Sweetheart's Birthday Weekend Part 3

What?  It's already the end of May and I'm just now posting about Sweetheart's birthday weekend that happened in March?  Geez, time sure does fly!

On Sunday, Sweetheart and I had lunch with Mr. and Mr. Gonzales.  Sweetheart's best friend's parents.  The Gonzales' are like second parents to him.  He spent as much time at their house as he did as his own house as a kid.   The Gonzales' are the sweetest couple!  We had a nice lunch and then went back to their house to continue visiting and talking about old times!

We headed out after our visit but decided to stay the night in Flagstaff.  Snow was in the forecast that night and we didn't want to drive straight through to Phoenix on icy/snowy roads.  Sweetheart is experienced with driving in ice/snow but I was scared to death of it.   Growing  up in Southern Arizona, we never had to deal with that type of weather.    Since we were not in a hurry, we stopped at the Route 66 Casino in Gallup, NM:

I won't bore you with the handful of other silly photos we took.

We drove into Flagstaff at about 10 pm that evening.  We were hungry so we stopped for a bite at Collins Irish pub and grill.  Good food, great atmosphere.

we took this picture the following morning

After we ate, we checked into the Weatherford Hotel.  Established in 1897 and rumored to be haunted.   It was creepy and charming at the same time.  Sweetheart welcomes the chance to experience the supernatural.  I, on the other hand, pray that I don't see or hear anything.  Ever.

We stayed on the third floor and when I asked where the elevators were the front desk clerk/bartender laughed at me.

Our tiny room was considered a suite because there was a bathroom inside the room.  The other rooms shared a community bathroom. Yep, shared a bathroom.

The room actually looks bigger than it really was.  It was tiny.

The light in the hallway stayed on all night and light kept Sweetheart awake most of the night.  He likes a dark room.

Notice where the shower head hits Sweetheart.  Not only was the room tiny but the bathroom was about the size of a closet.  The shower head was even low for me:

 

We took a ton of picture in the morning because we loved the nostalgic feel of the place. 

At about 10 am, we packed up and headed out. 

Because we are both extremely immature, we both thought this was funny:

Love the Route 66 sign:

As we headed back home, we enjoyed the beautiful white scenery: 

As we drove into Phoenix, the jackets and scarves came off...we were back in the heat!

We made it back to Phoenix about 1 pm and went straight to the pet hotel to pickup our puppies!  Grievie and Naboo were so excited to see us and we were just as excited to see them!   

I had the best time in the Land of Enchantment!  Since it was Sweetheart's birthday, I'm hoping he enjoyed it too!  :)

Sweetheart's Birthday Weekend Part 2.5

For Sweetheart's birthday dinner we made reservations for dinner at the High Finance Restaurant and Tavern located at the top of Sandia Peak. We made reservations for 5:30 pm so we could catch the sunset and then the view of the city lights. I had read of the 11,000 mile panoramic view from 10,358 feet up and was excited about it!

The restaurant offers a unique mode of transportation, the tramway:

source

We rode the tram to the top of the mountain - 2.7 miles in diagonal length; 4000 feet climb to the top. 

Me and Sweetheart inside the tram

The tram cables are supported by two towers between the terminals.  

Here's the first one:

The climate changed as we elevated.  After about 7 minutes into the ride, everything turned white. 

See the "Christmas" tree I spotted?

It was a winter wonderland up there:

As we approached the second tower, we got closer to the clouds:

You can barely see the red marker on the cable that indicates a half way point:

More snow covered trees:

As we approached the base, we were told it was 20 degrees and very icy:

Once, we got there we went off to one of the trails to play in the snow!

Sweetheart's a master snowball maker:

I've never been in snow (like that) before so Sweetheart was amused by how I was behaving like a 5 year old kid playing in snow for the first time:

I had to wear Sweetheart's leather gloves because I was wearing knit gloves and Sweetheart wanted me to make a snowball.  He made me put his gloves on so mine wouldn't get wet.  That's why my hand look so BIG:

My unsuccessful attempt to make a snowball and throw it at him:

I didn't bring my camera with me because we were just supposed to have dinner; I didn't realize we were going to have fun time in the snow!  

The weather instrument over Sweetheart's head confirmed the reported 20 degree temperature:

Once we made it inside the restaurant we were able to shed our coats, gloves and scarves.  And what's better than hot cocoa (with whipped cream) to warm the body:

After dinner, the waiter bought Sweetheart a cheesecake with a birthday candle.  I offered to sing Happy Birthday but we decided it could wait :)

By the way, the reservation at 5:30 and the request for a window seat was for not.  The clouds and snow blocked the view of the city lights.  But  I wasn't disappointed, it was such a wonderful time.  When we were finished with dinner, it was dark and so much colder! 

In the tram on the way down, it was pitch dark -- except for a few flashing lights on the equipment inside the tram.  We were still in cloud cover so we were basically riding in a small box, suspended in the air with no visual of where we were going.  It was pretty cool!  It was pointless to take pictures because it was literally pitch black. 

On our drive back down to the city, I opened the moon roof and took a picture of the city lights we had hoped to see at dinner:

At dinner I told Sweetheart that "this is the best birthday weekend ever"!  He laughed and said it's his birthday and he should really be the one making that statement.  Ha!  Well, we both agreed it was a great time and I now refer to it as "the best birthday weekend in March, ever!".   I say that because I've had some pretty awesome birthday weekends -- so I throw in "March" so he knows I really appreciate my past birthday weekends. :)

Almost done.  Next up is our trip home!