Charles and I had the chance to take a few days off and get away to SUNNY AND WARM ARIZONA! I am a PNW girl at heart, but MAN did it feel great to get into the sunshine and outdoors to explore without 5 different layers of clothes on. My grandparents live just outside Phoenix and we were able to spend time visiting with them and sight-see the area!
We kicked our trip off with a visit to the Desert Botanical Gardens for the awesome night light display they going on right now called Sonoran Lights by Bruce Munro. Bruce created various exhibits all over the gardens and we spent a few hours walking around in the warm evening air taking them all in. I was skeptical at first of an exhibit like this, but it was absolutely stunning when we walked back among the fields of lights spread all throughout the cacti.
The next day we rented a car and made our way through Sedona and over to The Grand Canyon. Whenever we rent cars on trips I always make Charles drive... I hate driving rentals and he's an excellent driver :) We did notice, however, that people that drive the main freeway out to the canyon are CRAZY drivers. There are 2-3 accidents each day on that 75mph freeway and we could totally see why. Nonetheless, we made it to the Sedona Red Rocks which were INCREDIBLY beautiful and had lunch in the cute little village of Tlaquepaque at the Oak Creek Brewery! Then we stopped off at the Chapel of the Holy Cross which is this pretty epic, skinny little church that is tucked right into the rocks of a cliff. Then we were headed to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon through the national park just in time for sunset! We made it right to Moran Point as the sun was going down.
We drove back to Phoenix that night and woke up the next morning to mimosas at the pool before we headed over to check out the Wrigley's Mansion in downtown Phoenix. Yes, it's the same Wrigley who made all those flavors of gum we all love. This home was built as a 50th wedding anniversary gift for his wife and was one of five different homes they owner. They only lived in the house a few months of the year and owned a hotel several miles away that they allowed their guests to stay in. For a long time these two buildings were the only ones in that area, so the people in the hotel called the Wrigley home "The Star of Phoenix." There are tons of stars throughout the house because of this! I absolutely love old homes and this one really was beautiful. Our tour guide showed us the piano room the boasts one of only two like it in the entire world. This piano has a scroll inside and can play on its own, has a remote and used to be connected to a larger box with up to 12 other scrolls in it that could all play on their own. One of my favorite parts of the tour was watching the piano play- it's like you can see the person sitting there! Check it out here. There was an awesome phone booth in the home that was wallpapered in original Wrigley wrappers, fantastic views of the city that did not exist when they owned this home, secret doors into walls and stories of how much the family adored this space. So cool!
We ended our day with a visit to my sweet friend Nicole, owner of the The Felt Flowers Shop and explored the Historic Garfield District with her and her family. An absolutely wonderful evening!!!
