Monday was our last day in Arizona. Our flight was late in the afternoon again, so we still had some time to kill.

Taylor needed to work a half day, so got up super early. They worked in our hotel room for the first chunk of the morning.

Alex asked me to go to Starbucks and look for one of their Arizona mugs if I had a chance to. The nearest Starbucks was a mile or so away, so my mom agreed to go on a walk with me to go get some coffee and a souvenir mug, lol. They didn't have any Arizona mugs, but they did have a Phoenix one, so that's what Alex got, haha.


Little cactus beds in the hotel's courtyard. Not as exciting as all the cacti at the gardens, but I was still excited to see saguaros everywhere.

On the walk back to the hotel, my mom and I saw a cactus wren building a nest in a cholla!


We watched him for quite a while, flying off and coming back with more materials for the nest.

Two more of the wren:

A little after we got back it was checkout time. The resort was fully booked for Monday night, so didn't have any late checkout options. They did have storage for luggage, though. Taylor set up to finish their workday in one of the sort-of lounge sort-of restaurant areas. Mom and I hung out outside and just read or killed time on our phones. I think I fell asleep for a little while, ha.


There were flocks of grackles in the courtyard. They had lots to say and really hoped we had snacks for them to poach. (We did not.)


One of the bigger saguaros in the courtyard. (This one is just slightly visible in the first pic in this post - the second garden bed toward the top, but it's almost entirely obscured by the tree.) I do love how many of them have woodpecker nesting holes. We did see a few gila woodpeckers, I just never got a good pic!


And the little saguaros that are in danger of tipping over... this is how we keep them standing, I guess.

The flight back was fine. There was a lot of turbulence again, but we arrived fine. Taylor and I were across the aisle from each other, so we could at least make faces at each other about the screaming child. :|


Welcome back to DIA. I love you, luggage gargoyle.

It was miserably cold back in Denver. It was well worth the cost to park at one of the offsite indoor garages, since at least we didn't have to chip ice off the car. The drive back to my mom's sucked for a bit on the slick roads, but we made it. I picked up the rest of my stuff, and then she took me back home.

Didn't get home until pretty late, but it was nice to be back. <3