Parker is such a great dog in the car. He mostly naps, or sticks his head out the window. However, this would be the longest car trip I have taken him on thus far. I expected the drive to be about 12-ish hours (which was why I left around 5:30am in the morning!), including a quick stop for lunch in the Pasadena area with my good friend, Amanda. What I didn't expect was to be rear-ended! About ten minutes after we had gotten back on the road after lunch, we were driving along heading east on Hwy 210... and all of a sudden another car slammed into the back of mine. My initial reactions were to take my foot off the brake... check on Parker... and get to safety! Of course, everything happened rather quickly. A young teenager was driving the car that hit me - and truth be told, he was pretty tore up about the incident. We exchanged info, waited on the side of the road for the CHP to provide a police report... and a "quick" 45 minutes later, I was back in my car headed toward the next highway exit in order to calm down a bit, and get some shade and fresh air so that both Parker and I could cool off. Luckily, there was very minimal damage to my rental car, and surprisingly, the rental company said I could keep the car if I wanted, or drop into a rental location to exchange for another. Since there was only a few scratches on the back bumper, I decided to keep the car - it was a 2010 Mazda 3 - and thus far, was driving very well, giving me great gas mileage, and I was packed and in the middle of a long drive! (The car that hit me was probably totaled --- front end completely smashed in, and not drive-able.) So, Parker and I hit the road! Unfortunately, with the time delay, we were then stuck in "LA traffic" for a couple hours before things finally cleared up. We arrived at my parents house at about 8:15pm (just under 3 hours past my expected arrival time), but still, not bad!
Parker and I pulled off the road more than I would if I had been by myself.
We woke up very early Saturday morning because my parents friend, Jill, would be arriving at our house so that we could all make our way over to ASU to participate in Pat's Run. It is a 4.2 mile (in honor of Pat's jersey 3) run/walk in honor of Pat Tillman.
On Monday afternoon we had the nice opportunity to meet up with my cousin before she flew home. Rachel had been in Tuscon visiting a friend from college for the weekend. They were flying out on Monday evening from PHX, so we met up with them for an afternoon iced-coffee! It was definitely fun getting together with Rachel and her friends.
My parents and I took Parker on quite a few walks near their house. There is a nice area with walking paths and a few lakes that my Dad and I went to a couple times. I was worried about Parker getting too hot, or his feet getting too hot on the Arizona pavement... so in the lake he went! Of course, Parker does not like being in the water, but once he realized it was cooler being wet, he quit putting up too much of a fight and stood in the shallow water.
There was one family of geese, and about 8 or 9 families of ducks! All the ducks and geese in the area were extremely worried about Parker, but he did not care about them at all.
I love the desert landscape.
On Tuesday night, we went to an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game. It was such a nice evening that they had the roof open on the stadium.
On Wednesday we decided to visit Queen Creek Olive Mill for a tour of their olive farm, a nice lunch, and of course, shopping in their great shop! None of us had been here before and we had a very enjoyable time.
Where the tour begins (with some olive trees in the background).
The patio where we ate lunch after our tour of the mill.
There is a group of estates near where my parents live that have all sorts of animals on their properties, including horses, chickens, ostrich, one of the biggest bulls I have ever seen... The first day that my day and I walked Parker through this area, these guys were super curious about Parker and came running over to see him. He got very worried about them that day, but of course, I didn't have my camera. The second day we went walking through there, they again came running over to see Parker, but he did not care at all.
The next day we went to visit the Phoenix Art Museum to see the Ansel Adams exhibit. We had a very delicious lunch in the restaurant at the museum, Arcadia Farms, and got a guided tour by a docent of the Ansel Adams exhibit.
The day after that we went for a day trip up to the Grand Canyon. We took Parker along for the ride, and got to the Grand Canyon for a couple good hours of viewing before the snowy weather took over and viewing the canyon was no longer possible. It was a beautiful, and fun day. Turns out, we were visiting during National Park Week!
There is a very big grassy park (a couple football fields in size) in the community that my parents live, and luckily the entrance is just a short walk outside their front door! We let Parker run around off-leash in the field several times a day. He was in heaven.
He would run around and then find a nice spot to relax.
My parents and I got together with a few of their friends from college! What a fun night... BBQ and board games. We played two games that I had never played before.. including betting.. for nickels! :)
Parker made a new friend named "Buddy"
On my last day there, we went on a day trip up to Sedona, where we enjoyed a nice lunch and a beautiful day.
We stopped at a Farmer's Market to walk around and saw 3 little goats. One of the goats kept head-butting Parker through the fence. The little girl in with the goats offered to let Parker in the fenced off area with the goats, but we decided that probably wasn't the best idea.
On the way home, we stopped at Montezuma Castle National Monument and Montezuma Well (a unit of Montezuma Castle), both located near Camp Verde, Arizona.
Ruins from an old structure, possibly a home near the well.
Although the sun was setting on the wall where the Montezuma Castle was built, it was still a magnificent sight. We made it just in time before the visiting hours were over, and were able to walk around for about 20-30 minutes. We will have to make another stop here for longer next time.
Before we knew it, our visit was over! The week went by very fast. It was so nice to be able to take a good amount of time to visit in Arizona with my parents. Parker and I packed up and hit the road about 5:15am... and ended up making it home around 5:15pm! Talk about good timing.
What a trooper! Parker toward the end of the drive:
Mom and Dad, Thanks so, so much for having us!! Can't wait to visit again! :)
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