Happy Holidays! We are settled into our winter home here in Blythe. A little back tracking to get all caught up............
We began our trek Nov. 30 and spent the night in Deming, NM. Unfortunately we had a little mishap with a gate post and ended up with another ding on the rig. We decided two dings was enough and we would get it fixed in Tucson when we arrived. We left the next day and went straight to a repair shop in Tucson who quoted $3500!!!! Horrible! Sean did some research on some blogs and we found another shop right around the corner who did it for half that price. Now our rig is mishap free!
We stayed at the fairgrounds in Tucson which is near where we use to live in Sahuarita. We got together with some of my counseling girlfriends and had dinner at the casino one evening. It was so great to see all of them. I miss the camaraderie and friendship of my fellow counselors! We went through quite a bit together and they were always there when I needed a shoulder to cry on. Everyone should have counselors as friends. Great listeners!!
We also met some other good friends, Gaynor and Jeff Christensen and Gregg and Lynn Sneyd for dinner but I forgot to take any photos! I wouldn't have any from the casino dinner if Jessica hadn't posted them on Facebook. I am not good at remembering to grab a few snapshots in the evening. My mind is on good friends and food/drink!
From Tucson we headed to Casa Grande for a few days where we visited with my sister and her husband and my brother who also lives near by. We hadn't planned on stopping there for more then a day but a cold front had moved in and Sedona was looking a little chilly for us. We got the opportunity while we were there to hike Picacho Peak. We have driven by it a 100 times but never had the opportunity to hike it. I knew it was going to be somewhat challenging as my mother in law, Lou, hiked it and talked about some spots where you had to use cables to keep going up. But, I sort of envisioned a stair like situation and the cables would be just to steady you. Ha! I was wrong! You couldn't have made it to the top without rock climbing gear if those cables weren't in place. You had to use them to pull yourself up at some points and stop yourself from tumbling over the side in others. All in all, a great hike and it was challenging. At least for me...and I am certainly not an expert hiker!
We eventually made it to Sedona and our timeshare resort for a week of hiking and relaxing. We also had a nice dinner with my brother Kent and his wife Kathy.
Before we left for Arizona, Meghan gave us a gift certificate for a wine tour in Sedona for an early xmas present. We had a great time and bought several bottles of delicious Arizona wines. Who would have ever predicted Arizona to become a wine mecca! Maybe mecca is too strong of a word but the wines were delicious and the vineyard was really gorgeous. The Verde Valley area is really getting a strong reputation for its wine making.
While in Sedona I also celebrated my 50th birthday. Sean had arranged a surprise ballon ride but the winds were too strong and they had to cancel. We had a great day anyway...
Sean and I have had dogs in our life since we were married. We always had at least one dog and we have had as many as three. We have been dog less since I moved into the RV in Texas. Sean Jr. adopted our last dog, Mo and we started our adventure, for the first time, without a furry friend. We had every intention of taking Mo on our adventures but she is large, getting old (11 or 12) and does not like other dogs! However, we would have worked around those issues but Sean Jr. and his family fell in love with her while I was living there and asked if they could keep her. She loves his family and he has an acre that she runs around on, happily chasing chickens. I knew she was in a good place and we still see her when we visit so she is still a big part of our family.
We started looking around on different websites for a rescue dog but we felt as if the right dog for us would sort of "happen" when the time was right. We had certain criteria for our RV partner and the list was long! The dog needed to be a rescue animal, smallish but not too small, adult but not too old, house trained, an active dog but one that would settle once inside, likes to cuddle, a non or low shedder, not yappy but who would alert if someone comes to the door, friendly to other dogs and one that does NOT get car sick! And somehow this dog would just sort of appear.......hmmm tough to do! Well, a dog did not walk up to our RV but did appear on Facebook! My cousin is a groomer and she posted some photos of a dog that a client found and was looking for a good home for. I contacted my cousin and everything she said about this dog fit the bill! We met with the foster mom before we headed to Blythe and met the pup. It seemed to be a match made in heaven! And the foster mom agreed to hold onto the pooch until after the holidays since we would be staying in a condo in San Diego that was not pet friendly. She has even gotten him his shots, neutered, heart wormed, chipped, groomed and started calling him "Remi" which is the name we had picked out for our next dog. She has been just wonderful and how much better could you get? He didn't walk up to my RV but he did wander up to her house and she did all the hard work of getting him cleaned up and ready for us! We are picking him up New Years day. It is going to be wonderful having a little guy around the house again!! We are not sure but we think he is a cockapoo and around two years old but know one is sure. But he doesn't shed and fits every criteria we had!
After visiting with our future pup, we got to Blythe and set up our rig. We met our new boss, Brandon who is as laid back as you can get. We got settled in, walked around the area a bit and then got packed to head out to San Diego the next day.
We rented a condo near the beach but spent our days either in Alpine with all the kids, or they came to the beach and we hung out there. We got to have Aislynn with us a couple of nights and one night we had Carson too. They are both so adorable and easy to care for. Aislynn is getting so grown up! She is only in kindergarten and already reads like a much older child. Carson is a non stop talker and all boy! He loves to wrestle and rough house but then will cuddle up to you the next. We had a great time with both of them. We celebrated our "christmas" on December 26 as Sean Jr. had to work December 25. As you can see by the photos there was a ton of presents for the little guys to unwrap and they had a blast! All the adults had some presents to unwrap too and I know Sean and I loved all of our gifts. We continued the festivities with our family tradition of eating large Alaskan crab legs!! And of course, Christmas cookies. At the end of the day I decided to swear off sugar for the New Year. But NOT crab legs.
We checked out on December 27th and got back to our little home on the desert. It is always nice to be in your own little home no matter where you are and how wonderful your trip was. Home sweet home!!
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