Time for a winter vacation

[AJ]

have fun in AZ

I will be in FL next fri also

Uhh... you a little late wishing him a good time... he just posted about how his trip was (hence, he's back). ;) :D

*again, it's jana...sorry*

[AJ]

Two things I learned while on vacation:

1. It's warm in Arizona.

2. It's cold in Minnesota.

Ok, so I learned more than that, but those two stand out the most. I had an awesome time. I climbed Camelback mountain in Phoenix. We went to the south mountain and did a little hiking there too, but you drive most of the way to the top though, so it doesn't really count. I went to the Tonto natural bridge which is just amazing to walk through. We went through Sedona, which has some awesome views. Jerome, which is near Sedona, was kind of cool to see with all of the mining history.

I also saw the Grand Canyon for the first time. I could try and describe it and show you pictures, but neither would do it justice. We hiked a little there too, but it was getting late and we wanted to get Vegas at a decent time so we left. Vegas was pretty cool too. We got a hotel off the strip, which was pretty decent for only $50. It was cool to see everything in person. We went to the top of the stratosphere, but I didn't go on any of the rides.

All in all it was a pretty good trip. If I make a habit of going out there in the winter, I would definitely cut out a lot of the stuff we saw though. It was great to see everything, but it would have been a lot better to spend more time at each spot. I feel like we got to a spot, snapped a few pics and took off again. 1700 miles is way to much to be putting on a rental car for a one week vacation, especially if yout add on a 3 hr plane ride each way. Speaking of rental cars, Dodge Chargers with the 2.7 V6 and an automatic are gutless. At least it was quiet and reasonably comfortable though.

I have to say it kind of sucked getting off the plane in 15 deg weather, but my girlfriend suprised me by meeting me at work (where my truck was parked for the week). That made it much easier to come back home.

I took a ton of pictures too. I'll pick out a few of the choice ones and post them up here when I get a chance.

**this is Jana... didn't realize I didn't log AJ out**

Glad you had a great time!! I love AZ, but could never live there.

Grand Canyon is awesome. Next time I go, I want to travel to the bottom and do more hiking. I think I've been there about 5 or 6 times in my life. It's beautiful!

Sedona - another one of my favorite places for scenery, but the locals seem kind of snotty.

Jerome - is nothing like it used to be. I've been there probably about 10 times. It's become much more touristy than it used to be.

Las Vegas - I definitely want to go back now that I'm old enough to be in a casino.

I've also been to the other places you listed. There's much more in the local area of Phoenix, if you have more time to spend in one area...like you said.

Did you make it Flagstaff at all? I'm sure they had some snow there that could remind you of MN. But it's another beautiful area. Anyway, I could go on...

[Goat Blower]

Speaking of rental cars, Dodge Chargers with the 2.7 V6 and an automatic are gutless. At least it was quiet and reasonably comfortable though.



Where did you rent that from? I'm booking our rental car in the next few days and the best deal I found was $300 for 9 days at Alamo rental on a Pontiac Gran Prix. The Chargers were listed at $500 for the same period because it's a bigger class car. I might just pick up something fun at the auction and ship it back when we leave. Rentals are just too expensive and I don't want a little crap box to drive.

[ABV]

We went through Thrifty. It worked out nice because it was a one week rental (almost to the hour). The total came to about $350. We probably could have gotten it cheaper, but I got talked into about $100 worth of extra insurance that I probably already have with my credit card anyway. I will definitely be checking into that before I rent a car again.

[Goat Blower]

Dang, yeah the insurance is a rip-off unless don't have full coverage on your personal policy or rent it for the shootout.

I'll check out Thrifty. I'm not too excited about Gran Prix's.