Snow In Arizona???

 Hi family!  I figured I should contribute again now that Allie and I have done something exciting haha.

This last weekend was our 1-year anniversary, and to celebrate I surprised Allie with a trip to Arizona!  We flew out Thursday evening on our beloved Allegiant, which was apparently filled with travelers going to AZ to see a professional pickleball tournament, if the chatter in the gate line was to be believed.  Once we got to Mesa we got our rental car, which turned out to be an EV (which we were not expecting).  Since it was a nice car, and we were feeling adventurous, we thought that was cool to try!  

Immediately after getting the car, we drove up to Surprise, AZ to surprise Allie's old roommate Victoria, and boy was she surprised!  Reminded me of stopping at Mom and Dad's and surprising them that one time.  We got dinner and hung out, but as it got later and later I started getting nervous about the EV and the weather reports of a major winter storm in Flagstaff, which was where our hotel was.  I remembered Dad's struggle to find a charging place, so after leaving Victoria's around 6, we spent the next 2 hours trying to charge the EV (it was not a pleasant experience for either of us).  We eventually decided to go back to the Phoenix airport and exchange our EV for a gas car, which the Budget rental folks were kind enough to do after we waited in line for half an hour.  Then we were finally on our way up north!  The drive was normal for the first hour and a half, but then it started snowing in blizzard and we had to slow waaaay down for the last hour.  Finally we made it with only a few slides to the hotel, but it was on a hill so we couldn't get the car up by the room and had to walk up the hill from the office with our bags.  But even with that it was great to make it into the warm hotel room. 

On Friday we got up and went to a nice local breakfast cafe and had a delicious country breakfast, then drove up to the Grand Canyon!  Allie had not seen it before, so it was super cool for her to see it, and I thought it was cool to see it with snow along the rims!  Each time I've been there it's a reminder of how big and amazing this world is, and how small we are in comparison - quite humbling.  After grabbing some food we drove for a couple hours down to Lake Havasu City, along the Arizona-California border, and got some Culver's frozen custard and relaxed at the hotel. 

Saturday we visited the London Bridge (from the 1830's-1960's) which was purchased, transported and reassembled at Lake Havasu by an eccentric land developer to convince people to come live in the middle of the desert, which apparently worked and brings quite a lot of tourists there (talk about a successful marketing campaign)!  A neat little British-esque village is right around the bridge, so we got some delicious food and ice cream and walked all over looking at the cute shops, which was quite enjoyable!  Then we drove back to Phoenix, and I realized that I should have checked on the hotel we picked a little more because it was just a little sketchy, but after getting some delicious Olive Garden we felt ok enough to relax and hit the hay. 

Sunday morning we drove back to Goodyear to visit Jeff and Sarah, and went to their ward, which was fun to sit with Peter and Gideon, then we hung out at their house for a couple hours and played with the young cousins.  It was a fun time!  We used the rest of the afternoon to drive to the Gilbert and Mesa temples (both are really beautiful) and enjoy the nice warm weather walking around outside before we made our way back to the Mesa airport, boarded our flight (full of BYU and UVU students from the looks of it) and made it back to the cold state of Utah.  

Some things we learned:

1. EV cars are great for local errands and city driving, but not so good for long distance or travel in the boonies - always check your ride before driving away from the rental car agency.

2. Arizona can indeed get snow, and while it's not as bad as Utah, it can still put a damper on your travel plans, but does look pretty!

3. Check and double-check your hotels before you reserve them, because sometimes they can be sketchy even if Expedia gives them 4 stars.  Your wife will thank you.

Thus ended our lovely Arizona Anniversary, and we hope to make it back there sometime soon to watch Spring Training games!