After I graduated from Iowa State University in 2017, my Dad told me that he wanted to take me on a trip to celebrate. Two years later, we spent three days in Arizona. Although three days doesn’t seem like a long time, I enjoyed every one of them and it felt like we were there quite a lot longer than three days. Our plans included hanging out around Downtown Phoenix, hitting up Sedona for a day of hiking, and lastly, enjoying a night of Maple Leaf hockey!
Day 1
We left early on a Thursday morning and we were all ready to tear it up. And when I say that, I mean we were representing the Toronto colors, we were jacked up on coffee, and my moose, Oscar, was strapped in and ready to go. We weren’t messing around on this trip. We sat around at the airport and enjoyed our coffee until it was time to board the plane. The flight was smooth and the views were amazing as usual! The landing was so nice, I wanted to compliment the pilot (I was seriously going to but he hopped off the plane before we did, so I couldn’t)!
After getting off the plane, it was time to head to the rental car place. I was so anxious to feel the Arizona weather after suffering through the nasty Midwest situation we all remember! Even though Phoenix was only in the mid 50’s, it was a major improvement from the actual sub zero temperatures. Having to wear 31 layers of clothing is exhausting (but sometimes literally necessary).
So we jumped on the bus to rent a car, and based on how this guy was driving, I can come up with no other conclusion other than his audition for Speed was rejected.
I had never experienced getting a rental car before. Basically, we walked around (in the designated aisle) and picked whichever car we wanted! It was like shopping for shoes! We looked around for a while, got into the first car…nope, not the one, but the second car…oh yes! It had Apple CarPlay, a USB port AND cupholders!
And then we were off to the hotel, but not for long. We checked in, dropped our stuff in the room, and we were off to lunch. Unfortunately, it was raining, but again, STILL better than snow. So we drove to Downtown Tempe to find a spot to eat. We found this cute restaurant/bar called The Handlebar. I ordered a grilled cheese (yes, I am a child), and my Dad ordered wings.
It was at this very lunch that I taught him how to properly eat a chicken wing. People usually just bite right into it, but that’s not what you’re supposed to do. You’re supposed to twist the two wing bones (the ulna and radius if you’re an anatomy nut like I am), and pull the bones out cleanly. All that you should have left is the meat! This trick blew his mind, and I will take credit for his friends’ amazement when he inevitably shows them the incredible chicken wing trick.
After lunch, we decided to take a drive up a mountain just outside of the city. It was at this time that I realized just how funny a cactus is. They’re just a weird, dense, prickly plant. I’ve seen cacti before, but not on this scale. They were EVERYWHERE.
We drove into this park with incredibly narrow and winding roads. We stopped off to get some photos and take a small hike. Dad wanted to get a picture of me on an edge of a cliff basically so here it is! I looked pretty chill and relaxed, but don’t worry, I was freaking out internally. Heights freak me out, man.
It was raining off and on, but that didn’t stop us from exploring. I actually liked having the rain because it tends to naturally bring out more colors and create more contrast for photos. Plus you don’t have to deal with major sun glare and over-exposed highlights!
We spent quite a while around the mountains, but then we decided we wanted to just relax since we had done a lot in the last 10 hours. So we hung around at the hotel until dinner.
Downtown Tempe was colorful and interesting! I’m not used to big cities, and I would never want to live in one, but I LOVE visiting them and getting a taste for the local culture. Many big cities have these public scooters you can “rent” with an app. They had them in San Diego and they had them in Phoenix as well. If you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, watch South Park Season 22 Episode 5.
We jumped around between a few restaurants to see what they had. One of the first places we found was a brewery that had several gazebos with fireplaces and even outdoor ping pong! My Dad was inspired. He says he wants to build one in his back yard. So if he’s successful, I might commission him to build one in my yard too (Thanks in advance, Dad)!
We ended up at a small, yet popular, karaoke bar. This was Valentine’s Day, so I was expecting to see a lot of people wearing pink or red, but at this place, they didn’t observe Valentine’s Day, instead they celebrated Second Halloween. We saw Tigger, The Phantom (from Phantom of the Opera), a girl in a morph suit thing, a few witches, but my favorite costume I saw that night was a lanky guy in a homemade scarecrow costume. He wore brown, skinny pants, light brown boots, a blue button up shirt and a brown vest, but his mask took the cake. He had taken a burlap sack and sewed it to form to his head. They eyes were just cut out, but he had sewn teeth to this thing. So I know what I’m going to be for Halloween this year!
My Dad sang Sweet Caroline, his usual karaoke song. I was going to sing December ‘63, which is my usual karaoke song, but by the time I had enough courage, the line for karaoke was over 50 people long and I didn’t feel like waiting 4 entire days.
After spending a while at the karaoke place, we decided to call it a night and we made it back to the hotel. I was lulled to sleep by the sweet sound of Jurassic Park (I’m an avid fan and they were having a Jurassic Park marathon)!
Remember, this is still just day one. We have two more days to go, so buckle up!
Day 2
We woke up Friday feeling refreshed and ready to go! This was the day we planned on heading up to Sedona for some hiking! We had some hotel breakfast (which was honestly delicious), I packed up my photography stuff, we got some sunflower seeds, I put on Lady Gaga’s album Joanne and we hit the road.
We drove north for about an hour and stopped at a cute cafe called Nora Jean’s Koffee Kitchen. Dad got a coffee and I got a hot tea. Then we traveled for about another hour or so. The whole drive was beautiful! I didn’t get much for photos on the way there because I was too engaged in the experience.
Before we got to the trail itself, we made our way around to get some photos of the mountains (if that’s what you call them). Dad had to get a picture of him touching a rock because it had something to do with a TV show called Outlander. I don’t get the reference, but maybe some of you will.
Eventually we made it to the trail head of Devil’s Bridge. The hike was supposed to be about 3 miles, round trip which is nothing to us stubborn, winter-suffering Minnesotans. It was like 55°-58° and we were both in shorts. The locals were wearing pants, jackets and winter hats, but not everyone can have iron skin like us.
The first part of the trail was wide and a little wet. Some dirt bike guy thought it would be absolutely hilarious to splash us with mud water. We personally didn’t find the comedy in it, but we brushed it off because why ruin a perfectly good vacation?
The trail narrowed and got a little more precarious as we went on, but we had the proper footwear so we were safe. There were some cool streams, plants and rock formations on the way, which I got photos of, obviously.
After walking a while longer, we made it to the bridge! It was scary, but awesome! People were going out and standing on it and taking pictures. One kid jumped across the thing and everyone gasped really loudly. I don’t get why some people tempt fate like that, but whatever!
Dad and I both got photos on the bridge. We had to take turns because there were quite a lot of people there, but the wait was worth it. The view was stunning! I won’t soon forget the experience.
We spent some time at the bridge and then we turned around. Luckily, no dirt bike guys splashed us on the way back!
Upon visiting Arizona, we discovered that there were a LOT of people from Minnesota there. It’s either a small world, or people from Minnesota are desperate to leave the state.
Before leaving Sedona, we had a quick appetizer at this hotel restaurant with an awesome view! This is where Dad discovered the “Portrait” function on his phone.
After that, we made the two hour drive back to Phoenix where we went shopping for a pair of jeans because I forgot to pack jeans (I was hoping for 60°-70° weather, okay?). That is when I decided that from now on, each one of my souvenirs will be a piece of clothing (not a trinket), because I will actually use clothes on a regular basis and they will wear out eventually. Which means that whenever my pair of jeans wear out, it will be time to visit Arizona again! Also, apparently in Arizona, they have sunscreen dispensers in public bathrooms…I thought that was awesome.
After jeans, we got food at Jalapeño Inferno (I guess we ate a lot on this trip). I had shrimp tacos and they were great! But I was definitely ready to relax because it had been a long day.
We got to the hotel, got ready for bed and I was lulled to sleep by Jurassic World this time.
Day 3
Here’s a selfie of my Dad! He loved the Portrait feature! Anyway, moving on..
Go Leafs Go! Finally it was time for the game! But not before exploring the landscapes of Arizona yet again! Our next adventure destination was Superior, Arizona, which is about an hour east of Phoenix. We didn’t stay long, but I got a few cool photos!
Oh and I couldn’t leave Arizona without getting a photo next to a cactus. This thing was literally three times my size...
After Superior, we went back to the hotel and geared up for the game. I wore Dad’s Babsocks (socks with Mike Babcock’s face on them). They were quite a hit!
We were about to leave the hotel when, BAM! Other Leaf fans were in the lobby! We chit-chatted for a bit and then drove to the arena.
Wowza! There were so many Maple Leaf fans around, we had taken over the entire area! Although the arena was basically in the middle of nowhere, it did have a little strip mall/restaurant area. We found a restaurant and socialized with the other crazy Maple Leaf people!
What I learned most on this trip is that you can find some really amazing people in this world! The Maple Leaf community is so passionate and kind and even though we haven’t won a Cup in over 50 years (and as much as it pains me to downplay the Cup), I’d take the loving people over the Cup any day!
This game was only my second in-person Maple Leaf game, so that was really exciting! William Nylander looked at me like three times during warmups!
Unfortunately, the Leafs lost…but we did meet Kyle Bukauskas (Sports Net Reporter). He even complimented my Babsocks!
After a night of hockey talk, we had to get back to the hotel so we could leave in the morning, which was really sad because I had such a great time in Arizona.
I’ll leave you guys with this: Life is such an incredible journey and we forget to love the little things. The trip to Arizona itself was amazing, but what I’m grateful for most is being able to spend time with my Dad and meeting new friends whom I hope to keep for a lifetime.
Δ Abbi