This weekend I had my first visitor here from the Midwest. My former coworker at Ford and friend Megan came in on Thursday evening and stayed until this evening. I was sick at the beginning of the week and was trying to relax and recover as much as I could. I think I did a fairly good job, but have a massive headache now, so I think I will be crashing early as I don’t have time to miss work this week!

I started off by picking her up around 7pm at Sky Harbor. From there we went immediately to operation food, which took us to La Grande Orange. I had the Mushroom Party pizza again. I just love that thing! Plenty left over to have again the next evening as well. I also tried the tropical iced tea for the first time and it was fantastic. Came with a delicious slice of orange. Afterwards, we rushed over to Space 55 in Phoenix to see the finals of the Phoenix Improv March Madness Party (P.I.M.M.P.). I was excited to see my friend Todd show up to the event as well. Also equally exciting was the fact that my friend Bob’s team, Searching for X, ended up winning the entire tournament!! There were festivities afterward as usual, but with Megan being 3 hours ahead due to jet lag, it was time for us to head home and sleep after.

Friday morning we headed out to breakfast at U.S. Egg near my house. Then we made a quick stop at my house before heading out to Scottsdale Stadium to see the Giants host the Indians in a cactus league game. It was the first cactus league game either of us had been to. It was super fun, and I am all over going to a ton of them next year. I saw by some eye candy that was fun to look at but too young to date Sat by some Indians fans but also our share of Giants. The Giants ended up kicking the Indians ass and we left before the 8th inning was over. We spent some time walking around Old Town afterwards. That evening we had an after work social event to go to. It was a bring an interesting beer to share party, and I found a great brew at Bevmo for the event. Kona Brewery’s Pipeline Porter. Kona coffee and a brew? FANTASTIC!!

Saturday we had a full day as well. We got up super early and wandered around the Old Town Farmer’s Market. Megan picked up a few items and then we had breakfast at Metro. It was phenomenal. I had bananas foster french toast and a mimosa. Mmmmmm. Pure heaven. We then picked up a friend and went to the South Mountain lookout and took some absolutely breathtaking pictures. On the way back we found a great little farmer’s market shop. I picked up some mouth watering looking cupcakes, some other produce, homemade bread for lunch and the best tangelos I’ve ever had. I had an hour or so to nap and then it was off to the pool/grill area in my development for a grillin’ spectacular party with some friends followed by some hot tub time! Yes!

Sunday we were up early to go to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. I had been there once before, but ended up seeing entirely new areas this time that we didn’t have time for or realize were there the last. It was a gorgeous day. At the gift shop I purchased a book that had all the trails with secluded waterfalls and ponds and cliff diving. I cannot wait to check some of them out. Around lunch we headed to Los Hermanos for a great authentic Mexican lunch. Then it was time to get home for some relaxing before the return flight to Michigan. Of course there was some Rock Band before that!

Megan took more pics than I did so I’m sure I’ll have some eventually to show. I don’t feel like uploading mine now. It was a busy but fantastic weekend. I love showing people the beauty of Arizona, and of course get a great tan while I’m at it!

Yesterday morning I woke up at 7:30 to prepare for the Four Peaks / Four Peaks Adventure my friends Eric and Kerri and I were setting out on at 8am. Packed my gallons of water, my snacks, a fleece jacket in case it got cold, sun glasses, charged camera, charged cell phone. All I needed was coffee. Mostly because pre-sustinence I looked like this:

Out mission was to go to Four Peaks and hike a couple trails, then head to Four Peaks Brewery for a post hike celebration. While this wasn’t exactly what ended up happening, we had a fantastic adventure day!

After Starbucks, we started our journey for Four Peaks. After driving for an hour or so, we turned onto this dirt trail that said it was route 143, which was supposed to lead us to the trailhead we wanted to start with. And just how long were we supposed to be on this dirt road? Only 12 miles. What started off as a fine dirt road ended up being this winding, continually elevating death trap. I got some great pictures such as this with my BlackBerry, but we decided to head back to the main road:

After a scary turn around, we evaluated further if any roads could possibly be the 143 we needed to head to the Four Peaks trails. However, we were needing a break for food and a place to get out of the car for a few so we headed to a campground. After resting we started to look for a place to eat our lunch. It was then we were approached by a ranger. He asked us if we were just getting in or if we were ending our stay. Eric tells him that we got lost in the mountains and were looking for a place to eat. The ranger thought we were seriously distraught starving people and informed us that if we asked maybe some of the campers might have some food for us. After we explained, he said there was a vineyard a couple miles away that had free picnic areas to eat.

Vineyard? Yes!

On the way to the “vineyard” we passed “Bachelor’s Cove” only the cove was closed and I suspect there were no bachelors. Bummer. I need to find me one of those. I suspect this is where they are all locked away forever from any worthy women.

Were we at the vineyard now? Yes. Was it a vineyard? No! Sure, the sign said vineyard, but we were actually just on a gorgeous view of the lake and amongst some fishermen. Nevertheless, it was a gorgeous view and gave us a chance to eat some lunch. It was now around 11am.

After lunch, we decided to trek to up around Globe, and hit 60 all the way back home. We would see what we found along the way. Our next stop was at a scenic overlook point a few miles past the non-vineyard. We made our way to just about the edge of the lake which was surrounded by mountains and saguaros. I took some GORGEOUS shots:

Afterwards we stopped at the Roosevelt bridge and dam. Gorgeous view:

Next stop? The Tonto National Monument. Silly me for thinking it was actually going to be a monument that was meant to be stared at and admired. Well in that respect I was right. However, it was a cliff dwelling with a trail leading up to it. So we did actually get some hiking in.

Once we hopped back on 60, we found the Boyce Thompson Arboretum and decided to check it out. It was a trail too and so beautiful. I saw some great cactii, breathtaking scenery, and an Australian section to top it off! I even discovered my birthstone is mined in Arizona! Here are some gorgeous photos:

Even though we didn’t hike Four Peaks, we sure as hell ended up there at the end of the day:

After our adventures, all we wanted was a hot tub. When we got to ours, it was cold Hot tub FAIL! Luckily I remembered I had been given a key for the other community across the street because of all the issues we’ve had with ours. We headed over and got to enjoy a nice relaxing dip.

To top off the night I walked to a local bar with Kerri, enjoyed a drink and some UFC fighting and then passed out on the couch with my teddy bear while watching a movie.

Saturday was a great success. I want to thank those that kept me company via Twitter and text while I was on my adventures as well

For more photos, I have the full set uploaded on Picasa and a smaller set on Flickr.