Arizona Thanksgiving Adventure

A few weeks ago, my aunt invited us to her house in Scottsdale for Thanksgiving. It's a relatively short drive for us and we were eager to spend a holiday with family, so Wednesday morning we loaded up and drove to Arizona.

It has been such a fun, laid back trip. We have spent our days walking the dogs, cooking, hiking, eating, and hanging out. 

The weather has been gorgeous so we have been outside a lot of the time. Honestly, we have worked out more than we have eaten, which makes me feel good. Exhausted and good. I am kind of obsessed with the desert, so yesterday we hiked Pinnacle Peak to check out the awesome desert views.

 

The path was steep and narrow at places and since I was wearing Penelope in the Bjorn, I was really nervous most of the 2 mile hike. At the end of the trail, hikers could either turn around and hike back up the mountain the same way they came or exit through a private road and walk around the mountain back to the parking lot. We were tired and hot and the thought of hiking with 2 little kids up a mountain again sounded horrible. We decided to exit through the private road.

None of us knew where we were so I used my phone's map to navigate us back to the cars. We were a little discouraged to learn that we had 4.7 miles to walk around the mountain to get to the parking lot, but we pressed on.

We didn't have much water left since we only planned on a short hike. The girls were hot, we were starving (we rationed a granola bar between us), and the long walk ahead of us became a bigger feat than we thought we could handle. So JD and my cousin, Brad, ran on ahead the rest of the 4 miles back to the car. The girls and I stayed behind with my aunt and other cousin. We sat under the shade of a cactus and played in the sand, while repeating "ration the water!" about a hundred times. It was all very normal for all of us, just hanging out next to the desert without any water or food or transportation. Not out of the ordinary at all. The only thing on our minds was staying alive. Not really.

JD and Brad showed up an hour later with the cars and we made it safely back to Pam's house. It was quite the adventure.

The rest of the weekend was spent playing and eating and talking. We had a great holiday weekend in Arizona and are so grateful for the time spent with family. And the great hospitality. Thanks Pam and family!