**These hikes took place on Akimel O’odham, Hia-Ced O’odham, Hopi, Pueblo, and Tonto Apache lands**

At the end of October my parents came out for a visit. I took a few days off work to spend a long weekend with them. It hadn’t cooled down quite as much as we had hoped but it stayed under 100 degrees their entire trip at least!

After picking them up from the airport and greeting Kirk at home we walked down the street for lunch before heading downtown Scottsdale. Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art had opened up to the public again so we made ticket reservations and headed down. It is a relatively small, 4 room, museum. We got a bit of a slow start the next morning and didn’t get out to Sunrise Mountain to hike until after 9. Which made the hike a hot one.

The next morning we got out of the house a bit quicker to drive up to Sedona. Kirk and I hadn’t gotten up there yet and we were excited to go see somewhere new. We were planning on hiking to Cathedral Rocks but the trailhead was crazy busy so we hiked the Slim Shady and Made in the Shade trails across from Bell Rock instead. The views were fantastic. After lunch at a local restaurant we explored some of the shops in the area and on our way out of town found an art festival, where Kirk and I bought two pieces.

Their last full day with us was pretty laid back. My mom, Kirk, and I went to Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home, for a self guided audio tour. What should have been straightforward enough to prepare for, downloading an app, ended up being a giant headache for me. The audio tour did a good job of explaining things and there were docents scattered around if you had any further questions. For dinner we ordered from Lou Malnati’s and headed to the poolside to eat and drink a few beers. The weather was perfect. My parent’s and I got in one more hike the next morning before they flew home.

Kirk and I are glad that my family felt comfortable enough to come out and visit us. We loved hosting them and enjoyed being able to show people around our new home.