The One Where I Go to Phoenix

Monday, May 7, 2012

I had a right of passage this past weekend. No I didn't get married or go to prom or anything...I went on a roadtrip with a a bunch of friends :) My big brother was graduating with his masters in education from ASU (way to go Dave!) so I drove down for a weekend of fun and sun. All of us had class on Thursday so we decided to leave Thursday evening and drive all night long (in retrospect, not the greatest decision). We left a little later than planned, but as the sun was kissing the mountains goodnight we were on our way. The drive down was spent blasting J Biebs and dancing at rest stops. We made a quick stop in St. George to drop off a friend and then it was on to Vegas. We decided to drive down the strip (again not the greatest decision) before heading to our final stop. After decided that I never wanted to go to Vegas again, I took over driving. I only made it for a couple hours before I couldn't keep my eyes open and we made another switch. The drive went on and on, but after one wrong turn a few more switches we finally drove into the Valley of the Sun. I don't know what I was expecting, but all I found was brown. Brown shops, brown houses, brown landscape...brown brown brown.

I finally met up with David and Papa Lo, headed to breakfast, and then took a nap. We had a pretty low-key Friday, but that night we went downtown for First Friday. Dave, Pa, and I went to the art museum (which was amazing) and then jumped on the shuttle to go the galleries. We were expecting the same crowd that was at the art museum, but what we found was something completely different. It was a 180 from the museum! We found ourselves in the middle of what could be described as as a stoner convention. The air was polluted with the stench of marijuana and the language was appalling. The terrific trio walked down the street a little bit, then we all looked at each other decided to catch the shuttle back to the safe haven of the museum. While we were waiting we some the Ghostbusters, so the trip to the 'galleries' wasn't a complete waste :)

Saturday was graduation. I woke up, threw on my mint green dress, ate some delicious breakfast, and drove down to ASU's Tempe campus for the celebration. The ceremony was surprisingly short. I guess after over 100 years you get pretty efficient at reading 1,100 names. We anxiously awaited David's turn and then promptly began playing games on our phones while we waited for the second half of the ceremony. After the main event we headed out to the blazing sun for a photo op and then it was off to dinner. The family went to a Chinese buffet where we dined on a fine selection of crab rangun and orange chicken. While we there we decided that I would go home with my aunt and uncle in Queen Creek since it was closer to my ride. I spent a delightful evening with my cousins and then finally laid down to sleep for the night.

I woke up to the comforting drone of the fan. I just laid there for a while, then read my scriptures, and finally headed down to see if the rest of the family was up. Aunt Becky made a delicious breakfast and then it was off again! The whole gang finally rolled out of Phoenix to embark on the painfully long drive back to Provo. The trip back was full of more brown, but eventually we began to see some green around Flagstaff :) We drove and sang and sang and drove and we finally arrived in Happy Valley, safe and sound. All in all it was a wonderful trip :)