Arizona

Taylor had two interviews in AZ , one on Friday, one on Monday, so I flew down to spend Saturday and Sunday with him.

On Saturday I got to show him my old home in Chandler AZ

This neighborhood pool was right next door to my home and I use to go swimming 3-4 times a day here and I'd have my birthday parties here too!

 My childhood home:

Can you tell its 100 degrees?

Good memories.

It was also a blast to take Taylor to a couple parks I use to frequent as a child.

This park had a bunch of big rocks and all the neighborhood kids would make pathways and rooms with the rocks.

The were still doing it! So Taylor and I had fun exploring the rock hallways and rooms!

One of the pathways cleared of rocks.

One of the rooms even had a fire pit! #kitchen!

Then I took Taylor to Desert Breeze Park and showed him all the stuff I loved to do there.

This creek with the statues was so cool, and because I was a cool kid, I'd always act like a statue too!

Can't forget my favorite swing.. the tire swing!

And these two photos are throwbacks to winter 2009 when I was last in my hometown!

This splash pad is still just as popular as I remember it!

Unfortunately, the Desert Breeze train is closed during summer time so we couldn't ride it together!

But I still had fun showing Taylor the tracks.

Taylor walking on the train tracks.

Then Taylor and I drove north to Montezuma's Castle.

It was fun to see all the seguaro cacti as we drove.

While at the national park we got cactus candy to try!

Going to take the first bite!

It's...interesting.

It was a little too sweet for me because they added sugar on the outside. But it still tasted how I remember cacti tasting.

Montezuma's Castle

Which has nothing to do with Montezuma FYI.

Here's an area that use to be a home built into the cliff side as well but has since eroded.

On our way back we got to see Tannin's cousin.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at Rock Springs and got a delicious berry pie and BBQ dinner.

We decided to go on a Sunset walk around the desert.

And we found this fun little toad.

We put him in a cup and brought him back to the creek. He was cute.

Then on Sunday we went to the Butterfly Museum in Glendale

The butterflies loved Taylor and liked landing on him!