Who knew Albuquerque to Phoenix was an 8 hour drive?  Well that worked out perfectly, because Drew has a friend who lives there.  They were very gracious to let us stay on a Monday night. I got to meet his wonderful wife, Melody and their 3 KIDS!  I was not even expecting a third child to the mix…she just came down with this little one and I’m like “Ohh…didn’t know you guys had another!”  It was funny.  They have two young boys and now a little 9 mo girl.  AND two big dogs, a full house for sure.  Again because I’m lame (my excuse is that we only stayed a night) I didn’t get any pictures.

We had an amaaaazing meal though, Melody is a star chef, we had broccoli and cheese stuffed chicken, a yum yum salad, green beans with garlic, and awesome chocolate chip cookies afterward.  It was a real treat, especially after so much car traveling…although we tried to pack healthy foods…it’s still just, packed foods.  Fruits, trail mixes, yogurts, baby spinach, etc.

I really enjoyed our stay there, and am in awe of their weather.  It just never gets cold, the best times of the year are the “winter” months.  After the kids went to bed, we talked about how it was for them to be parents, and we had a nice convo about how parents don’t really need a lot of “stuff” to have a baby.  The market just leads you to believe that.  Melody says all you really need are cloth diapers, a table for diaper changing, and a good baby sling/mobi wrap.  Honestly she’s right. Much of the extra baby items come from parents needing to travel so much with the baby.  Think about it, bottles, stroller, baby carrier, baby carseat, diaper bag, pacifier, excessive toys…of course I’m generalizing, and there are other small things like clothing and toiletry type things,  but I’m just thinking about all the expensive baby items that people freak out over if they don’t have.

One kewl thing we did on our way to Phoenix is we stopped at the Meteor Crater, near Flagstaff, Arizona.  We did get some sweet shots of this:

Amazing the perspective a little phone camera can have.

Couldn't get the whole hole in the pic.

I had actually been to Meteor Crater back in the day, when my family took a huge road trip out west. We only saw it this time because we drove past the signs for it on route 40, and I recognized it. We weren’t planning on seeing it, but I thought, when the heck are we going to be near this thing again?  Exactly. So we drove the 5 miles off route or whatever it was, paid the $15 each, it was worth it! You can even see it on Google Maps!

We were here!

There’s a informational museum tacked on to the crater, it’s really hilarious because it makes you feel like you’re really going back in time, because the graphics and videos and everything are really retro!  I’m glad we went, Drew likes sci fi things so I thought he’d especially enjoy it:)