Mesa, Arizona

Ryan, Sophie and I just returned from our week long vacation out in Arizona.  We stayed at Richard and Karen's place, which they purchased earlier this year, and had a great time.  The weather was perfect; first day there was 28 degrees celcius and the last few days were plus 35.  This allowed us to ease into the heat.  We were pretty much the only people that frequented the pool because the locals found the water a bit too cold.  We made sure that we went every day.

While we were there we managed one day trip; we drove through the desert to the Superstition Mountains.  Once in the mountains, the road is very windy and the establishments along the way are very much of a western theme.  We ate at an interesting saloon that was covered in dollar bills.  This saloon was said to have been established by Jacob Waltz, the man from the legend of the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine.  It was a unique restaurant with stuffed animal heads and snake skins mounted on the wall, some interesting plaques sharing all sorts of wisdom and saddles as bar stools. 
Other than our one day trip and a day of shopping, we didn't venture too far while we were there.  We did visit downtown Mesa and tried a few mexican restaurants , the Tia Rosa being our favorite.  Wanting more of a relaxing vacation, we sat out on the patio in the backyard while Sophie napped and spent most of her waking hours by the pool. 

All in all, a great week of vacationing!  Thanks again Richard and Karen!  To see more pictures of our trip, click here.