A Whirlwind Trip to Arizona...

In November, my husband and I will be celebrating 20 years of marriage!  :-)  1990 seems so long ago, yet like it was just yesterday.

Since a special trip to Hawaii, or some other exotic land, wasn't going to be possible, we decided to take a relatively cheap trip to Arizona instead.  Flights & hotels in November (the busy season there) were more than we could really afford, so we opted for September - to celebrate Dave's birthday (the 12th) at the same time - instead.  The only problem... it's hot there in September!  Granted, not as hot as say July, but 105 degrees is still HOT!  ...especially since Indiana is around 70-75 degrees right now.

Day 1... Goodbye Indiana... Hello Arizona!!

Our flight left Indiana on 9/11.  I know, not exactly an ideal day to be flying.  Thankfully, it was an uneventful flight.  The only incident we ran into was in the airport at the security checkpoint when we had to repack our "liquids" in the carry-on bag because we had things outside of our two allotted ziplock bags that shouldn't have been.  Oops!  At least the security guard was cool about it.  :-)

It was only 99 when we landed in Mesa, but strangely enough... because "it's a dry heat", it didn't feel hot at all.  We picked up our rental car... a cute little Kia with Florida license plates (?) and headed off to find something to eat and our hotel.  I usually map out everything (including the local quilt & yarn shops) before going on vacations, but failed to this time because I was busy at work and busy doing homework the week before leaving, so we were completely on our own this time.  Oh well... sometimes it's fun just to relax and go with the flow.

The first restaurant we saw was Rubio's Mexican Grill... and I just so happened to have an email coupon for a free meal for Dave's birthday!  So, we tried fish tacos, chicken tacos and steak tacos.  YUM!!!!

We eventually found our hotel (whew!!) and decided to take a walk around the shopping center behind it.  There was a Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill there...

After walking around the shopping center, we went to it hoping to find a good dessert to end the evening with, but deep fried Twinkies just didn't sound good.  It was fun, though, and a neat place, I guess.

We also walked around the Bass Pro Shop too.  The sun was setting, so we stepped back outside to capture it...

What is it about sunsets away from home?  They always look so much prettier.  This one was full of beautiful colors.

Day 2... Scottsdale!

Dave's birthday!!  :-)  He wanted to visit a bookstore on the ASU campus so he could get a new t-shirt or something, then we went to Scottsdale.  We started with our favorite... ice cream at The Sugar Bowl!  I had my usual - a Golden Nugget (orange sherbet, vanilla ice cream & Sprite blended together) and Dave tried something new - an Extra Luscious Bittersweet Chocolate Shake (a goblet lined with marshmallow, caramel & chocolate sauce is what makes it extra luscious)...

Then we walked around Old Town Scottsdale, then the Fifth Avenue District shops.  We probably saw every type of Indian jewelry imaginable.  While paying for a purchase at one of the shops, the sales clerk asked where I was from so I told her Indiana.  She asked whereabouts in Indiana because she's originally from Peru.  Wow, what a small world... 1800 miles from home and we meet someone who used to live an hour away from us!

Everywhere we went, we saw BIG trucks.  AWESOME big trucks!!  This one was the monster of them all...   4500 series Chevy.

Day 3...  Sedona!

I've always heard that Sedona is beautiful.  But, I had noooooo idea it was THIS beautiful!

Do you see the chapel built into the side of the mountain?

On our way back to the city, we stopped by Montezuma's Castle and an Apache Indian casino.  We spent $25 and walked out with $30.25.  Not bad.  :-)

We also stopped by an outlet mall, then ended the day with a free steak dinner (another birthday coupon for Dave) at Black Angus Steakhouse.

Day 4... A scenic flight for two!

First things first... back to Scottsdale for some Grimaldi's pizza and Sugar Bowl treats, then to the shops again for some wheelin' and dealin' on some jewelry.  Dave ended up with an inlay ring and I ended up with two inlay rings and a pretty little diamond solitaire.  :-)  The guy was desperate to make a sale because it's their off-season, so we made out like bandits!

Then we made our way to Superstition Mall and wasted some time there, then to a few shopping centers to walk around the pet shops to get our "kitty fix" since we were missing our "kids" pretty badly by then.  We had to be at Falcon Field Airport at 6pm for our sunset flight (a bargain I picked up on www.groupon.com a week before we left), so we hung out across the road at Walmart for a little while, then decided to wait in the parking lot at the hangar until 6.  Our pilot, Matt, happened to come out to his truck beside us and said they were all ready for us.  We took care of the necessary paperwork, then went out to see the beast we'd be flying in...

 

Off we went... out over the Superstition Mountains and the rivers and dams that provide water for Phoenix and the surrounding areas.  We flew up to about 5500 feet in the air and about 140 MPH.  

The pilot took our picture.

After a few too many banks left, then right, I started getting rather woozy.  Despite that, though, we had a wonderful flight and managed to capture a few good shots of the sunset...

 

 

It took about half an hour for me to "get my land legs back" enough so I could eat dinner.  We chose The Fish Market restaurant and had some delicious fish.  Afterwards was our final adventure at a place called SubZero... they make whatever flavor of ice cream you want... right before your eyes!

It starts with the ice cream base of your choice... premium, custard, low-fat or yogurt... and the flavorings of your choice... everything from chocolate and vanilla to Pepsi to bubblegum.  Then they stir it and add in whatever solid items you want... fruits, nuts, candies, etc.

 

Then, they blast it with liquid nitrogen and continue stirring it...

 

After only a minute or two more... they scoop it into a bowl and give it another quick shot of liquid nitrogen and voila!  You have ice cream!

I had plain old low-fat chocolate and Dave had premium chocolate-marshmallow.  Both were really good!

We made our way back across town to our hotel, packed everything up, printed off boarding passes for our early flight, then attempted to get a good night's sleep.

Day 5... Back home again in Indiana.

We started out the day with breakfast at Cracker Barrel right as soon as they opened at 6am, then made our way to the southeast side of town to await our flight home.  Goodbye Arizona... until we can afford to see you again.  :-)