Thursday 9/16/04

Kristen and I flew out of Midway and arrived in Phoenix around 9:00 pm. Kara picked us up from the airport and we went to Becky's in Scottsdale where Kara is staying while doing her fieldwork at Mayo. We met Becky who is extremely nice. She had our room all made up for us. We were all tired, so we went to bed since it was about 11:00 Chicago time and Kara had to work on Friday.

Friday 9/17/04 - Shopping in Scottsdale, Drove to Sedona

I dropped Kara off at Mayo and then Kristen and I drove Downtown Scottsdale to explore the shops and restaurants that were in the area. The weather was beautiful and sunny, but a little on the hot side. We had breakfast at Picnicken then shopped at the 5th Avenue Shops. Then we went to Fashion Square Mall to get out of the heat. They had some great stores!

After that we drove to Tempe and drove by Sun Devil Stadium at Arizona State University. It's really neat because they built the stadium into the mountain. This is where the next night Craig and his friends drove from Vegas to watch the Iowa game.

We had lunch at Gordon Biersch in downtown Tempe. We both had a yummy turkey sandwich. It was fun because there were a lot of Hawkeyes walking around that were in town for the game. We went shopping at some cute stores including Divas and Urban Outfitters where we both bought a belt!

We drove back to Scottsdale looking for the "Scottsdale Mall" that was on the map, but it turned out to be a wig shop and a small deli! Not too exciting, so we walked around Old Town and shopped while getting whistled at by some guys in the Rusty Spur Saloon! Then we went back to Becky's to relax before we went to pick up Kara from work. We literally Shopped 'til we Dropped!

Kara picked Sand Bar for dinner which was a really fun bar/restaurant that had an outside area with sand and a small pool. The table tops were designed with beer bottle caps. The food and margaritas were pretty good. Then we went back to Becky's to pack for our trip to Sedona.

Unfortunately it was dark while driving, but we got to see the scenery on the way back down on Sunday. Kara's parents' house is beautiful. Kara raided her parents liquor cabinet and brought out some champagne and kaluha to drink outside in the hot tub. It was a beautiful night and very relaxing until the bats that were flying over us were getting closer and closer. We decided it was wise to go back inside! We sat outside on her parents' patio and looked up at the stars which was just unbelievable. Pitch black and then millions of stars shining amazingly bright.

Saturday 9/18/04 - Hiking in Sedona, Dinner in Flagstaff

We got up around 7:00 and had breakfast at Maria's in Castle Rock Plaza before hiking. I was a little nervous seeing how big these mountains were and never having really hiked before. But I trusted Kara and it actually turned out to be an amazing experience. At some times it was strenuous and sometimes we were so close to the cliff side of the mountain, my knees were shaking! We started off at Cathedral Rock. Looking up the mountain, I couldn't imagine actually being at the top, but Kara did a great job leading and it was absolutely worth it when we saw the views at the top. Once up there, I was nervous about getting back down, but it wasn't as bad as I expected.

Next we did Broken Arrow which is much flatter terrain. Kara showed us a sink hole and Chicken Point at the top. There were mountain bikers and jeep tours going up this mountain - I don't know how they did it. We could see Submarine rock from the top as well as other amazing views of the mountain.

We were pretty tired after two hikes, so we had lunch at Wildflower Bread Company at the Shops at Pinon Pointe. It was a great meal!

Next we ventured up the Lost Canyon which was not my favorite. There were very steep parts to climb and close to the top, we were seriously a foot or two away from the drop off and I was not thrilled. Then we started talking about mountain lions and I got freaked out. There were Indian Ruins and Kara and Kirsten hiked up to one, but I stayed behind and took pictures. It started to look like it was going to storm, so we had to head back down. All in all it was worth it, but I'm not sure I would do that one again!

We went back to Kara's parents' to shower which felt so good! We drove through the mountains to Flagstaff. It was amazing how much colder it felt up there, plus it was raining off and on. But the views were awesome. We had dinner and margaritas at a mexican place called San Felipe's Coastal Cantina. As dinner was ending, the Iowa Hawkeyes were scheduled to kick off at ASU, but it was delayed due to weather.

Downtown Flagstaff is really neat with many shops and restaurants. We had a flight at a wine bar called Vino Loco. We walked around to a few shops including Black Hound Gallerie which was entertaining. I bought Craig a Jack Daniels glass there. Kristen bought a cute wall decoration at P.J. Chilcottage - another Old Town Shop.

Then we went to Maloney's to finish watching the game. I couldn't believe how bad the Hawks were down at half and then continued to lose pretty bad 44-7 scoring on the last drive of the game. We had a martini or two and then drove back to Sedona.

Sunday 9/19/04 - Rainy, More Shopping:)

We woke up to some rain and had breakfast at Village Griddle. Since the weather was bad, we drove around looking for a place to get a pedicure, but most of the spas were closed on Sundays unfortunately. We went to Son Silver West where I bought a lizard wall decoration and some post cards and small calendar of Sedona.

We ventured back to Scottsdale slowly but surely. Because of the rain there was quite a bit of traffic on the roads. We stopped and had lunch at the food court at the Outlets at Anthem and did some shopping.

Then we stopped at Kara's brother's place in Cave Creek. They live at the bottom of a huge mountain with cactus all over - it was so pretty. Kara's niece, Marley, was doing a great job entertaining us with her dance parties! John showed us some houses that his company, Mladick, built which were amazing. We had dinner at Fox Sports Grill which was a great place to watch games and an awesome BBQ Chicken Salad! We went to bed early since we had to get up early!

Monday 9/20/04

Kara had to get up at 4:30 am to take us to the airpot - Thanks Kara! We had breakfast at the Paradise Bakery & Cafe and then it was a smooth and quick flight back to Midway. I worked a half day while Kristen got to go out to lunch and shopping with her mom!