Arizona

So we made it to Phoenix in one piece (or three pieces). The drive was quite amazing. There was a mad cold front forecast for the day of our road trip and we were a bit anxious about getting out of the mountains in time. The only sign of things to come in New Mexico was extreme winds. But just a little while after we crossed into Arizona it started snowing. It was nothing major - a little flurry that lasted about 10 minutes. For the next hour or so, though, it looked like we were driving through winter. I mean, it kind of is winter by now, but snow doesn't usually happen until January or something. Anyway. So we drove through snowy roads for about an hour after than, and then we started to come down from the high desert. Arizona low desert is hilarious. Saguaro cactus is the funniest thing ever. It's like the plant doesn't know when to stop growing. There are arms jutting from the trunk and main branches all over the place.
Yea. So, the drive was about 8 hours. It went by really fast, though. We played a game of licence spotting. And we got 28 or something. The farthest away were maine, ontario and new york. The countryside is amazing, and we went the scenic route to make the most of it. It got a bit warmer as we came down from the high country, but not by much. There's a mad cold spell hitting this part of the country this weekend and temps have really fallen - from 20-something down to 14ish. Anyway; it's still a lot warmer than Albuquerque (which was set to get to -17 this weekend).

We went to Ikea today :) That was so much fun. I tried to curtail myself, and I only got about half the stuff I wanted. We still managed to spend over $150, though. Most of that was on new bedsheets. Oooh, our new apartment is quite nice. It's way nicer than the old place, but the kitchen is even darker than the old one (or well - there's less light getting to it, but the decor is way lighter, so in the end it probably works out about the same amount of light happening). The place is much more tastefully furnished (I had furnitured written. sigh). What's really weird, though, is carpet in the bathroom. What sort of mental person puts carpet in a bathroom? Apart from being kind of disgusting, it's highly impractical.
And. oh god, we don't have a gas cooker. We don't even have a ceramic hob. We have an ancient metal coil stove thing. It's appalling. I tried to cook porridge this morning and it just boiled all over the place. I was almost in tears. I love cooking, but working with something as torturous as this cooker thing just makes it a hassle.

We went exploring a bit today. Phoenix is totally a proper American city. There is so much here. It reminds me of Texas with how many shops and restaurants there are. We went to Famous Dave's today (we first heard of him from a tv show - best in smoke) which is a barbecue place and I'm still stuffed.

I don't really know what else to say. I know there's been loads happening, but I think I got the main parts anyway.

Right so. Byeeeeee.