February 2024: An Amazing Arizona Trip

I can’t even remember how long ago it was that Liz and I decided to take a trip to Arizona in February to surprise her best friend Jesi at her best friend Jesi’s surprise party. And then, suddenly, it was February! And we flew on over to Phoenix, Arizona!

I thought I had a picture of our rental car…but I guess I don’t…but anyway, we rented a 2023 Honda Accord as sort of an extended test drive. Pretty much we liked it, but if you fast forward to March 2024 and you know that we didn’t get an Accord. Yet. (But probably ever)

Anyway from the airport we went on over to Mesa and had a pretty nice lunch at Backyard Tacos. They really taste like if someone grilled you these tacos in the backyard! (I mean that in the nice way).

And from there we went over to patronize the temple, which I thought was bigger than this?

Nevermind, it is!

With a few more hours to fill before the Surprise Party we went over to Scottsdale, seeking out a chocolatier that did not exist, but had a nice walkaround in this part of Scottsdale where you can walk around. And also we went into the mall and got very turned around trying to find their Rocky Mountain Chocolate Co. Malls - Make Better Maps!!

During our Scottsdale walk I saw my first “in the wild” Audi A6 Allroad since I started keeping my eye out for wagons! My impression from the curb: I think, for full-sized wagon looks, it’s the V90 for me. (That night we’d see another A6 Allroad with an absolutely bonkers paint job on the freeway). (And I’ll add now that on Sunday morning we saw a V90 on the road and oooh it looked nice).

And at last it was Surprise Party time! I was a guest, I enjoyed myself, I took just these two photos.

And from there we drove over to Sarah and Nate’s, who happened to live very close by. I don’t have any pictures from the lovely time we had sitting on their couches chatting and catching up and such, but I do have a picture of their pool!

From there it was time to head to our “hotel”. Oh boy. Here is something I learned. Hotels in the Mesa/Phoenix area are EXPENSIVE. The La Quinta was >$300, I settled on this Motel 6 by the freeway and behind a waterpark that was $200 and it was the most barebones place I’d ever stayed. We are so lucky we didn’t see the roach until the morning. It had a very spooky vibe, most guests seemed like they lived there. Nice to get there late and wake up early and get the heck out of there.

For breakfast that Saturday morning we had tacos at Sahuaro’s, a nearby taco place inside of a defunct car wash and Holy Smokes it was GOOD. Extremely best imaginable carnitas.

And from there we went with Jesi to see (and I cannot believe my luck to be able to say this) a matinee of Madame Web which, well, I always have a good time at movies with Liz. And Madame Web might not have been as absolutely horrible as some would say. And after: Rubio’s for lunch! (No Picture)

Then we took Jesi home and set out on Arizona Vacation 2024 Phase II: Tucson!

Turns out it’s a pretty quick trip down to Tucson (once you get to the freeway that takes you to Tucson, and that step takes a while from Mesa). We stayed at a nice little “resort” (I think that just meant it had a lawn in the back and a pool and included breakfast) that was actually cheaper than our Mesa Motel 6. Ha! Needless to say arriving there at these accommodating accommodations, we were well on our way to loving Tucson.

Another reason to love Tucson? They’ve got Freddy’s there!

Sunday morning, up bright and early to for the buffet and attend a local ward’s sacrament meeting.

Sitting in that sacrament meeting, looking around the room, I noticed a woman who looked familiar. I ran some due diligence and confirmed that, yep! It was my friend Victoria’s mom. Chance of all chances, the ward meeting earliest at the chapel closest to our hotel was Victoria’s home ward. Funny how these things happen sometimes.

Now, the reason we went down to Tucson was to visit nearby Saguaro National Park but people kept telling us we should visit the Sonora Desert Museum just outside the National Park so we were like “Ok, if you say so” and drove on down to that Desert Museum and Guess What? We loved it! Maybe it was more of a zoo than a museum? And it had all your favorite desert creatures and animals there, from tarantulas and rattlesnakes to javelinas, ocelots, mountain lions and mountain goats! We loved it. We absolutely loved it to death. We just kept walking around going “What a great museum this is! This is the best museum!” Also there was a “cave” to explore. Great museum!

If you give a coyote a cookie…

And from the museum we went to the National Park proper. What we know about this park: It isn’t super big, there are TONS of catcuses there, you drive around going “look at that one! look at that one! look at that one!” and there are petroglyphs you can take a little walk to. Also, at the gift shop welcome center there is one great cashier who will talk and talk with you about the White Sox and Chicago if you happen to be wearing your White Sox cap. Loved it all!

From there we went to the part of Tuscon that is a city. We put our name in at El Charro and went and did some light exploring while we waited to have our name texted. At El Charro I had the machaca, which they call “carne seca” and WOW I LOVED it—so dry and tasty! Too bad I didn’t take a picture of it. Guess I was just enjoying myself too much and living in the moment, as one sometimes does. And then it was back to our Resort for a swim in the hot pool but not a dip in the hot tub because it was very cold.

Up early Monday morning to enjoy one more breakfast before driving back up to Mesa/Phoenix with a rest stop stop on the way.

Back in Mesa Phoenix we had breakfast/lunch at Sahuaro’s once more (the picture doesn’t look like much but let me tell you, these tacos were extremely extremely top notch), a visit with NYC Heather, her mom, and Heather’s two babies, and a wonderful rib lunch at Jesi’s before heading back to the airport and flying home to Columbus just abuzz over what an awesome time we had in Arizona. We did not know we were going to love it there so much, but it was practically the funnest trip we’ve ever been on! Really!