Despite the 115 degree weather (even in the shade!), we survived, nay enjoyed a lovely stay in Phoenix with Ryan’s grandparents. His Grandma Linda and Papa Bobby are both happily living in Phoenix in second marriages, so we got to be spoiled twice in Phoenix. First, we spent two days with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Gordon in Scottsdale, then we drove to Surprise, AZ to stay with Papa Bobby and Grandma Michelle for two nights. Between the two, we stopped for lunch courtesy of my Aunt Jujy and Uncle Sparky who live in Tucson, but were in the area and took a couple hours to find us for a meal. Quite a whirlwind of family hospitality!

Linda and Gordon made us feel super welcome – we relaxed in their poor and on their fancy new pool deck, dashing from shady spot to shady spot, soaking and swimming. Their rambunctious and lovable labrador retriever, Ripley, got some pool lounging and swimming in too.

Gordon, a big fly fishing fan with a hell of a cast, helped us practice our own casts. We practiced our loops, wrestled with a few knots in the line, and made targets out of pool toys in their backyard. I caught more than a few tree leaves on my back casts…still have a lot of work to do. Ryan steadily improved, while I continued to lay down little coiled up casts across the pool, inciting more than one frustrated childlike outburst from me. So unfair! Good thing Ryan’s a patient man. Never would have thought myself the fishing type, but I’m really excited to get some fly fishing experience under my belt and learn more about it. Gordon showed us some of the delicate and beautiful flies he’s collected over the years. Each one has a story of the small insect or larva it’s imitating and the fish (or lack thereof) caught using it, the local knowledge garnered from anglers in the area, the unique location it came from, and the special memories and friends that came out of the fishing trip. It’s a sport with a highly specialized knowledge, a lot of storytelling, a respect and admiration of nature and beauty – that’s my shit right there, y’all! Linda stayed up with the kids (us) both nights for movie nights and tried to give us more food than we knew what to do with. Gotta love grandparents!

Our second night with Linda and Gordon they were sweet enough to host a rib dinner with Bobby and Michelle joining us for the feast. It was a real treat to have everybody together. Ryan and I being city folk and young and naive, etc. etc., tend to be, well, about as liberal as you can get, and his grandparents, being who they are – Southerners by birth, Westerners by choice, veterans, and mostly self-made folks – fall to the more conservative side of things. One of the best parts of this trip is getting to spend time with people from different generations and regions of the country and be reminded that there’s a lot of different ways to do things, and a wealth of diversity and worldviews in this giant country. No better place to be reminded that you’re young and there’s lots to learn than spending time with your grandparents. Also, of course, it was wonderful to eat a bunch of food and share drinks with some of the most generous and caring people around. We had lots of laughs and all ate way too much. Or maybe that was just me. Ryan sure does have family, and a lot of it, who love him very much. I feel super lucky to have been able to benefit from the kindness and generosity of all of his family, from Chicago, to South Carolina, to Mercer, Wisconsin, to New Mexico and Arizona. We have no dearth of family and friends out here!

It was a real treat to get to stop for lunch with my Aunt Jujy and Uncle Sparky – they’re a dynamic duo! So much fun to get to have an hour to catch up with them and share our plans upcoming adventures and hear about the busy lives they’re leading. I’m really looking forward to being out this way and getting more chances to see them and my cousins in Tucson. We didn’t make it down there this trip, but they’re another amazing resource we have out here and a whole section of my family that would be so fun to have more access to.

Once we got to Papa and Michelle’s in Surprise (awesome name for a town), we had a backlog of catching up to do on resumes, journaling, job applications, and updates to our parents, and Papa and Michelle gave us a wonderful ‘home base’ to tackle some of those things. We spent a day tucked away in the bedroom, our makeshift office, with intermittent visitations from their pups, terrier Bella (although Papa would say “That ain’t my dog”) and his champion bird-dog, Auggie – couple o’ goofs who love games and scratches. We had a notable trip to Papa’s favorite store, Cabella’s, where he feels right at home in the gun section of the massive outdoors store, pining after shining pistols in their cases. Michelle took us to Dutch Bros. coffee where we joined the cult of happy hippy sweet coffee fanatics that make it a daily stop. We even had a spectacular dog swimming olympics pool party with Auggie and Bella. Papa and Michelle know how to wear their puppies out with a toy chasing circus that is one of the most entertaining things I’ve ever seen. Little Bella ferociously goes after any toy, often stealing one from Auggie, who’s three times her size, and Auggie makes acrobatic, flying leaps into the pool to catch a doggie ball. It was a real treat to watch them play as the hot Phoenix day turned into a pleasant breezy evening. Much merrymaking with Papa and Michelle and their dogs (and turtles, too)!

We couldn’t have been better taken care of by all of these loving folks. Their delicious food, AC’d houses, great pools, sweet animals, fun stories, and generosity won’t be soon forgotten, and we left Phoenix well prepared for our camping and adventures ahead. Love to all of you. Can’t wait to get back soon!