Mardi Gras Half Marathon!

On Sunday, February 24th, Fi ran the New Orleans Half Marathon with her running group, the "Slowbies," made up of 6 girls and one guy. It was the "perfect" run and we enjoyed the experience of running through New Orleans and then sampling some delicious local creole and cajun cuisine afterwards! Zev was home to greet Fi when she returned and was her biggest and bestest cheerleader!!

Running through the French Quarter

Our half marathon took us through the historic French Quarter, and then up to the picturesque Garden District of New Orleans on Saint Charles Avenue, with it's beautiful oak-lined trees and gorgeous Louisiana houses with wrap-around porches and great gardens. Truly a wonderful run!

Vegas, baby!

Zev and I took a wonderful trip to the Southwest of the US recently, and we had an absolute blast. I had always wanted to visit the Grand Canyon, and Zev had many fond memories from his time stationed in Arizona, so he was the perfect tour guide! We flew to Las Vegas from Shreveport and caught a Cirque du Soleil show before heading out to the Grand Canyon via Sedona and Flagstaff, Arizona. We also did the "Dam tour", the Hoover Dam that it, but Zev enjoyed saying "Dam Tour" all day. We then looped back to Vegas via southern Utah and the magnificent Zion National Park. All in all, it was a great holiday and we felt so rested and refreshed afterwards! We hope that all our family and friends are doing well and that you enjoy our pictures!

Route 66 or bust, baby!

Our Southwest Road Trip took us through Prescott, Arizona, a quaint and historic town with a very cool historic hotel downtown; Sedona, Arizona, with it's gorgeous red rocks; and then up to Flagstaff through Oak Creek Canyon. We stayed the night at another historic hotel in Flagstaff, a college town but also a cool ski town, and spent the night playing pool, eating awesome pizza at the "famous" Alpine Pizza, which our friends Monty and Lebette should be able to relate too?!! We also HAD To stop at this quaint and rather cliche but cute Route 66 diner, that served malt shakes, great burgers, huevos rancheros and home made root beer. Apparently Oprah stopped there last year during a special on Route 66 diners, and now has the root beer shipped to her house. So I guess if Oprah stopped there, it must be good, right!??

Grand Canyon!

I can see why they call it the "Grand Canyon"!! I (Fi) have never seen anything like it! It certainly is Grand, there is no other way to describe it. We were lucky to arrive at the Grand Canyon on a gorgeous day. We had awesome views and then we enjoyed lunch at one of the lodges. It was such an awesome day. The funny things is, once we finished our lunch, we went outside again and we couldn't see the Grand Canyon any more! It had been "snowed" over. We were glad we got there just in the nick of time! Zev got my heart racing a little when he threw a snowball into the Grand Canyon- (I was afraid he would lose his footing! I didn't let him get carried away with his shenanigans too much though!)

Thanks for the visit, Navajo Nation!

We loved our experience in Navajo Nation, in the northeast part of Arizona. We saw some amazing natural beauty, including these beautiful mountains that were as pretty as picture, and of course, breathtaking "Antelope Canyon", a slot canyon in Page, Arizona, that has been featured in National Geographic and other publications, and "Horseshoe Bend" which is part of the greater Lake Powell. Zev was a little hesitant for me to go this close to the edge of the cliff overlooking Horseshoe Bend (he'll jump out of airplanes just fine, but walking up to the edge of cliffs? No thanks!!) Zev enjoyed taking lots of pictures this day!

Zion National Park, Utah

We drove through spectacular Zion National Park in Southern Utah on our way back to Vegas. Wow is all we could say as we drove through the beautiful, winding road that snaked through the gigantic mountains. We saw some amazing colors on the mountains, due to the sandstone and granite that has been deposited there over the centuries. Definitely a "must do" detour! We kept saying "ooh" and "ahh" as we saw the beauty of this region.

In-N-Out Burger!

Double double- burger fries and shake!!

We went to "In-N-Out" burger- a burger chain that is modeled on the traditonal 1950s/ 1960s style of simple menu, great burgers and fries made from a cut up potatoe right there on the spot and good service (old fashioned, I know!!) Zev was a happy man, so happy he even got an updated In-N-Out T-shirt!