The Road To Arizona (Part 2)

 Hey everyone! Thanks for joining me for Part 2 of my story of how I ended up in Arizona. I know these are wordy, lengthy posts but I really wanted to share this story with you. It has been a long, difficult road and I'm so excited to finally be here. 

We left off last time with my trip to Arizona to scope it out. I just wanted to be 100% sure that this was the place I wanted to be, that I would be able to find a decent apartment and that I had job opportunities. I was willing to take the risk, but I needed some sort of validation that I wasn't making a huge mistake. My trip was 5 days. I had 2 job interviews lined up and 3 apartment tours. I also wanted to get outside and explore the desert. I wanted to hike and I wanted to see all of the natural beauty I was hopefully about to have in my backyard.

My connecting flight from North Carolina was delayed so I ended up landing at sunset. It was absolute perfection.

My first full day there I had my apartment tours. I didn't end up seeing one of them because they were completely unprepared and didn't have any units to show me. That was fine by me because I didn't want to live somewhere with bad property management so I was glad to have found out then. I really liked the other two apartments, one was just a little more than I was willing to spend on rent without having a job secured already.

My apartment tours were done by early afternoon so I decided to go to the Tucson Botanical Gardens. I'll do a separate post on the gardens with all of the pictures (if I put them all here this post will be way way too long) but I'll include one here as a teaser. It was small but it was beautiful. It was a perfect way to spend the afternoon and enjoy the sunshine and absolutely perfect Arizona weather. I was there in November and it was in the high 70s and sunny. 

The next day I had a job interview. I was supposed to have two but one place filled the position and decided not to tell me until I had gotten there. Frustating but I found out later on after more research that I dodged a major bullet on that one. I thought the second interview went well (spoiler alert, I didn't get the job) and then I was done with the "responsibility" part of the trip. I was ready to explore the city and get into relaxation mode. As much as I was scouting out my potential new home, I also needed a break. I was so done with everything at that point I just needed a time out and a minute to breathe.

That evening I decided to go to Sabino Canyon. I had heard of it but never really looked too much into it. It was a last minute decision as I couldn't find the overlook I orginally intended to go to and I was a mile away from the parking lot for Sabino so I just decided to go for it. You guys. This was the moment I knew that I needed to be here. I was completely blown away by how absolutely stunning it was. Saguaro cacti everywhere, tons of different trails, perfect weather and 360 degree views. I felt at peace. I was happy. I felt like I found home. I knew I had to make it happen. I will also do a separate post for Sabino Canyon pictures but I'll share one here too.

After Sabino I went to get some dinner. I had found Lovin Spoonfuls online and the menu sounded so good to me so I decided to head over. I love this place because they have tons of gluten free options for their regular dishes. The food is delicious. The menu is pretty extensive and they have options that will make everyone happy. I highly recommend trying them out if you are ever in Tucson. That said, I made poor decisions that night 😂 While many gluten free dishes sounded delicious, the Fried Chicken Alfredo sounded so good to me and I was like... what gluten intolerance?! I'll be fine! It's not like every single component of this dish is literally all gluten.

I will start off by saying it was DELICIOUS. However, I suffered for it 😅 I got through about a quarter of that dish and felt like I ate a brick, was so bloated and felt sick. My stomach was killing me later. So while I would highly recommend that someone who is not gluten intolerant try this dish, I would never eat it again because it just wasn't worth feeling that terrible. I will mention that I did go back again the following night and tried a gluten free option (a gluten free burger) and it was delicious! I have also been back since I moved here and have enjoyed other delicious meals (one of which I'm sure I'll share down the road). I absolutely love this place.

The next day was my last full day in Tucson. Two of my 5 days were long travel days so I had 3 days to explore. I decided to go to Saguaro National Park for my last full day. I started off on the west side as I heard it was more dense with Saguro cacti. I was completely blown away as I was driving up to it. I don't know what I was expecting but it was absolutely spectacular. I decided to drive the loop which was on a dirt road. There were a few trails I was interested in but I was a little nervous about hiking alone there. I got out at a few pull outs to take pics but decided to hold off on the hike for now, especially as I heard from other visitors that there was a mountain lion warning. That was my cue to head over across town to the east side of the park which also happened to be near my Air BNB. The east side is less dense with cacti but has spectacular mountain views. Both sides were stunning in their own way. I drove the loop on the east side (this side was paved) and got out at many of the pull outs and overlooks to walk around and take photos. It was beautiful. I was a little intimidated by the west side (I have since been back and hiked there) but it was such a perfect day. 

As my trip ended I was completely confident that I needed to be here. I didn't have a job lined up yet but I had the interview, an apartment I was going to apply for and a move date. This would help with the application process. For the first time in a really long time I had a little hope that maybe things would finally turn around. So, I went home, applied for and secured my apartment, submitted my letter of resignation and started packing. I only had 2 and a half weeks to get my life packed before I had to leave on my solo cross country road trip.

And that's where I'm going to leave it for today! Thank you again for reading this long post 💜 I'll be back in a few days to share Part 3 with you (road trip time!!!). For right now I'm leaning toward a Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday posting schedule so keep an eye out on these days for new posts!