Arizona

The final day of our journey was pretty uneventful. We drove from El Paso, Texas, through southern New Mexico and then to Arizona. The picture to the right is of some rock formations driving through Black Canyon in southern Arizona.
We got to Phoenix on Monday July 9th, in the afternoon. We went to our new apartment right away to get the keys and check it out. Some of you may know that we rented our apartment "blind" because of poor reviews (and a murder) at the complexes we HAD looked at on our last trip to Phoenix. Fountains in the Green, however, had a very good feedback/reviews on apartmentratings.com. We live on the 2nd floor again, and although the living/dining rooms and kitchen are a bit smaller than our place in NJ, we like this apartment better. We have a covered deck about 3 times the size of our deck in NJ, we have a guest bedroom, and the new carpeting and modern cabinets/flooring are so much better than the 1970s crap we had in NJ. We also have a dishwasher and our own washer/dryer for the first time. It doesn't sound like much, but we are super-excited about it. The complex itself is all shaded by trees/vines/plants. There are orange and grapefruit trees everywhere. It's all stone walkways and fountains-- makes you feel as if you somehow stumbled into The Secret Garden. It's a much smaller complex than the place in NJ and we like it. Our neighbors are really friendly and we feel really safe with the gated entries/ nighttime security. Althouth Phoenix is a pretty spread out city, its a city nontheless and walking just a few blocks over is not something I would do at night.
Our moving truck did not come until Friday, July 13th so we were very grateful to have friends of Keeper's dad who were kind enough to open their home to us. My parents got to town Wednesday afternoon and I don't know how we would have unpacked without them. They were such a huge help. To the right is a picture of my parents near the hotel they had to spend a few nights in before our stuff got here in Anthem, AZ.
So we're all moved in now and learning the ins and outs of Phoenix. Our apartment is unpacked, we found good grocery stores (Trader Joe's!), and I joined a nearby gym (cheaper than NJ!). We're also learning that AZ drivers are worse than NJ drivers. Yes, I said it. People here somehow earned the priviledge to never have to signal when they're turning and they don't know how to step on the gas when lights turn green. I cringe at the thought of the winter months when the snowbirds arrive to ass the roads up even more.