Hello! I have some exciting news! Arizona will be my new home in just about a month. I CANNOT wait. My mom and I road-tripped across the U.S. (yep, close to 2,000 miles just to get there 😂) to visit family and scout out the area.
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| First time seeing cacti in person and I definitely freaked out. 😆🌵 They're so cool! |
3 days, 3 terrible storms, 9 states, and 1 cracked windshield later (thanks, random rock in Texas), we made it to Arizona.
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| Meet me in St. Louis, Louis... |
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| Texas |
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At a rest area in Texas |
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| Windmills in Texas |
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| New Mexico |
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| Neat travel center in New Mexico! |
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| Super cool rest area in Arizona! |
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| Flagstaff, AZ |
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| I'm in love with the red rocks! |
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| Yeah, we went through some very scary storms on the way out west. Would not recommend. 😖 |
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| 🌞🌞🌞 |
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| Einstein Bagels 💕 |
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| I tried a new coffee place every day, so be prepared for all the basic photos. 😉 |
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| Coffee Plantation, Scottsdale AZ |
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| Scottsdale Quarter |
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| Our cousin, Nikki, made some delicious Greek coffee! |
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| Carefree, AZ |
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| Introduced mom to In-N-Out! 😀 |
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| Lunch at Pita Jungle! |
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| I love cacti! |
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| The English Rose Tea Room was SO delightful! |
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| Cold brew! |
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| Can't get over how different dry heat is compared to what I've grown up with! |
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| Scottsdale Quarter |
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| Anddd more cold brew! |
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| George's Kitchen, Phoenix AZ |
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| 💖 |
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| Scottsdale Quarter |
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| Maverick Coffee, Scottsdale AZ |
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| Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Phoenix AZ |
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| Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, Scottsdale AZ |
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| True Food Kitchen at the Scottsdale Quarter 👌 |
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| Gelato 😋 |
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| Le Macaron, Scottsdale Quarter |
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| Gelato sandwiches! |
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| Little hummingbird! 💚 |
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| Carefree, AZ |
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| The drive back seemed so much longer... |
We happened to be driving through Missouri on August 21, the day of the eclipse. We were fortunate enough to be going right through a totality zone. So crazy! We stopped in Pacific, MO to watch it.
I took this (right below) just minutes before the totality hit. It felt like there was a weird filter over everything. A policeman actually came by and offered us glasses to view. He came just in time! There were others viewing close by and after the eclipse had ended this little boy yelled, "The light's back on!" 😂
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| Even in totality, there was still SO much light! |
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| Through my glasses! Obviously doesn't do it justice. |
See you soon, Valley of the Sun!
-A
