Family Vacation to Arizona // Tucson
The day before Thanksgiving on our family vacation to Arizona was the day I had been eagerly anticipating all along. It was the day I would see Curtis, my boyfriend again! We checked out of our hotel in Tusayan and began the drive South to Tucson! After arriving and checking into our hotel, we drove over to Curtis’ apartment to pick him up. We were finally reunited after over 3 months apart!!
The first night, we drove to the University of Arizona to walk around the campus and have dinner. On Thanksgiving day, we decided to drive up Mt. Lemmon to have a picnic. We stopped at Safeway to pick up some turkey…deli meat for sandwiches! Once we made it to Summerhaven near the end of the Catalina Highway, we went for a short hike to enjoy the views of Tucson from high above.
After that, we found a picnic table for our big Thanksgiving meal. We traded in a turkey and mashed potatoes for sandwiches and potato chips…but these awesome memories are ones we’ll cherish forever! After lunch, Curtis showed us how he pans for gold in a nearby stream, and we climbed on big boulders and hiked around a bit more before the drive back down. On our way down, we stopped several more times at the overlooks to enjoy the Southwestern scenery and take family pictures.
The next day, Dad, Grant, Curtis and I went to the Pima Air & Space museum in the morning, then everyone went to the Reid Park Zoo in the afternoon. The highlight of the Air & Space Museum was the Super Guppy, pictured above! The biggest disappointment of the day was finding the polar bear exhibit empty, with a sign saying it had recently died…I guess polar bears don’t do well in the desert!
The next day, our quick vacation had come to an end, so we said goodbye to Curtis and began our long 2 day drive back to Iowa. I was sad to say goodbye, as always, but thankful for this time together, and glad that I would see him again in just 3 short weeks for Christmas!
