Arizona | Top Golf!

This is my last Arizona installment on my blog, insert sad face, and while I am slightly happy to be done I'm going to miss inserting pictures of such a great vacation. I've determined that 6 days is not a long enough vacation and that Eric and I should probably go back to AZ when we have more time. On our last full day in Arizona Eric and I woke up pretty early to get breakfast at Kokobelli Bagel Cafe which Eric had raved about since we met, literally. But it lived up to it's hype! I had a delicious breakfast bagel and it had just the right weight, crispness and then soft insides.. mmm I kind of wish they over-nighted bagels here. After a breakfast we headed back to Eric's parents to get ready for some Top Golf! On Saturday when we were looking for a place to have lunch we went by Top Golf to see what it's all about, it was packed so we left and decided to come back Tuesday when it'd be a lot less busy. I'm glad we waited. I don't like large crowds and would rather have a relaxing time with people than having to listen/look at drunk frat and bachelor guys be idiotic.

So basically this Top Golf place is a skeeball meets golf, it's pretty fun and for someone like me who doesn't play golf at all it was pretty easy and entertaining. I swear I've come into a family full of golfers -no joke- and I am probably going to wind up playing real golf. Aside from it being a fun time, they also had fun boot drinks! I got one and so did Diane, now I have 2 boot mugs to use for random things.. like flowers or candy. 

After playing for a few hours, and Eric losing to his dad and buying us lunch, we went back for a mid-afternoon hang out before dinner with my dad. 

We couldn't complain about the 76˚ weather and a heated pool! We spent a good few hours in the pool and I took an almost nap in the sunshine..ahhh warm sunshine. It was the best way to spend our last afternoon, especially since it was 15˚ when we got back to Fargo. 

I'm going to miss sunsets like that and feeling warm and not dying from humidity. Sometimes I really, really miss living in Arizona. 

After an afternoon in the pool we were going to go to Chino Banditos with my dad, but their Chandler location had closed down, so we wound up back at the Cornish Pasty! Best part? We got our awesome waitress from Sunday night AND the pavlova that I'd originally wanted for desert. Think of the best whipped cream, not too sweet, with a firm meringue and a butt load of strawberries, grapes and kiwis. I wish we had things like that here in Grand Forks.  We wound up spending a few hours at the Pasty just talking, we discovered that both mine and Eric's dad are visitors. You know, the guys who can sit and talk to anyone forever? Yeah. 

I'm not complaining. I actually really enjoy watching my dad talk, its one of those things that I didn't realize I missed until after I moved away and wasn't around him for a long time. It's also nice to see we share so many characteristics. I was so glad that we got to spend some time together this trip. 

This is our selfie from the trip. My dad understands my selfie addiction, hooray! So this was the end of our trip. The next morning we were up incredible early to get on a plane back to the frozen tundra. I was sad to go, but happy that I could come home with the most amazing man in my life. 

And for your viewing pleasure, a sneak attack selfie in the airport at 5 something in the morning. Thanks for being apart of this consolidation of our trip. Till next time!

Arizona | Golf & Guacamole

HELLO AGAIN! So here we are for part two of our awesome trip to Arizona. I recapped days 1 & 2 here so if you want to read that first, go ahead! Our second day in Arizona happened to be Sunday so after service at Eric's parents church we went on a trip golfing which was really just Eric and his parents golfing while I drove the cart. 

Eric and his parents with the Superstition mountains in the background.. I told y'all he was tall as heck! 

Eric's parents are pretty much the cutest couple I've seen. After 30+ years they still flirt and joke around. This gives me such hope for marriage and relationships in general. I'd always been resigned to the belief that you are happy until you're not and then you either get a divorce or are subjected to a lifetime of unhappiness. This is not how it should be and I will not have a marriage like that. 

I definitely had the easier job of everyone. I'm not a golfer -yet, says Eric- and so I kind of just hung out while snapping pictures of everyone here and there. Overall I loved being in the sun and wearing my flip flops while my friends back in North Dakota had snow and negative degrees. But after hanging out at the course we needed a snack, so we went to Cantina Laredo for some Mexican food. My dreams came true when Eric's dad Hans let me know that they made guacamole at your table and it was the best he'd ever had. 

I was not disappointed in this portion of the meal and I will tell you all to go there for the guacamole and their apple pie desert with cinnamon ice cream. If you could imagine the most delectable crust for a pie their desert had it. I didn't get many pictures because we were starving. I will say the fish tacos I had were a little disappointing, I'm used to so much more flavor, but they were spicy and that was good. I will say that I'd go back for the two very good things and some margaritas, but probably not for dinner or lunch. After a much needed run to best buy for a new camera charger I went to dinner with my dad and Patty-Lynn at the Cornish Pasty Co in Mesa. It was dead and that's exactly how I like my restaurants! 

I had my go-to pasty of shepherd's pie and, as usual, it did not disappoint! We had desert for the first time too and it was pretty dang tasty. I had the sticky toffee pudding which weirdly enough tasted like gingerbread and had the consistency of a bread pudding. After a lovely evening out we went back to Eric's parents for a nice chat after the Seahawks lost the Super Bowl. We talked a lot about places to hike in Arizona and our favorite places that dad took us kids. I loved watching my dad and stepmom talking with Diane and Hans, it's nice to see families getting along so well, especially considering it was that night at dinner that I told my dad that Eric is a permanent fixture in my life and that there's a strong possibility that North Dakota could be my forever home. Gulp. Stay tuned for MORE AZ :)