.: Phoenix

Showing posts with label Phoenix. Show all posts

A Hiking We Will Go

One afternoon while I was in Phoenix, Matt and I went on a really nice hike in the Ahwatukee foothills. The weather was perfect, in the mid-70s. Unfortunately it was too early for cactus blooms, but still a cool landscape. The uphill climb left me huffing & puffing a bit, but it was a fantastic panoramic view at the top. We could see uptown, downtown and clear up to the Cardinals stadium. There were also more green fields

of crops than I ever would have expected!

Mexican at Macayo's

We had a delicious dinner and great margaritas here. There were Girl Scouts selling cookies out front, so we picked up a couple of boxes to take home.

The Girls at the Ghetto Spa

Michelle and I had purchased Groupons for a treatment at a Phoenix spa, so all four of us decided to go get a massage together. It sounded really good online, but...

in reality, it turned out to be not quite what we had expected.

They were totally disorganized, the place needing cleaning, we were left waiting for way too long and Melissa got royally jipped on her pedicure!! In an effort to make up for the long wait, they offered a 'free' sauna to Michelle & I. We were pretty excited about going into the sauna room, until we got stuffed into a portable, stand-alone sauna built for one, stashed way in the back of the salon, with a folding screen for the dressing area! There was barely room for us to squeeze into the little sauna - it was hilarious! We cracked up over it. In fact, Michelle had trouble controlling herself in there...(water spitting incident on my side of the sauna?!)

And poor Meliss had her pedi done in an open area like a hallway, rather than a room, with a student sitting next to her the whole time, observing. And it was clear in the back too...right next to the beauty sauna!!

Not exactly the relaxing experience she had in mind.

But on the bright side, Seanee got a really good facial, and my massage was wonderful. Michelle's massage was pretty good too, but didn't include all of the features that mine did (hot towels on back, hands & feet...ahhh!)!

The owner was really nice and was trying very hard to make it a good time for us. She even served us champagne and chocolate for heaven's sake, so in all fairness, I have to give her points for that.
All in all it was OK, and at least makes for a funny memory if nothing else!

Seanee, Melissa and Michelle in the 'Relaxation Room' waiting for our massages/pedis. It was more like being stuffed in a closet!

Unfortunately, there were only 3 chairs in there, but luckily there was a tuffett...

just right, for Little Miss ~~Muffett~~ Michelle!!

Home Goods in Chandler

While we were in Phoenix, Melissa, Sean, Michelle, Matt and I stopped in at the Home Goods store. As expected, all kinds of goodies were found!

Of course I had to check out the BABY stuff. I was very tempted to p/u this cute little hat - which just happened to have a 'C' for Charlie on it! But then decided not to because I thought maybe it was kinda girly-looking. What I really loved was that awesome little green stool!! (If only I could've figured a way to fit it in my suitcase!)

Awesome ottomans...the turquoise ones were beautiful and so fresh looking. The ones on the bottom shelf were covered in a gray/taupe lizard material. Very cool. I really liked all of these!

This wall sculpture would have been perfect in M&M's guest bathroom (my bathroom!) The colors were just right, but Michelle didn't care for the flowers. So at the store it stayed.

Poor Matt had taken as much shopping as he could, and then conveniently found a sofa to crash on. He was an excellent chauffeur for us!!!

Cute Kaya

One of my awesome granddogs, Kaya

Sweet Sadie

My youngest granddog, Sadie

Morning Coffee

This morning (while on vacation) I got up, went downstairs for a cup of fresh, hot coffee, and then proceeded to go back to bed. Back to bed!!

I never do that!!!

What an indulgent luxury....deliciously dark coffee, a good book, a down comforter.

I may never want to get up ;)

Remembering my 1st Phoenix Trip - February 2008

When Matt and Michelle were considering a move from Salt Lake to Phoenix, they went down there on a couple of trips to check out the place. On one of those trips I flew down to meet them, and Melissa and Sean flew in from Las Vegas. Tiffany was already living there, going to school at USU, and then Joni and Zach came from San Diego to visit too! So we got to have a bit of a family reunion that week-end.

It was so nice to be there in February - everything was absolutely beautiful.....palm trees, colorful flowers, green grass!!

We all got together one night for a Mexican dinner at the Tortilla Factory in Scottsdale *yum* and another night we all met up with Joni's brother and sister-in-law, John and Susan, for another fantastic dinner at Charleston's in Chandler.

We also did some house hunting, shopping at the Chandler mall, swimming in the hotel pool and late-night hot tubbing. Lots of fun.

Little did we know at the time, Matt and Michelle would ultimately end up buying a house just a few miles away from the hotel where we stayed!

Camping in Arizona

While we were vacationing in Phoenix last week, we went camping at Sharp Creek Campground in the Tonto National Forest. It's about a 1-1/2 hour drive east of Phoenix, near the town of Payson. It's up in the mountains, with tons of huge pine trees, and it's about 20 degrees cooler than Phoenix!