Our vacation to Scottsdale

Steve and I just got back today from a much needed vacation (alone without kiddos) to Scottsdale, Arizona. It was an early celebration of our 16th anniversary which is actually later this month on June 27th. Even though it's our 16th wedding anniversary, we're actually celebrating 20 years of being together since we dated for 4 years before getting married. Wow! That's a long time! I can't believe he's put up with me this long ;-) Seriously, he's my best friend and I feel so blessed to have him in my life. Okay, everyone say "AWWWWWWWW!" I know, I'm cheezy - on to our vacation...

Day 1 - We woke up bright & early at 5 in the morning to make a 7:00 flight on Southwest Airlines. We left at 7 a.m. Oklahoma time & made it there at 7:30 a.m. Arizona time. We couldn't check in to our hotel, 3 Palms Resort, until 3 so we went to breakfast then did some shopping at Scottsdale Fashion Square. That is such a neat mall! It's pretty trendy and high end but it's neat to look around. That afternoon, we layed out at the hotel pool then went back for dinner at the Grand Lux Cafe there at the Fashion Square. We ate out on the patio and shared a margarita pizza and I had a yummy banana daquiri. Afterwards, we went walking around the riverwalk and did some window shopping. Very romantic and hey, I'm a cheap date ;-)

Day 2 - We thought about driving to the Grand Canyon since we were in the same state, but it was going to be just a day trip & we decided we didn't want to spend most of our day driving. So, we decided to go to Sedona which is only about 2 hours north of Scottsdale. While it wasn't the Grand Canyon, it was a great substitution. The views were SO beautiful! Breathtaking, actually. Just looking at God's amazing creation is a tremendous spiritual experience. What's sad, is that Sedona is actually known for its "mysticism" - new age, palm readers and talk of "the vortex" is everywhere. It's sad because they've turned God's creation into something it's not. It was still an amazing experience and I'm so glad we went. When we first got there, we took the Sedona Trolley Tour which was a 55-minute tour around town. I think we were the youngest ones on the trolley ;-) We toured around the Hyatt Pinon Pointe, Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village and the Chapel of the Holy Cross. After that, we walked around the "touristy" part of Sedona and had dinner overlooking the mountains. On the way home, we tried to find a good place to watch the sunset but the mountains were in the way :-( We had a fabulous time.

Day 3 - After bagels for breakfast, we worked out at the Eldorado Recreation Center there in Scottsdale. Yes, I said we worked out! We're kind of fitness nuts-oes so that was actually a fun thing for us ;-) Plus, we had to work off some of the great food we had been eating! The rest of the day was spent mostly lounging at the pool. We then had dinner at Abuelos - yes, I know we have that in Oklahoma - but we wanted good Tex Mex and were afraid to try something new. Afterwards, we did something so fun! We went to an outdoor concert at the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale. It was the coolest park EVER! Our girls would have died! They have train rides, a carousel, shops, a museum, 2 playgrounds, a gazebo, and picnic ramadas. We heard a band called Rock Lobster - they were so awesome! They played all of the great 80's music that I used to love - everything from "99 Red Balloons" to "Come on Eileen" to "Jesse's Girl". I was in heaven! I mostly just listen to Christian Rock music now - but I used to just LOVE 80's music. I'm sure I drove Steve crazy dancing and singing to all of the songs and saying, "Name that tune!" or "What year was that popular in?!" We had a blast - or should I say I had a blast!

Day 4 - We started out the day working out again - remember we had Abuelos the night before! Then we went shopping at an outlet mall in Phoenix. Of course, I was back at the pool that afternoon while Steve went to his favorite guy store, Best Buy, then took an afternoon nap. That night, we got to visit with one of my best friends from high school, Allana, and her husband, Barry. She's living in Scottsdale because she's a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines and based out of Phoenix. We ate dinner at Stax Burger Bistro close to the Scottsdale Riverwalk. It was great catching up with her and I hope to see her next month at our 20-year reunion - hint, hint, Allana ;-)

Day 5 - Time to go home! We love to visit Arizona - the mountains are beautiful and the dessert landscape is a nice change of scenery. However, we were really missing green grass and trees and our simple life in Oklahoma. Plus, we really missed our girls! And what did we come back to? A flood! Apparently, it rained all day yesterday & many parts of Oklahoma were flooded. In fact, we had trouble getting to Steve's parent's house to pick up the girls so we had to take the long way back home. We're all home now and ready for a good night's sleep tonight. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed with my own pillow and our fan blowing for noise. Our trip was restful, romantic and rejuvinating. Now, whose up for working out with me tomorrow?! Back to the grind ;-)