Adventures in AZ with the Fertenbaughs

Thursday the Fertenbaughs rolled into AZ for a 5 day fun filled visit with us. We were very excited to have them come and stay with us. Once we got settled in we headed for the pool, its a damn nice pool. After dinner on the first night we took our guests up to the top of South Mountain to see the wonderful sunset. Well of course, being monsoon season, a storm was rolling in over the valley. From the top we just caught the sun setting behind the mountains and the rain was off in the distance. It was a cool sunset, kinda looked like the end of days, or as Seth put it, it looked like Mt Doom.

Friday was a new day and we started early with our adventurous day out. With Brian at work, we took advantage of some museums. First off was the botanical garden. Seth wanted to see lizards, lots of lizards, and that place is perfect. We spend some time wondering through the desert looking at plants and lizards. It was a nice sunny morning, cooking us slowly. After that we headed to a park so they could see a view of downtown. We grabbed some lunch and headed into Mesa for a Natural History museum. It was a long hot day and we decided there was no better place to be than in the pool.

Saturday we headed south to Tucson. We decided to first check out the rattlesnake bridge. This is a pedestrian bridge made to look like a snake, its pretty cool. After that we headed to Sabino Canyon to take a tram ride into the national forest.

Here is the head of the snake bridge

Here is the tail

Tucson has gotten a lot of rain lately and has had a lot of flooding. Well little did we know that the park was affected by this. Usually the ride up the canyon is 45 minutes and there are several stops along the way. This time we went a little up the road to a washed out road.

Here is what we rode on around Sabino Canyon

From there we turned around and headed down another road and went to an old dam built on the river. We got off here and spent a little time wondering the area. It was so beautiful here at the base of the Catalina Mountains. I loved it. So many saguaros!

The dam

Saguaros rock!

The Catalina MountainsClassic Fertenbaughs

We took a stroll along a nature trail and saw a few squirrels, the ones that look like prairie dogs. Man they are cute.

Storms threatened most of the day but we didn't get rain the whole time we were there. On the way back into town we stopped at the University of Arizona. Seth had applied to school here and was really really bummed he didn't get to go here once he saw how awesome the campus was. It was a great campus, and the town around it was cool too. We had some delicious Mexican food and headed home. On the way back we roasted Mike during his 30th birthday party back in MD. We hit the pool that evening and just relaxed, the next day was going to be another long day in Sedona.

Sunday we headed north to Sedona. We take everyone there because it is so beautiful there. Who doesn't love that place. On the way to Sedona we hit a rainstorm. It was a typical storm, there was rain, wind, I mean we were on a highway, no big deal. Well you would think there was a secret we were not let in on because everyone pulled off the road. As we slowed our speed and drove on, there were a lot of cars with flashers on pulled over. It was the strangest thing we had ever seen. People in AZ really cant drive in the rain. It was only a few minutes of driving before we were out of the storm, those people are idiots.

We stopped at Montezumas Castle on the way

We got into town and had some lunch and then attempted a hike. We had to drive down this long dirt road to get to the trail. As we got out of the car, the clouds were looking very ominous and with a potential to be stuck back there, we decided to try another area.

Looks like the end of days

We spent a few hours driving around and stopping in various places to walk around and check out the scenery.

Here is some fire damage from the Sedona fire in June

Here we have the Ferts enjoying Sedona, oh and looky whos in the backgroundMonday we kept it lazy. We had no real plans, maybe go to Tempe or Scottsdale, however we ended up at a city clinic for the afternoon. Michelle wasn't feeling well and so we ventured to a nearby clinic to get her looked at. The humanity that joined us in the waiting room was a show.

Our visit with the Ferts ends today and we are sad to see them go. We had a good time showing them how awesome AZ is. We will miss you.
I learned one thing about Seth while they were here, and this shit blows my mind: He says he's not heard of Sublime. Who hasn't heard of Sublime? I mean we thought he's gotta be fucking with us, but no he's serious. WTF?

P.S. Congrats to Mike for knocking Nikole up, we are very excited for you guys!
-Nina-