Nick and Ryan's Summer Adventure!: Phoenix: Sedona, AZ State Capitol, and the MIM

Hey everyone,

So the Phoenix posts are different than the other posts, because we did things on different days and most of this is a random collection of Phoenix memories so I'm just going to list a bunch of fun things that Ryan and I did while we were there. This is Part 1.

Sedona

One of the first things we did was go to Sedona. I found Sedona to be a really cool place. A lot of natural wonders and a lot of beautiful scenery. The town is known for its red rocks and for gorgeous views of mountains. Also, the town is host to a lot of crazy. By that, I mean a lot of people come to Sedona for spiritual healing mostly in the form of feeding off of the energy of the rocks, meditating, psychics, etc. Not that its a bad thing people come here to get their spiritual fix, but all of the palm reading and feeding off of psychic energy is just a tad...odd.

Anywho, we walked around the shops for a bit and I bought some alligator jerky, which is delicious! They also had a cool candle making shop and a Christmas shop, and Ryan and I's favorite, a olive oil and basalmic vinegar place that let you try a million free samples! And it wouldn't be me without getting stains on my nice polo, effectively ruining it, :-(

But the best part of the whole thing was just driving around looking at the gorgeous scenery, it really was incredible. After driving for a while, we stopped at this brewery called the Oak Creek Brewery. It was a really fun little spot, and I liked it because it was a very local place, small and intimate. There was a band singing and we tried the beer, I enjoyed the atmosphere there and it was a nice, peaceful place to just chill.

Afterword, we drove back to Phoenix, but we took the back way and went by the town of Cottonwood, Arizona. And let me tell, I was glad we did! The town felt so remote and untouched by a major population and the town sits at the bottom of this valley with mountains all in the background. We arrived just at sunset and the effect was magical, it was just so beautiful. If I were ever to live in the Arizona desert, it would be at that place, because it was one of the most gorgeous sunsets I have seen.

Arizona State Capitol and the MIM

So Ryan and I looked up things to do in Arizona and we decided we wanted to see the state capitol and a museum that looked really cool called the Musical Instrument Museum (or, the MIM). So we went to the State Capitol and it was pretty much your typical state capitol. I thought it was neat that the building was built in the early 1900's, and you could see elements that made the building period-specific and also some elements of Arizona culture that made it in there. And actually, that was the best part of the museum was finding out about Arizona culture in the museum. The state does a great job of showcasing their heritage and how Arizona came to exist as a state. I was disappointed however that no governmental official has there office in the Capitol anymore, but instead, the offices are in other buildings.

But, Ryan and I were curious if we could see the office of the controversial and one of the more interesting governors in the United States, Jan Brewer. We tried taking an elevator up to her office, but access there was restricted. So we left and moved on to our next museum, the MIM.

It turned out to be a good thing that the State Capitol was brief, because the MIM was HUGE! I was stunned by how big this museum was, not in size, but in sheer volume of things to do and see in there. I had a blast at this museum! On the bottom floor, there was an exhibit on musical instruments (true to its name) and an exhibit where you got to play and touch replicas of instruments that were in the museum. So I banged on every drum, rang little bells, and got to act like a kid again. We also went into the artist gallery which had stars like Taylor Swift and the Black Eyed Peas and their artifacts, which was pretty cool.

But to me, what was most incredible was the top floor. When you buy your ticket, they give you a guide that lets you listen to the audio of the exhibit as you walk. What was very cool was that the whole device was wireless and you never pressed a single button. Instead, every TV screen in the museum senses your device and then automatically plays the song and music video of the artifact you are walking by. HOW COOL IS THAT!

The upstairs had artifacts and music sorted by geographical area, and had rooms divided by continent. And on each continent they profiled music from almost every country in the world! The geography nerd in me was beyond thrilled and I looked at stuff from every country. Poor Ryan went ahead of me finished a full hour to an hour and a half before I did. In total we spent 4.5 hours there! I don't know if I've ever spent so much time at a single museum before!

And that's it for this post. Here's pics!