Towards the end of my Senior year, I said to JP, "Well, after graduation when am I going to see you again?" He was spending a month that summer in Mexico, and in the fall I was moving to Dallas, and he would be back at Samford so I really didn't know what was going to happen. After asking this question, he decided I needed to come visit him in Phoenix before he left for Mexico. I was thinking a few days, but he decided two weeks.
So I used some of my graduation money to purchase plane tickets. I still can't believe the deals I found. I traveled to Dallas first to spend a few days looking for an apartment with my then soon-to-be roommate Amanda. I purchased all of my tickets one-way because I was flying from Birmingham to Dallas, Dallas to Phoenix, and Phoenix to Birmingham. I spent a total of $232.69. At only $59.40, my ticket from Phoenix to Birmingham was the most impressive deal.
My two weeks in Phoenix was spent exploring the Southwest with JP and his brothers. I don't remember all of the details or names of places, but it was SO much fun. I love traveling and seeing new things, so considering I had never spent much time outside of the Southeast, this was quite a treat for me!
Me, JP, and his brother Matt went on several trips. The first was to Sedona. On the way to Sedona, we stopped at the Tanto Natural Bridge. It's a good thing we saw it then because it is closed to the public now.
The drive to Sedona was quite long, but I sure wasn't used to seeing views like this!
We camped one night near Sedona. There was a stream with tons of rocks running next to the campground, and we had much fun hopping from rock-to-rock in the stream.
After are night of camping, we went to Oak Creek Canyon for the funniest hikes ever. It was quite long (JP and I think we were out there for 5-6 hours). It was beautiful! There was a large stream that ran throughout the canyon. At first, we tried not to get wet, but then we eventually would get somewhat wet when crossing it, and it was really hot. So, we ended up walking in the stream a lot, and it was SO much fun. This is JP and me during our hike.
We had no food and very little water, so after we were done with our hike we went to the closest place for food around, Dairy Queen. We all got the extra large ice cream cone.
The other trip JP, Matt, and I went on was to San Diego. We camped there too at a KOA campground. We were all very impressed with the campground, and I would highly recommend it. It had the biggest hot tub I have ever seen, and the bathroom facilities were very nice. San Diego is the perfect place to camp in the summer because the high is like 70 at night.
My favorite thing we did in San Diego was going to La Jolla. La Jolla is definitely one of my favorite places. It is amazingly beautiful.
We spent the day on the beach, and swimming in the cove. I had never been in the Pacific Ocean before, and found it was very cold! JP got super sunburned even though he put sunscreen on.
We also visited the USS Midway while in San Diego. (I told you JP got sunburned).
It seemed like every time we traveled with Matt, Michael couldn't come, and when Michael finally could go somewhere, Matt could not. So JP and I went to Christopher Creek one day with Michael and one of his friends. We caught crawfish, but I was not very good at it. Here are JP and I on our way back from the trip.
Michael also was in the infancy of his photography career and used JP and I as his practice subjects.
So those are the highlights from the trip. Overall the trip was so much fun. I had so much fun getting to see new things and getting to know JP's family better. I really want to go back to both San Diego and Oak Creek Canyon someday!
