Ms. Roedner in the Big Easy: Girls' Weekend Away!

What an amazing weekend! Nori, Amanda, Sam, and I had such a great time in Sedona. The drive up was incredible, neither my description nor the pictures (below) do the scenery justice. We stopped at the Desert Botanical Garden along the way, which was a lot of fun since we’d never seen so many kinds of cacti, or been that close to them! The mountains were also unbelievable and the rock really is red! The clouds were really cool too; I think the sky really is bigger out West. The town of Sedona is also great, we did lots of shopping and eating and relaxing – basically what a vacation should be. We stayed at the Days Inn, which after the dorms at ASU was like the Ritz. We swam in the pool and sat in the hot tub forever, it was great. I had the best Mexican food I think I’ve ever had and slept great. Saturday we went to Slide Rock State Park, which despite a kind of nerve-wracking drive up a mountain was awesome. It’s basically a small river through a canyon, but the river is pretty shallow and the rock underneath is so smooth you can slide down it – it’s nature’s waterslide! We had a lot of fun sliding, swimming, and sunning. Then more shopping before our drive back to Tempe – and a stop at the outlet mall along the way. It was truly a girl’s weekend away.

This morning I went to Taliesin West, which was the architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s summer home in Scottsdale, AZ. I have loved FLW for years; it was really exciting to visit a home of his for the first time. It was beautiful, and so cool how he integrated nature into his designs. He has such a distinct style and an appreciation for what is found naturally around him, in a lot of ways he started “green” construction! So I was on cloud nine this morning, visiting a FLW home has been something I’ve wanted to do for so long!