I spent a few days down in Scottsdale, Arizona visiting my sister and her boyfriend, who moved down there so her boyfriend could play golf professionally. It was nice to escape the Minnesota cold for a few days (when I got back on Thursday, it was a "feels like" temp of -35°F, making it over a 100 degree difference from AZ to MN - yikes!). My sister and I aren't particularly close, but this little trip was full of bonding time over eating burgers at In N Out, watching House Hunters, and meandering Old Town. Scottsdale is a weird little town as it's in the middle of a desert and they pump in a lot of their resources (read: water), making it uncomfortably non-sustainable and with this weird dystopic feeling as if it could just collapse in upon itself at any moment. My photos probably make it seem more beautiful than it really is, though the Desert Botanical Garden was indeed beautiful, the sunsets were tremendous, hiking Echo Trail of Camelback was unlike hiking in Minnesota, and I thoroughly enjoyed looking at all the expensive cars - Teslas, old Chevrolet sport cars, and Jaguars from the '80s. It's not going to become my favourite place anytime soon, but family is there (and my cat niece Willa) and it's a nice little escape from everything happening here in MN. I'll be going back down in the Fall and I'm actually already looking forward to it a bit - though that might just be this endless winter that MN is facing!
