Friday, May 29
Got up at 3 a.m. to catch a plane out of New Orleans by 6. I vaguely remember a layover in Houston, but other than that the hours of 4-9 are pretty foggy. We rented a car in Phoenix and immediately drove to the Arizona Science Museum. It was definitely geared more towards the younger crowd (think 12 and under), but it was still a fun time. They had a whole floor devoted to Lego sculptures -- who wouldn't love that?
After a few hours at the Science Museum, we were pretty pooped so we retired to our hotel for some rest, followed by a swim in the enormous pool. Still on Louisiana time, we woke up at roughly 5 a.m. Arizona time to this view from our window:
Saturday, May 30
We originally set out to see a show at the Great Arizona Puppet Theater, but once we got there we decided it looked like another "kid" thing, so we headed the three blocks over to the Phoenix Art Museum. It was pretty big, and full of very cool stuff. Our favorite was probably "You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies", a small room with mirrored walls, ceiling, and floor that was pitch black except for strings of colored LED lights hung from the ceiling. You couldn't tell where the walls or ceiling or floor started or ended, and it was really incredible and cool.
The museum also had a wing of fashion art that was one of the most badass things I've ever seen. Fortuny gowns, Pucci prints, original Balenciaga designs...I was pretty giddy, and Andy at least enjoyed seeing how silly I was acting.
After the art museum, we decided to see one last Phoenix attraction, the Mystery Castle. We originally weren't sure if it would be cool or not, but it was amazing. A man built the castle out of things he found (and sometimes stole) in the desert around Phoenix. It was just full of crazy things, like an organ salvaged from a saloon in Tombstone and a sofa designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Definitely one of my favorite places we went on the whole vacation, and I highly recommend it if you ever visit Phoenix.
That evening, we picked up Mr. Greg and Mrs. Marsha from the airport and came back to the hotel to rest.
Sunday, May 31
We got up early to make it to the Desert Botanical Garden outside Phoenix. It was full of different desert wildflowers and cacti -- lots of stuff I'd only seen in pictures. There was also an exhibit of colorful blown glass inspired by the Arizona desert that was pretty incredible. I got a little overheated and was ready to leave after an hour or so, but it was a really unique place to visit and I'm glad we went.
From there, we drove a few hours west to Sedona, which is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Mrs. Marsha and Mr. Greg dropped Andy and me off at the Out of Africa Wildlife Park where we went on a "safari" and got to see all kinds of animals up close. They had a show called "Tiger Splash" where the staff essentially just played around in a pool with two big tigers in a swimming pool. On the safari, I got to feed a giraffe named Kebo, who wrapped his giant black tongue around my entire hand -- it was a little gross but very cool.
I think that's enough for today. I'll try to finish blogging about the trip in the next few days.
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