Texas + Phoenix, AZ

Driving into Texas was immediately daunting, as the first exit number was 880. "Great," we thought, "880 miles of Texas... how boring." However, Texas ended up being surprisingly interesting to drive through. Scott and I were both expecting it to be nothing but a flat field of dirt but we soon discovered that the Hill Country around Austin is quite beautiful. We made our first stop in Austin where we visited the city's botanical gardens. We chose this as our first point of interest solely because they allowed dogs on the grounds and it turned out to be a lovely introduction to Austin. There were about eight different garden areas, each impeccably designed in a different style.

 After we got the dogs tired out in the gardens, we drove downtown to get a closer look at the city. We both agreed that it seems like a really fun place to live. There were people walking around on every street, it all looked clean and well-maintained, and there were delicious looking restaurants everywhere! We really only drove through Austin, as we were camping out of town and didn't want to get there after nightfall, but we would love to go back for a closer look sometime in the future.

That night we camped at Pedernales Falls State Park, which is located about 45 minutes west of Austin. The park ended up being a perfect choice. By the time we got there the weather was sublime and as we walked to the falls we didn't see a single other person. One interesting thing about the park is that it is apparently quite prone to extreme flash flooding. There were signs everywhere warning to evacuate the water immediately if you notice the water level rise by even an inch, because the river can turn from a calm flow to a hundred feet deep in the span of five minutes. Luckily, Scott and I did not witness this natural wonder and got to enjoy the scenery without fear of being swept away. We did not go swimming but I wish we had. When I stuck my hand in the water it was the warmest river that I have ever felt. It's really just a great park and I'd say it's worth a visit if you ever find yourself in central Texas.

On Thursday morning we woke up and drove across the bulk of Texas. It took a while, to say the least, but we did see some interesting landscapes that I've never seen before. Somehow Scott strategically planned it so that he drove through all of the cool hilly countryside while I got stuck with the empty, more desert-like side of the state... it still wasn't bad though. It was amazing how empty it all felt though. I'd guess that we saw maybe one person or car every 40 miles or so, if we were lucky.

That night we camped in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, which had some of the most impressive scenery that I have seen so far. There doesn't seem to be any good way to get to the park; the closest gas station is 35 miles away in a town called Dell City (population 413).

Our campsite at Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

The sunset that we saw from our campsite.

 One of the most comical things that happened to us on this part of our trip was our inability to understand time zones. We changed from the Central to the Mountain time zone literally as soon as we crossed into the Guadalupe Mountains park. When we were planning out our drive to Phoenix for the next day we decided that if we got up at 5am then we should get to Phoenix around 3pm, which would be perfect for checking in to a hotel. However, sometime in the middle of the night our phones switched themselves back to Central time so it was really 4am when our alarms went off, which we didn't realize until after we had packed up our entire campsite and got in the car to leave. There wasn't much we could do besides just start driving and get to Phoenix an hour early, so that's what we did. Then about two hours in to our trip, we discovered that Arizona does not observe daylight savings time, so it was really an hour earlier there than we had anticipated... meaning that we would now get there at 1pm and that, as far as our day was concerned, we had woken up at 3am. It all ended up working out because the hotel let us check in early and we had time for an afternoon nap, but we got a good laugh out of our mistake.

One of Scott's cousins, Emily, lives in Phoenix with her boyfriend Zack so we met up with them for dinner at a wonderful pizzeria close to downtown called Cibo. The food was fantastic and the restaurant had a large patio so we could eat outside. It was here that Scott and I realized one of the most enchanting aspects of Phoenix... there are no mosquitoes! We sat outside for a couple of hours and did not get a single bug-bite; it was wonderful. On Saturday Scott and I went to see the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants play, which was a blast. That night we met back up with Emily and Zack at their house where Zack grilled up some delicious kabobs and veggies. We had a great time visiting with them and thoroughly enjoyed our time in Phoenix!

Today we are headed up to the Sedona and Flagstaff area and then will be spending the next couple of days around the Grand Canyon. It will likely be a little while before I will be able to update the blog, as our next known internet access will be at our hotel in San Francisco (April 13-14). I will try to keep it as up to date when I can. Thank you to everyone who has been following our trip; we are having an absolute blast!