Saturday Evening Hike

One thing we've discovered in the short time that we've lived in the Tempe/Phoenix area is that there is no shortage of gorgeous parks and trails. On Saturday we decided to explore Papago Park, which we found was only about 10 mins away from where we currently live. I'm always surprised at how such huge rock formations are set right in the middle of most of the cities in the Phoenix area. It's nice to be able to go on a family hike and not have to drive for miles just to get there.

Aliyah is a true outdoors fanatic. She loves to be outside exploring, which makes our hikes even more fun.  Like any curious kid, she's always discovering something new and just has to stop and check things out.  One this particular outing she had a mini-obsession with rocks and would try pick up as many as she could, only to have some fall out of her hands, which would then make her stop and try to pick up the rocks that fell. 

And while there's no doubt that on any trail we have to pick her up and carry her often, I've come to find that when she's exploring she encourages me without even trying, to slow down and really drink in the beauty of the nature that's around me, however tiny or grand it may be.

Papago Park, like many of the area's parks, has some gorgeous city views. It's fascinating to remember that you are actually looking out into a bustling, busy metropolis. At the same time, it's nice to know that there are places nearby to escape the fury of city life, albeit for just a few minutes or hours.

And every time we go on adventures like these, Sebastian and I comment on how our decision to move to Arizona turned out to be a very, very good one. Sebastian now has more time to spend with Aliyah, (before, he was commuting two hours, one-way from San Jose to San Francisco.) which was one of the biggest reasons we chose to move.

And while we would be lying if we said we didn't miss California at all, there's a comfort in knowing that little by little our apprehensions about making the life-altering move to the southwest are dissipating .




To finish the evening, nature left us one last gift as we looked upon a breathtaking view of the moon at dusk.

"Good night stars, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere."