My father is what they call a "snowbird"...a retiree who flies south for the winter (literally). After the holidays, he packs up his SUV--golf clubs, tennis rackets, and beer--and heads down to Phoenix, Arizona (in the southeast of the U.S.) for 6 weeks of sunshine. This year, I decided to take the road trip w
ith 
him, as my father is my travel hero and it is always such a blast traveling with him. Plus, I figured it might help curtail that travel bug that causes utter restlessness.
Here is how it went:
Day 1: We drove 385 miles and stayed overnight in Santa Fe, New Mexico and enjoyed hot tamales, as my father's eye progressively got redder and redder. "What's up with the red eye?"
Day 2: We drove 330 miles and spent the night in the mountain town of Flagstaff, Arizona where snow had piled up on the sides of the streets. We enjoyed an art walk in the historic district as my dad's eye gushed out lots of liquid and a few styes formed under his eyelid. (SEE PHOTO...ick!)
Day 3: We drove through the INCREDIBLE red canyon of Sedona--the color of my father's eye-- before pushing on to Phoenix.
Day 4-5: In Phoenix we met up
with my sister and brother (yes, it was a family affair), hiked Pinnacle Park with the saguaro cactus and spent time with old family friends. Luckily, there was a Dr. in the group who looked at my father's eye and said, "Yep, looks like raw meat, but it shouldn't fall out."Day 5: Fly to Atlanta! Say goodbye to my father who had gained a bit of whiteness back into his eyeball.
