Arizona & Las Vegas Wedding

In late April we took a trip to Arizona and Nevada. David had a work trip to Phoenix, and that weekend our cousin Josh was getting married in Las Vegas, so it was a good opportunity to make a week out of it and drive from Phoenix to Las Vegas via the Grand Canyon. Paul's been to Arizona before, but this was David's first real trip to all but a tiny corner of the state.

The first couple days of the trip David was in Phoenix for his meeting. Paul joined on Tuesday afternoon and together we visited the Arizona capitol building and then drove north to Sedona and on to Flagstaff.

Old church in downtown Phoenix.

Downtown Phoenix is small, but pretty walkable with a new rail line connecting it to the airport.

The Arizona capitol building, just west of downtown.

More like the "ok seal of the state of arizona"

Nice rotunda in the capitol building.

Paul's always giving legislators the side-eye!

David, on the other hand, is going for a more authoritarian state of Arizona!

Leaving Phoenix, it's amazing how fast the landscape changes. It was unseasonably hot in Phoenix while we were visiting, with highs around 100*F. Driving north you quickly start to gain elevation and the desert is replaced by a forest of saguaro cacti. Further north this abruptly changes to grasslands and eventually forests above 7,000 feet. The diversity in landscape is one of the more endearing characteristics of this state, which makes up for the somewhat underwhelming city of Phoenix.

Our first stop was in Sedona. This city is known for its red rock outcrops and canyons. The contrast between the cliffs and the grasslands is beautiful. We took a hike on the Cathedral Rock Trail to a vista near sunset to get a view of the area. There are lots of vacation houses and rentals and a small touristy downtown area with shops and restaurants.

Red rocks in Sedona

Sedona vista

Paul nearly at the top of the Cathedral Rock Trail in Sedona.

Chapel of the Holy Cross blends into the scenery at Sedona.

From Sedona we drove a short distance north to Flagstaff, another climb of a couple thousand of feet in elevation. Flagstaff is a pretty town, with a cute downtown and a university nestled in a pine forest at the base of Humphrey's Peak (Arizona's highest point). The city is very livable with bike facilities, a good bus system and lots of shops and restaurants. The elevation gives the city a cool climate in the summer and snow and cold in the winter. Overall, it was delightful. We rented an AirBnB near downtown for two nights.

Flagstaff is a great base to explore northern Arizona. Numerous sights are located within about a 1-2 hour drive including: Meteor Crater Natural Landmark, Walnut Canyon National Monument, the Grand Canyon, the Lowell Observatory, and lots of other natural and native american cultural sights - some of which are national monuments. We used a full day to explore a couple nearby sights.

Biff's Bagels in Flagstaff. People put up pictures as memorials to their dead pets. It's a little morbid, but they have good bagels.....so, here we are.

East of Flagstaff is a giant meteor crater! There's a science center attached.

Near meteor crater is the town of Winslow, Arizona, famous for the corner from the song .

We crossed Route 66 lots of times driving around Arizona. It still has some touristic charm for mostly retired RV folks.

Just east of Flagstaff is Walnut Canyon National Monument. People lived here in cliff-side dwellings.

Example cliff-side dwelling from 1100 - 1250 CE. Eventually the climate dried and people left the canyon.

You can see how closely the buildings were packed under the cliffs.

Lots of stuff in Arizona is trying really hard to poke you. Be warned!

Due to its altitude, spring had just arrived in Flagstaff.

Lunch and beer at Lumberyard Brewing Company.

Flagstaff also is a local brewery hotspot. Paul was pretty happy with two days of brewpubs. This one is at Dark Sky Brewing, which was Paul's favorite of the trip.

Lowell Observatory just outside of Flagstaff.

This is part of the Lowell Observatory. They discovered Pluto in the building behind David.

Flagstaff has lots of nice local parks, including Buffalo Park which has jogging trails and mountain views.

After a two nights in Flagstaff it was time to head to the Grand Canyon and then on to Las Vegas. We got up around 3:30AM to make the drive to the eastern most entrance point of the south rim to arrive ahead of sunrise. Sunrise at the Grand Canyon is spectacular. Seeing the light move down the canyon walls illuminating new shades of color is a bucket list must-do. After watching sunrise, we drove along the south rim towards the visitor center, stopping occasionally to check out the views and do a little hiking. After around 5 hours in the park we started our drive to Las Vegas to meet up with my family at an AirBnB for three nights surrounding Josh and Yami's wedding.

The first bit of morning light over the canyon, at 5:30AM.

The sunlight hitting the far canyon walls, about 8 miles away.

Paul enjoying dawn at the Grand Canyon.

David didn't get as close to the edge as Paul.

There were a lot of cool shadows as the sun continued to rise.

Remains of a kiva at Tusayan ruins.

View of Bright Angel Canyon later in the day.

Another benefit of going early is avoiding this situation in the afternoon. It gets crowded!

Goodbye Grand Canyon National Park!

Driving to Vegas we stopped for Tex-Mex on Route 66 in Williams.

Finally, we had 2 and a half days in Las Vegas to hang out with family. We rented an AirBnB with David's parents, sister, brother-in-law and two cute nephews. Unfortunately, David's mom threw out her back and wasn't able to go out much, so we ended up spending a lot of time hanging out at the AirBnB or with our Las Vegas family. The wedding was great, and it was wonderful to catch up with family.

AirBnB was on a freaking man-made lake in Las Vegas. That's sustainable!

Gabe is super cuddly!

We made a little time for bingo, of course! Ricky won $250 this game!

Josh has an entire soccer team worth of groomsmen! :)

Alex and Gabe both really loved the flower petals!

It's amazing what random things can lead to that level of joy!

When he wasn't trying to walk into the water, Gabe was pretty fun. ;)

David's Dad and four of his siblings!

Josh and Yami with David's Uncle Rick.

I specifically requested to not be seated next to a child!

There's still a whole lot of Arizona and Nevada we haven't explored. A western road trip is in order!

Las Vegas and Death Valley

In January David's soccer team played in the Sin City Shootout in Las Vegas. The trip was a good opportunity to visit with family, tour a national park, and hang out in fabulous Las Vegas. Paul tagged along for this trip and managed to get some roller coaster credits. Win-win!

We arrived on a Thursday night and took the next day (before the soccer tournament started) to visit Death Valley National Park. Paul had visited the park 9 years ago, but it was David's first trip to the lowest point in North America and the hottest point on Earth. Luckily, since we were visiting in January, it wasn't blazing hot. We were treated to a really unusually rainy and foggy day in the desert. It's neat to see things from this perspective, but David felt like he missed out on the full desert experience.

Driving to Death Valley there was low clouds and fog.

Foggy!

Overcast skies all day, and not much traffic.

I wonder if this dog has a permit...

Death Valley is a really huge park (the largest in the US outside of Alaska), and we were only able to see a small portion of it in the eight hours or so we had to spend. In total, the park is over 5,000 square miles, a little smaller than Connecticut. We started from the south and visited Badwater, the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level. From there we drove north and hiked up a canyon to Natural Bridge. Next was the incredibly cool and odd Devil's Golf Course before we checked into the main visitor center at Furnace Creek. Finally, we took a ranger's advice and drove through Mustard Canyon, hiked along an estuary at Salt Creek and closed out the day hiking the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes. Not too shabby for one day!

Obligatory national park sign picture!

It's a neat landscape.

Entering the valley.

All the rain created a few small salty lakes.

Who said the desert doesn't have water? It was really shallow though.

Lowest point in North America! A bucket list experience.

Marching out to the Badwater Basin...very flat and salty. The mountains ahead are over 10,000 feet high.

Badwater Basin jumping pic!

-282 foot selfie!

Natural Bridge

Paul has the exact same picture from back when he lasted visited in 2008.

The Devil's Golf Course. Basically, very rocky and eroded salt flats. One of our favorite sites in Death Valley.

So many dirt roads. Our rental car got a bit dusty.

Salt Creek Estuary. Home to a variety of endangered fish that we didn't see.

Mesquite Sand Dunes in a misty rain.

The dune landscapes are beautiful.

Sand, sand, everywhere.

Not quite as impressive as Great Sand Dunes NP, but pretty close!

After knocking a few pounds of sand out of our shoes, we left Death Valley behind and drove back to Las Vegas. We stayed with David's Uncle John and Aunt Leah for the trip. Thanks for being such great hosts!

Uncle John and...

Aunt Leah! :)

Overall, soccer was a bit of a bust...the team went 1-4-1. But David scored the most goals for his team so he was happy about that. After soccer, there were lots of tacos, drinks and nights out on the town. 

Beer at PT's in Las Vegas, in a Nevada shaped holder.

Of course Paul got some roller coaster credits!

Soccer team pic! A few guys from Atlanta were supplemented by new friends from cities across the nation.

Let's go Atlanta!

Post-soccer reward tacos at Tacos El Gordo!

After we were done with soccer we hit the town with David's cousin, Josh, and his girlfriend Yami. We visited the strip, got some drinks, and stopped by a few local spots. Las Vegas is a very flashy town (obviously) and while it's a bit hectic it's still pretty fun. Overall, David walked away with some of the casino's money, and Paul only lost a little bit, so woot! Bingo was our game. Thanks Josh for showing us the ropes!

Night out on the strip with David's cousin Josh and his girlfriend Yami.

New York?

There were lots of Chinese Lunar New Year decorations in the hotels.

Here we are, enjoying the casino-hopping!

The Venetian is pretty cool on the inside.

Bye Las Vegas! We'll see you again sometime soon!