Hi there, its B&H: No wonder I am an Arizona girl.

This last weekend we traveled to Beijing, which started out as a good idea and ended with snow. Although I was born in Flagstaff, I have never actually been in really cold weather. After this last weekend, I would consider myself not only a wimp, but an Arizona girl at heart.

We took the overnight train on Thursday and got to Beijing after a 9 hour train ride. We decided to hit up the Wall that day because rain was predicted for the next day. With limited time, we jumped in a 400 rmb taxi (instead of the usual 40 rmb bus ride) and headed to the section called Mutainyu. IT WAS AMAZING! We hiked up and stopped along the way for Britton to try his luck at climbing it and to snatch a piece of the Wall as a souvenir (legal, not sure but we are rebels like that). November isn't a super popular month for people to visit the Great Wall so I was nervous about the landscape looking dead but it was far from. I finally saw what fall looks like. We took our time exploring the Wall and then taboggled down, which was so fun! Who knew you could sled down the Great Wall. This was definitely the highlight of the trip. The next day, we spent the day going around Beijing, visiting Tainanmen Square, and catching a glimpse of Mao's 30-year-old dead body. We also decided to try Peking duck since it is famous in Beijing. I had one bite and I was done....ducks should be for throwing bread at, not eating. Anyways, It rained a little but nothing I couldn't handle. And then it snowed that night. We had our gloves, scarves, waterproof shoes (or so we thought) but it was still miserable. We decided to venture out and see the Forbidden City. We lasted maybe 30 minutes before I called it quits and my shoes were soaked. The day did get better though...we spent our final hours drinking hot chocolate and seeing an acrobat show, which was pretty impressive. Although cold, I am glad we made the trek to Beijing. Would I recommend it in winter time to any AZ born-and-raised like myself? Uhhhnoooo.