The Kessans take over Arizona

It's been over a year since any of my family has visited Arizona, and I had the great pleasure of hosting my Dad, Emily, and Angela for a few days.

They arrived in Phoenix around lunchtime and made their way over to ASU, where I showed them around my lab, took them to Sack's for lunch, and gave them a tour of campus and Biodesign using my awesome powers as a golfcart driver. I took off of work early, gave them directions to the house, and then raced them home (I beat them by about 10 minutes!). After showing them around the house, we headed to Scottsdale for the evening, where we enjoyed pizza, gelato, and a stroll around Old Town. They were exhausted from the time difference and travel, so Emi and I left Dad and Ang at their hotel and headed back to Tempe to get some rest for the many adventures that I had planned for their stay in Arizona.

Early the next morning, we packed up and headed to the Melrose Paradise Recreation Club for the 2nd Extreme Heat Adventure Race. I missed the first one for the Virostko Family Reunion, but ODP held strong with two teams entering and Angel and Laurie taking the top women's honors. Hannah and I were the only ones representing in this race, and we were determined to bring home the gold again. With a full paparazzi in the form of my family, we lined up with 35 other teams at 7 a.m. and started the sprint adventure race. After a quick mystery event of finding a golf ball with our number on it, we got our first map and headed out on the trekking leg. We ran about a mile out to the Phoenix Mountain Preserve and then found 5 orienteering points among the rocky hills before completing one more mystery event (throwing a hoop onto a cone) and running back to the TA. By 8:30, it was already boiling and we were almost out of water, so we were eager to jump into the pool for the next mystery event (collecting 15 pennies from the pool bottom). We were sitting mid-pack and were the third women's team to come through the TA, and as we hopped on our bikes for the last part of the race, we hoped that all of our training would pay off. Hannah and I made up ground quickly and had almost caught up to one of the women's teams by the first checkpoint at the edge of the preserve. We passed them at the second point and soon found ourselves on a very rocky, washed out Trail 100. This was completely to our advantage, as we were hoping that our biking skills would be better than the other women's teams, and we found the next two points easily, enjoying the challenging ride along the way. Our only navigational mistake was my fault, as we went around a mountain (including two grueling uphills) that we could have easily shortcutted, wasting about 10 minutes in the process (I think that hill is a curse for me, as I did this the opposite way last year). None-the-less, we hurried back through the suburban hills and finally got back to Shea, where we sprinted to the finish line. We were stoked to find out that we had come in 7th overall and were the first women's team across the line! We wasted no time getting cold drinks and snacks and hanging out with our fellow competitors in the pool while waiting for the rest of the teams to come in. Finally, the rest of the teams (including two other teams from VOTS) came in and we had awards, where ODP proudly accepted our gold dog tags. It's amazing to see how far the team has come in just one year, and I'm excited to see where we go in the future. Stay tuned for more races :).

Since it was almost noon by the time that everything was over, my family and I opted out of driving too far away and decided to instead head to Coon Bluff for a bit of relaxing and playing in the Salt River. They were all amazed to find such a large and fast flowing river in the middle of the desert, and Dad, Emi, and I had a blast swimming around while Ang lounged in the shade and was kept entertained by our crazy antics and the ground squirells. Emi and I took advantage of the fast current and floated downstream through the rapids and down towards the namesake bluff, where we spent some quality sister bonding time jumping off of the cliffs.

We had a very enjoyable afternoon, and then headed back to clean up in time for dinner at Rustler's Rooste in South Mountain. My dad used to go to the restaurant when he was visiting Phoenix as an executive for Digital, and Emi and Ang had never been to the place before, so we thought it fitting that we go. I love the place, though I had only been there once before when Dad was in town the last time. How can you not love a place that has a slide for the entrance and more homecooked western food than even I can eat? We had an excellent meal and got to watch the sun set over the Valley before resting up for another full day.

On Sunday, we woke early, had a nice breakfast at the hotel, and then headed north on I-17. Our final stop of the day was to be the Grand Canyon, but since neither Emily nor Angela had been up that way, we decided to stop a few other places beforehand. Our first side trip was through Sedona. I had only been to the land of red rock once before, and that was two years ago, so I was looking forward to it. The amount of people that flock to Sedona overwhelms me a bit, and I tend to look for less popular places, but you cannot deny the reason that people go there: it is absolutely gorgeous. As we dropped into the little valley, the tall red walls grew around us, surrounding us with monuments such as Bell Rock and Cathedral Rock. We all had our eyes glued to the scenery as we drove into town. We didn't stop downtown, but continued on to the one spot that I had been to before: Slide Rock State Park. We parked upstream of the actual slides and hiked along the road until we came to the naturally carved red rock waterpark. Even though it was still midmorning, throngs of people already filled the entire length of the park, and I remembered why my friends and I usually try to avoid popular places. Although the people may have spoiled the serenity of the beautiful natural spot, they couldn't spoil our fun, and Emi and I had a blast slipping and sliding down the smooth sandstone rapids and jumping off of the small cliffs that line the slickrock. Finally, we made it to the end of the slides and munched on a few of the late season blackberries and took the requisite leap from the taller cliffs underneath the bridge. Standing at the top of the cliffs with my sister, I had a very strange epiphany: I am losing my natural fear of heights. I've never been overly frightened of exposure or heights, but the normal bit of apprehension at standing on the edge of cliffs is now non-existant. I toed the edge of the cliff without the slightest hesitancy while others wouldn't even come close (Em did brilliantly though). It's probably not good for my survival rate, as fear can be a good thing when keeping me out of dangerous situations, but it is kind of cool. Nonetheless, Em and I both had good jumps and slid down the slides a few more times before we headed back up the trail and continued on to Flagstaff.

We went through a rainstorm as we drove up and out of the canyon and came out of it just as we got to the outskirts of Flag. We had a tasty lunch at The Black Bean and enjoyed the ambience of one of my favorite Arizona towns before continuing up to the Grand Canyon. After another two hours, we finally reached our destination and Emi and Angela caught their first glimpse of the mighty Grand near Mather Point. I've been to the Grand Canyon several times now, and each time, I am taken aback with its beauty and just overwhelming massiveness. The effect was felt by all of us. Even Angela, who is a bit scared of heights, did a great job as we walked along the Rim Trail. Emily and I wasted no time crawling out to the edge of the boulders that line the rim, and made Dad and Angela nervous as we walked easily out to a ledge that dropped off quite a ways. Again, my fear of heights was completely absent, even without water or a safe outlet if I were to fall. Crazy, but I loved it.

We explored all along the south rim near Mather, and then took a shuttle over to the rim lodges to watch the sun set over the western horizon. Dad and I had had such a great time hiking down to the river last winter, and Emily was itching to hike down below the rim as well. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time for a good hike, but I know that the two of us have some adventures in the bowels in the earth in our future.

The last tints of orange were completely vanished by the time we took the shuttle back to the car, so Emily and I took advantage of walking along the darkened canyon before we all jumped back in the car and headed back down to the Valley.

We were all still a bit tired the next morning, and Angela opted to explore Scottsdale while Dad, Emi, and I had a quick breakfast at the hotel and headed north again, this time on 87 towards Payson. The drive has become fairly familiar to me, but I saw the landscape with new eyes as Dad and Emi commented on the diversity that Arizona offers. After a few hours, we finally found ourselves on the dirt road that led to Fossil Creek. It's only six miles, and again, I have become used to it, but Dad wasn't and it seemed like much longer as we wound our way down the canyon to the creek below. When we reached the bottom and hiked down the trail to the water, they were absolutely amazed at the crystal clear blue-green travertine waters. My sister exclaimed that it was the coolest pool she had ever been to... and that was just at the first area we visited. We played all day up and down the creek in between the first pool and the big falls, swimming in the deep pools, jumping off of the rock shelfs, hiding behind the waterfalls, and letting the strong current massage our shoulders as we relaxed and enjoyed the beauty of the riparian area and each other's company. It was incredible to be able to share one of my favorite spots with my family, and we all had a great time. We ended the afternoon with a lunch of bread, cheese, and plums and jumping off of the big waterfall. As the breeze became cooler and thunderheads covered the sun, we started back on the trail, with the rumbling of an impending storm in the distance. We made it back to the car as the storm clouds passed innocently above us and we headed back up the road, with all of us admiring the commanding views of the red and green canyon with a rainbow streaking down through the center of it as we came to the top. Driving back to the Valley, we watched the cloudbursts pummel the landscapes below and were treated to one of the most magnificent rainbows I have ever seen (on land at least). We pulled off the highway (as did several other cars) to witness the incredible size and color of the double rainbow that bridged the entire valley near Gisela. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

After a dinner at Oregano's and one more night chillin' with my sister, their trip came to an end. On Tuesday morning, they packed up and we said our goodbyes after several days of adventure and exploration, a taste of what my life is like out here in this great, hot playground. I know I had an incredible time while they were here, and I'm pretty sure that they went home with some great memories, and some plans for new adventures for when they come out here again.