Arizona Winter

YaHoo!!! It was nice to see that the blog is still here!!! Summer has really impacted my updates and my diligence has been disgraceful for updates. But we are back in Arizona now and I am really trying to make a commitment to do some updates. Not that anyone is reading this…LOL..but it will help me remember the things we did, the places we visited, good things and bad things…all of those little things that seem to escape your memory as one “has more birthdays”! My oncologist told me “it is not getting old” it is that “you are having more birthdays” so I am going with that!!

Ok, so first, with a picture…this is my view as I am updating the blog today — sitting outside on the deck looking over the golf course (no golfers right now) and looking at the hills of Sedona.

Kind of nice, I do agree!! The weather has been great since we have been back: beautiful blue skies, 40’s at night, 70-80’s during the day!! Very different from when we left Minnesota!!

Leaving Minnesota

This year we stayed until Sunday, October 13th which was really late for us. We had a wedding to go to on the 11th (Ricky and Callee) so we wanted to stay for that. The plan was to leave early Saturday morning, the 12th, but with the weather not cooperating in MN we did not get the packing done when we expected.

SNOW!!! That white stuff!!! YUCK!!! And not only snow, but sleet, wind, cold, etc. all the elements to make packing not fun at all!! And Max wanted to make sure we did not leave without him! 🙂

We decided to get a trailer to use to bring some stuff to Arizona. We hope to just do it this one year, so the trailer provided us to bring some major items — golf cart, pictures, table saw, our bikes, etc. It really worked out well and was small enough to be very easy to travel with.

We were on the road by 11 or so on Sunday and made our way to our 1st night destination in Clive Iowa (298 miles). Seems like we often stay in this area as it is right on the freeway that goes around the Des Moines downtown area. In the past we have stayed at the La Quinta, but this time decided to stay at the Best Western Plus, which was actually right next door. It is right off the freeway which makes for a quick on/off, and has really good sidewalks for walking Max, which is always a plus!

The second night we stayed in Liberal Kansas (593 miles) at a Holiday Inn Express, which was also nice. (Always a challenge to find something nice that is pet friendly) This one had only been opened for 5 weeks so everything was very new. The walking for Max was not quite as good, with really no sidewalks, but a road behind the hotel that was seldom used. We got to the hotel in time that we could watch the Packers/Lions game!

The third night we stayed in Gallup, New Mexico (519 miles) at the La Quinta Inn where we have stayed a number of times. This has some sidewalk availability along the highway and also has a BBQ place right next door that we can get our supper without having to go out.

We headed out for Cottonwood (252 miles) the next morning and arrived about 3. But early in the morning before we left, David remembered (nice time to remember..LOL) that we left the keys to the house in Cottonwood in Minnesota!!! We have a neighbor that has been watching the house so we called him to see if he would be home so we could get the keys from him — he and his wife were out fossil hunting about an hour away…so we had to adjust our schedule slightly to slow down our travels a little so they could finish their hunting. We definitely need to figure out where to put the keys when we leave next year. And as shocking as it is, David did not have that item on our to-do list, so it wasn’t even on our minds when we left Big Lake!!

We did stop for lunch at a cute place that is on US Route 66 in Tucumcari, New Mexico. There are a lot of places along Route 66 and this little town was definitely taking full advantage of being on 66. There was an old Texaco station that had been renovated right along the main road, which was really fun to see!

Larry gave us the keys and we got in the house without any issues. Did not see any evidence of rodent type visitors, which is always nice. Larry would usually come in every week, so his visits probably helped cut down on that possibility. We unpacked all of the tubs and suitcases and pictures, but left the golf cart until later.

The next morning we got up early to see the first sunrise — never a disappointment!!

Spookiness

Last night I let Max out using the back door of the garage. We have rocks around there that he can use to do his potty business. I let him go out there without a leash since he is usually pretty quick, knows what he has to do and if focused because he knows his bed time treat is waiting for him. So I let him out and he was wandering around the rocky edge and I looked up, out in the street was a Javelina looking like it was just starring at me!!! There were 3 others behind it!! I yelled at Max to try to get him to hurry up not knowing if Javelinas will attack or what might happen. Thankfully he did his business quickly and came back in the house. I know I have talked about Javelinas in previous posts, but this is what they look like!!

Creepy….right?? And it was like that second picture just starring at me!! After reading more about them, I don’t think they “attack” and actually have very poor eyesight!! Believe me, next time I will look out the door first before Max goes out.

Talk about Spookiness

Just up the road from us is Jerome — if you look closely you can see the J on the hill where it is.

Supposedly it is considered the “Ghost Capital of the World” and one of the most haunted cities. They have a lot of activities going on since it is close to Halloween, but not sure we really want to venture up there, especially in the dark!! We will have to think more about that possibility. Definitely not going there on the 31st!!!!

That’s it for now!!