Who else is excited for The Office to start airing new episodes again in a month?

A semi-spontaneous road trip to Phoenix occurred New Years Eve Day.  Ian wanted to get to Phoenix and couldn’t find a ride, so I gave him one and decided to see what sort of adventure came my way.

We took the route east around the Grand Canyon past Lees Ferry and the Vermillion Cliffs to Flagstaff.

Ian was excited to see the large piles of snow still present in Flagstaff, as this means he’ll be able to go snowboarding every weekend now through the end of the season.

On the way to Phoenix, I spent a while messing around with the new telephoto camera lens taking pictures of license plates, road signs, and the sunset while my brother drove.

In Phoenix, I met up with Heidi (friend from the Crocs tour) who was working at the Tempe Block Party and managed to get me in free.  The Block party is listed as one of the top 10 New Years Eve parties in the country – stretching many blocks through downtown Tempe.

I spent some time playing video games…

Had my choice of some 30-40 different concerts…

Watched some heavily branded motocross freestyle jumping…

And of course, watched fireworks.

On New Years Day, I headed back home via Las Vegas.  On the way I stopped at the Hoover Dam.  The new bridge over the canyon is pretty impressive, and will ease traffic congestion considerably.  Coming from the East I had no wait, but traffic from the West was backed up nearly 10 miles all the way to Boulder City.

In Vegas I met up with Joey briefly and caught up for a few hours.

Then I headed back home and took the parents out for a brief stargazing trip, complete with a few shooting stars.