Phoenix trip

The week before Thanksgiving was one of Peter's vacation weeks... and we made the most of it with lots of weekend get togethers in Cincinnati sandwiching a trip to Phoenix in the middle of the week. We hadn't been to visit Clayre & Joe in Phoenix yet, and that week ended up being a perfect one since Clayre was off from school, the weather in Phoenix wasn't too hot (and the Grand Canyon not too cold), and I had built up enough frequent flyer miles for free tickets!

The first day we did a little sightseeing (Clayre's school, Taliesin West, the Arizona Biltmore) and light hiking around Phoenix.

On Clayre's medical school campus.

 Short hike in Phoenix; cacti were novel at this point... saw lots & lots more after this

 My two favorite doctors-in-training on vacation at the same time!

 This is how you know you're looking at a Frank Lloyd Wright 

sprite sculpture at Taliesin West - cactus!

 

 Studio/overhang at Taliesin West.

Since I had never seen it, I wanted to be sure to spend a couple days at the Grand Canyon on our trip - and since Joe happened to have two days off in a row, we all got to go together. It's obviously an amazing place; I'm not sure exactly what I expected, but the vastness was beyond belief. The weather was chilly (dropping into the 20s overnight), but we had some sunshine and warmed right up on our hikes - especially the uphill parts.

Lots of steep switchbacks on the Bright Angel trail - hard work!

 Three-mile rest point on the Bright Angel trail.

 

One-mileish viewpoint on the Kaibab trail.

Two-mileish point on Kaibab trail - looks like the edge of the world...

Three-mile point, where we turned around to make the trek up 

(in record time, we'd like to think. Yeah, fitness!).

After a detour through Sedona - the scenic route - and a stop for some dinner (including a bucket of Coronitas), we headed back to Phoenix for one more day, which happened to be the warmest one of our stay. Sunny and almost 80 for a day of lounging by the pool was a perfect follow up to a couple days of some serious hiking around. Great to see Clayre & Joe, and great to have a little vacation week getaway - even if it was colder in the Grand Canyon than it was in Cincinnati...

 Red rocks of Sedona.

 Cutest Coronas ever.

(I read Bossypants by Tina Fey and A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny [mystery series], and Peter read Stiff by Mary Roach and Bossypants.)