Where’s the Sun?: I returned from a fabulous trip to Arizona last night…leaving not a cloud in the sky and mid-70s to come to gray wind chill advisory 7! Insane! I got to Phoenix a day last, as my flight from Boston to Houston was delayed *9* hours. I got to a cheap Holiday Inn in Houston around midnight, slept for about 5 hours, went to the airport, and arrived in sunny Arizona at around 11:00 a.m. (They flew me first class from Houston to AZ, which was nice.) Eva and I went to a little bread/coffee place called Wildflower Bread Company for a yummy lunch and then we drove around Phoenix/Tempe a bit. I have never been to the Southwest before and it was absolutely spectacular. Because it is in a valley, every time we turned the car, we were facing beautiful mountains. I think I drove Eva crazy because I couldn’t stop remarking about how beautiful it was. We had dinner at a Thai restaurant called Pink Pepper and made it a pretty early night. The next day we went down to Tucson, where were went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. (We had breakfast at Wildflower, where I had a delicious frittata with roasted veggies and feta!) The Desert Museum is part gardens and part zoo of desert animals. Eva is unbelievably knowledgeable about horticulture, especially desert plants. It was fun to tour with an expert! (Plus it was another perfect day, so I enjoyed strolling around outside.) We had lunch in Tucson at El Charro, which as probably my favorite meal of the trip. (Although it is hard to choose…we ate WELL!) After walking around Tucson, we drove back up to Phoenix, with a stop for Blizzards at DQ. (Reese’s and Oreo for me!) We caught most of the Golden Globes and hit the hay. Monday we went to the Desert Botanical Gardens (beautiful!!) and had lunch at Crazy Jim’s (Greek food) Eva drove me around Phoenix, where I saw where she works (the Department of Transportation…hence her being a great tour guide) and saw the baseball stadium etc. Dinner was at China Max Seafood Restaurant. I begrudgingly went to the airport yesterday morning, where I flew first class from Phoenix to Boston, via Cleveland. Em picked me up at the airport, and very sweetly brought me a fleece to pull over my legs as we drove home in the Arctic conditions. When can I go back????