Highlights of our trip to Phoenix this past weekend...

In no particular order...

NO WORK!  I didn't think about it for even a second from the minute I left the office on Wednesday afternoon to the second I flipped the switch to arm the clock alarm last night. 

Geckos!  Everywhere.  Who could possibly believe that those little cold-blooded suckers are so darn adorable?  And no, that's not just because I've been conditioned to think they speak with little cockney accents.

Sun. Sun and more sun!  Sun therapy will make life bearable for another week or so, at least.  This may or may not have also resulted in a lowlight of my trip: the unbearably white hand print I somehow left in the middle of my sunburned upper thigh, but I have no regrets.  The streaks on my right knee and biceps, on the other hand, I may have some regrets about.  How can one person be so terrible at applying her sunscreen?

Wildflower season!  Gorgeous flowers helped me keep my mind off the fact that I was hiking a questionable number of miles in extreme heat with no lunch.  Enjoyed the colors and sounds of the desert barefoot from the middle of a mountain stream as I waited for Nathan and Susanne to catch up (that's right, you read that correctly, I was ahead of them.  By a lot, I might add.  Of course, this was, admittedly, on the way back to civilization.  Air conditioning and a frozen cola slushy make quite good carrots in my opinion).

Good company!  Had a marvelous time hiking with one of my future sisters-in-law, Susanne, and Nathan (and other various wildlife).  Hung with fun people she works with (poolside with beer, no less).  Was reminded how much fun Nathan and I have on adventures together, and how much we appreciate each other when we're in the midst of adventure!

Excellent food!  Mexican food was on the menu pretty much every night of our stay with yummy discoveries everywhere we went as well as very tasty breakfasts every day.  Highlights would have to be Navajo Frybread tacos at Sacred Hogan, salted caramel almond ice cream from The Main Ingredient, and frozen raspberry lemonade from the Two Hippies Beach House.

Wouldn't mind if we made this a yearly visit....