Arizona Trip -- Part One "Getting to Tucson"

Our trip began on December 26. Eric had to work a half day so we didn't get out of the house until a little after noon. It is about a 16 hour drive to Tucson from Rexburg...if you were to do it straight. But we never do. We always break it into 2 days with a stop along the way. This time we decided to break it up even more. We took 3 days and saw some great things along the way.

First Stop: PROVO

We got to Provo just in time for dinner at my Grandma's. My sister Rachael and her family joined us. My aunt Christine and my cousins Oliver and Lydia were there too. It is always great to see extended family.

My Grandma just celebrated her 90th birthday. 

She is an amazing lady who we all love and admire.

Grandpa Jensen and Sadie

 

My grandma is completely blind, so talking and touching are important to her. 

We each took some one on one time to visit with her.

 We had an impromptu piano concert...Sienna, Maya, Renae, and Colby all performed

My Auntie Christine, her daughter Lydia, me, and my big sister Rach

We spent the night at Rachael's house, but we were up bright and early the next morning and on the road again.

 

Quick cousin visits are bitter-sweet.

2nd stop: ARCHES NATIONAL PARK 

Arches in December??? Some people called us crazy...and maybe we were. But, we drive through Southern Utah every trip to and from Arizona, and we never stop to see all the amazing sites. We wanted to change that.  Also, Eric is "anti-crowds" and we figured no one else would be crazy like us so the park would be empty. Well we definitely weren't alone in the park, but it also wasn't crowded at all. And it was quite cold (I think the temps were in the 30's) but we are Idahoans now so we can handle a little chill. We brought our snow gear and headed out on a few trails.

 

This was the weirdest snow I'd ever seen. We called it Cornflake Snow.
It was just off the trail as we were hiking to Landscape Arch. Look at the texture! It is unreal.

Hiking on and around Double Arch was definitely our favorite spot. 

You were able to climb up in the arch and look over the other side.

And the most famous arch -- Delicate Arch. We decided not to take the hike out to the arch over the muddy and slick rock, but we went to the Viewing Area and looked at it from afar. 

We are determined to come back someday and make that hike.

3rd stop: Moab
We continued on to Moab that evening. Since it was the "off-season" we were able to get a nice hotel for a good price. Staying at hotels is such a novelty for our kids that they were on cloud nine just being in the room and riding in the elevator. We were all exhausted from our day of driving and  hiking so we hit the sack early. We were on the road by 8am the next morning.

4th stop: Monument Valley
This wasn't exactly a "stop" -- more of a drive by -- but it was really impressive none-the-less. You see these impressive cliffs in western movies, but we had never seen them close up. It was a detour that only added about 30 minutes to our trip and it was well worth it.

5th Stop: Mesa, Arizona
We met up with Eric's brother Mark and his family in Mesa. We had plans to go to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, but the wait time was over an hour so we quickly changed plans.

We ate at a restaurant called Pigley's. It was Fair/Carnival food...yummy. 

The fries were delish. Look at this super long french fry that Sadie found. 

Next, we headed to the Mesa Temple to see the Christmas light display.

We had done this a lot when we lived in Arizona and it was fun to do it again with the kids.

 

Sadie asked if these trees were real. She was touching the leaves and inspecting them. 

She couldn't believe that a leafy tree could be green and alive in December. 

Seeing flowers growing was also surreal for us. Everything back home is buried under 2 feet of snow. It is like going to another world...visiting Arizona in winter.

Mason took over possession of the camera for the night and took some pretty impressive shots. 

The first one I posted with the temple and the reflection pool was taken by him too. 

Our two families inside the Visitors Center

Sadie and her cousin Madi

6th and LAST Stop: TUCSON, ARIZONA 

We finished out the long day by making the grueling drive from Phoenix to Tucson. We've driven that stretch of highway countless times  -- we could do it in our sleep -- yet it is always too crowded and so boring. But the anticipation was high...we were "almost there!"

You'd think that after that LONG day we would say our hello's and then head straight to bed, right? Nope, we decided to have our "Christmas with Grannie & Pops" as soon as we got there. The kids opened their much anticipated presents. It was a great way to end our day and officially start our stay in Tucson.

 

Yes, this is Rajah. The tiger that has lived at Grannie's since Mason was an infant. I hope the other cousins don't get upset, but this is the ONLY thing Sadie asked for for Christmas this year and after looking into the cost of buying her a similar tiger, Grannie agreed to just give Sadie hers for Christmas. She was in heaven and hardly let it out of her sight. She sleeps with this giant thing on her bed every night as well (I wonder how long that will last!)