Live from The Mondrian in Scottsdale!

Hello all!

I cannot believe that it is already the last day of our road trip! Tomorrow at this time we will be back in Gilroy, California--hard to believe how many miles we have covered. We arrived in Scottsdale yesterday around noontime, which was not that long of a drive from El Paso. The drive was pretty uneventful, except for a bit of dust remaining in the air from the previous day's winds.

We are staying at the Mondrian Hotel here in Scottsdale, which is probably the nicest hotel in which I have stayed. They also have a Mondrian in Los Angeles which is frequented by celebrities--we have not seen any here yet! Since the hotel just opened six months ago, I was able to get a really great rate for our stay. The room has a plasma TV and a stereo, but is quite small. Our favorite part of the whole place are the pools! The main pool has a bar and a jacuzzi and is where most of the people hang out. It is kind of loud because of the mood music that plays, but they also have another pool called the "Serenity" pool. The pool is surrounded by vines and has a huge waterfall. There are also misters situated around the pool that mist you with a cool spray as you are lounging.

We did not just stay in the hotel though--we got up this morning and took a trip to the Desert Botanical Garden. It was pretty darn hot, but compared to the humidity we had in Texas, was not that bad! We saw quite a bit of wildlife--including doves, lizards, and ground squirrels. It was fun to wander around the huge cacti and other native plant life.

After our trip to the garden, we decided to lounge around the pool and relax the rest of the day before our drive home tomorrow. It will be nice to finally be home, but bittersweet because the trip was so much fun and a definite bonding experience for the both of us.