A trip to Arizona

So I finally reached the West coast. My first trip to the hot side of the U.S. took me to Arizona. I reunited with one of my best friends who I hadn’t seen since high school graduation five years ago. It was a short trip but we did a lot. I saw parts of Mesa, Tempe, Phoenix and Chandler. Canyon Lake (pictured below) was pretty. Very calming, that was my favorite part. Or maybe that was just because we were the only ones there and you could actually hear the water lap against the sand.

Casey Morgan’s had delicious food. So many restaurant menus there are heavily influenced by Mexican cuisine. I had an enchilada dish that had more beans on it than anything else.

My best friend and I also went to an Ugly Christmas Sweater concert. It was a lot of fun. Young the Giant and Cage the Elephant were the headliners. The ugly sweater I was wearing got me noticed by one of the concert promo people and she invited us to meet Young the Giant backstage for radio promo pictures. So that was unexpected but made our night a lot better and more memorable. Here’s a very grainy shot of our ugly sweaters!

The weather was really nice. It was always in the 50s and 60s which was especially welcoming after the 20s, 30s and 40s of Upstate New York. The palm trees and cacti threw me off at first because it felt like I was in a movie or something. Getting used to a new climate and environment is interesting. The color scheme and architecture of Arizona was really unique. They’re very proud of their desert heritage. Most buildings were low and painted in earth tones. And there were community complexes everywherreeeee. Albany has like, two.

This was such a good trip. Good food, great company, awesome memories. Seeing my best friend after five years was probably the highlight of 2014. I’m so grateful I had the chance to make this trip, meet so many cool people and create about a dozen new inside jokes with her 😛 There’s nothing like a best friend. Also, thank God for airplanes.