Kennewick

We realized in June that Allegiant flies from Mesa to Pasco, so we had to take advantage and fly up there for the weekend to visit the Channers.  We were originally going to go explore more of Washington, but everything was on fire, so we stayed in town.

They showed us a bunch of parks and around town.  We also helped unpack some boxes, ate a lot of treats, and had a really great time. Of course, Brynn forgot to take pictures.

Seth convinced Brynn to get on the world's sketchiest teeter totter.

At one of the parks, the Parks and Rec department gave O a beach ball, which he had to carry in his mouth.

We loved visiting! I just wish we lived closer!

Biking in Flagstaff

We took a day trip to Flagstaff this weekend to go mountain biking. We were gone most of the day and ended up biking for about 5 hours. It was quite the adventure! In addition to enjoying the incredible views and temperatures we got a little taste of the effects that high altitude has on the body. The elevation in Phoenix is less than 1000 feet above sea level and, after driving a couple hours, we started our ride at 8000 feet and rose to over 9000 before coming back down! It was pretty cool, but we were catching our breath, getting sun burns, and feeling light-headed much sooner than we were used to.   

 We rode on a dirt road for part of the loop.
Temperatures in the high 70's. 

Part of the loop we did was on the Arizona Trail which goes 

all the way across Arizona. Maybe we'll do it one day... 

More Populus tremuloides than we have ever seen in Arizona!

San Diego

Over the Fourth of July this year, we decided to take a spontaneous road trip to San Diego.  Neither of us had ever been since we were kids, so it was fun to explore as grownups.  We decided to drive over Sunday and stay until Monday.

La Jolla Beach

We also made a quick stop to see the San Diego temple. It's gorgeous!

We spent most of Sunday at Balboa Park walking around.

Monday we went to the zoo.  Yay for Skyfari!

It was nice to be able to walk around outside and not melt.

Yes, this is a GIANT PANDA eating bamboo.  Dream come true.

Seth also found the world's largest agave.  (Not really, but it was big.)

This is a lion, but you can't really tell.

We made one more trip to the beach (Coronado this time) before heading back to Phoenix.  

We had an awesome time and can't wait to go back!

Oak Creek Canyon

Brynn has been dying to see Sedona, and she finally convinced Seth to take her for a day trip.  There is so much to see, but we decided to start off with the West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon, the most popular.  And for good reason.

The canyon had a beautiful mix of red rock and greenery

The trail is super flat, following (and crossing) Oak Creek about a million times.

The trail ends in a gorgeous slot canyon.

We can't wait to explore Sedona more! This is just the beginning of many trips up here.

Sometimes You Just Have to Doodle Before You Ride

Brynn was taking wayyyyyy too long to get ready to go.

Fall!

Arizona doesn't get much of a fall.  It's more like a Utah summer with highs in the low 90's.  Luckily, we were able to get into the mountains of Payson for a day to experience cooler weather.

I know it doesn't look like much, but you'd be surprised how few fall colors there are in Ponderosa forests.

Seth's Foot

Seth joined the Tempe Rec soccer league and made it approximately 1.63 games before spraining his foot. It swelled up and turned purple. We borrowed some crutches and hope it heals fast!

Car Troubles

As Brynn was getting to the school yesterday, she noticed that the car was overheating.  She parked it in the shade and went inside to practice while the car cooled off.  When she came out 4 hours later, she noticed that there wasn't any coolant in the overflow.  She just figured that there was a leak, filled it up, and started driving home.

She didn't even make it a mile before she noticed that the car was overheating again.  She pulled into the Fry's parking lot and called Seth to come get her on his way home from work.  He picked her up, and they went home for dinner.  

They went back after the car had a chance to cool off again, and changed the radiator cap (which is a common problem with camrys).  They started driving home again, with Seth following, when it started overheating again.  This time MUCH worse that before.  Brynn freaked out and pulled over on the freeway.  Unfortunately, they were in the left lane to get on the I-10.  They parked on the left side of the road, and hopped up on the median to call AAA.

Seth and Brynn parked on the freeway.

Since we were in such a weird spot, AAA suggested that we call the nonemergency police number to help direct traffic.

After about 20 minutes, a nice policeman pulled up and offered to get a traffic stop for us to move the car across the 4 lanes of traffic to a bigger shoulder.  

We hear "Are you ready on the 60?" come from the radio.  The policeman says "Yes."  All of a sudden all of the traffic slows down on the freeway, and several police cars with lights on and sirens blaring starts weaving across the lanes of traffic to slow everybody down.  We moved across the freeway, and then the cop wished us luck and drove away.

Sorry for the terrible picture. Brynn was trying to be inconspicuous as she snapped a picture of the tow truck.

After standing on the freeway for another half hour, the tow truck shows up. We got a tow to the mechanic, and it looks like we'll need a new radiator.  At least we can say that it was an adventure.