History channel was approaching us and asked if we wanted to buy any meat out of the back of his truck.

I pondered the question a bit because I had never heard the phrases "buy meat" and "back of my truck" together before and then responded, "No thanks, we're traveling."  He must have learned sales at a timeshare school because he kept approaching.  Suddenly, our Italian store owner popped out and, never looking at the guy, kept talking to us until the guy left in his truck...still full of meat apparently.

That was our only sketchy experience in CO.

Our only regret is that we never made it to Pike's Peak.  Unfortunately, weather was not allowing anyone to get to the top and we decided it wasn't worth it unless we made it all the way.  Perhaps a poor choice - we feel like we need to go back.

Royal Gorge is a MUST see as well as Mesa Verde.  Perhaps my love for them all falls back to viewing the vastness of the mountains and valleys.  I actually remember Mesa Verde just for the drive through the mountains, even though the historical aspects were interesting.

Perhaps a bit blasphemous after all the recommendations, but Garden of the Gods was just OK.  Worth a few pictures, but a bit anticlimactic after the rest of the state.  It's a nice drive, though, with a few spots to walk amongst the rocks.  Rock climbers seemed to enjoy the area, but you need a permit.  Worth an hour of your time, but don't expect your world to be rocked.  We'd recommend going here first as a buildup for the rest of the state's attractions.

CO held much of what we desire in a state...other than the lapping of waves my son and wife want in their place to live.  Perhaps we'll be back.       

Best Hotel:  Hyatt, Colorado Springs

Worst Hotel:  Best Western, Durango (not bad at all - just the worst of some nice ones.)

Best Restaurant:  Spicy Pickle, Fort Collins

Best Memory:  Hiking around Bear Lake in 4 feet of snow wearing spring coats.

Worst Memory:  Car needing expensive AC repairs and we just started the trip. 

Mini-Golf Winner:  Dad

Possible state to live in:  Yes

Click to view where we went on the map

Click links below to see our Colorado Pics:
Rocky Mountain National Park
Cheyenee Mountain Zoo
Mini Golfing in CO
Garden of the Gods
Focus and the Family's Whit's End
Royal Gorge Bridge
Mesa Verde National Park
Traveling to AZ