Right after New Year’s, we flew to Phoenix for Colton’s cousin’s wedding. It was so nice to get out of the cold for a few days. And I saw saguaros for the first time!! I’ve always loved cactuses in real life and art and jewelry, but I think I’ve found my new favorite cactus.
I love beaches and forests and mountains and wetlands, but I have a love for the desert that I feel few people understand unless they’ve wandered it endlessly and aimlessly like I have, and seen it in rain, snow, wind, flowering, and completely inhospitable. The single best night of sleep I’ve ever had was pulled over on the side of the road near Zion National Park, free camping in our tent, not even getting in my sleeping bag because the temperature was so unbelievably perfect. I was the first one up, well before sunrise, but light enough to explore the red sandy wash we’d taken refuge in at 1am the night before. It was incredibly peaceful. The desert is beautiful, and no matter where I end up, it will always be home.
Fun fact about saguaros, they only start to grow arms between 50-100 years old, and it can take them 70 years to grow six feet tall. So all the ones we saw were very old!
We flew in on Thursday night, and Friday we went to the Desert Botanical Gardens in Pheonix. I’ve only ever been to lush botanical gardens before so this was fun and different.
We went to dinner at a yummy seafood place called High Tide Seafood Bar and Grill. Their lobster mac and cheese was pretty spectacular.
The next day was the wedding. Before the wedding we went to walk around the Riparian Reserve at Water Ranch, a water reclamation plant that is part wetlands, part park with trails all around to walk on. We some egrets, herons, lots of ducks, and bunnies everywhere.
It was Colton’s cousin Lindsey getting married. It was the most beautiful and fun wedding I’ve ever been to. All the details were perfect, and the light rain in 50 degree Arizona felt so warm to all us Utahns. The Arizonans all had blankets and jackets on.
All the Matheson cousins together. And the groom, Doug.
The next day we all flew out at different times. Colton, Trent, Alice Nicole and I stopped at a place called Hole In The Rock first. It offered a pretty view of Pheonix, and we weren’t the only ones killing time before the airport, as others were lugging around their suitcases as well. Luckily the hike up is about five minutes and Colton and I have backpacks so we just took them up with us.
It was a fun and quick getaway from the ten degree weather in Utah and to hang out with family.
Sidenote and completely unrelated. All these photos were taken with my Google Pixel 2. It takes amazing lowlight photos, so if you’re thinking about a new phone, I highly recommend this one!
