So, what else did we do in AZ?

Besides the race, we were very busy touristing, too, and some fun pictures to show for it!

When Mom flew into town, she spent the week before-hand with me and Zach on post, and then the two of us drove over to Phoenix for the AZ Rock & Roll. In Phoenix, we met up with Ms. Donna, Mom's running buddy, who was doing the half too. We had a couple days to play tourist, and then a big race to cap off the long weekend. Zach had to stay home, since he had to work, unfortunately, but it is what it is. We'll just have to make another trip over to Phoenix if he wants to see it too :)

I've already mentioned what we did in Vegas, and the race itself (the whole reason we went over to Phoenix), but we got to play tourist a little too. Phoenix is a really neat town! Well, the greater Phoenix area (we saw some of Tempe and Scottsdale too). So much to see and do - a real city! Been a while since I was able to do some of these things. Food, for example. As a friend says, the dining options on post are pretty much equivalent to a small food court. Ethnic foods, especially good ones, you have to drive a ways to find. In Phoenix, Mom and Ms. Donna let me choose the menu. We had Chinese, great pasta, and Greek. The Greek place was AWESOME! If you're in Tempe, be sure to check out My Big Fat Greek Restaurant on Mill St, near the university. Wonderful food! And they had this incredible desert that Mom and Ms Donna loved - baklava cheesecake. I'm not a big cheesecake fan, so my opinion's not worth much on the subject, but the two of them were gushing about it. It looked like it was a cheesecake with lots of swirls of honey and nuts and spices running through it. Apparently it was fantastic, and I missed out - though, I have to say my regular ol' baklava wasn't too shabby ;)

The Zoo in Phoenix is INCREDIBLE!! So big! We spent close to 7 hours there - pretty much the entire day Saturday - and still didn't see it all. I think Mom read somewhere that they have almost 16 miles of trails through the whole park. Pretty impressive! I was really impressed by their conservation and breeding work - the bio major in me coming out, I guess. They had several species where they specifically mentioned the breeding counts that the Phoenix Zoo had produced, or mentioned that such-and-such a species was extinct in the wild that they were working on breeding efforts with. Even their logo is based on a species which they had been instrumental in reintroducing into the wild. (If you're curious, it's the oryx, a type of antelope that was nearly wiped off the Arabian peninsula). And, on a less intellectual level, the zoo was fun too! In the day, there were camel rides (we splurged!). Very lumbering, swaying sort of critter to ride.

And at night, the Zoo lights up! Through the holiday season, they decorate a portion of the park for ZooLights. Lots of music playing, and some very impressive light displays. A lot of fun. And we lucked out - the weekend we were there was the last night of the season, and free with a canned good donation! Perfect timing! As a bit of post-race silliness, we picked up some light-up bunny ears for ourselves. Actually made it very easy for us to find each other in the dark - we were the taller ears running around!

It's interesting, after living in the Mojave desert for nearly a year, being able to see some differences in the desert Phoenix is in (the Sonoran). It's a richer desert, I think it the best way to describe it. Having that river flowing there helps :) There's a lot more plant life - nothing like the redwoods or the forests back East, of course, but definitely more plants than near Post. And it's redder, too - the desert around here is every shade of brown instead.

One of the highlights of our visit was the Desert Botanical Gardens. I know, you're thinking "Oh boy, how many species of cactus can I see in one place?" But they've got a really cool temporary exhibit with artwork from Dale Chihuly, the glasswork artist. We were lucky - our ticket time was for the late afternoon, which made for PERFECT lighting through the glass pieces. Some were just glowing - beautiful!

I'd never been to AZ before, though we did drive through on our move out here. It was just a really fun weekend, and especially after being sick over New Year's, it was a really good way to start the year, shake off a little of the frustrations of being cooped up on post too long. Made me realize again how important it is to get off post on a very regular basis! I guess between that and seeing family and friends from home again, the trip to AZ turned out to have more meaning than I thought :)