Arizona Trip - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

On Thursday night (after I posted the other blog), dad and I took our sunset tour through the canyon. Our first glance at the canyon was really breathtaking. I could not get over the sheer size of it and the many layers to the landscape. It seems like something I need to conquer, but not on this trip. 

Our tour included a lot of fun stops along the way, including some with the wildlife and many different points of interest. At one point, a storm came in, so that gave us a different perspective on the canyon. The storm was so close that lightning struck within a half of a mile from us. That scared the crap out of me!

The sunset was gorgeous, although I don't think the pictures do it justice.

After the tour, we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest. On Friday, we headed back through the canyon to take more pictures and stopped at several Navajo stands to buy some art. I love buying local art instead of going to a gift shop. You also save a lot of money and it goes directly to the artist. The drive was really beautiful. Then, we headed down to Flagstaff. We relaxed around the hotel and I did some research. 

On Saturday morning, we woke up and headed down to Tucson to visit my cousin Gary and his family. His house was gorgeous. He owns a landscaping business, so you can imagine his yard is the best in the area. 

My cousin's pool

front of the house

Dad and I in the back

mountains behind the house

On Saturday night, we went miniature golfing and relaxed at the hotel. It was a fun game of competition, but I got the highest score out of all of us, which means I lost. We enjoyed ourselves and even saw some fireworks on the way back to the hotel. On Sunday, we got up and rode a tram to the top of Sabino Canyon and then hiked part of the way back down. Although the canyon was beautiful, it was really, really dry. Apparently the canyon is much more beautiful in the spring with all of the water, but it was still breathtaking.

Gary and I

On Sunday night we went out to dinner and headed to Gary's house to chat a little more before saying our goodbyes. We talked about Africa and dad was able to look at his genealogy. Tonight we are back at the hotel and preparing to head back to Phoenix tomorrow to catch our flight super early on Tuesday morning. We have had a wonderful trip talking with family, seeing the Grand Canyon, and relaxing. All of the important things on a vacation!