10.12.2013

Scottsdale Trip

For my 30th birthday, I really wanted to just get a suntan, have some cocktails, and just relax.  So Tyler booked a quick weekend trip to Scottsdale to celebrate!  We stayed at The Phoenician, which I would highly recommend.  We flew to Phoenix, which is a quick and direct flight from DFW, and then rented a car to Scottsdale.  Scottsdale is so cute!  There are tons of restaurants and shops to keep you busy, but I really just wanted to relax at our amazing pool at the resort! We spent pretty much all day Saturday hanging out at the pool, got massages and even got in a little work out at the gym on Sunday (which was followed by more pool time), and then scheduled a hot air balloon ride first thing Monday morning!  The hot air balloon ride was definitely the highlight of the trip.  We had originally scheduled it for Saturday morning, so we woke up at 4:30 am and drove to the launch site which was in north Phoenix.  However, there was incliment weather in the area, so after driving around with our pilot to several different locations, he cancelled it.  Tears must have been welling up in my eyes, because he immediately came to me and Tyler and told us he'd try to get us in on another day during our trip, especially because this was for my birthday.  Luckily, they had availability Monday morning, so we again got up super early and drove to the launch site.  Here are a few pics from our hot air balloon outing :)

First ride attempt, which was unsuccessful....see the clouds?
We go to the desert and it rains.

Tyler's ready for the balloon ride! Too bad it got cancelled on this day :(

Getting everything set up...attempt #2

Spotting balloons!

Super excited!!!

Balloon getting blown up




In the basket, ready to go! 

On our way up

















We made it down safely!

Can't go to Arizona without
getting a picture with a cactus!

This was totally an unforgetable experience!  I think Tyler was a little scared, but I thought it was so cool.  I went into it thinking we'd be swaying from side to side, but it really felt like we were just on an elevator - it was really smooth and no scary pit in your belly feelings! I'm so glad we were able to squeeze this into our trip!