When writing about my travels, I tend to call travel day, “Day 0.” Then the first full day on the trip is officially “Day 1.” At the moment, it is early (5:45am) on “Day 2” so I’m playing rapid catch up to capture everything from the past two days. Let me tell you, it’s a lot.

Since we had such an early start in Sunday, day 0 felt like a full day anyhow.

Where I left off last time was landing in Phoenix after a super early rise and feeling a little sick and disoriented because of that. However, the first thing we did after getting our rental car was find a brunch place to have some food. The place we found was called Snoozers and the place was hopping. There was a bit of a wait to get a table, but somehow when the temp is 75 degrees and the sun is shining, it doesn’t seem all that terrible to wait. We sat on the edge of a planter full of annuals and let the sun hit our faces.

The restaurant was a good experience. I had brunch tacos, with a southwest kick and a pom-a-licious mimosa (orange juice, champagne, and pomegranate liquor). All of that was exactly what my body needed. After that we drove around Phoenix for a bit looking for a few trip essentials we did not bring with us and didn’t mind wandering about a little as check in at our Air-Bnb was 4PM and the drive from Phoenix to Flagstaff is only two hours.

We tried to go to the botanical gardens but they were all sold out for the day, so we made a mental note to hit it on the way back and buy tickets in advance. The drive to the gardens was actually good enough for the moment as palm trees and cacti aren’t something g we see a lot of in Nebraska.

When we left there, we didn’t have other things we wanted to see in that area so we headed north on the highway. It was a fairly lackluster drive, and despite the landscape being vastly different that Nebraska, nothing stuck out as particularly noteworthy on the highway. I mean, mountains in the distance but just lots of brown everywhere.

In a few short hours, we had made it to Flagstaff but were still super early for check in.

We weren’t  really that hungry yet but we had nothing else to do so we stopped into a cute little Mexican restaurant, El Tapatio, for lunch. I ordered a very small ceviche tostada with a blue margarita and Jim had mixed meat fajitas and a corona light. With the free chips and salsa, it ended up being a LOT of food but it was all delicious. Jim’s commented several times since then that he definitely wants to go back there at least once before we leave. This is high praise indeed! 

After lunch we around a little bit to get our bearings and also hit the Whole Foods to buy our groceries for the week.  Whenever we travel, we try and stay at a place where we can cook our own food if we need to, which saves on planning, dollars, and also ensures we have enough stuff that Jim can have with his dietary restrictions. 

Satisfied with our purchases and nearing 4PM check-in, we wound our way back south of town to find our home away from home for the week. A cute little house just out of town, nestled in the hills and pine trees. I would describe it as cozy and friendly. It’s not swanky and definitely the right amount of space for the two of us. Plus it has a hot tub so that’s a bonus (though we have not gotten to enjoy that yet).

We spent quite a bit of time just getting settled in and frankly, after the super early wake up and considering the time difference between Nebraska and Arizona (2 hours), I was ready to go to sleep by 9PM. And that is exactly what I did. 

Plus, I knew we had another early morning wake-up the next day because of what I had planned for our first full day in Arizona. More on that coming very soon!

This is Sure to Be the Start of Something Beautiful!

~Miss SugarCookie