The Canadians come to Arizona!

My cousin and her family flew all the way from their farm in Quebec, Canada to come and see us this week. Yes, they traveled to Phoenix in July. Crazy, I know. Who comes to visit the inferno at its hottest???

Since they took the time to fly across North America, I felt that it was my duty to take them around our great state and show them the sights.  We dubbed the trip, "Tour-de-Arizona" and logged nearly 1,000 road miles to show them Arizona's diverse landscape.

While down in Phoenix, we stayed submerged in water as much as possible because the key to surviving temps of 111 degrees Fahrenheit ( that's about 44 degrees Celsius for my Canadian peeps)  is to stay wet.  My dad made us a feast of smoked primerib, and  pork ribs, and we partied in the air conditioned house. 

The next morning, we were off on our tour of the high country.  We drove through Flagstaff and up to see one of the seven wonders of the world: The Grand Canyon.  It was spectacular! 

Here's a self portrait at the edge of a cliff. I'm thinking to myself, "Don't step back, don't step back, don't step back."

Here's a picture of my family pretending to be happy about having their picture taken when they'd rather just look at the Grand Canyon.

Here's a stranger from a foreign land who was swinging his tripod and video camera in a circle to get a panoramic view of the canyon, and subsequently forcing my children to "duck and cover" for their safety.

Did I mention that the canyon was filled with folks from foreign lands who spoke exotic languages and wore European shoes? It's a real melting pot of tourism.

Here's a picture of my daughter "Photo-bombing" the cousins pic. She thinks she's soooo funny.

Here I am saving a teeny tiny man from falling off of the edge.

Here's a picture of the sign above the toilets at the Grand Canyon. I'm pretty sure that if you drink water from a toilet, you're going to have issues whether it's "reclaimed wastewater" or not. Just my opinion, though. I don't know about other countries, but here in America, drinking water from the toilet is definitely frowned upon. 

Here's a woman standing in a thunderstorm with lightning striking all around and her umbrella being blown backward, acting as a lightning rod. Not the smartest choice.  It rained for a few hours that afternoon, putting a damper on the canyon sight-seeing.

After the Canyon, we drove through another storm to get to the Indian Trading Post in Cameron. The Canadians experienced their first dust storm, or Haboob...as we call it. I didn't get a picture of it, but there was a wall of dust approaching us like a freight train.  Arizona's finest weather.

Then, we drove through Winslow, Holbrook, and off to the White Mountains.  We took them near the New Mexico border to experience authentic Hatch Green Chili, Chili Rellenos, and Mexican food.  I'm afraid they weren't a fan of the spicy stuff.

We went to Western Drug, visited Sunrise Ski Resort, toured Greer, and showed them the damage done by the Wallow Fire.

After an exhasuting car ride, we relaxed and ordered some pizza. They taught us how to play a Canadian card game called Euchre, and I'm pretty sure that I'm terrible at it.  

After a good night's sleep, they traveled through the Salt River Canyon, saw the copper mines in Globe and Superior, and then it was off to Maricopa to tour an Arizona dairy farm.  

We enjoyed every second spent with our Canadian family.

It was a whirl-wind trip, eh?

Nell