Arizona, You Play With My Emotions

We first drove to Flagstaff after the Grand Canyon because Auren's friend Jason was willing to deal with our shenanigans for a few nights. the first day was spent with us showering and being bums. Ah, the life. I was able to take a pseudo-nap on a comfortable couch, but really my nap turned self-conscious. Auren was sitting at the end of the couch and I managed to kick my leg while sleeping, so I pretty much just kicked him viciously. Oops. Our only activity for the day involved us going to a local restaurant called Diablo's burgers. Amazing. I feel like my trip was defined by food, but what can I say? I love food. Back to burgers, these were so good! It was difficult to choose which one to get. In fact, so difficult that Auren got two. I can't recall what I had, but I do remember the boys. Jonathon munched on a pesto one, while Auren took Jason' recommendation and got the one with beets, _____, and bleu cheese. Both were yummy-yum-yum. Mine had something to do with green peppers. Okay, really good burgers, you get it. That night we enjoyed some 3 Olives cherry before the bar and then went to a place called The Wine Loft. We met up with some of Jason's friends...all were super cool and friendly. What a welcoming crowd. To end our evening at the bar, we played Taboo. Hilarity ensued. The guys were using logic with the game, while the females (I think more so J and myself) did the inside joke approach. We had great lines such as, but not limited to: "I like to pretend I'm him when I'm in the pool and flip my hair back" "BENJAMIN FRANKLIN!" and "he's tall and you'd probably do him" "KOBE BRYANT!" The last one had never been discussed before...now that's some other level shit. Another fun facet of the game was that the other two lovely ladies we were playing with would communicate in spanish, occassionally translating and we would piece this together and guess and sometimes be right. This dynamite combination helped the girls win and dominate the manly men. Then it was goodnight time.

The next day was Sedona day. We journeyed south and found ourselves surrounded by red rocks and energy. We stopped at Airport Mesa and climbed onto the rock that is suppose to be a vortex. Now I know some of you will say you can't feel the energy, but i swear all of us did. To me, it felt like the after effects of a mild shock with the way my fingers and hands tingled after being around some of the rocks. Others felt a deep pulse that was calm, while still being very alive. We hiked around this rock and allowed ourselves to meditate in nature before moving onto Chapel Hill. This was suppose to be a place of energy as well, but a feminine kind. Unfortunately, we never made it too close to the rock due to our childlike ways of distraction. This came in the form of a rope swing into a creek. Who could resist? Janssen and I stripped ourselves of shirts and Tarzan'd our way in. We also persuaded another girl to do the same. Very fun. It was all platonic. Auren and Jonathon eventually found their way to us and joined in the festivities. Seeing the creek and just jumping in regardless of appropriate attire made it all the better. Spontaneity and realizing that following what's expected doesn't have to be done makes everything more fun. I need to implement more of this in my life. More and more and more, until even I don't know what I'm about to do. This concluded Sedona....

Back to Jason's for....homemade pizza party night! YAY! Jason had over his group of friends from the previous night and each brought some ingredients or wine. From here on the pizza and wine kept coming. We attempted to play Aj's game of "would you rather...?" but were forced to stop when it was simply too absurd. After a bit, the friends left and somehow Auren was allowed to persuade us into drinking, which doesn't take much for me...I fold under peer pressure. So, we slammed our wine. Not enough. We had shots of Drambuie. We needed more. We were forced to to move into something scary. A plastic bottle in the freezer with a hand written label of "Cranberry Liquer". If that isn't terrifying, I'll tell you what is...the fact that we started passing it around and taking pulls. Most of the group may have been college graduates, but that does not mean they are above mystery booze. If the bottles gone and your eyes are red, what you goin' do? Not act a fool, but rather go downtown to drink more! That we did. I don't recall the name of the bar, but we enjoyed a long island to start off courtesy of Aj and then moved on to whiskey. I've had good ideas and I've had bad ideas...this would lean more towards the not a great idea. We played pool and I didn't do awful...in the sense that I made like four balls! I also made this one lady mad, because she looked like she wanted to hit me with her stick when I didn't know which way to go, but then I smiled and she seemed to loosen up. We danced and then went home. Somehow on the walk home, I decided that I was just going to walk into a random house. So, I walked up to some guy outside who had music playing inside and was like "Oh, hey, is this where Mike lives?" "No..." "Oh...well want to hang out anyways?" So we did...there was a band playing inside and we just chilled and listened to them. On the way out he stopped Janssen and was like "I hope you guys find Mike" her response "I don't know where I am". A beautiful ending really....We watched Jackass and stayed up way too late, but what is it to a young adult like myself.

The next morning could be described as egg gluttony. Auren had mentioned making omelettes the day before. So, Janssen and I woke up early and bought things for them. Unbeknown to us that the boys had done the same thing the previous evening and just not shared the info with us. This turned into three of us eating around thirty eggs, a pound of turkey, a pepper and an onion annnnd a box of sausage. Once again, we stuffed ourselves to the max. Not appropriate.

It was time to make our way to Phoenix.

Before we could make it to Phoenix, we had to drop Jonathon off at his Grandma's. Ahhh, what a sweet, sweet woman. So grandma. On the way to her place, we saw stereotypical Arizona. Nothing but desert and cactus. So, Jonathon's gma was introduced to us and the next words out of her mouth were "So, are you guys hungry?" Grandma training, I swear. Of course, we say yes and she's like 'well, i don't usually keep much around, but I picked up a few things" A few things turned into her kitchen exploding into a sandwich delight. We ate and when we thought we were done she brings out strawberry shortcake with homemade biscuits. She was making my heart explode with how sweet and grandmaish she was. Looooooove! Skipping ahead, when we went to pick Jonathon up she told us all about bingo. You can bet your favorite sneakers that I will be playing bingo in the near future.

After we dropped him off, Auren, J, and I were off to Phoenix. We had a place to stay at a fellow couchsurfers and when we pulled into his complex it was clear we had the hookup. He lived in such a nice place. Janssen and I had our own bedroom and we had our own bathroom to use, while Auren slept on a comfy comfy couch. He had a huge TV and two tables that he hasn't even sat at. My favorite part of his place would have to be his dog Hazel. What a sweetheart. I want a doggy sooo bad! My heart melts when I think about what a wonderful dog she is...*sigh* The first night we convinced, Jonathon, our couchsurfing host to go out with us and he we went out to a college bar. It was a good time. I met some girl who was really looking for girlfriends and was really drunk. We exchanged numbers, but that would pretty much end our friendship. The evening wasn't too eventful. It was another night of staying up too late and then waking up too early.

The next day was our last full day. It was also a lazy one. I woke up...went swimming with Janssen and Jonathon the host. We went out to a late lunch at Loco Patron, which was super filling. Then, we went back to his place and vegged out as we digested our glorious mexican food. After a few hours of this we decided to explore Phoenix. It was not successful. Phoenix has barbed wire, crime scenes, and no cool easy to locate artsy district. :( So, we ended up in Scottsdale at the mall dressing up Auren. My favorite outfit would have to be the white pants and red shirt that really showed off how much of a sexy man beast he is. It was almost too much though, so he decided to stick with some jeans. After this, we went back to Jonathon's to get ready for the night. Janssen was DD for the night - her first time ever and her words the next day were "It's not for me..." Auren and I took the other route, drinking heavily. Way too much. So much that on the way to the bar Auren was passing out. At the bar, we only got one drink, but they were the cheapest of the whole trip! One dollar! This didn't matter, we were done for. Auren was taking running shots at a punching bag. We did a breathlyzer and determined that he was at a .1 and I a mere .24...in all fairness, right before mine I took a big drink of my whiskey coke. We later rested our heads on the table at the bar. Classy people. The end of our nights on this trip.

Time for the final day....