Day 9 - Arizona

When I woke up this morning, the last thing I expected to see as I opened the blinds was snow. And of course, there it was: lots of white, cold, messy snow. As much as I love sledding with my friends and walking to Newtown with snowflakes twirling all around me, there’s nothing I want more than to be in Arizona once again. I know it’s only January, and it’s a little early to be thinking about summer, but I just can’t help myself! With 5 more months to go, I find myself remembering the way the scorching sun felt on my back, the caution you had to take around cactuses, and the view of the mountains from outside my window. And after 8 years, I can’t wait to go back once again.

My family and I are creatures of habit: we stay at the same hotel in Scottsdale every year, we sit by the pool all day (and attempt to tan), go out to dinner at night, and go to the Fashion Square mall at least once. On the first and last night of every trip, we eat dinner on the terrace at the main part of the hotel, right next to Pinnacle Peak, overlooking the city of Phoenix. We walk back in the dark, on the trail that connects the hotel to the “Residence Club”, which is where we stay. On the last night of our vacation, in June, I had a terrible encounter with a cactus… or a “Jumping Cholla”. Marguerite, my friend, was on the phone with her mom when I let out a deafening scream. Marguerite and my parents both turned around to see me on the ground, crying with pain. A small cactus somehow made its way under my foot (between my heel and shoe), and of course, I had stepped on it. There were hundreds of tiny spikes in my foot, and the entire cactus was still hanging on the bottom of my heel. My father picked me up, and we all ran back to the main hotel. Right away, a woman with dark, curly hair jumped out from behind the front desk with a first aid kit. Each teeny spike she removed from my heel made me flinch. A wave of relief rushed over me when the woman told me I was going to be okay. She sent us back to our rooms on a golf cart, and warned me not to walk on my foot for about two days, just in case there were any pieces left. Although I was traumatized by this experience, I was still looking forward to going back to Arizona in August. I couldn’t wait to feel the blazing, dry heat, and that’s the same way I feel today.