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!

Tampa - Cousin Taylor's Graduation

David's cousin Taylor graduated high school at the end of May, and a bunch of his family came down to celebrate her accomplishment. We made a few days of it and drove down with David's parents and Aunt Marianne. On the way down to Warner Robins to pick up David's family, we stopped in Macon for dinner and discovered a new video game bar had opened! Fun!

We stopped in downtown Macon on the drive down, and found a video game bar!

After the long drive, we had dinner at David's Uncle Rick and Aunt Terri's house. They recently moved inland from closer to St. Petersburg to a big house in New Port Richey. We went and found some local beer to share from Big Storm Brewing Company (which was hit or miss). On our way to our hotel we had a colorful Florida experience at a local 7-11 in which we also managed to find a terrifying treat. You know...basically, Florida.

What nightmares are made of!

The beer scene is growing in the South - Big Storm Brewing Company

The very next day we went to Busch Gardens for Paul to get his roller coaster fix. The weather was a little sketchy so the park was pretty empty. Score!

First stop - Montu!

Paul's not afraid of Tigers!

The new "Pantopia" section is very colorful and has a fun free-fall tower...

...that Paul was crazy enough to ride!

It was a rainy day but the water rides were still popular.

Bacon pretzels and craft beer! Healthy theme park food.

After hanging out at Busch Gardens for a few hours, we met up with David's cousins (Vegas and Florida crew) in downtown to check out the river-walk and grab some food at the Tampa Pizza Company. More bad weather led us to a video game bar in Ybor City called Game Time for an hour.

Walk along downtown Tampa's riverwalk.

Hmm, these look both look familiar.

Tampa has some nice old buildings in downtown and in Ybor City.

Streetcar in Ybor City - small loop that runs into downtown.

Taylor and Zach sucking up some ghosts in Luigi's Mansion

Paul celebrating one of his many victories in Mario at the Olympics game

Ybor City is really cute with lots of bars and walkable areas

There were chickens all over Ybor City. It was weird.

Tampa's bike share is pretty much identical to Atlanta's, right down to the color scheme.

That evening, we bailed on the family (sorry family!) and went to check out Tarpon Springs. This city has an interesting history focused on the sponge. Basically, the sponge diving industry in Europe was wrecked by a blight and lots of Greek people immigrated to this community, which had the correct conditions for sponges to grow.

Today, Tarpon Springs has the highest percent of people of Greek descent of any American city. It has a touristy waterfront with lots of Greek restaurants. There were even people walking down the streets speaking in Greek. It's pretty odd, but worth a look if you're ever in the neighborhood! We stopped for dinner and treats for the family at Hellas Restaurant and Bakery.

Water in Tampa Bay is like glass!

The Tarpon Springs waterfront.

That's not how sponges work, Paul!

Super cheesy, but pretty good food at Hellas!

Paul's leading a secret double life down in Tarpon Springs!

Taylor's graduation party was on our last full day in Florida. It was great catching up with family and celebrating David's cousin Taylor! Taylor is planning on attending the University of South Florida in the fall.

Congrats cake!

There's a lot going on in this picture to the trained D'Onofrio eye...

After party location at a beach bar!

It's not a D'Onofrio family gathering until these guys start singing!