Cleveland

Matthias and I ventured to Ohio this weekend to meet the newest Krejsa. On our way we stopped at Vickie and David's place in Pittsburgh and spent the night. It was great to see their new place and catch up. Friday morning we headed towards Amish country in Ohio to go to a furniture store. We spent quite awhile there trying to figure out what we wanted and ultimately decided to buy a dining room table with chairs, a corner hutch for the dining room, and a new bedroom dresser for me. We have to wait for them to make it and then head back up to Ohio in June to pick it all up!

We spent the rest of the weekend just hanging out in Cleveland with the family. We met Matthew and played lots and lots with Lucas.

Phoenix

So after a little lull in the traveling (and lots of hours shoveling snow this winter and stuck in the office this spring), I went to Phoenix for 2 weeks for work. Phoenix was so beautiful. While I spent almost every day in the call center for 10-12 hours a day I did get one Saturday off to roam around town. There were so many wonderful things in and near Phoenix to do but I had to narrow it down. So, I ended up going to the Botanical Garden, the Zoo, Tempe, and the Heard Museum. The botanical gardens were spectacular. It was filled with all kinds of cacti, which were in bloom in April. The variety of cacti and flowers was awesome. I got to see plenty of humming birds as well. There was also a butterfly exhibit. After several hours at the botanical gardens I went to the Phoenix Zoo. It was a decent zoo...very large (lots of walking!) and nice exhibits. It's considered a zoo and sanctuary which means that the animals aren't always "on display" and can choose to hide if they want. But most of them were out and about.

After the zoo I realized I had gotten a nice sun burn on my arms and wasn't feeling up to a whole lot more adventure outside. Since I was near Tempe I decided to drive through the area to see what was there. It was a nice area with lots of good restaurants, but I decided to skip a meal and headed out after a quick drive. Since I had started to cool down I decided to go to the famous Heard Museum (indoors!). It's a museum focused on american indian art, culture, and history and has the world's largest collection of Hopi Katsina dolls. When I was there they had a special exhibit on Indian boarding schools and their history. It was very interesting (and very refreshing to be inside!).

After Saturday, while I would have liked to explore some more, work kept me very busy and I didn't get a chance to see anything else. It was still a beautiful visit. April is definitely a good month to visit the dessert.