I Fell in Love with Arizona

It's been exactly two years since Jon and I took our first trip out west together. Our main focus was to go visit our really good friends Shane and Krysta since they moved to Colorado from PA. I've been to Colorado before, but Jon had never been out west at all, so I wanted to make our trip a little more than that. I had never been to Arizona before but always wanted to go, so I planned out our trip over Labor Day so that we could extend it a little and be able to fly in to Phoenix, AZ and drive from there to Colorado Springs, CO. There's TONS to see and do and I made sure we packed it all in. I've always been a very organized person and I found out I'm pretty good at planning out trips after taking this first one on. I made sure we had enough time to really take in all the sites, but I was also keeping in mind how much time we had and how much we wanted to do. It's no easy task, but I loved every minute of planning...even down to what restaurants and breweries I wanted to stop at and making sure they were near where we'd be at that specific day/time. I'm only going to highlight Arizona in this post and will get to Colorado in my next one. It may seem crazy to try to write a blog post about a trip that happened two years ago...but honestly, I fell in love with the state of Arizona so much that I remember every little detail. It's my favorite place I've visited in my life so far and I truly feel if I ever went back, I wouldn't come back home to PA, because it was super hard to after this trip.

August 26, 2017 We flew from Pittsburgh, PA to Phoenix, AZ. Upon arrival at the airport, we rented our car for the trip. It was HOT in Phoenix...way too hot! We've always heard the argument over In-N-Out Burger vs. Whattaburger and we've never had either, so I drove to both immediately leaving the airport since we were pretty hungry at that point anyway. My verdict: In-N-Out has better burgers and Whattaburger has better fries. However, I would never eat at either place again (sorrynotsorry). We then headed to where we were staying for the night, which was with our friends Jared and Brittany. They used to live in Johnstown but moved to Arizona and don't live far from the airport, which was very convenient. To this day, I am so thankful they hosted us for the evening and wish we could've stayed with them longer. It was so nice to see them and they gave us a ton of pointers about where to go and what to do as we traveled north. We watched the big Mayweather vs. McGregor fight and they made us frozen margaritas using fresh limes from their lime tree in the backyard (still the best margarita I've ever had)! We ended the evening with a quick dip in their pool and then I HAD to go to bed since I was super exhausted from all the travel. Jon and I are naturally early risers no matter how late we go to bed, so we got up and waited for Brittany to wake up so that we could thank her and say our goodbyes. We were then headed north and stopping in Sedona, AZ first. Brittany couldn't stop talking about Sedona or Flagstaff and how excited she was for us to go and now I can totally understand why.

August 27, 2017

Jon took the wheel this time and drove us from Phoenix to Sedona. I want to say that even if you don't make any stops, the drive from the bottom of Arizona to the top is absolutely mesmerizing and breathtaking. You start in the desert and then end up in the mountains...the difference in nature and landscape is insane, and I made sure to take it all in. Before our trip I looked up all the quirky roadside attractions to see on the way (www.roadsideamerica.com). One of ones in Sedona was the ONLY McDonald's in the world with green arches. We stopped there because my sister loved McDonald's when we were kids and her favorite color is green. We literally just pulled in the parking lot and took a picture and then left (lol). You will KNOW as soon as you're driving into Sedona because it's seriously so beautiful. You're surrounded by big, gorgeous red rocks. Anywhere you look is amazing. There are so many places to hike and see, so it was hard to choose...but we decided to stop at the Chapel of the Holy Cross. You park at the bottom of the hill and walk up to it. We also hiked the Airport Vortex trail, which was really cool and full of amazing views. The photos speak for themselves. We stopped at SaltRock Southwest Kitchen for lunch. I wanted to be able to eat lunch with a view and I found this place online before we went and saw great reviews. The food was delicious and the view was even better. If I ever go back to Sedona I would eat there again in a heartbeat! Sadly, we said goodbye to Sedona after lunch and made our way to our Airbnb in Flagstaff. Flagstaff is VERY different than Sedona. There are tall trees and mountains and greenery everywhere. It's only an hour north of Sedona, so it's crazy how you feel like you're not even in the same state. It's a whole different kind of beautiful. We checked in to our Airbnb, which was a quaint little barn - I would highly recommend Marti's place. She gave us pointers on the best views at the Grand Canyon and where to get some good craft beers in Flagstaff. Also, there was a hot tub right outside the barn which was great in the evenings since it got cooler and we had a spectacular view of the stars. We decided to check out one of the breweries Marti told us about, which was Historic Brewing Company. It was seriously so cool and the cucumber sour I had was really good. We knew we wanted to head to a comic book shop up the road, so we did that next. Unfortunately it wasn't to buy comics, but it was because the touring Rickmobile from the tv show Rick and Morty was parked there. We made it just in time to get in line to see it before they cut the line off two people behind us. It was pure luck! We then grabbed dinner at Raising Canes and took it back to our Airbnb. I still dream of Raising Canes...it's sooooo good and I haven't had it since then because we don't have any in PA. After dinner, we watched the season finale of Game of Thrones in the extremely comfy bed at our Airbnb.

August 28, 2017

We got up and started heading to the Grand Canyon. One of the roadside attractions on the way there was Bedrock City, which is from the tv show Flintstones and known for the five cent coffee. We got some coffee and explored the somewhat creepy but pretty cool site. When we got to the Grand Canyon we had no idea what to expect other than seeing pictures of it. It's MASSIVE and gorgeous and pictures honestly don't do it any justice. Jon is terrified of heights, but luckily there were fences along the whole thing. Needless to say, he was freaked out when I jumped the fence and hung my feet over the edge of the canyon...but I loved every minute of it. We spent the afternoon/evening in historic downtown Flagstaff. I absolutely fell in love with this quaint little town. Seriously, I would move there tomorrow if I could! We went to Karma Sushi for lunch, which was the only thing even close to my favorite sushi place ever in my hometown. It was pretty good! We walked around to all of the shops and stopped in this super cute tea shop (Steep Leaf Lounge) with cozy seats and yummy macarons. Of course we also had to try a brewery we came across. Dark Sky Brewing is probably one of my favorite breweries I've ever been to. I might be biased since it's in my favorite city I've ever been to, but the interior was super dreamy, they had great sours on tap and there were dogs EVERYWHERE! Flagstaff is also known as "Wagstaff" because there are so many dogs and you can walk them around and bring them into literally any place down there. The brewery gets it's name because Flagstaff is a "dark sky city" meaning all of the businesses turn their outside lights off or don't really have big lit signs so that tourists and the people who live there can truly experience the amount of stars in the sky. There are other cities who do this, but Flagstaff was the first one. It's amazing...best city ever. Not to mention the beautiful murals everywhere! We decided to go to an authentic Italian pizza place for dinner after hearing Marti's recommendation. Pizzicletta was delicious and they are now partnered with Dark Sky Brewing...so all the more reason to go back, right?! Especially because I didn't get a chance to try the gelato since I was so full. We headed back to our Airbnb after that.

August 29, 2017 We headed to Page, AZ to check out Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon. On the way up we stopped at Big John's Texas BBQ for lunch, which was pretty good! We did Horseshoe Bend first. There is designated parking and then you walk about a mile to get to the edge of the canyon. It's all uphill and it was super hot but SO worth it. I mean, look at these pictures. There was no fence when we went back in 2017, however they have built an outlook with a fence since then. Jon didn't go anywhere near the edge, especially because this rock was smooth and rounded, unlike the rougher rock at the Grand Canyon. He got close enough to see, but I had to hold his hand...which was understood. I went near the edge and even I was a little freaked out! As you walk up to it, you have no idea what you're about to see until you walk RIGHT up to the edge. That was an amazing feeling and an adrenaline rush...something I truly miss. We had some downtime before our scheduled tour of Antelope Canyon, so we spontaneously drove up to Utah to Lake Powell and took a dip in Lone Rock Beach. It was awesome and unlike any other beach experience I've ever had. I'm so glad Jon decided to do that randomly because it was one of the highlights of the whole trip. It was also hilarious because our rental car wasn't made to drive through really deep sand uphill (haha). We then met at the tour center for the Antelope Canyon. They take you in these big jeeps and the terrain was very bumpy...we had a good laugh! The tour guide took us through and showed us how to take pictures the correct way. It was absolutely beautiful and so unique. If this place isn't on your bucket list, you better add it! We then headed straight to our Airbnb in Cortez, CO. I was the one driving and it was a three and a half hour drive in the evening. There are NO street lights or really ANYTHING AT ALL so it was very eery to drive...but super cool at the same time.

To tell you the truth, if Arizona isn't on your list of places to visit you better think again. I never thought it would be my favorite place to visit in my life so far and I absolutely fell in love with everything we experienced there. You have to see it all to believe it. I had a feeling like no other and was truly happy in every single moment. Like I said, I would do it all over again and even explore new things...but I don't know if I'd come back to PA after the second round! ;)