Fall Colors - Boyce Thompson Arboretum

One of our favorite places to visit is Boyce Thompson Arboretum (or as I called it "The Arbotorium" Haha.) It's only about 45 minutes from us, the drive out is beautiful in itself, and BTA is always peaceful regardless of how busy it is. The first time we went we enjoyed it so much we upgraded to yearly passes and just renewed our memberships for the next year. 

This week was "peak week" for fall colors, so of course we had to make the trip out. It was the busiest we've ever seen it! The parking lot was almost full both the owner and upper lots, but it was still a great day! 

The colors by the suspension bridge were probably the most vibrant. We crossed and took the high trail to get a better view from above.

After the high trail we walked up to observation look out to see a few more colors and also the "rock puppy". 

We also got to see a really pretty cactus bloom on one of the loops that we normally skip. 

Finally, on our way out we saw one more tree in it's fall color. 

There is so much more to see at Boyce Thompson that I couldn't share it all at once. This is why we go several times a year. I'm sure I'll be sharing more from here in the future! 

Pennsylvania Trip

Hey all....it's been a little while since I made my last post. I'm still recovering from our crazy, fast, over-packed trip to PA last weekend. If you're reading this and we were able to get together, it was GREAT seeing you. If we didn't get a chance to meet up, we are hoping to come back next summer for just a visiting trip so we should have more time to get together. 

Now let me get in to tell you about the trip. 🙂

When I originally booked our flights, I tried to plan so we had the most time possible in PA but also so we didn't have to take too much PTO time. Especially for me, since I'm in my first year and don't have that much time banked yet. Haha. Some things never change and I'm still stingy with my PTO.

I booked our flight out Wednesday afternoon so I was able to get my time in that day. Well, the night before I couldn't sleep and woke up at 3am....so why not go ahead and start working at 4am!!! I actually got my full 8 hours that day, finished packing the essentials and we headed to airport.

I've been through Sky Harbor a number for times and this was by far the busiest I've seen it. Baggage check was busy and then when we got to TSA the line was sooooo long. Well, we found out when we got up to the front that there was only one TSA agent working! 

We had a layover in Denver and both flights were pretty much uneventful. Except the landing! When we landed in Denver, it felt like we were going super fast....I'm pretty sure we even were close to end the of the runway as we hit some rumble strips....NO JOKE. Well, the pilot we had heading to Pittsburgh said "Hold my beer" because that landing was hardest I've ever felt. Jason said he is pretty sure we bounced! 

Our flight landed at 12:30am and I found out as we were booking a rental that all the rental agencies close at midnight. So, for the first time I rented through Turo. For those of you that don't know what Turo is, I like to describe it as the AirBNB of rental cars. Privately owned cars that are rented out. 

Well.....when I booked this car we underestimated how small it was going to be. We got a Chevy Spark which basically has no trunk, but the seats folded down (kinda) to make room. We luckily were able to fit Jason's goalie bag, sticks and our luggage in for the trip. 

Here is our clown car.

When we got into the car I tried to put the window down because it was "dewey" and to my surprise it had crank windows. Guys, this was a 2022 vehicle....I didn't even know they still made cars with crank windows!!!

Thursday we got to to do "Villa Night". For those of you that don't know, when we lived back in PA we would go to the Villa every Thursday. Everyone knew and it was just a regular thing. We never made plans, if you wanted to show up...GREAT! If you weren't able to, no big deal. Someone would always be there!

We had a huge turnout and I'm pretty sure we're super annoying to the staff because we kept having to add tables and chairs due to the number of people that kept coming. It was great tho to see so many people in one place! 

Friday started the tournament, which meant we got to see SO many more friends! But first, back to the car....Parking at the War Memorial is tight. So I decided to drop Jason off at the door with his bag. Well, this amazing 2022 vehicle didn't have a release for the hatch. Seriously.....I had to shut the car off, get out, and walk around to open the hatch with the key.....crank windows, no power locks and no hatch release. Oh, but it did have Android Auto! What? Haha. 

As I mentioned we got to see so many friends while we there this weekend for the tournament. I even got so excited to see people that I tripped and fell. Here's a photo rendition of me falling....

The last night we were back home, Jason got to play for his old Woodchucks team. This meant we got to see more people and also visit our favorite "Mindy's Place"!

After the game we hung out in the parking lot with the guys which was great because we never got to do this much due to having to work Mondays. 

From there we ended up going straight to airport because we had a 5am flight (I was really regretting my life choices at this point). We ended up sleeping on the plane and then spending the rest of Monday napping. 

We had an amazing trip and had lots of fun. It was great to get to see so many people as I mentioned and can't wait to see you all again soon! 

Dia De Los Muertos @ The Old Adobe Mission

As I had mentioned in a previous post, Old Town Scottsdale is one of my favorite places to visit. There is always something going on that we want to check out.

Overlook of display from parking garage

This past weekend was the Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) display at The Old Adobe Mission. Admission was $18 and you were able to come back any day if you wanted. We originally were going to try to head back an night to see it lit up but didn't make it. 

Most of the displays were large painted sugar skulls.

They were very intricate with paintings even on the backside.

A brief description of the sugar skull:

In addition the skulls there were other paintings as well.

The displays were both inside and outside the church. Inside there was also a little museum type area about the church which also included the original cross from the roof.

Definitely another cool art display worth checking out! It's over for this year as of Nov 2nd, but I believe the donut every year. 

Hieroglyphics Trail

Sunday was a beautiful day here in Arizona. The weather cooled down to the mid 70s so it was a great day to head out to do some hiking!

The trailhead that we started out on is called the Lost Goldmine Trail which is located in Gold Canyon. You drive back away from the 60 through some nice housing areas before the road basically ends in the trail parking lot. 

As you start up the trail, you will see where it splits from the Lost Goldmine Trail and the Hieroglyphics Trail. We haven't done the Lost Goldmine yet, but we will be back!

The trail was about 3 miles round trip, so only about 1.5 miles back to the Hieroglyphics. It was a little over 500ft elevation gain, but steady so it wasn't a real strenuous trail overall. It was a little "up" and the views were still beautiful!

When we got to the top we took a break to eat our Honey Stingers snack. While we were snacking, we saw a couple squirrel friends. There were 3-4 total and they were fast! If you look closely in the picture below you may see one. His tail is in the sun, and his body in the shade. 

After our break we climbed down and across to check out the Hieroglyphics. There were a lot of them!

We also found a little "cave" area.....and you know I had to go in. Then I was told to watch out for critters....so I was like hurry up and take my picture before I see something I don't want to be in here with!

At the top there was also a few small pools of water with a little trickle of what you may call a stream. During heavy rains or when the snow up north melts it probably flows much more, but it was still a cool view. 

Finally, we had to take an obligatory selfie. 😉

Overall this was a pretty easy trail with good views and with an end result. I'd definitely go back again to check it out up further from this point and to take the other trail on another day. 

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy our adventures!

Arizona State Fair

Saturday we went to check out the State Fair. Coming from small town Pennsylvania, this place was insane compared to the local county fairs I'm used to. 

I had heard a lot of things about the fair regarding price so was hesitant to go. We decided we would just go check out this time so we would know what to expect. I can definitely see how it could get expensive if you were taking kids that would be riding and playing games. The entrance fee was $15/person, so for us that wasn't too bad to just walk around and take it all in.

One of the reasons I went was to visit a friend from work. She works at one of the funnel cake stands so of course we had to check that out. These were not your basic funnel cakes! Jason got a funnel cake sundae and I got an apple pie.

After we had our dessert first we continued checking things out. While we didn't eat "real food" at the fair, there were so many options. Mexican food, Indian Fry Bread, Turkey Legs....it was much more than your basic "Chicken and Fries". 

Oh, and let's not forget the fresh donuts!

The rides here were easily comparable to what you'd find a regular amusement park. I don't know the names but they went WAY up and flipped around, definitely not for the weak. Haha. 

They had three different ferris wheels and a sky ride too.

My core memory was unlocked when I saw they had the old school Zipper ride. I loved riding this as a kid and remember my first time to deal ng at the Blairsville Carnival (yes, I just aged myself with that one.) I will say it seems much smaller than I remembered!

Our last stop was the Agricultural Barn....aka COWS!!!! This part of the fair wasn't as farm heavy as the Indiana County fair, but they did have some different animals such as llama and camels! Of course, as I already mentioned, the cows are my favorite!

For just walking around and taking in the sights, we spent just about an hour or so at the fair. I'd definitely go back again, especially if we had visitors during that time. 😉 The fair runs every year for the entire month of October for anyone interested in checking it out! 

Sanctum of Horror - 2021 Adventure

So last weekend it rained here pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday was just a dreary day. Really had that PA feel....and I wasn't missing it! It's abnormal for us to get a full day of rain, let alone rain this late into the year. 

Since we didn't have any adventures last week, I decided it was a good time to revisit a past adventure prior to starting the blog. What better topic than a Haunted House for late October!

This particular haunted house is located at the Superstitions Springs Mall. Since we didn't know exactly where, we decided to just park and walk around. We saw some flashy lights, headed that direction and instead of finding the haunted house we found a little carnival! 

We didn't actually go check it out, but I did see it was set up again this year. Maybe we'll go visit one of these days. 

After walking around the entire mall we finally found it. Turns out we were parked closer than we thought, we just went the long way around. Haha. 

The Haunted House is title the Sanctum of Horror, but you actually get access to two separate houses and are able to go through them as many times as you want for the one admission price. 

We did the Sanctum of Horror first. The lines actually moved pretty fast as there were characters out and about scaring people while we waited, which was pretty entertaining in itself.

This house was probably my favorite of the two. I really like the spooky decor outside as well. 

The Breach was the second house and had more of a sci-fi feel to it. While it was also scary and cool, I like the old school scare feel of Sanctum.

Being in a mall parking lot this event really went all out. Not only did you have the two houses, they also had a live band playing on the roof. One of the characters got up there and was waving his chain saw around. He then started throwing glow sticks to the crowd. It was wild!

The week after we went they were doing a separate event that you could get access to with your tickets. It was the same two house but under black lights. Unfortunately, we didn't get to go to that because we already had other plans and it was one night only. 

There are several other Haunted Attractions nearby, so I'm hoping we get to hit a new one up this year!