Back home in the southwest sun!

Ahhhh it was so good to soak up some desert sun! Jon and I were in Arizona back in March for a long weekend to see my good friend Candice get married.  We got in on a Friday, got our rental car, and were off to the pool party at Candice's wedding rental home.  It was a huge reunion from college, which was awesome.  The great thing about a lot of college friends is that even if you haven't talked in months or years, you can often pick up where you left off without too much awkwardness. 


Kenneth, who had gotten there the night before, took the desert sun a little too lightly and was burned by the time we got there the next day.  We've clearly been gone too long.  Hence the pictures from Saturday afternoon where he found a giant sombrero to shield himself from the sun. 

FYI- prepare yourselves for a lot of pictures.  I've been in the northwest so long that I was so giddy to be back in the southwest.  And despite what people say, I do think the desert definitely has it's own beauty. 







So anyway, we got there Friday and hung out for a while, caught up with people, soaked up the sun and pool, and ate delicious African food.  In the evening we split up to our respective lodgings...the group of us were split between Candice's rental, Colin's apartment, and a cool hostel downton called the Roadrunner :)

On Saturday it was the rehearsal/tour of the Sonora Desert Museum, which was pretty awesome.  It's more like a nature reserve or zoo.  They had a cool hummingbird sanctuary, and the most uniquely awesome animal was a javelina! We also saw prairie dogs and big horn sheep and pumas.









After the museum and rehearsal, we went to Colin's family's rental for  the week and had a nice giant lunch with everyone.   We walked around a bit, hugged a cactus or two, and left.  We also took some nice sunset desert pictures, and then went back to Candice's place to regroup.  Last minute wedding things needed to be done, and then Kenneth, Jon and I went to a cafe for a light bite. 

Sunday was the big day!  We headed over to Candice's to have a big group breakfast, helped the bride get pretty, and then split up for everyone to do their own thing for a while.  So Jon and I went hiking at Sabino Canyon.  Desert hiking is very different from NW hiking!  No mosquitos, stinging nettle, or blackberry bushes, but there are cactus and high temperatures! I think we lasted for an hour or two before we decided we'd had enough, and went to go get ready. 





Once at the wedding, they had a cool pre cocktail hour with virgin margeritas and the like.  Very tasty.  The ceremony was lovely, with two friends doing readings and another officiating.  Afterwards, it was one big party!  Well, after the nicely catered dinner and classical guitarist :)  Kenneth manned the music and we had a big dance party!  So much fun.  And then they were off! 

The next morning, before we headed off on our flights home, Kenneth and Jon and I managed to find a cool tourist attraction right on our way to the airport- an old Spanish church.  We wandered around there a bit, saw some local wildlife (roadrunner and chipmunk!), had some yogurtland, and headed home!  A good weekend and good reason for a trip to the southwest!