We have had several new arrivals in the last few days.
First, Aunt Sandy and Uncle David got in on Friday afternoon from their trip to Morocco.
Then, Jake drove down from Utah Friday night for the weekend.
And last but not least, Shelby and Uncle Bob flew in from Illinois on Saturday.
Its been kind of hectic with all of the people coming in, but we've had a little time to celebrate. Friday night Lia, Jake, Lia's coworkers, and I went out to an Irish Pub to celebrate Lia's birthday on Saturday. I was one of the Designated Drivers, but we all had a fun time.
And Saturday night we all (Gram, Aunt Sandy, Uncle David, Jake, Lia, Shelby, Uncle Bob, and I) went out for Thai food and gave Lia all of her presents (most notably a new pocket knife and a new necklace).
We have lots of plans for the next week while Bob and Shelby are here before we all leave, and I'll try to keep this updated as the week goes along. :)
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Joshua Tree National Park
I made it to California everybody!
(Just four states left on the checklist!)
Lia and I took her weekend off (which of course is the middle of the week) and made our way to Joshua Tree National Park in California.
It took us about four hours to get there Tuesday night after work, so we didn't do a whole lot except drive and sleep that night, although we did stop at the grocery store.
Right before we left the neighbor came by with a container of pulled pork that he had made too much of and didn't want to keep leftover (it was delicious by the way), so we stopped at the grocery store and got some rolls, fresh fruit, nuts, raisins, and some other odds and ends that would keep for the weekend, and thats what we ate on. It saved a heck of a lot of money and we were never hungry.
We woke up Wednesday morning and drove through the park. We came across on I-10 which is just south of the park, while most of the things to do and see are in the North end. It took us a good while of driving through curvy roads, but we stopped to explore and take a short hike every now and again and have a nice long lunch break. We did make it up and out of the park where we got gas and drinks in Joshua Tree the town before heading back in to grab a camping spot for the night. All of the campgrounds we drove through in the park are nice (I think there are nine) and simple, with no electric or water in most of them, but a picnic table, a fire pit, and nice views. Thats all you need really.
Lia couldn't find her sleeping bags, so we brought a padded mattress type deal that folds into a nice size and we just put the back seat down in the car and unrolled the mattress there for both nights. It worked out really well.
We woke up the next morning, and went on another short hike before making out way back home.
All in all, a nice weekend out camping with some great views.
(Just four states left on the checklist!)
Lia and I took her weekend off (which of course is the middle of the week) and made our way to Joshua Tree National Park in California.
It took us about four hours to get there Tuesday night after work, so we didn't do a whole lot except drive and sleep that night, although we did stop at the grocery store.
Right before we left the neighbor came by with a container of pulled pork that he had made too much of and didn't want to keep leftover (it was delicious by the way), so we stopped at the grocery store and got some rolls, fresh fruit, nuts, raisins, and some other odds and ends that would keep for the weekend, and thats what we ate on. It saved a heck of a lot of money and we were never hungry.
We woke up Wednesday morning and drove through the park. We came across on I-10 which is just south of the park, while most of the things to do and see are in the North end. It took us a good while of driving through curvy roads, but we stopped to explore and take a short hike every now and again and have a nice long lunch break. We did make it up and out of the park where we got gas and drinks in Joshua Tree the town before heading back in to grab a camping spot for the night. All of the campgrounds we drove through in the park are nice (I think there are nine) and simple, with no electric or water in most of them, but a picnic table, a fire pit, and nice views. Thats all you need really.
Lia couldn't find her sleeping bags, so we brought a padded mattress type deal that folds into a nice size and we just put the back seat down in the car and unrolled the mattress there for both nights. It worked out really well.
We woke up the next morning, and went on another short hike before making out way back home.
All in all, a nice weekend out camping with some great views.
Joshua Trees
We found a desert maple tree, this is the size of its leaves.
Some of the rock formations in Joshua Tree.
Sedona
Lia, Grandma, her new friend Marty, and I went to Sedona.
We didn't do a whole lot other than enjoy the weather and the scenery, but it was a good day.
We made our way up, and our first stop other than a visitors center for a map, was Cathedral Rock.
There are a lot of beautiful red rock formations in Sedona, but we opted for Cathedral Rock because it has a nice park around it that has a nice walk up to a stream that runs along and you can have a nice walk through the trees. You have no idea how much you miss trees after being in the desert for a while.
After wandering through the park we went back into town for lunch. We had a nice meal outside overlooking the great Sedona scenery, and of course I forgot to snap a picture.
And then we walked around the shops and window shopped (it is a very touristy place).
We didn't do a whole lot, but we had a good time and enjoyed the nice weather and great views.
We didn't do a whole lot other than enjoy the weather and the scenery, but it was a good day.
We made our way up, and our first stop other than a visitors center for a map, was Cathedral Rock.
There are a lot of beautiful red rock formations in Sedona, but we opted for Cathedral Rock because it has a nice park around it that has a nice walk up to a stream that runs along and you can have a nice walk through the trees. You have no idea how much you miss trees after being in the desert for a while.
After wandering through the park we went back into town for lunch. We had a nice meal outside overlooking the great Sedona scenery, and of course I forgot to snap a picture.
And then we walked around the shops and window shopped (it is a very touristy place).
We didn't do a whole lot, but we had a good time and enjoyed the nice weather and great views.
Peppersauce Cave
Lia and I went spelunking!
It is a fairly good size cave on the side of Mt. Lemmon near Oracle, Arizona.
We started off the day by dropping Aunt Sandy and Uncle David off at the airport for their week and a half long trip to Morocco. After swinging through the airport, we headed south to the cave that Lia and her brother, Jake, had heard/read about and visited a few months ago. We may have gotten waylaid a bit by a cute little cafe that promised hot coffee and good breakfast (and as Oracle is a pretty small town we ended up their for lunch as well). But we finally made it up the windy gravel road to the spot where you can pull off for the cave. There is no parking lot for the cave, but there is a spot where you can fit a car or two on the side of the road.
So we walked the quarter mile to the cave and strapped on our head lamps. The cave has multiple rooms, so I was a little worried about getting lost... until I noticed that someone had spray painted arrows that pointed to the exit at all times. That made it pretty easy and then we didn't have to worry where in the cave we went, we would always have a way out. The amount of other graffiti throughout the cave on the other hand was pretty disappointing. Some people have no respect for nature or its beauty.
I was surprised by how large the cave was. We did some research after we went and found out that all in all there is about 1 mile of mapped passageways in the cave. We were in the cave for about 2 hours and we think we explored most of it, but we know we didn't hit all of it because there were a few passageways that were too hard/dangerous/slippery for us to go down.
Lia said that the cave was more wet when she and Jake went, which was fortunate for us because we got to explore a little more and not get quite as muddy. There is a lake inside of the cave, and Lia was a little disappointed that it was lower than it was when she was previously there. It was still VERY cool. Nobody knows how deep and long the lake is or how many rooms of the cave it engulfs because no one has been diving in it. Apparently a couple years ago some cave divers went in, but never got to explore the pool because something was wrong with their equipment.
The lake was my favorite part no doubt, but the whole thing was a lot of fun to explore. I've never really been in a cave before, and when you turn out the lights inside the cave you really cannot see a thing. You can hold your palm to the tip of your nose and still not see it at all.
We had a lot of fun.
I didn't take any pictures because I left my phone in the car. I didn't want it to get muddy or fall out of my pocket as there were many instances where we were crawling or squeezing through entrances.
It is a fairly good size cave on the side of Mt. Lemmon near Oracle, Arizona.
We started off the day by dropping Aunt Sandy and Uncle David off at the airport for their week and a half long trip to Morocco. After swinging through the airport, we headed south to the cave that Lia and her brother, Jake, had heard/read about and visited a few months ago. We may have gotten waylaid a bit by a cute little cafe that promised hot coffee and good breakfast (and as Oracle is a pretty small town we ended up their for lunch as well). But we finally made it up the windy gravel road to the spot where you can pull off for the cave. There is no parking lot for the cave, but there is a spot where you can fit a car or two on the side of the road.
So we walked the quarter mile to the cave and strapped on our head lamps. The cave has multiple rooms, so I was a little worried about getting lost... until I noticed that someone had spray painted arrows that pointed to the exit at all times. That made it pretty easy and then we didn't have to worry where in the cave we went, we would always have a way out. The amount of other graffiti throughout the cave on the other hand was pretty disappointing. Some people have no respect for nature or its beauty.
I was surprised by how large the cave was. We did some research after we went and found out that all in all there is about 1 mile of mapped passageways in the cave. We were in the cave for about 2 hours and we think we explored most of it, but we know we didn't hit all of it because there were a few passageways that were too hard/dangerous/slippery for us to go down.
Lia said that the cave was more wet when she and Jake went, which was fortunate for us because we got to explore a little more and not get quite as muddy. There is a lake inside of the cave, and Lia was a little disappointed that it was lower than it was when she was previously there. It was still VERY cool. Nobody knows how deep and long the lake is or how many rooms of the cave it engulfs because no one has been diving in it. Apparently a couple years ago some cave divers went in, but never got to explore the pool because something was wrong with their equipment.
The lake was my favorite part no doubt, but the whole thing was a lot of fun to explore. I've never really been in a cave before, and when you turn out the lights inside the cave you really cannot see a thing. You can hold your palm to the tip of your nose and still not see it at all.
We had a lot of fun.
I didn't take any pictures because I left my phone in the car. I didn't want it to get muddy or fall out of my pocket as there were many instances where we were crawling or squeezing through entrances.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Yellowstone
So, those of you who are Facebook friends with me may already know, but I have accepted a position to work at Yellowstone National Park from April 20 to July 23 (or possibly a little longer).
I decided that I would apply to a few National Parks for summer jobs because I have no plans between traveling and college in the fall, so I knew I would have a few months of free time.
I heard back from Yellowstone about three weeks after I applied, and then waited the maximum amount of time before replying to make sure I didn't get any more job offers. I didn't even get a chance to apply to all of the places that I could because I already got an offer.
I will be stationed at the Mammoth Hot Springs inside of Yellowstone working at a deli type place for the three months, and I will be staying in a dorm with a meal plan while I'm there.
So I will have to work, but I get 3 whole months to explore Yellowstone and the surrounding area!
It should be an adventure!
Also, this means that all of you have to come visit me while I'm there, so plan your vacations now! :)
I decided that I would apply to a few National Parks for summer jobs because I have no plans between traveling and college in the fall, so I knew I would have a few months of free time.
I heard back from Yellowstone about three weeks after I applied, and then waited the maximum amount of time before replying to make sure I didn't get any more job offers. I didn't even get a chance to apply to all of the places that I could because I already got an offer.
I will be stationed at the Mammoth Hot Springs inside of Yellowstone working at a deli type place for the three months, and I will be staying in a dorm with a meal plan while I'm there.
So I will have to work, but I get 3 whole months to explore Yellowstone and the surrounding area!
It should be an adventure!
Also, this means that all of you have to come visit me while I'm there, so plan your vacations now! :)
For those who wondered what my plans are between now and when I start in April; I plan on staying in Phoenix until the middle of March and then going home for the month in between. This still leaves time in between Yellowstone and college to travel more if I want to, or stay longer in Yellowstone if I want to. :)
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Connie, The Farm, Quilt Shows, and Marathons
Since Wickenburg last weekend, we have added a new temporary occupant to the house.
Aunt Sandy's friend Connie came here on Thursday, and has been visiting since.
We picked her up just before noon from an Aunt who lives on the other side of Phoenix (she was there for a couple of days before we picked her up). On the way back we stopped at a place called 'The Farm at South Mountain'. It was BEAUTIFUL.
When you are out here in Arizona, the cactus are really interesting but after a while you kind of want to see some green instead of the brown desert. This is the place to go. It's like you've stepped into an orchard in the middle of the countryside when really you're on the edge of Phoenix in the middle of the desert. They had a cute little shop that sold sandwiches, soup, salads, and various baked goods so we had a lovely lunch on one of their many picnic tables and enjoyed the great weather and atmosphere before walking around. In the Farm there were two other restaurants (a breakfast cafe and a fancy restaurant that served supper), a tiny gift shop, and plenty of room for a nice stroll.
It was a nice little retreat.
Aunt Sandy's friend Connie came here on Thursday, and has been visiting since.
We picked her up just before noon from an Aunt who lives on the other side of Phoenix (she was there for a couple of days before we picked her up). On the way back we stopped at a place called 'The Farm at South Mountain'. It was BEAUTIFUL.
When you are out here in Arizona, the cactus are really interesting but after a while you kind of want to see some green instead of the brown desert. This is the place to go. It's like you've stepped into an orchard in the middle of the countryside when really you're on the edge of Phoenix in the middle of the desert. They had a cute little shop that sold sandwiches, soup, salads, and various baked goods so we had a lovely lunch on one of their many picnic tables and enjoyed the great weather and atmosphere before walking around. In the Farm there were two other restaurants (a breakfast cafe and a fancy restaurant that served supper), a tiny gift shop, and plenty of room for a nice stroll.
It was a nice little retreat.
At the Farm
After we went to the Farm at South Mountain, we drove up South Mountain to get a nice view of Phoenix from above.
Friday was more of a relaxing/do nothing day where we spent the day visiting, but Saturday was pretty busy.
The reason, or one of the reasons, Connie came out to visit was to participate in a marathon on Sunday, so Saturday we needed to pick up her race packet with her information and race tags.
So we started off Saturday morning by stopping by the local farmer's market that is only once a month before hunting out the place we needed to get the race information, which just happened to be in a mall courtyard area that was hosting another, larger farmer's market. So we spent all morning at farmer's markets, but accomplished picking up the race packet as well before making our way to Gram's to check out a quilt show.
The people inside Gram's community put together a quilt show (of a pretty good size) that we wanted to check out. So we met her for lunch before spending over an hour admiring the hard work that goes into making a quilt.
One of the aisles of quilts
This morning was the marathon, and Connie did great! She met her goal and beat her personal best, coming in with the time of 4hr31min27sec.
If I had the willpower to run 26 miles it would take me a lot longer than that. To celebrate we had a relaxing afternoon and went out to supper at a great Mexican place (Guadalahara's), and ended the night at the movies.
Aunt Sandy and Connie at Guadalahara's
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Wickenburg
Lia and I went horseback riding!
Ok, I'll do this chronologically; first we went to the Toby Keith Bar and Grill with her work friends Wednesday night.
It was fun, they had three different live bands throughout the night who were all good, and good food too. The complaint of the night was that even though there was a dance floor, it was full of people who just stood still listening to the music rather than dancing.
But we had a good time with all of Lia's coworkers.
Thursday, we woke up and met Grandma for breakfast before going to Wickenburg to go horseback riding. Aunt Sandy found coupons for a trail ride; two for the price of one.
We got there, signed our lives away, and set off for a three hour ride.
Our guide (or wrangler), Dave, was very nice, had a great sense of humor, and helpful.
We set out, and after a few minutes he came around and checked all of our saddles and made sure everyone was comfortable, and helped out when there was trouble.
The best part of the ride was that after a half hour or so on the trail, since we were all doing great and keeping up, we decided to go off of the trail. For most of the 3 hours we were out riding we got to roam around the desert, going up and down hills and making our own way rather than just following a trail nose to tail on the horses like most rides of this nature would go. He encouraged us to make our own paths as we went along instead of just following in a line, as long as we were all together.
I even got to lead the pack for a little bit. We stopped to pick up a cow skull that we found as we were wandering, and after a bit of joking around Dave told me to take the lead, so everyone followed me for about ten minutes and I got to figure out where to go and what was the best path to get up and down a couple of hills before I handed the lead back over to him.
Today, we went back to Wickenburg.
Aunt Sandy, Uncle David and I met Gram for breakfast and then the four of us made our way to Wickenburg for their Gold Rush Days.
Wickenburg was a big gold town, (but is now known for their dude ranches) so every year they celebrate and have a carnival and whatnot. We got there in time to see the parade (which involve a lot of horses and started with a cattle drive at the front), and then walked through the art and craft fair, but couldn't find anything we needed.
The start of the parade.
Yes, that is a real cow inside of a car...
Part of the Art and Craft Fair
A little of downtown Wickenburg.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Tucson
We went adventuring on Wednesday and Thursday.
Since everyone in the house except Lia don't have work, we base our weekends around her two days off, Wednesday and Thursday.
So, since I am here and exploring and Lia likes to go off and do things on her days off, we spent the 'weekend' in Tucson. We drove down on Tuesday night after Lia got off work and got our hotel so that Wednesday morning we could wake up and go without the two hour drive.
Now, our exploring wasn't the typical touristy type, but we saw a lot of interesting things.
Our first stop was an operating open pit copper mine.
After our explorations, we stumbled across a farmer's market and spent some time looking around before grabbing a late lunch and spending the afternoon relaxing.
The next morning we had some crepes for breakfast before heading to the biosphere.
The biosphere is interesting for a lot of reasons. It took a lot of work and brainpower to construct a space that encloses everything that the Earth has inside a relatively small area.
I'm linking a video of the biosphere because it'll explain what its been used for a lot better than I can.
The biosphere was really interesting, but the tour guide we had was less than satisfactory. She kept going off on tangents and didn't really know what she was talking about. Other than that, it was a very interesting day.
On a side note, since it's so nice in Arizona right now, I can go on bike rides! I would freeze my fingers off if I attempted to ride at this time of the year in Illinois.
Since everyone in the house except Lia don't have work, we base our weekends around her two days off, Wednesday and Thursday.
So, since I am here and exploring and Lia likes to go off and do things on her days off, we spent the 'weekend' in Tucson. We drove down on Tuesday night after Lia got off work and got our hotel so that Wednesday morning we could wake up and go without the two hour drive.
Now, our exploring wasn't the typical touristy type, but we saw a lot of interesting things.
Our first stop was an operating open pit copper mine.
Our tour guide was very nice and we got to see the mine as well as a few of the processes they use to extract the copper from the ore. It was all pretty interesting and way too complex for me to remember let alone explain.
Next we went to a missile silo that is open to the public with an inactive missile inside. Lia got to be the Commander while I was the Deputy Commander, and we got to turn the keys for a simulated missile launch.
The next morning we had some crepes for breakfast before heading to the biosphere.
The biosphere is interesting for a lot of reasons. It took a lot of work and brainpower to construct a space that encloses everything that the Earth has inside a relatively small area.
I'm linking a video of the biosphere because it'll explain what its been used for a lot better than I can.
The biosphere was really interesting, but the tour guide we had was less than satisfactory. She kept going off on tangents and didn't really know what she was talking about. Other than that, it was a very interesting day.
On a side note, since it's so nice in Arizona right now, I can go on bike rides! I would freeze my fingers off if I attempted to ride at this time of the year in Illinois.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Mesa Flea Market
We went to the Mesa Flea Market!
And when I say flea market I really mean huge outdoor mall type thing, because this place is way too big to be a flea market in my opinion.
Aunt Sandy and I left Sunday morning on the hour long drive to Mesa to pick up her sister Jan and friend Norma, and we made our way to the flea market.
I had heard from various sources (Dad, Aunt Sandy, Grandma) that the place was big, but man is it BIG. It was rainy all day, but it matter much because everything was inside huge tents (well, not really tents, but long buildings that consisted of roofs and support poles, but no walls. That probably doesn't make any sense, but whatever).
There were four looooooong rows of 'shops' holding everything under the sun.
We had a fun time looking through all the stuff, from junk to expensive jewelry. Aunt Sandy ended up with a couple of talavera pots and I got some new moccasins and a cute little ring (nothing too expensive).
After our day out shopping we retired back to Jan and Steve's park model. It was my first time actually meeting Jan and Steve, and they're a hoot. They have a great sense of humor and are just really fun to be around. Jan made a delicious supper, steak and roasted veggies (my fave!), and we all got to visit for a while.
They live in a community like Grandma's, where it is all park models and RVs, and they have community centers and things of the like. So after it had stopped raining and our bellies were full, we decided to take a soak in the hot tub.
I'll leave out the part where we had desert when we got back from the hot tub.... oops, did I write that? A nice hot brownie and ice cream to top off a great day.
Aunt Sandy and I slept in the extra built on room at Jan and Steve's so that the next day we could go to the Phoenix Botanical Garden.
It was fun to see all of the different kinds of cactus and other plants that thrive in the desert. Much different than what we have at home (no corn in sight).
And when I say flea market I really mean huge outdoor mall type thing, because this place is way too big to be a flea market in my opinion.
Aunt Sandy and I left Sunday morning on the hour long drive to Mesa to pick up her sister Jan and friend Norma, and we made our way to the flea market.
I had heard from various sources (Dad, Aunt Sandy, Grandma) that the place was big, but man is it BIG. It was rainy all day, but it matter much because everything was inside huge tents (well, not really tents, but long buildings that consisted of roofs and support poles, but no walls. That probably doesn't make any sense, but whatever).
There were four looooooong rows of 'shops' holding everything under the sun.
After our day out shopping we retired back to Jan and Steve's park model. It was my first time actually meeting Jan and Steve, and they're a hoot. They have a great sense of humor and are just really fun to be around. Jan made a delicious supper, steak and roasted veggies (my fave!), and we all got to visit for a while.
They live in a community like Grandma's, where it is all park models and RVs, and they have community centers and things of the like. So after it had stopped raining and our bellies were full, we decided to take a soak in the hot tub.
I'll leave out the part where we had desert when we got back from the hot tub.... oops, did I write that? A nice hot brownie and ice cream to top off a great day.
Aunt Sandy and I slept in the extra built on room at Jan and Steve's so that the next day we could go to the Phoenix Botanical Garden.
It was fun to see all of the different kinds of cactus and other plants that thrive in the desert. Much different than what we have at home (no corn in sight).
Awesome Sun Dial
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Dads in Phoenix! (or was)
Hey everybody!
Well, as you can tell by the title, dad has been in town the past week! He arrived on Sunday night, or rather very early on Monday morning. His flight was supposed to get in at 10pm, but actually arrived around 1am.
Anyway, he came out to get out of the cold at home and help Uncle David and Aunt Sandy get some things done around the house. So instead of being at Gram's, I've been staying at Uncle David and Aunt Sandy's for the past week (Lia is kind enough to share her room with me).
I'll just go over the highlights of the week:
Sunday afternoon I came over to Uncle David and Aunt Sandy's, and immediately got whisked away by Lia to go hang out with her friends from work. We played Mexican Train Dominos and ate pizza and had a fun time, and after coming back Uncle David and I picked up dad.
While dad was here we went out to a lot of meals, worked on organizing Uncle David and Aunt Sandy's garage, and just enjoyed the nice weather. We also looked at a lot of granite warehouses, as they want to re-do their kitchen countertops.
On a side note, most every morning Lia, Aunt Sandy, and I go on a walk before Lia goes off to work, and this is a picture of one of our morning walks:
Well, as you can tell by the title, dad has been in town the past week! He arrived on Sunday night, or rather very early on Monday morning. His flight was supposed to get in at 10pm, but actually arrived around 1am.
Anyway, he came out to get out of the cold at home and help Uncle David and Aunt Sandy get some things done around the house. So instead of being at Gram's, I've been staying at Uncle David and Aunt Sandy's for the past week (Lia is kind enough to share her room with me).
I'll just go over the highlights of the week:
Sunday afternoon I came over to Uncle David and Aunt Sandy's, and immediately got whisked away by Lia to go hang out with her friends from work. We played Mexican Train Dominos and ate pizza and had a fun time, and after coming back Uncle David and I picked up dad.
While dad was here we went out to a lot of meals, worked on organizing Uncle David and Aunt Sandy's garage, and just enjoyed the nice weather. We also looked at a lot of granite warehouses, as they want to re-do their kitchen countertops.
Slabs of Granite
Our one 'must do' while dad was here was to visit Joe's Barbecue. Dad's absolute favorite restaurant.
At Joe's Barbecue
So dad was here from Sunday night until Thursday afternoon, and then he hopped on a plane back to the frozen tundra of Illinois. Or at least its frozen tundra compared to the nice 70-80 degrees that Arizona is currently.
It was nice having dad here with me for a while, even if we didn't go exploring or do anything very interesting or touristy.
So after dad left on Thursday, Aunt Sandy and I drove Uncle David to the airport on Friday headed to Ohio for business. So now its just us girls in Arizona!
On the way back from the airport we stopped by the Heard Museum.
The Heard is a museum of American Indian art and history. Its really fascinating, and focuses on the American Indians native in the area and their history. You get to learn and look at the heritage and culture of the native people.
Courtyard at the Heard where we had lunch
Inside the Heard
On a side note, most every morning Lia, Aunt Sandy, and I go on a walk before Lia goes off to work, and this is a picture of one of our morning walks:
Friday, January 18, 2013
Arriving in Phoenix & a Day Trip to Quartzsite
I have arrived in Phoenix!
We pulled in to my Uncle David and Aunt Sandy's on Monday night (the 14th). Grandma is renting a park model on for the time we are out here, but we couldn't move in until Tuesday morning (the 15th), so we spent the night at Uncle David and Aunt Sandy's, as they also live in Phoenix. Well, technically neither one of the places are in Phoenix, but rather in its suburbs (Goodyear, AZ & Surprise, AZ). Anyway, we got to Uncle David and Aunt Sandy's around 5 o'clock, caught up for a while, and then went to play trivia! The subdivision that they live in has a community center and once a month they have a trivia night. My cousin Lia, Uncle David, Aunt Sandy, and I were all on a team, and Grandma was going to just sit and watch, but another team was missing a person so she joined up with them. We ended up getting second place out of I believe 17 teams, missing first by just a point.
It was a lot of fun, and Aunt Sandy is a beast at trivia.
So, Tuesday morning I woke up and went on a walk with Aunt Sandy and Lia before Lia had to go to work. After everyone was ready we stopped by the bagel shop that Lia works at for breakfast (delish!) before heading to Grandma's. The place she's renting is nice and spacious, and we spent the day exploring and unpacking. We are in Happy Trails, which is a gated community 'resort' with A LOT of nice trailers that are all occupied in the winter, with just a few occupants in the summer. They have a large community center as well as a few outlying centers (one only a block away from us), two restaurants, three pools, and a golf course. Pretty fancy place. In the main community center is a library, one of the restaurants, a post office, a workout facility, various tennis courts and things, as well as quilting rooms and ceramics rooms and others. They also have a very large area for gatherings like bingo night, and a lot of other activities. There are things going on every day of the week almost all the time. Bingo or cards or arts and crafts or yoga or anything really, there is no shortage of things to do if you're into it.
I am the only young person here though, which doesn't bother me, but kind of makes me feel a touch out of place.
It's fun so far, but I haven't had a chance to do a whole bunch; we are playing Bingo tonight though, I'll let you know how that goes.
So the first day we went exploring and unpacked everything, grocery shopping and whatnot, so Wednesday we spent most of the day relaxing and picking up a couple odds and ends that we forgot to grab at the grocery store. Nothing too exciting but a nice break from the traveling and all the activities from the day before.
Yesterday, (Thursday) we took a day trip to Quartzsite, AZ. Grandma, Aunt Sandy, Uncle David, Lia, and I all met at the Waffle House for breakfast before hopping in Grandma's car to go to Quartzsite. It was about a two hour drive (20 miles from the California border). Quartzsite is technically the Rock Capital of the World, but is really known for their flea markets. The whole town is approximately 1,000 people in the summer and 50,000 in the winter. When you look down at the town from the highway it is just a sea of RVs. In town is a huge flea market, that was fun to walk around but none of us found anything that we really needed. It may sound kind of boring, but it was actually pretty fun going through all of the various things.
There were also a lot of RV dealerships there (surprise, surprise. The whole town was RVs.) so we walked through some of those and drooled over a few that we liked, although most were just too big. I'm talking four foot wide pop outs the length of the RV on both sides of it, crazy big.
We pulled in to my Uncle David and Aunt Sandy's on Monday night (the 14th). Grandma is renting a park model on for the time we are out here, but we couldn't move in until Tuesday morning (the 15th), so we spent the night at Uncle David and Aunt Sandy's, as they also live in Phoenix. Well, technically neither one of the places are in Phoenix, but rather in its suburbs (Goodyear, AZ & Surprise, AZ). Anyway, we got to Uncle David and Aunt Sandy's around 5 o'clock, caught up for a while, and then went to play trivia! The subdivision that they live in has a community center and once a month they have a trivia night. My cousin Lia, Uncle David, Aunt Sandy, and I were all on a team, and Grandma was going to just sit and watch, but another team was missing a person so she joined up with them. We ended up getting second place out of I believe 17 teams, missing first by just a point.
It was a lot of fun, and Aunt Sandy is a beast at trivia.
So, Tuesday morning I woke up and went on a walk with Aunt Sandy and Lia before Lia had to go to work. After everyone was ready we stopped by the bagel shop that Lia works at for breakfast (delish!) before heading to Grandma's. The place she's renting is nice and spacious, and we spent the day exploring and unpacking. We are in Happy Trails, which is a gated community 'resort' with A LOT of nice trailers that are all occupied in the winter, with just a few occupants in the summer. They have a large community center as well as a few outlying centers (one only a block away from us), two restaurants, three pools, and a golf course. Pretty fancy place. In the main community center is a library, one of the restaurants, a post office, a workout facility, various tennis courts and things, as well as quilting rooms and ceramics rooms and others. They also have a very large area for gatherings like bingo night, and a lot of other activities. There are things going on every day of the week almost all the time. Bingo or cards or arts and crafts or yoga or anything really, there is no shortage of things to do if you're into it.
I am the only young person here though, which doesn't bother me, but kind of makes me feel a touch out of place.
It's fun so far, but I haven't had a chance to do a whole bunch; we are playing Bingo tonight though, I'll let you know how that goes.
So the first day we went exploring and unpacked everything, grocery shopping and whatnot, so Wednesday we spent most of the day relaxing and picking up a couple odds and ends that we forgot to grab at the grocery store. Nothing too exciting but a nice break from the traveling and all the activities from the day before.
Yesterday, (Thursday) we took a day trip to Quartzsite, AZ. Grandma, Aunt Sandy, Uncle David, Lia, and I all met at the Waffle House for breakfast before hopping in Grandma's car to go to Quartzsite. It was about a two hour drive (20 miles from the California border). Quartzsite is technically the Rock Capital of the World, but is really known for their flea markets. The whole town is approximately 1,000 people in the summer and 50,000 in the winter. When you look down at the town from the highway it is just a sea of RVs. In town is a huge flea market, that was fun to walk around but none of us found anything that we really needed. It may sound kind of boring, but it was actually pretty fun going through all of the various things.
There were also a lot of RV dealerships there (surprise, surprise. The whole town was RVs.) so we walked through some of those and drooled over a few that we liked, although most were just too big. I'm talking four foot wide pop outs the length of the RV on both sides of it, crazy big.
A fun day exploring though! :)
Flea markets as far as the eye can see
One of the trailers we liked
Phoenix, Here I Come!
Hey everybody!
My apologies for not blogging a lot while I was home. I didn't do a whole lot of super interesting things. I painted the house, worked, and occasionally hung out with friends. Nothing really blog worthy, but it was nice to be home for a while.
But now the blogs should come back swinging, since I am currently on the way to Phoenix, Arizona!
Grandma has rented a park model for the next month or two in Phoenix to get away from all the cold weather, and I am driving out with her to start back up the adventures!
We left Illinois on Friday morning, January 11th, and are now on our 3rd day of travels; but the most exciting part is that we got to stop in Portales, NM to see my cousins Chris, Dana, and their little one Riley London Stone. She is so cute!
We got to Portales on Saturday evening and after checking into our hotel, met up with them for supper at a nice steakhouse. My steak was just fabulous, but the highlight of the meal was seeing Riley. She slept most of the meal, but when she woke up she was just adorable, not that she isn't adorable when she's sleeping.
After supper we went back to Chris and Dana's to visit and play cards. After playing with the baby and touring the house (very nice, two story with lots of room) we put the baby to sleep and had some time to play games. After a couple rounds of Scattagories, we ended up playing Monopoly Deal. It's a based off of Monopoly (well isn't that obvious... ) but unlike Monopoly you don't end up hating all your friends at the end of the game. The game only lasts fifteen or twenty minutes instead of six hours, and if you start off the game losing, you still have a chance of pulling in the victory. Pretty fun overall.
A highlight on my trip so far is that we passed through Hereford, Texas. Hereford was a highlight for me because when I'm not off traveling the country, I work for Riddell Polled Herefords (I love my job). Anyway, it was fun to see the 'Hereford Capital of the World' signs, but a lot of the cattle there are crammed in a feedlot instead of grass fed and roaming the countryside, which I just find sad.
Also, we passed through Roswell, NM without getting abducted by aliens. I had my eye out for those infamous UFOs the whole time; no sightings here.
On a side note, the driving has been nice so far. Grandma likes to drive (even though I keep offering to) so she has been driving, which gives me plenty of time to sight see and read. It's nice that we aren't on a time crunch so we can enjoy the ride and take plenty of breaks.
We should be in Phoenix in the next couple of days, more from there! :)
EDIT: Since I wrote this we have arrived in Phoenix. I wrote this on the 13th, we arrived in Phoenix on the 14th, and I forgot that I hadn't posted this.
Expect a post about the past couple of days soon!
My apologies for not blogging a lot while I was home. I didn't do a whole lot of super interesting things. I painted the house, worked, and occasionally hung out with friends. Nothing really blog worthy, but it was nice to be home for a while.
But now the blogs should come back swinging, since I am currently on the way to Phoenix, Arizona!
Grandma has rented a park model for the next month or two in Phoenix to get away from all the cold weather, and I am driving out with her to start back up the adventures!
We left Illinois on Friday morning, January 11th, and are now on our 3rd day of travels; but the most exciting part is that we got to stop in Portales, NM to see my cousins Chris, Dana, and their little one Riley London Stone. She is so cute!
We got to Portales on Saturday evening and after checking into our hotel, met up with them for supper at a nice steakhouse. My steak was just fabulous, but the highlight of the meal was seeing Riley. She slept most of the meal, but when she woke up she was just adorable, not that she isn't adorable when she's sleeping.
After supper we went back to Chris and Dana's to visit and play cards. After playing with the baby and touring the house (very nice, two story with lots of room) we put the baby to sleep and had some time to play games. After a couple rounds of Scattagories, we ended up playing Monopoly Deal. It's a based off of Monopoly (well isn't that obvious... ) but unlike Monopoly you don't end up hating all your friends at the end of the game. The game only lasts fifteen or twenty minutes instead of six hours, and if you start off the game losing, you still have a chance of pulling in the victory. Pretty fun overall.
A highlight on my trip so far is that we passed through Hereford, Texas. Hereford was a highlight for me because when I'm not off traveling the country, I work for Riddell Polled Herefords (I love my job). Anyway, it was fun to see the 'Hereford Capital of the World' signs, but a lot of the cattle there are crammed in a feedlot instead of grass fed and roaming the countryside, which I just find sad.
On a side note, the driving has been nice so far. Grandma likes to drive (even though I keep offering to) so she has been driving, which gives me plenty of time to sight see and read. It's nice that we aren't on a time crunch so we can enjoy the ride and take plenty of breaks.
Sunset over the Mountains
A sign that was posted at a rest area in western New Mexico.
We should be in Phoenix in the next couple of days, more from there! :)
EDIT: Since I wrote this we have arrived in Phoenix. I wrote this on the 13th, we arrived in Phoenix on the 14th, and I forgot that I hadn't posted this.
Expect a post about the past couple of days soon!
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