ARIZONA

Hola! 

Checking in after spending a wonderful 5 days 40 miles north of the Mexican border in Green Valley, AZ. 

M's mom is snow-birding down there for the first time, so we took advantage of the free hotel and booked a mid-winter getaway, that just so happened to coincide with my birthday. 

I'd never been to Arizona before, or any true desert state, so it was fun to experience the desert and the climate. It was a perfect high 60s (which felt way warmer than a high 60 in MN) to high 70s while we were there.

We hiked twice, went to the pool twice, did a LOT of reading and relaxing, as well as browsing our MLS, Edina Realty, and Realtor.com apps- perhaps a post for another day, but we find ourselves in the midst of a "do we stay or do we go" existential crisis with our current home. 

{Madera Canyon, Coronado National Forest}

{Madera Canyon, Coronado National Forest}

My birthday festivities spanned two days, which is very rare for me (I sit firmly in the birthDAY camp, not birthWEEK,.. in case you were wondering), but M's planned activity was booked solid, so he and I celebrated with a little date night on Friday the 13th. We drove 30 minutes north into Tuscon and enjoyed a 50 minute couples massage at a spa inside a casino (bonus points for M for gifting to himself, too ;-)), after that we wandered around the casino a bit waiting for our dinner at the Asian fusion restaurant inside the casino - excellent people watching at casinos, I tell you what. 

Saturday (my birthday proper) we went to a tiny artists town called Tubac where we wandered in and out of shops and had lunch. It was a nice low key day. M took two calls on his phone, which he chalked up to a big work presentation he had the day after we returned from AZ. Little did I know he was actually trying to locate the proflowers guy who was lost in Green Valley. 

I can't receive flowers at home because my cat is apparently neglected and malnourished and insists upon eating EVERYTHING living he can get his grubby paws on, so M found a way for me to receive and enjoy some flowers for my birthday :). Thinking back, I think he's sent flowers in some shape or form just about every year for my birthday. 

Saturday night we went to a fantastic little Italian restaurant in town, returned home in a carb coma, and were in bed by 10. The perfect birthday. 

Sunday was one of my favorite days, by far. 

We drove an hour north, to the north side of Tuscon, to hike in the Catalina Mountains at Sabino Canyon. We parked at the visitor's center and took the tram up to the last possible stop in the canyon in a light rain. As if by design, the rain stopped when we got off the tram and hit the trail head. 

We hiked the Phone Line Trail, which was a trail they had started to partially clear to install phone lines. (Why phone lines would be necessary in the canyon, I'm not sure..). It was SUCH a beautiful hike. We stayed high along the ridge as we hiked out of the canyon back towards the visitor's center. It was about 3 hours overall (with pit stops, photo ops, and a lunch in there) and was such a beautiful morning. (M's mom and step-dad hiked too both days but I clearly didn't take many photos of all of us together).

It's funny.. I went from being a VERY outdoorsy child to an inexplicable aversion to the elements the last few years. I still highly dislike being cold and/or rained on, but I've found as long as I'm dressed appropriately, I REALLY enjoy hiking. M's mom bought M and I some hiking boots as birthday/valentines presents and I'm super pumped to put some miles on them this summer at local state parks.