Visitors from Michigan/a mini-vacation :)

Last week, we had some friends from Michigan come for a few days! Ole & Regina, friends from our days at Northern Michigan University, came for their first visit to Arizona. Matt took two days off from work, and it was really fun to catch up and to do some exploring with them. :)

We went to the local regional park, about 10-15 minutes' drive from our home, for a hike. It was a beautiful day, with a bright blue sky, and Ole & Regina loved seeing all the saguaro cacti and other desert plants. Incidentally, these are the mountains we can see from our bedroom window when we look to the west. Beautiful, huh?

On the way to the mountains...

Naomi latched herself onto Regina the whole time they were here. Looks like Regina didn't mind... :)

Here's the whole crew (except me) at the beginning of our hike.

Ole took some photos of the petroglyphs which are attributed to the Hohokam people, who left this area in 1100 AD.

Here's Matt & me, getting our walkie talkies onto the same channel.

Ole, originally from Buffalo, wanted to try out the only Ted's Hot Dog restaurant not in New York, which happens to be here in the Valley of the Sun, in Tempe.

Jesse fell asleep on the way home from Tempe Thursday evening, wearing his Ted's hat.

On Friday, we drove up to Sedona in the 15-passenger van we rented (so we could all ride together). On the way, we stopped at Montezuma Castle (named because those who saw it thought it was built by the Aztecs). It was rainy, but we enjoyed learning about the people who lived there, anyway.

Matt took Ole & Regina to the airport Saturday morning, and they are back in Michigan with their family. It was a fun time catching up with them and doing a bit of exploring in our new homestate!