Traveling

Eric and I are having a great time in Phoenix with our friends. The weather has been rainy for Phoenix, but full of sunshine from our perspective. We've hiked two of the mountains within the city--Lookout Mountain and Squaw Peak. I love this about Phoenix. Right in the middle of the city, there are mountain preserves that you can hike. Hundreds (thousands?) of people come to them every day for exercise and enjoyment. I would LOVE to be able to leave my house and walk to a great hike up a mountain. People come before and after work, on lunch break, etc. What a great routine.

We also went to the gym with our friend who teaches classes. She took us to a mega-gym in Scottsdale, and Eric and I were in awe of the luxurious amenities. There are huge rock climbing walls, multiple large pools, a staggering amount of equipment, large rooms for classes, steam rooms and saunas and beautiful tiled showers. We worked out, showered, ate in the cafe and contemplated splurging on massages at the spa.

Yesterday our friends took us to Sedona where we scrambled up Bell Rock for gorgeous views of the red rock cliffs around us and then took a short hike up Wilson Mountain. We ate at a great vegetarian restaurant and just enjoyed the light and the beauty of Sedona.

Today is our last day, and we are sad to be leaving. But I'm so glad for the trip. It felt strange to be taking a vacation in January. If it weren't for the opportunity to see Dr. Davidson (I'll explain more about this in another post), we probably would have scheduled the trip further from the Christmas break. But now that we've done it, I feel like it was a great idea to give ourselves this little injection of sunshine in the middle of the winter. It gives me strength to wait for spring.