Living it up in Arizona

What Amit forgot to mention in his last post is that we are also slyly "borrowing" internet at our hotel (on our private terrace, in our free room) to write these posts... life is good when you live with a techie! So we are trying to catch up on posts... not so long ago we were caught up, writing to you from Phoenix about the National Parks. Alas, now I am writing to you from Louisiana about Phoenix and Tucson a week later... wah! Time flies when you're having fun (and when you're changing locations every other day!). To summarize: our visits to Phoenix and Tucson were outstanding! The activity for the evening we were in Phoenix was to visit my cousin Seth at the restaurant he manages in Scottsdale, Sushi Roku (http://www.sushiroku.com/), and we took our local host, our friend Becky, and her boyfriend along with us. I'm not sure I can put into words what an incredible night we had. Seth was unbelievably gracious, bringing us all the most delicious dishes the restaurant offers and spending plenty of time chatting with us as well (while simultaneously keeping the restaurant running perfectly!). The restaurant decor was beautiful, wait-staff was exceptional, and - above all - the food and company were unbeatable! I tried to take pictures, but the low lighting made it difficult... so you will have to take my word for it and, of course, then go see for yourself! I can at least offer you some pictures of our friends and Seth. We stayed for nearly five hours... so let that speak for itself. After our knock-out visit with Becky and Seth, we drove down to Tucson to visit with my Uncle Kevan, Aunt Jane, and cousin Zach, where we had two fun-filled days of game-playing, sight-seeing, and (as in any good Jewish household) great eating. The first day, Jane made an amazing dinner and we had the good fortune of overlapping our visit with the first two nights of Hanukkah... so we got to light candles with our family and watch Zach rip open oodles of super fun gifts. We then proceeded to play with Legos (his favorite... and Amit's too!), Neo Shifters, Hess trucks, crayons and dry-erase markers, and then our gift... Jenga! Check out the pictures :). On day 2, we played some more games and visited the Desert Museum, a great zoo-like establishment that shows the Arizona desert's plants and animals in very realistic habitats (friendlier than a zoo... no cages or shows of animal tricks). An awesome visit overall! HUGE thanks to Becky, Seth, Uncle Kevan and Jane for having us and for making our trek through the southwest so easy and fun! Look out for the next post, as we move across the country and head into New Mexico and Texas (where we were warmly welcomed by a sign on the highway that read, "Don't Mess with Texas!")... Love, Dena & Amit P.S. Amit and I were also obsessed with Saguaro cacti, so I'm posting a picture of one for your enjoyment!