Desert Botanical Garden

We traveled to Scottsdale, Arizona for a family vacation before the weather got too hot, and on our first day we visited the Desert Botanical Garden. Blake and I both love the desert landscape and we couldn’t wait to see all the different types of cacti that grow in nature.

The Garden was expansive and broken out into five different trails as well as a butterfly garden. We started the day not knowing if we’d be able to last the desert heat long enough to see everything. However, we were pleasantly surprised at how bearable the weather was! Coming from Austin where the heat is exacerbated by the humidity, the arid climate of Arizona actually felt cooler to us. We walked every trail and never felt overwhelmed or overheated.

I packed several pieces of linen for the trip and this rainbow-striped shirtdress was one of them. Dresses and linen are two great items for a hot weather outfit: a dress because there’s less fabric touching your skin; and linen because it’s not heavy and allows more airflow. These flatform espadrilles were also great for all the walking we did. They never got uncomfortable and I wore them almost the entire trip! Merritt coordinated with me in a rainbow-striped gauze top with cotton bloomers that was very breezy and light, and she never seemed bothered by the temperature.

As we walked every trail we couldn’t stop taking photos of all the varieties of cacti. I especially loved the surprising colors we saw, like the deep purple prickly pears and the bright pink and yellow flowers blooming everywhere. There were also different and interesting sculptures throughout the Garden. Our favorites were the big pink and blue head buried in a sea of purple, and the Chihuly glass cacti that sparkled and glowed in the sunlight. I would love to go back in the upcoming months to enjoy their Electric Desert experience at night!

After many hours seeing everything that we could see, we headed into old town Scottsdale for dinner. We ate at a little seaside inspired place we found called The Montauk. Afterwards, we drove back to the casita we stayed at and got Merritt to bed, and then enjoyed the night at our fire pit under the stars.

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STRIPED LINEN SHIRTDRESS (SHIRT VERSION) | FLATFORM ESPADRILLES | BABY TWO-PIECE OUTFIT | BABY PINK SANDALS