well, when you have a flight that leaves at 6:30 p.m., and you’ve been waking up at 6:30 a.m., that makes for a while before you get home!

nate, for some reason, wanted to head out RIGHT AWAY so i think we were on the road by 7:30. i asked if we could at least take the scenic route up to phoenix, so after about 30 miles on the freeway, we veered off and took a state highway.

scenes of note:

1. arizona grows a lot of cotton.
2. arizona also grows roses and other flowers for out-of-season regions like MN
3. arizona is not green
4. arizona has NO billboards. instead, you can just plant your placard or other such low sign in the median, boulevard, corner, etc. it’s kind of an eyesore, but maybe they think billboards are eyesores.

got to AZ and we took a moment to wait for the science center to open, so it was time for breakfast. i had a chorizo breakfast burrito and had another good food day! i was actually looking for some huevos rancheros, but a chorizo burrito is a good back up.

after that, nate and i headed to the science center, which was NOT what nate was hoping for. he was hoping for a science museum, and this was basically an indoor playground for kids to experience science.

alas.

so we got through that pretty quickly, then took a stroll through the heritage square where the center is located before returning the rental car and getting to the airport.

sigh.

we were four hours early for our flight. yikes! couldn’t even check in til 3 hours before. i read two books at the airport and on the flight.

and then we were back in MN around 11 a.m. ah, spacious traffic lanes! ah, our car which has a push button start! (using a key the entire time we were in AZ was a real drag.) (#firstworldproblems i know)

traffic up 94 was decent and when we got back, the cats were still alive.

thus wraps up another kate and nate vacay. today he said he wasn’t happy to be home :/

me, i’m always conflicted. i like vacation, but boy i like being at home too.

ah well. jiggity jig!