First visit to Arizona!

I got to go to Arizona for work - my first real trip there, unless you count a brief visit to the Grand Canyon with my parents when I was in high school! We didn't visit any cities at that time, so I dunno if it counts.

Dave and I headed out the weekend before to see some sights. My main goal was to try breweries, take some hikes, and visit Taliesin West:, Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home and school, the yin to Wisconsin's yang.

We got tickets to a 3-hour tour of the Taliesin buildings and grounds, and it was totally worth the time and money!

Taliesin West

This has been a bucket list item for me, since I've been to Taliesin in Spring Green several times. This is a very different sort of property and FLW design, but you can tell he really built it into the desert.

Frank does love a pergola

We learned all about what living here was like, and we even got to meet someone whose mother was an architecture student under Frank. She lived here as a child and currently works in the archives.

The Cherokee red also worked with this location more so than a lot of his locations; I know he loves it, but it just looks more natural in Scottsdale than Spring Green.

Nearby, I knew there were some hikes all around town, so we searched for one near Taliesin before lunch. We found the Lost Dog trail, which got us up close and personal with some saguaros!

Lost Dog hike

I didn't realize that saguaro cacti were limited to the Sonoran desert in Arizona and Mexico - I guess I thought they were all over the southwest from the movies. They are not endangered, exactly, but they are protected. And they are really cool.

Visiting donors went really well, and I also got to do one of my other favorite tourist activities - visiting libraries!

Scottsdale Civic Center Library

I hit this one on the way to happy hour with a current parent at my school, but I did work at one on Wednesday afternoon in Tucson after some visits. Great place to get work done on the road.

Of course, it was nice to get out of the cold generally, but I really missed some hairy weather this week with the polar vortex. I wasn't sure I'd make it back with the flight cancellations at O'Hare, but I made it. Only two flights went to Chicago from Phoenix on Wednesday and mine was one of them. Phew!