Goodbye Arizona

I tried to post this last night but the hotel internet was not cooperating with me, let's hope I have more lucky this morning!

Today was our last day in the beautiful state of Arizona. It was actually rainy, but still much warmer than what we are used to in February, so no complaints.

Since the weather wasn't the greatest Eric and I decided to lay low today. We are not exactly get home on Sunday night, go to work early on Monday morning people so we figured if we got some relaxation in today we might feel better about the crazy transition we are going to have to make tomorrow night.

We are staying at a place called Scottsdale Resort and Athletic Center, so we figured we might as well check out the "athletic center" part.

Eric and I both work out, but I don't think we have ever worked out together, at least not in years. Eric's lifting strategy is to kill one or two muscle groups a day and then rest them for the rest of the week, where as mine is to work several muscles a day but not kill them, and then give them only about 1-2 days of rest before working them again. I don't know which way is better, and I'm probably going to do a full post on this at some point in the future. But the point is, we didn't really know what to do today. Eric ended up focusing on chest and triceps and I focused on those two, but not as heavily and also did some biceps & shoulders. We both did abs. Eric even made me use the scary bench...

I kinda look like I'm sleeping not lifting. I have gotten pretty comfortable with the weight machines at the gym, but I usually leave the bench to the big scary guys, ha ha.

Post-gym we did a lot of relaxing and then headed to a nearby Whole Foods to get some lunch. I had a delicious quinoa cake that I am going to try to recreate in the kitchen at some point. I ate it on half of a ciabatta roll. Yum.

For dinner we headed back down to Old Town Scottsdale. Even on a dreary day, it's a beautiful place.

I know I said Scottsdale didn't seem that snotty to me, and I still maintain that. But I have seen some sweet cars on this trip...if that's your thing.

For dinner we went to a place called Cafe Forte. Have I told you how AMAZING everything I have eaten on this trip has been?! And...look at this menu...

See those little pink letters to the right of the writing? That is telling us which meals are gluten free, vegetarian, and vegan. How much do I love that? (no I am not a vegetarian or vegan, nor do I eat gluten free-but I am someone with food restrictions so I appreciate this). Eric and I wanted so many things on the menu we decided to do an all appetizer dinner including: arugula romaine walnut and gorgonzola cheese with a dijon vinaigrette...

Chicken and vegetable pot stickers...

White bean, lemon and herb dip with pita...

Polenta cakes with tomato sausage sauce...

Everything was absolutely amazing and the perfect way to end such a good food vacation!

After dinner we headed over to Scottsdale's first and only winery, Su Vino. We got to taste five different wines from the owner, who couldn't have been much older than us! We knew things were going to be amazing in this winery when we saw these wine stoppers...

I tried the Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay (unoaked, yum), Summer Rain, Ruby and Porto Cocoa (yup, chocolate). I really liked all five that I tried, which almost never happens, but I think I am started to expand my wine horizons. I even am starting to like red wines.

We had a blast at the winery talked to the guys that work there and tasting the wines, but the best part of the night was definitely still to come...FROZEN YOGURT. You didn't think I was going to leave Arizona without another night of frozen yogurt, did you?

Eric and I met up with Madeline and her boyfriend, John, at Mojo (same place as last night, different location). It was so fun to meet up with Madeline, especially because she was such a great help in planning our Arizona trip! Plus, isn't it just fun to meet people after you have been reading about their lives for many months? haha.

I went a little crazy with the fro yo tonight. Maybe more than a little...

This would be vanilla frozen yogurt with...mango, snickers, caramel cups, gummi bears AND reeses pieces. Do you think I may have a topping problem? Amazingly, this combination actually worked. Or maybe I was just too busy chatting to notice it was a terrible combination? The good news is I actually remembered to have the boys take a picture of me and Madeline:

Another success of the night was that we met the FIRST person the whole trip who is actually originally from Arizona. Madeline's boyfriend John takes the prize as the only person we met this entire trip who is FROM here! We were starting to think that Arizona was just the place to escape for everyone who got sick of cold weather (it still may be that ha ha). Plus we learned some new things about Arizona...no toll booths, speeding ticket photos, people love U turns, you don't have to take a new picture on your license for something crazy like 25 years! Oh, and no one has a basement. Wow it's fun to visit new places.

Now I have to finish packing and get to bed. Getting back on Eastern time is going to be fun, especially on Monday morning when it feels like it's 4 am, oh boy! Tomorrow night I'll post a trip summary & the first answer to your Ask Anything questions. I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

What is something that is unique to the country/state/area that you are from?

Giveaway Alerts:

Do you want to win Olympic red mittens? cuz I do...check out Marlene's giveaway!

Also, I think we know how much I love running clothes, even if I can't run at the moment :)