At the beginning of February we were able to sneak down to Phoenix to visit Colin’s parents and soak up some heat…and I’m just getting around to pulling the photos off my camera now. It seems to take about a month to get around to posting while I’m working full time.
Colin had a quick business stop in San Fransisco on the way to Phoenix so I got Ron and Elise all to myself for 2 days.
On Thursday morning I got up at 4am to catch my 6:30am flight to Phoenix. The winds were behind us the whole way so we touched down in Phoenix 30 minutes early…unfortunately there wasn’t a gate ready until our scheduled arrival so we had to sit out on the tarmac for half an hour!
Ron and Elise were waiting for me right at the security exit and had been there since my plane had landed 30 minutes earlier. From the airport we stopped by the biggest grocery store I’ve ever seen – some of the highlights? A cheese market with tasting area(looked like a pub inside the store), a chocolate fountain counter, jewelry store and 3 aisles of small kitchen appliances. We spent the afternoon lounging by the community pool and eating all the treats we’d picked up at the store and in the evening we went down to the Scottsdale Art Walk – an artsy outdoor market in old Scottsdale. It was a cool (for Phoenix) evening so there weren’t many people out but we enjoyed chatting with the vendors, checking out the jewelry and window shopping in the arts district nearby.
On the Friday, Elise and I visited the craft store and worked on our new crafts.
Colin arrived Friday night and on Saturday we went to the Musical Instrument Museum. The main exhibit is sorted by geographical region and includes multiple instruments from almost every country in the world. You wear a headset that detects your location and as you approach each booth, your headset starts playing the audio for that booth’s video. There is also an exhibit on specific artists, a room where you can play all different instruments and a window into their workshop where they restore items from their collection. If you are anywhere near Phoenix, I would highly recommend checking out this museum!
On Sunday we watched the start of the Superbowl and then headed to the airport. Men were lined up outside chili’s too to catch the end of the game. Our flight time was getting a little close and I was worried the rush once the game ended would make us late so we took a chance and headed through security before the game ended. Our gamble was too late, the game was over by the time we got through security.
Our late night arrival in Calgary was a little rough for getting to work the next morning but I’m very glad we went. It’s been a challenge to adjust to our new lifestyle – going from traveling to multiple countries in a month for a whole year to staying home for 4 months in a row!
