There's No Place Like Home...

...for the holidays.

Correction.

There's no place like home.
And for us, that just happens to be Kansas.

*Insert movie joke here*

We did something we haven't done since 2006.
For the first time in 13 years, we spent ACTUAL Christmas Day in Arizona: Land of beautiful sunsets, the place where we grew up, met each other, popped out four babies, and the place we left behind to take on our US Army adventure.

Keep reading to see some cacti.



We set out on Friday, December 20th, the first official day of school winter break. We had driven home the same way two years ago, and in a previous army move back in the day, we made a similar trek from Arizona to Kansas.
For us, the route wasn't unknown, nor the HOURS of endless scenery boredom between Junction City, KS and Albuquerque, NM.

* All of the above photos were taken in NM & AZ

I'll skip the boring road bits. But just so you know, we defied a huge road hazard because of a ladder lying on the freeway in Albuquerque during rush hour traffic (which pushed me to a new driving anxiety edge). I don't know how it didn't damage the car, or us, but holy shit! We are lucky!!! I'm not Catholic, but I committed to 100 Hail Mary's

After staying a night in New Mexico, we hit the road and arrived in the Phoenix area around 4pm on our second day of driving.

Saturday, December 21st:
Our first stop was my husband's sister's place. Her long term, serious boyfriend (we might as well refer to him as her husband) is a commercial airline pilot, and for years he has been trying to take us up in one of his private planes.
My SIL called, and said "Hey, we have excellent flying weather. Come on over to the house for a spin." And that we did. Oh, BTW, Captain Mike has a private strip at his house...

I had never seen the valley on such a personal aerial level until this day. Taking off from Sky Harbor in a commercial plane is a completely different experience! I had also never defied gravity in an airplane above my hometown...Captain Mike showed us a few crazy airplane tricks that hurt the stomach a little, but more importantly he gave us a safe and smooth landing.

I will say it was a slightly uneasy feeling before taking a ride when he told us he didn't want to sound "morbid", but that he thought it was a good idea to take both my husband and I separately for a ride...ya know, because orphans are no fun.

Next stop: My husband's parents in Maricopa, AZ.
Our first official full day was dedicated to decompressing. Ughhhh. A two day drive will really take it out of you. But I did get a few nice sun rise pictures in the middle of the desert from their backyard.

Monday, December 23rd:
We drove north to Phoenix and hit up the Desert Botanical Gardens with his parents and sister. I haven't visited the gardens since I was on a field trip in 3rd grade! It was oddly overcast, and dare I say a bit chilly.

From the gardens we went into Tempe and ate a a 'new' restaurant we'd never experienced:
The Cornish Pasty Co.
SO FUCKING GOOD.
What's funny is that the location on University and Hardy was once a discount grocery store my mom used to shop at. Definitely not a discount store any more, but I highly recommend it if you're in the area. There's a pasty for everyone. About 40 different kinds! I also enjoyed the atmosphere; casual chic, with a dose of hipster.

The following day we spent in Maricopa, hanging around his parent's place, avoiding rain. We did go to laser tag (at a place called UltraStar) on Christmas Eve, which was something none of us had done before. It was actually fun, though I sat out the first round due to a hangover.

On Christmas morning, we said goodbye to his side of the family and left for the Prescott area. From Maricopa, it was about a 2.5 hour drive.

Yay. More driving.

But honestly, the scenery in North Phoenix was pretty with all of the low clouds.
NOTE: The only two nice, rain free days we had were our first and second day in Arizona. We haven't seen rain in Arizona since we lived there in 2006!

Christmas Day, December 25th:
Once at my sister's, we lazed around, snaking on food, cooking more food, and opening gifts. It was the one day of our trip I was able to see my dad. His health is up and down, but more importantly, he is a hard fucker to catch. Making plans with him whenever we are visiting is difficult, to say the least.

We spent the night, the headed south to Tempe on the 26th.

Next stop: My Mom's in Tempe, AZ
Once in town, we decided to do our traditional walk down Mill Ave, which is the downtown Tempe area and a large part of Arizona State University night life.

When I was in high school, Downtown Mill (as we call it) was the spot. There was loads of cute boutiques, tons of places to grab a cheap bite to eat, lots of little ASU merchandise shops, some bigger stores, like Z Gallery, Urban Outfitters, and a few bigger bars and restaurants.

Now Downtown Mill is full of restaurants, tall buildings, and over priced health nut food. Aside from the Urban Outfitters, Starbucks and a shop called Lotions and Potions, not much I enjoyed from my high school days exists there.

After Mill Avenue, I got a wicked stomach ache that made me die in my mom's bathroom three times over.
You get the point. No more details on that.

But stomach problems aside, we went and ate dinner at my favorite childhood restaurant named Rosita's an hour later. Oddly enough, this restaurant is next door to The Pasty Co. we had ate at days before. The difference is that Rosita's has been there forever, or at least since my family moved to Arizona in 1990.
My point about dinner:
My mother's mother (my last living grandparent) and her husband were in town visiting from California. Grandma ate a fuck ton of salsa and piles of white queso at dinner. By 7pm, she was literally yelping and moaning in pain. We watched a movie, went to bed, and at 5am I heard people shuffling around the house. I wasn't surprised when my mother announced she was taking my grandmother to the hospital.

Friday, December 28th:
I went back to bed and woke around 9am to start our day. My mother said my grandmother was admitted to the hospital, so unfortunately I knew how the rest of our trip would play out. My mom was now tethered to her mom, which left us running around Tempe by ourselves. Honestly, I wasn't mad. My mom and I have a stable, yet rocky relationship. I love the woman, but being around her hurts my tongue from biting it so hard. We argue. Often. She is highly religious. I am not.

We hit up AZ Mills Mall, met up with my sister (who dropped into town) at Peter Piper Pizza, then spent an hour at Bass Pro to kill some time.

I had some outdoor plans for the day, but with heavy rain, we were stuck to indoor activities. Rain was the biggest disappointment of our trip. So much to see in the valley, yet so little to do.

My husband and I had planned to visit the casino and waste a few bucks later that night, but by the early evening hours, we were pooped. Instead, we somehow ended up with my sister's kids roaming my mom's place as my sister and her husband disappeared to wherever, all the while my mom was hanging out at the hospital. When my sister finally came for her kids (who are great kids, btw), she explained that she and her husband hit up the casino. Ha. Can't be mad if we opted not to go ourselves!

Saturday, December 29th
I had plans with my childhood bestie. I hadn't seen her in YEARS. Still arguing about the approximate time frame, but I can say it's definitely been at least 5-6 years? Maybe longer.
She came and picked me up so that my husband wouldn't be stuck without a car and because I have major driving anxiety in the metro area.
We walked around Chandler Mall, ate lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and then headed to her place to pick up her boys, one of which I had never met! He was born 4 years ago, while I was living in Germany. We did visit home two years back, but I was unable to coordinate a time to visit with my friend because LIFE.

Once we scooped up her 15 and 4 year old sons, we headed to Top Golf. My husband met us there with my kids and then began our first experience with the game!

I can't lie. Top Golf did seem pretty interesting before we actually went, but now I'm wishing a location was closer than Kansas City for us. Everyone had fun, and my bestie and I were able to get more time in talking about life. 

We said our goodbyes and went on our way with one thing left to do: We had to visit the hospital and give grandma a goodbye.

I felt awful for my grandmother for more than just her stomach issues going on. The morning she was admitted was the morning she had planned to drive back to California. Not only did she have to cope with what she had going on, her poor husband seemed bored out of his mind hanging around us at the house. He'd come and go to the hospital, but there's only so much anyone can do in a hospital room. With no discharge time for grandma, we had no choice but to say our goodbyes at the hospital because we were on our way home the next morning, bright and early.

Before we knew it, we were packing the car and headed home. Due to a snowstorm that rolled into the higher elevations outside of the valley, the shortest route home (the route we drove coming into Phoenix) was not a safe option. We took the longer way home on the I-17, hit Flagstaff and rode the I-40 East into Tucumcari, NM to stop for the night.
The drive in Northern Arizona was GORGEOUS. Fresh snowfall everywhere, yet clear roads. It was worth the extra hour of added drive time. And the mountains surrounding Albuquerque were amazing! Seeing them topped with snow made me realize how little attention I've paid their existence before.

NM changed its state slogan since we last drove through.

Pretty sure this is Capilla Peak in New Mexico

Entering Albuquerque, NM. Los Griegos mountain peak in distance.

We stayed the night in Tucumcari, NM at a somewhat sketchy hotel, and were on the road by 7am the next morning. At some point in our drive, my mom called to tell me about the shit we had left behind and that my grandma was finally released from the hospital. Good for her. I felt a little better knowing she was doing better.

As boring as the scenery was, I did try my best to snap pictures along the route. From New Mexico, we had a short ride through the tippy top of the Texas "chimney" ("chimney" because I don't know it's official name), through a sliver of Oklahoma, and into Kansas; Kansas roads being the longest portion of our trip on day two.

The lovely town of Nara Visa, NM. It's a total wasteland, but has super neat abandoned buildings.

This part of Texas blows.

We weren't in Oklahoma long enough for me to care about capturing a road picture within the state.

Glad we got the hell outta this city...

Old historical chapel in Kinsley, KS

Cute downtown theater in Larned, KS

Our neighborhood as seen from the I-70! When I spot the water tower, I can feel the softness of my bed calling.

It was such a relief to walk through our front door on December 30th, eager to crawl into my own bed after 10 days of constant driving and running around. But much to my dismay, I was greeted by this scene in my living room...

I totally forgot about Christmas decorations. UGH.

We are now living the lazy life, aside from the major efforts of cleaning the car inside and out. Grocery shopping is done. Bills are paid. Christmas stuff tucked into Rubbermaid tubs until next year.

As much as we do enjoy visiting home, we have both concluded it is a PAIN in the ass to do it around Christmas. That will be the last time unless it is a family emergency. We came back with a heavier load, stuffed beyond capacity thanks to Christmas stuff.
Was it worth it? Yes. But like traditions go, it'll probably be at least another two years before we see the desert again.

There's no place like your own home.
But then again, there's no place like Arizona.