And now, for something completely different...

Howdy ya'll from the hottest place in the country today, at least according to USA Today - Arizona. Okay, so we knew it was a desert, but it's October, right? Doesn't that count for something? Apparently, not here. Things have started to cool down, though - if you consider 97 degrees cool. But, hey, they say it's a dry heat, for whatever that's worth (and really, what is that worth?).

Here we are at a dude ranch in Arizona, something completely different from all of our previous experiences. This job is our 14th together in our 10th state in 4 1/2 years. There's cowboys, horses, mooing cows and bulls, and more cactus than either of us has ever seen (who knew there were so many different kinds?!). We've been here just over a week and have been going non-stop. In between learning our new jobs, we've seen a thunderstorm, lots of little lizards, a jackrabbit, a huge bullfrog, quails (which, ironically, are often served for our employee dinners), and little birds with yellow bellies. We've met a girl who just came from a summer at one of our previous employers and have spent a lot of time talking about who we know in common (bwahaha!). We've hiked a little on the Vulture Peak Trail, though we haven't yet made it to the top of Vulture Peak (did we mention it's 97 degrees?!). We've seen the old Jail tree, to which they used to chain outlaws (did we mention it's the Old West?!). We made a wish in the Wishing Well, and we checked out a fine collection of western wear (please help me convince Begee not to buy a big belt buckle!).

At the end of September, when we left Catalina Island, we spent some time in LA with Begee's uncle and cousins, including Knott's Berry Farm (we highly recommend the Accelerator and the Perilous Plunge!), the LA County Fair (even thought we missed the deep-fried Coca Cola), and we ate more food at the buffets with them than we ate all summer on the island. We then took the train to New Mexico, and Begee's parents' picked us up there. We then spent some time in Colorado, including going to the top of Pike's Peak and spying a marmot.

When we were in Colorado, Begee's sister said that all of our blogs contain a reference to McDonald's (do they really?), so for her benefit, here it is this time: We are so excited to live in a town with McDonald's, we've already been through the drive through twice. Score for the almighty Big Mac!

On our road trip here, we stayed a night in Albuquerque and reminisced about 2 Octobers ago when we worked at the Balloon Fiesta (my, how time flies!). We also stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park, and Erin remembered her first trip there as a 9 year-old and how fascinated she was by it then.

Everything here at the ranch is still really new, and it's impossible to tell how this winter will play out. First impressions only go so far. As far as they do go, though, there's nothing like the stars in the Arizona sky or the colors the sun produces here when it's setting. Gorgeous! We've been thinking a lot about settling down after our time here and getting out of the seasonal work game (sorry, CoolWorks!), but it's moments like walking through a grove of saguaro cacti hand in hand and chasing a lizard that makes this life we lead feel so special (hooray CoolWorks!).

We just want to take this opportunity (since we now know a little bit more about all our awesome readers) to thank all of our friends and family for supporting us. You've put up with us living in 5 different time zones in a year, stacked our boxes up in the corner of the house, gotten our car ready for yet another road trip, and sent us candy-filled care packages when we needed them most. We really are so very happy and lucky to be living our lives together, and we are so very grateful to those of you out there who have helped us make our dreams come true (even if those dreams include belt buckles, McDonald's, a car with no air conditioning the hottest place in the country!).