#2021LemonadeTour: Hello, sunshine! (Second half, week one)

About 14 months ago, in November 2019, Tony and I breezed through Sedona, Arizona, while on a road trip from Phoenix to Albuquerque. We were barely here long enough to have lunch, but it was more than enough time for both us to fall in love with the red rock mountains and dazzling scenery. When it came time to pick a place to start the second half of our #LemonadeTour, Sedona was an easy choice.

To fully explain how relieved we are to be here, I need to back up a little bit. While our holidays were wonderful and we got some much-needed downtime at home, this last month has not been without its stressors. In fact, when we “checked in” to our family home on Castle Rock and saw the condition in which our renters had left the place, I started to panic and wonder whether I was really cut out for this nomadic lifestyle. The house wasn’t trashed—not by any stretch—and we knew we were rolling the dice by agreeing to move in before a cleaning crew could come through. But I was not in any way prepared for the condition in which we found the bathrooms and carpets. (SOO gross.) We will definitely be doing some things differently (and most likely replacing flooring and repainting) when we return in May. But I refuse to think about that now; out of sight, out of mind. *Update: I need to once again give a shout-out of appreciation to our property manager, Mark Biesack. This morning he is coordinating the replacement of our hot water heater, which went caput on our renters last night. Apparently, we left town just in time!*

Additional turmoil came as our beleaguered nation continues to wrangle with violence, political division and COVID concerns. With the four of us bee-bopping around the country, it’s been very easy to live in our own little Broullire bubble and avoid engaging in—or really even thinking about—the crises of our times, as well as how different members of our families and social circles respond to these events. Being home again brought all these issues screaming into the forefront of our marriage and family life. Tony said repeatedly he couldn’t wait for us to get to Arizona and bury our heads in the sand—ignoring both CNN and FOX News as we continue to fervently pray for peace, healing and safety in our great country.

Saturday was a looooonnnggg travel day that started at 4 a.m. and turned stressful at 5 when I discovered the Uber I’d reserved was unavailable due to a lack of drivers. We got to clunk our way to the airport in an ashtray of a cab that sounded like it was about to lose its back left wheel at any turn. I then drew the unlucky straw and had to undergo full security in Green Bay, despite our TSA pre-check status, and one of our bags failed to make it on the plane. Add to that our lengthy layover at O’Hare and insanely long wait for a rental car … it’s amazing we made to Arizona without killing each other!

We spent a night in Scottsdale, gorging ourselves at an Old Town cantina, before finding a church for Mass then touring Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Gardens. (Sooo many cacti!) The drive up to Sedona kept getting more and more scenic; the girls were wide-eyed when we pulled into our rental house, which has a towering red rock mountain in the back yard. When I drove down into town yesterday to grab a few groceries, the sun was setting and the mountains looked like they were on fire. I didn’t know whether to cry or pull over or drop to my knees and thank God for creating a place so beautiful. The fact that we are lucky enough to get to spend the next five weeks here makes my heart sing.

I’m sure I’ll be posting a million photos of scenery from our hikes and upcoming adventures—we have SO many plans, and I can’t wait to get started. Thank you thank you again a hundred thousand times to all of you who have reached out to wish us well and support us on our journey. I promise we’ll send sunshine your way every day!!