Flying over the Grand Canyon

This is what the sky looked like when we took off from Boise.  It was cloudy and windy, but the takeoff was as smooth as silk.  Phil and Mark are great pilots!

On the way home we flew over the Grand Canyon.  Isn't it gorgeous from 40,000 feet?

Private flight to Boise, Idaho

Some of you may have seen my note on Facebook about my unexpected trip to Boise for work.  My boss asked me if I could go today and tomorrow to do some training for a new project that we're working on.

Imagine my surprise when I find out that we're going in his private plane!  Turns out that he and his wife and another couple need to go to Montana, so they decided to drop me and my cohort off in Boise on the way.  So, about 8:30 this morning I arrived at the Scottsdale airport and drove right up to this plane.  They drove my car away to hold until we get back and I climbed aboard (after a few pics).  Crazy, huh?

Part of the fun of this trip was seeing my friends, Phil the pilot (and Mark his co-pilot).  I hadn't seen them in a while.  I've never had the privilege of riding in the plane before, so this was a REAL treat!

This is what it looks like on the inside.  There are 6 seats, plus 2 for the pilots.  Very comfy and everything you need, like cup holders, pull up tables, electrical outlets, etc.  After about a 2 hour flight, we arrived in Boise and they brought our rental car right to us. 

We spent the afternoon learning and gathering information for the project.

This is the view from our hotel window.  There are snow capped mountains in the background.  The temperature right now is 47 degrees and it's windy with a chance of showers (as you can probably tell).  Tomorrow the sky's supposed to clear up a bit, but the high is still only forecast for 56.  I don't mind though because it's just one more day that it won't be hot.

Tomorrow we go back for more training, then we'll meet up with the others and the plane late afternoon or early evening to fly back home.

What a fun trip and I can see why people that can afford it, go this way.  It's so much less stressful than fighting the crowds at the big airports.

Amazing Antelope Canyon Tour - Page, Arizona

So I've been falling behind on posting about travels. I posted some photos on Facebook in September when we were there, but I know everyone isn't on FB, so here are a few of my favorites from Antelope Canyon. I don't know about you, but I've seen pictures of Antelope Canyon for years, but never knew until recently that it was in Arizona!

We had the chance to go there with our friends, Marshall and Cathy on our way to a weekend at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and we were glad we did!

It's an amazing place for photography. The only catch is that in the middle of the day when the lighting is best, there tends to be large numbers of folks in there for their tours. There doesn't really seem to be any limit to the number that they take in at one time.  If there is, then the limit's probably a little too high because there were times when it was really quite crowded in those narrow passageways. I wish I would have taken a picture of the people inside the canyon to give an idea of how crowded it was.

The Canyon (and others like it) are all on the Navajo Indian Reservation near Page, Arizona (see map here) in a somewhat desolate-looking area near the northern border between Arizona and Utah. It's amazing that these canyons are hidden in the desert there.  If someone didn't have photos and directions to the place, there's no way we would have found them.  There's no indication from the highway that these gorgeous formations are anywhere around.  And if you've been to the reservation, you know that the Navajo are not much for permanent structures, so we weren't quite sure where to go to pay and start our tour. After a couple of stops we finally hooked up with a tour run by a woman (Carol Bigthumb) whose grandmother had discovered the canyons back in the 1930s.

This sandy riverbed was the road to the canyon for much of the way. It was very soft deep sand, so kind of strange to ride on. The drivers tried to stay closer to the edge to keep from fish-tailing too much in the soft sand.

The tour guides were generally relatives and we spent most of our time with Gabriel , Carol's son-in-law (in the hat in photo below). Turns out he is a believer and he was a great guide! Very patient in pointing out the various rock formations with names, helping us find the best places to stand for photo ops and even looking at my camera to try to change some settings to get the best shots.  Now I'm sure some photographers would be offended by that, but I thought it was very nice of him to offer to be so helpful.

The guides were also very good at directing traffic throughout the canyon so that photographers could have the "illusion" of being there alone. They would hold up a group of people behind a curve in the canyon so that another group could take pictures of the space with no one in front of them. Some of the photographers got a little pushy, but all in all it went quite smoothly considering the numbers.  I must admit though that as long as you have a tripod, and a camera that can be set to manual, it's really hard to take a bad photo in there. The play of light on the beautiful red/orange rocks is simply amazing!

The first picture is near the beginning of the canyon and gives you an idea of the size of the space and the sandy floor. If you go, please remember to wear closed toed shoes unless you want your feet to be totally dirty when you come out.

The rest of these are pretty much self-explanatory. Let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy!

I'm Going to Florida!

I just confirmed that I will be going to Florida in early February with my mom and sisters.  I found a great rate for airfare (thank you Southwest Airlines!) and we're looking into getting a timeshare there too!  Woohoo!

We're going to visit my mom's step-sister, Alice.  She is really closer to the age of my oldest sister, Diane, so I've never really called her "Aunt" Alice.

We're going to the Fort Myers area, which is on the Gulf Coast in the southern part of the state.  Alice has lived there for a long time and will be our companion and tour guide.  It will just be a quick trip.  Arriving on a Thursday and leaving the following Tuesday.  Since both those days are essentially travel days, we'll really only have 4 days there.  That will be plenty for my mom, but will make me just want to come back to Florida again soon. 

Over the last few years, my sisters and I have been trying to do some kind of trip with my mom each year and we weren't able to go anywhere in 2009.  At 85, we never know how many more of these excursions she'll be able to do with us.  She has always loved to travel, and now of course, she doesn't want to go  alone.

I'm so glad that we have the chance to do this with her once in a while.  It's a gift for all of us to be able to share the uninterrupted time together. (Thanks Terry for letting me go.)

The only time I've ever been in Florida is when Terry and I went on a Caribbean cruise and flew into Fort Lauderdale to board the ship.  We were there long enough to go from the airport to the ship and back and that was it.  We've talked often about vacationing there, but just haven't made it yet.  Maybe someday soon we'll get to go together...

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures...

So I have been "working" on sorting our old photographs for at least 6 months. Well let's say, I started it at least 6 months ago and they have been sitting in the office on this table waiting for me to finish. I started with about 13 shoeboxes full of photos and I filled a wastebasket with duplicates and ones that were poor quality and I still have almost that many boxes to fill back up.

I've been working on it most of the weekend.

I sorted them by subject. For example:

Amy
Amy & Friends
Kevin
Kevin & Friends
Amy & Kevin
Terry and Me
Hann extended family
Perkins extended family
Places we've been
Friends
Etc., Etc.

Now I just need to make up labels for the boxes and put them away so I can find what I need when I want them. I can't wait to get them off the table and then finish cleaning up the desk area. We've been living with piles for quite a while.

We also picked up these cool vintage reproduction postcards at the Grand Canyon. They are all National Parks that we've visited. Be sure to click to enlarge to see the great colors and artwork. We want to get them all in one frame with a nice mat to hang in the office with the rest of our travel posters. Too bad Andrew doesn't do framing anymore. Oh well, I guess we'll have to pay for it. I will try to save money by getting a standard size frame for them to fit into.

The National Parks - America's Best Idea

Have you been watching this new mini-series on PBS ?

We just watched the first episode and it brought tears to my eyes several times. There's just something about the majesty of the nature in our National Parks that makes me so thankful that these pieces of earth were set aside and preserved for us and future generations.

I'm so glad that we've had a chance to visit many of these parks and to take our children there. I look forward to someday being able to share them with our grandkids as well.

Did you realize that there are almost 400 National Parks and Monuments? Wow! Here are a few of the parks that we've visited that will be covered in the series, with links to more info about each one:

Acadia (Maine)
Denali (Alaska)
Grand Canyon (Arizona)
Yellowstone (Wyoming)
Yosemite (California)

And here's a link to a list of all of them. See how many you've visited. What's your favorite? I know it's hard to choose.

One of mine is probably Yellowstone because of the wide variety of things to see and the sheer size of the park.

I also love the rustic architecture in the parks. Someday, I'd love to be abel to stay at all the different lodges in the parks.

I hope you've had a chance to visit the National Parks in your area and beyond...if not, please make a point to go and take your family. You won't regret it!

The Happiest Place on Earth with my favorite people on earth!

O.k. this may sound ridiculous, but sometimes I think that I posted news on my blog only to find out that I just posted it on Facebook. So those few who aren't on FB, but check my blog are missing out on the news. Sorry about that. I'll try to do better in the future.

First off, for those who don't know; Terry and I drove to Los Angeles on Saturday to spend a couple of days with Amy, Andrew and Kevin! Yes, Kevin flew in from Omaha to spend a little time with us before he moves to Meridian, Mississippi for his new job at the end of the month.

We arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon and...

• Drove to LAX to pick Kevin up from the airport
• Stopped to see the studio where Andrew works
• Stopped to see Amy & Andrew's apartment
  
• Went to visit Terry's brother, Ted, his wife Kristi and 2 of their kids, Spencer and Lucas
• Sunday we went to Disneyland and California Adventure with the 3 "kids" all day
• Monday morning we had breakfast together at CiCi's Cafe on Ventura Blvd in Tarzana
  
• then drove back to Phoenix with Kevin.
  
• On Tuesday morning I'll take Kev to the airport to head back to Omaha, then on to Mississippi very soon.
  

It's been so much fun to be with all the kids together. Not sure when we'll all be together again, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for sometime around Christmas. We'll see how things go with travel and time off work and all...

So as you can imagine, there's a lot of fun to post about, but I won't get there tonight. Here are a few fun ones to give you a glimpse of our time together.

I also have a confession to make. Do you remember the gorgeous blue Mickey scarf that Amy was wearing when she was in London (same scarf pictured here - this photo wasn't taken by me). Well I liked it so much that I bought the same one for myself and can't wait to wear it. I actually checked to see if they had a green one so I wouldn't copy her EXACTLY, but they didn't and I didn't like any of the other colors nearly as much, so I got the same color as hers. I figure since we're in different states, it won't be a big deal, right? Of course you may look at both of our blogs and see pictures of us wearing them, but oh well. I'll live with that, and hopefully Amy won't mind too much.

So much more to come, so stay tuned. The easiest way to keep up on my posts is to click the "Follow" button on the right side of the page and you'll be notified each time there's a new post. See you soon!

Coastal Living
Have I told you lately that I love Coastal Living Magazine? (o.k., maybe so.) But have you seen the September issue?

As always, it's packed with great decorating, travel and food tips. Three of those things that I love most.

The piece that caught my attention was about Venice Beach, California. Having lived for 18 years in So Cal, this brought back some great memories. Venice is one of the places that we used to take our out-of-town visitors to experience what was uniquely Los Angeles. Based on the article, it sounds like it's an even more fun, eclectic and refreshing place to visit than when we were there years ago. I can't wait to stop by again when I'm in town to visit Amy & Andrew.

I also loved the article about Key West, Florida. This is a destination that we haven't had the privilege of visiting yet, but is definitely big on our list. We'll hold onto this info in our travel folder to refer to when we get the chance to visit that part of the country.

I love the anticipation of visiting new places!

...Are we there yet?

Drives of a Lifetime (part 2)

O.k. let's finish reviewing this list of National Geographic Traveler magazine's "50 Drives of a Lifetime". Or at least we'll take a peek at the next 4 of them that we've had a chance to enjoy. Of course, I could do several posts on each and every stop, but won't take the time here. Let me know if you'd like to hear more about any of these and I'd be happy to oblige.

Warning - this is going to make you want to go on a road trip!

1. Olympic Peninsula, Washington - We've done a pretty good chunk of this one just a few years ago. I think this was one of our first driving vacations without the kids with us and with my new camera. I drove Terry crazy asking him to stop so I could take pictures. It was fun, but definitely quiet without Amy & Kevin. We would absolutely go back to this area again!

Here are a few highlights:
Crescent Lake is gorgeous!
Sol Duc Hot Springs is pretty cool but a little smelly from the sulpher in the springs.
Hoh Rain forest was amazing, but probably the most humid place I've ever been.
Here are just a few photos that I took:

Crescent Lake and the cottages at Crescent Lake - Don't they just take you back about 50+ years?

The one at the top is a photo of Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park.

2. California's Pacific Coast Highway - Since we lived in southern Cal for 18 years we had the privilege of driving PCH and the central coast many times. It is truly one of the most gorgeous places in the world and explains why the cost of living is out of this world. Of the places listed here, my top pics would probably be:

Monterey Bay Aquarium - You have to go at least once. It is so much fun to watch the sea otters and see all the crazy creatures that live under our seas.

San Simeon - Hearst Castle is just unbelievable! Especially considering it was built during the Great Depression. I want to go around Christmas sometime when they have it decorated for the holidays.

Carmel-by-the-Sea - storybook town, perfect weather and oh so quaint. Would have loved to go much more often. This is a little sliver of the Carmel Mission. There are old Spanish missions all up and down the Cal coast. Well worth visiting too!

Cambria - great little town for a romantic getaway.

3. Rocky Mountains - Although we have done just a sliver of this drive, I thought I'd mention it because we just got back from visiting Rocky Mountain National Park (one of our favorites) last week. We saw tranquil lakes, amazing wildlife, and drove Trail Ridge Road. It's the highest continuous paved road in the United States, reaching an elevation of 12,183 feet (That's above the tree line).

4. Santa Barbara Loop - This is another area that we're quite familiar with, since it was less than 2 hours from our house so an easy day trip or lovely weekend. Also a gorgeous area in So Cal! Hard to list favorites. We have lots of stories from these parts.

Solvang - A fun place to visit with lots of shopping, bakeries, outdoor theater in the summer and much more.

Santa Barbara - A wonderful respite from the heat in the summer with an awesome arts and crafts fair every Sunday. Nice restaurants too. If you ever have a chance, attend an outdoor concert with a view of the ocean at the Santa Barbara Bowl. We discovered it just before we moved away and are sad that we didn't know about it sooner.

Santa Ynez Valley - Made semi-famous by the movie, Sideways. The NGT magazine failed to mention one of our favorite stops for lunch. The Cold Springs Tavern, which used to be a stage coach stop. It's well worth the short diversion off the highway on the way to Solvang. Be sure to check it out for a meal or some afternoon refreshment. And don't let the bikers intimidate you. Most of them are dentists or podiatrists from Orange County.

Even though we've skimmed the edges of some of the other Southwestern drives, I don't feel like we've done enough to mention them, so I'll leave it at that. It's been so much fun reliving some of those unforgettable trips. I would love to do them all again anytime.

In looking at the remaining drives, I think it would be nearly impossible to decide which one I would want to do next, if I could choose any of them. I will definitely keep this list as reference for when we're planning trips in the future. Let me know which of them you've had a chance to see. Travel is such a gift! I would do it full time if I had the chance...o.k., maybe not full time, but at least half time. I'm so blessed that I've had the chance to go as much as I have, considering I had only gone on 1 vacation before I was 16 years old.

If you want to continue to hear about our Colorado trip, stay tuned and come back soon.

Happy Trails! I look forward to hearing from you.

Drives of a Lifetime!
If you have any interest in traveling, please bookmark the National Geographic Traveler Drives of a Lifetime web page, then start saving your pennies and your vacation days and make plans to visit as many of these as possible.

My friend, Linda mentioned the list to me the other day and I couldn't wait to get home and check it out. Terry and I have subscribed to NG Traveler since the very first magazine was published. It's one that we save and refer to over and over again. An absolute wealth of information! Even if you've never seen it, you can imagine the quality, since it comes from the same publisher as its wonderful yellow-trimmed predecessor National Geographic magazine.

So, now that we've established the quality of the resource, let's take a peek at the list of 50 drives that NGT considers "not to be missed". Since you can obviously read the list for yourself, I'll just highlight a few of the drives that we've had the privilege of enjoying to give you my personal perspective.

British Columbia Drive - (pictured above) Terry and I have covered a fair amount of this drive and would definitely rate it in our top 10. Whistler and Victoria were a couple of the highlights of our trip. We would jump at the chance to return again to the beauty of this area.

Hallowed Ground Virginia - Another area where we've experienced portions of the drive described. I would say that Gettysburg was the highlight of our time in that area. Even if you're not a history buff, this is an amazing place to relive a pivotal point in our nation's history.

Hana Highway - We were thrilled to be able to visit this location just last December and the photo in my header was taken on our helicopter ride of that very highway. It's a gorgeous, lush green slice of Maui with amazing Rainbow Eucalyptus trees, wild roosters and so much more. Here's a link to my post about our Hana Highway trip, although in looking at it again, it really doesn't do it justice at all. Maybe I'll go back sometime and post more pics and details.

Mount Hood, Oregon - We've enjoyed bits and pieces of this drive and can confirm that there is some beautiful countryside to be seen. Even if you only have a small slice of your day, Multnomah Falls (shown here) is well worth a visit any time of year. Here's a link to my post about the time we spent in that area.

New Old West Arizona - Of the places we've visited on this drive, I would say that Bisbee is definitely worth the trip. This eclectic little town is a wonderful variety of history, art, and fun. I was going to link to my post about our visit there in December a few years ago, but I can't believe that I didn't post any pics of the town itself and I have some really fun ones. I'm realizing that my best intentions of posting are often thwarted by the reality of life and limits of time.

Personally, I'd pass on Tombstone, since it's quite touristy, but it all depends on what you're looking for. Kartchner Caverns has been high on our list of places to visit since we moved back to AZ, so someday we'll get there, I'm sure.

O.k., so I've listed 5 of the 50 drives. In looking at the list there are at least 5 more that we've been able to travel, so I'll save those for another day. What a blessing to be able to see so much of God's awesome creation! I look forward to checking a few more of these off our list in the coming years as well. Do you want to come along? We're always looking for traveling companions to enjoy the journey with us.

Favorite Photos

AZ Republic will print one of my Maui ocean photos in this Sunday's Travel section and it's already posted as #13 in the "Your Travels" area of travel.azcentral.com.

Take a look. Fun stuff!

Travel Stock Photography - now that sounds like a great plan!


Check out this great article about this guy's career doing travel stock photography. Note: there are 3 parts so read them all. The photo here is one of his.

It sounds like a perfect way to start small and work up to something full time, plus you can make your own hours.

I also have another idea for making custom greeting cards with photos taken at the gorgeous resorts around AZ. The gift shop at the resort could sell cards (saying things like "I miss you!" or "Wish you were here.") with photos of their own resort. Do you think anyone's doing that already? All I would need is permission to go around and get shots, then they could decide if they want to buy the cards as they go along. I've been thinking about this for a while, but just haven't had the time to follow up on it.

Let me know what you think.

We're Home!

I haven't had time to post on the last few days of vacation, but will do that by this weekend. Keep checking back for pictures from...

Bar Harbor, Maine
Acadia National Park
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
and more...

It's nice that the mornings are cooler in Phoenix now. Makes it feel more like Fall.

Counting down to "V" day!

"V" minus 5 and counting. 5 days until we go on vacation to New England. Can't wait!

Today, I printed out a Frommer's article about Acadia National Park in Maine which we'll be visiting later in the trip. It mentioned something about carriage rides and whale watching tours in the Fall, so I'm hoping we get to do that.

Check out this slide show of photos of the park by David Patterson at Photo.net. Pretty cool stuff!

Got some other good news today too. I'm helping to plan a reception for some friends and it was set for Oct 18th, which is really soon after we get back from vacation, so I've been scrambling to get as much as possible done before we leave.

Good news is that the couple decided to move the date to NOV 1st, which works out SO MUCH better for most of those involved. Turned out that one of their friends was getting married on the 18th, plus some other activities that would prevent people from coming. So, now I have a few extra weeks to pull things together. I'm just about to finalize the caterer and have secured my A/V guy (our friend Don at Valhalla Sound - He's such a great hard working guy that will bend over backwards to do whatever needs to be done. He's got amazing rates on all kinds of equipment sales and rentals. You should check him out if you're planning an event.)

Now I need to reprint the invitations (good thing most of them didn't go out yet). It makes me realize that it was for the best that my home printing didn't work well (it smeared) and I had to go to a printer. If I had done them myself, they would all be mailed already. Now it's just a dozen or so that the couple needs to contact with the change.

I still need to finalize flowers, linens and a few other odds and ends, but I'm feeling pretty good about things now. The next five days will be busy, but then I can relax and enjoy vacation.

Another tidbit: We may end up with Kevin's cat, The Professor temporarily while he's away in the Middle East. There's one last option, but if that doesn't work, we didn't want him to have to give the cat away, so we'll see what happens when he gets here and meets our cat, Shredder. I don't really like the idea of having 2 cats here for those who visit us that are allergic, but it should only be for 6 months or so.

Also, I'm approaching my 300th blog post, so I'll need to do something special for that. Stay tuned...

Now I'm off to meet the caterer at the home where the reception will be. We need to determine the space layout in the backyard for people, food, etc. Space planning - really one of my favorite things. I already have a diagram drawn up.

One of my favorite times is getting ready for a road trip!

Next Friday, my mom, my 2 sisters and I leave for a road trip to Breckenridge, CO. Although each of us have very different personalities and values that can sometimes rub the wrong way, we have learned to appreciate and enjoy each other on trips like this. And my mom loves having all of us together. We do lots of laughing, talking and reminiscing too.

In 2006 we took probably our FIRST EVER girl's trip in our lives. We all drove to Cloudcroft, New Mexico to visit a couple of my mom's sisters and we had a great time, except that I had to share sleeping quarters with my noisy sisters.

This time we'll be staying in a 2 bedroom timeshare in Breckenridge Colorado. We leave on Friday, drive to Farmington, NM as our first pit stop, then drive on to Breckenridge the next day. We're taking a little longer route so we can see some of the gorgeous mountains on the way. We'll stay in Breckenridge for a few days and leave early Weds morning for the 12 hour plus trip home.

So we're in the homestretch for getting ready. As some of you know, my mom is the absolute Queen of Planners (which is being passed down thru our generations). And the older she gets, the farther ahead she needs to plan. She calls me every few days with something else she's thought about for the trip. Do we need to take paper towels? Do we need to take our own bedding? How many miles is it, so she can calculate the gas costs? What will the weather be like? What time are we leaving? Do we need drinks for the car? How far is Denver from Breckenridge? It's fun to see her get excited about going. She loves to travel and doesn't get a chance to go these days unless one of us goes with her.

Today she told me all the things she did around her apartment to be sure that it's nice and tidy and clean when she gets home from the trip. (She just called back to tell me a couple more food items that she's going to bring.) I love going thru the adventure with her!

Since mom is 84 and uses a walker, we won't be doing much hiking or anything too active. Mainly driving to see the sights and walking around the cute little downtown area. There are supposed to be a couple of free concerts in the square that we'll try to get to as well.

The weather forecast calls for a possibility of rain off and on, with highs in the low 60's and low's in the upper 30's ! PERFECT!!! If we get much rain, we may just stay in the condo some of the time and watch movies and talk. I'm taking my new laptop, so I'll plan to continue documenting some of our family history while mom tells us stories. I realized the other day that there are a lot of events from my childhood where I can't pinpoint the dates, but with the 4 of us together we should be able to do some of that too.

So here's the beginning of my list of things to do to get ready:

1. Terry already took my car in this morning for maintenance service and got it washed as well. How sweet is that! Did I mention that it was his idea that I go on this trip? He's a bit jealous that I get to go to one of his favorite states without him, but encouraged me to go and spend time with my mom. (one more proof that he's a great husband)
2. The packing list is started. I actually have a generic list saved on my computer, so I'll just tweak that one for this trip.
   
3. The route is mapped
4. Hotel reservations are made
5. AAA book and maps are picked up
6. The cameras are charged and ready
7. I'm ordering some "chick flicks" from Netflix to take with us in case of rain
   
8. I may need to pick up a few food items for the drive
   
9. Later in the week I'll get all the laundry done and make sure there's food in the house for Terry, which there always is
   
10. Actual packing on Thursday night...
11. I have to work all week, but just a half day on Friday...
12. ...then we'll be on our way to the cool country! Can't wait!

I'll post pics as soon as often as I can, hopefully while on the road.

Note: the black & white photo above was found on one of my favorite photography websites, Photo.net and taken by Zak Himmelman. The stream photo is by Laura Eastlack.

I am not only behind on posting blogs, I am officially behind on reading my regular blogs from others.

I've been working on travel arrangements for our fall trip to New England. I am so excited even though it's nearly 4 months away (actually doesn't sound so long). Right now we're planning to spend the first few days in the Boston area, then a week with our home base in Lincoln, New Hampshire, then a few days along the coast of Maine. Can't wait!

I also have some amazing news, but I don't have time to share the details now. Here's the headline: TERRY AND I ARE GOING TO HAWAII IN DECEMBER, BUT WE WON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR HARDLY ANY OF IT!!!! We have a truly amazing God. Sometimes I really feel guilty about the blessings we receive without deserving any of it. Why is He so good to us?

On the road again...

So I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted. I guess I've been pre-occupied with various family happenings, some good and some very challenging. I don't have time to write about everything now, but I'll write more, hopefully next week.

I'll be leaving on Saturday to fly back to my hometown, Vermilion, Ohio for just a few days to try to help my brother find a new place to live...very long story. My sisters, Sharon and Diane are going too. I'm not expecting a really "fun" trip, (again - long story) but we'll make the best of it.

I am excited about the fact that we get to stay at our aunt and uncle's cottage in Mitiwanga. I'll post pics when I get back. It's an amazying old 2-story cottage with wood floors and a screened in front porch just a hundred yards or so from the beach at Lake Erie. I have wonderful memories of Easter egg hunts and summer days spent eating watermelon, playing and connecting with our huge extended family there.

And we'll have to be sure and have some Lake Erie Perch, breaded and deep fried...mmmm good!

This is a cool link that I just came across with some old postcards from around Vermilion. The photo above is from that site. It's the Vermilion-on-the-Lake Clubhouse right down the street from where I lived, where I learned to swim, and took ballet lessons, had holiday parties, and accepted Christ.

I'll post more when I can. Thanks for checking in on me once in a while. I know I've been very sporadic lately.

Southwest Gardner in Phoenix just released their new class list for spring. I'd love to go to the Mosaic Birdbath class... This picture isn't from the class, but just my vision of what it might look like, based on their description.

They're also offering a 5-day tour of gardens in Southern California. If you're an avid gardner or even a photographer, this is a dream tour. I've been to a few of the spots that they mention, like the Huntington Library and the Getty Villa in Malibu (before it was remodeled).

The image below is one I took of the Japanese Gardens at the Huntington Library a few years ago. They are both amazing places to enjoy God's creation., some magnificent artwork and beautiful Southern Cal. If the other locations are anything like those two, the tour could be breath-taking.

I just posted my second entry on my travel blog at Hotels By City.com. Check it out. By the way, you can comment on my blog there too and I would love it if you link to that blog from yours just to get more traffic there.

I'm also in the process of making a list of things that I can blog about as I have time. I can choose from any of these categories below but I'm only supposed to write about items in the Phoenix metro area.

At some point I'll probably try to do some posts about day or weekend trips FROM Phoenix (kind of cheating, but I think it will work). That way I can use more of my photos.

You can imagine that my stories about Bars and Clubs will be pretty minimal, but the rest is wide open.

So I need your help. Let me know what you want to hear about or what you think potential visitors to Phoenix will want to hear about that they may not find in a normal travel magazine. Or just give me some ideas of your favorite places and things to do so I can pass them on in my blog. Amy, if you tell be when Obadiah Parker is playing next, and send a photo or two, I'll post it.

You do know that some of you will have to go out with me to try some of these places, so I can take pics for my blog, so be prepared...I'm thinking about trying to go to Pizza Bianco sometime soon...any takers?

• Attractions (17)
• Bars & Clubs (3)
• Entertainment (11)
• Events (15)
• Hotels (4)
• News (16)
• Phoenix (17)
• Restaurants (5)
• Shopping (2)
• Things To Do (14)
• Top Ten’s (2)

So I'm officially a travel blogger for HotelsByCity.net!

This is my first post about the FBR Open Golf Tournament that's coming up next week. The gig is kind of exciting, although really no big deal. Just a volunteer deal and I might make a few bucks if people click on the ads on my blog page (hint, hint). Minimum requirement is to post at least twice a week, but more is recommended. We'll see how much time I have. I'm sure that I won't run out of things to write about. There's always so much going on in the valley.

Looking forward to the challenge and even to being able to post some of my photos as well. Now I just need to get out and take some pictures.

Soon, I'm hoping to head over to the Borgata, an upscale shopping center in Scottsdale on a Friday night when it's warm enough to wander outside. They have a European Market and free concerts that sound like fun. I think it would be an interesting photo op too. Who wants to join me?