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.