Winter Vacation 2014 - Chapter 5

Wednesday Nov. 12:

Grandsons Joey and Danny have been coming to the Phoenix area for Spring break for a couple of years now.  Grandma Dianne's sister has a house in Scottsdale and enjoys taking them all site seeing. Last year they went to the campus of Arizona State University and Joey literally fell in love with the school, and insists that is where he will go someday.  We told Joe that we would go look at it while we are here in town.  

It is literally one of the most beautiful campuses I've seen yet.  There were young people walking around in their shorts and sandals,  hmmmm, Joey might have more than a good education in mind!!

Then, when in Rome eat what the Romans eat.  Lunch at a real burger dive.  Yummy!!

No secret where the flavor comes from. 

But, we loved them, and I guess we could and will walk an extra mile tomorrow..

Thursday in Sun City West. As we promised ourselves we walked and walked this morning, and there are garage and Estate sales everywhere. We found ourselves in an estate sale at about 9:30, and there wasn't much left.  Listening to the ladies and gents in line we realized we must arrive about 5 AM and get in line until 7 to get the good stuff.  NOT!!  Ha ha ha, there must be some really good stuff in these sales!  Oh well, no bargains but a lot of excercise and sunshine.

John searched his phones google app for some information about the University of Phoenix Stadium.  Our question was, any tours available?? Years ago we enjoyed the tour of soldier field and it was very interesting, and, yes they have daily tours and, yes we can make it to Glendale for the 12:30.  Summer clothes, sunscreen, sun glasses, and we are off for the day.  

Time to kill before the tour so in the AZone fan store we goof around a little.  This guy is their ACE player right now:

Larry Darnell Fitzgerald, Jr. is an American football wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League. He played college football for the University of Pittsburgh, and earned unanimous All-American honors. Wikipedia

2. Born: August 31, 1983 (age 31), Minneapolis, MN
3. 40 yard dash time: 4.63 seconds
4. Current team: Arizona Cardinals (#11 / Wide receiver)
5. School: University of Pittsburgh

I am very impressed by the engineering that went into this stadium.  They didn't miss one tiny detail.  Example, the red and grey seats in the background, yes there is a reason for that.  At certain times of the day when the sun is overhead the grey seats don't reflect the sun and cast a glare on the field.  

 

And yes it is a domed stadium, however the roof is translucent and sunlight is present. Also notice here that the field is missing.  

Now there isn't enough sunlight through the dome to maintain the real grass on the field, so they roll the field outside until Friday when there is a home game. The entire field weighs 19,000,000 lbs and rolls in and out of the stadium on railroad tracks.  

Friday we walked a lot, along the route we saw some very beautiful desert landscaping.  There are so many different Palm trees and just as many varieties of cactus.  Every thing is in full bloom, and every yard is very unique.  

So, beautiful lawns, gorgeous weather, on vacation with lots of free time, what's not to love? I'm feeling Blessed!! 

Winter 2014 - Chapter 4

,I'll start this chapter as we leave Gallup on Sunday morning.  It had been cold in the night up there in the mountains, so we didn't hurry to leave.  At that altitude the overpasses get a little frosty and I didn't want to be slipping and sliding into the semi's that were dominating the highways.  They outnumbered us little guys at least 5 to 1.  And as I mentioned in an earlier blog, posted speed in this part of the country is 75 which of course means at least 80+.  

It took about 1.5 hours to get out of NM and into Arizona:

Our route changed soon after that to a smaller, less traveled highway heading South to avoid going all the way to Flagstaff.  This route would take us through the most beautiful part of our country that I've ever seen.  

Going south this map shows how we entered The National Forests where the trees were tall and everything very green:

Heber, AZ is in Apache Sitgreaves National forest in the heart of Navajo County, AZ and lies at an elevation of 6627 feet..  Nose bleed country for sure.  As we traveled south through Tonto National Forest it got prettier and prettier.  But not very good phone reception, as a conversation I was having kept getting cut off.  Dropped calls brought back memories Of our travels through Wisconsin.  Here are a few pictures, however none do it justice. It's 50 times prettier in person.  

Then as we came closer to Phoenix we began seeing less trees and more cactus.

We arrived in Sun City West mid afternoon, exhausted  from the elevation changes, all we could do was unpack and shop for a few groceries. We went to Sunday evening Mass, thankful for our safe travels and then connected with friends here in town.  We love the house and hope to get all of the  move in business done tomorrow.  A few house Pics:

Master Bedroom

Living room

Patio

View from the Patio

More view/ orange tree and on the other side of the yard is a lemon tree.  I'm hoping they ripen this  month!!

And of course happy hour with friends the next day.  No coats, no snow, nothing but SUN!!  Darlene is a friend from our old neighborhood outside of Chicago.  We met in 1987 and became fast friends.  Her husband Sonny is not in the picture, but they live out here in AZ full time now, and love it.  Ed is our friend from 3M who we have known at least 30 years.  He and his wife Helga (also not pictured) have a winter home here.  John and I are Blessed to have such good friends.  

Tuesday, Nov. 11, had to wait for the Plumber to fix a leak in the bathroom before leaving for the day.  It was another beautiful sunny day, but you will all soon get tired of hearing that.  However, I am not getting tired of saying it.   The Desert Botanical garden. 

The perfect altitude for growth.  1000ft.

The docent who lead our tour insisted I take her sun visor to protect my eyes.  As you can see I was very well protected.  

The family who lived here must have been very small.  However it was very cool inside, so they built it with a great plan to survive these desert temperatures.  

This was their kitchen.

Beautiful glass sculptures that light up at night.  

My favorite part was the butterfly house.  The monarch migrates to Mexico for the winter, but the warm temps keep them here.  

Wonderful day in the sunshine.

 A quick session on the way home and I think it is best to end chapter 4 here as LOSERS!!  We will scratch this Casino off of our list.  I think a Bloody Mary, Dinner, and a soft bed is in order.  Nighty, night!!

Winter 2014 - Chapter 3

Friday, November 7th.

Left Frisco today headed for Amarillo.  Highway 287 cuts right up accross, and saves us about 120 miles but definately NOT a major highway.  I think I heard some banjo's through the little towns on that route!!  Some of the towns were Claude, Memphis, Goodnight, Sunset, And Henrietta, Texas. But it was a beautiful sunny day and thankfully we didn't need to stop.  We were very happy to arrive in Amarillo for the night.  Before checking into our hotel we stopped at The Big Texan for an early dinner and break.  

I did forget my cowboy hat and gun, so we felt a little out of place.  And Kathy did not disappoint us, her recommendation was spot on again.  The ribs were really really good but my sweet tooth needed a treat so Brownie Sunday!!  Yum.  

John was tempted to take the challenge, eat this in one hour and it's free:

72 OZ...  He decided against it!!  We did hit the fitness center out of guilt. 

Saturday We head to Gallup, New Mexico.  I was told some beautiful scenery ahead of us.  That will be awesome since All the states so far were flat and boring.  Come on NM..

Lots and lots of deserted mobile homes along the highway.

It was a very beautiful drive today, sunny and no wind.  I texted Kathy to ask where she thought we should stop for dinner in Gallup and she suggested I check her 2013 blog since their route this year changed and they went south to Roswell.  This is where she went last year, and I was glad we checked. Lots of history here:

This hotel/Resturant was built in 1937 to house and entertain many movie stars brought here to make films in this area.  Just to name a few, Ronald Reagan, Allan Ladd, Jackie Cooper, John Wayne, and more.  This is right on the famous Route 66 and in the heart of Indian Country.  This was the only picture I got inside:

I guess this is where John Wayne got his boots shined!  Fun place but just OK food.  Pretty good people watching though, there was a Harley biker party eating lunch at the same time.  

Spent the night in Gallup, NM ending another beautiful sunny day of driving.  But the very best was yet to come.  Arizona will be in the next chapter.. 

Winter 2014 vacation - chapter 2

Tuesday was a beautiful day for driving, cloudy and "no wind".  And if that wasn't enough, almost no cars on the highway, and speed limit posted at 75.  OK, there is actually more to be thankful for,  no rain. 

States for today's travels are:

Wednesday we left Kansas and traveled through Oklahoma and into Texas. 

But I'm ahead of myself, back to Tues.  

Kathy and Eric are a day ahead of us and said we probably would be driving into rain, so very pleasantly surprised, cloudy and dry. Just in case you are curious, people still pass me on the highway when I'm going the speed limit.. I'm hitting 78/79 and they are still flying by.  Kansas has the most boring state highway that we have traveled, and you know we have traveled a lot of them.  Flat, and boring, yet they have the nerve to make 35 south a tollway through their state. So far it has cost us $5.00 to be bored.  We are still in KS for a while on Wednesday.  

So I talked about our dinner stop in Wichita's Old Town.  Highly recommended by Kathy and also included on her blog.  Absolutely one of the best BBQ places we've ever been to.  Thanks Kath!!

I did not have the Bloody Mary that she posted, way tooooo much food.  I wanted to be hungry for the DELICIOUS Brisket.  But believe it or not the green beans were the best of all.  I thought it was a healthy choice until I saw all the bacon... Yummy flavor!!

Regular Bloody Mary

Tons of stuff Bloody Mary:

No doubt we are in Texas now..

We got to about 2 miles from Gary and Diana's house when our GPS took us right into a gas station parking lot and called it a highway.  We just sat there looking at each other and laughed.  Lots of road construction so understandable it is confused.  Called to say we are lost and get directions.  In this day of technology, we make the old fashion telephone call for directions..  

Arrived around 3:00 PM and after a visit we headed to Plano for dinner.  Very upscale area with tons with shops and restaurants where we met with their Wednesday dinner group.  Fun, good food, and thankfully an early night.  

Thursday we headed to Dallas to visit the George W Bush Library and Museum.  Very, very interesting day, spent with George and Laura.  

A piece of the tower from 9-11

An exact replica of the Oval Office 

A rose named after the First Lady

Many unusual gifts from leaders of other countries, such as this little guy.  There were cases and cases of gifts, but this stuffed lion was the weirdest one.  

From Dallas we went back to Frisco to have lunch.. Just when I think I've tasted the best BBQ in Texas we find a better one. 

We tried to eat light because we had dinner plans later. 

So far it was a perfect day, in the 70's and sunny.  HURRAY!!!  Back home to take a rest before Dinner.  What a treat, Our niece and nephew, Sherri and Sam, along withe both kids, Elizabeth and Anthony, with their fiancée's Laura and Corey are meeting us.  They found the coolest place in Louisville, TX called Tirrney's grill and tavern.  It was a house ( converted to a restaurant) once owned by a DR. who was often taken, blindfolded, to the hideout of Bonnie and Clyde for Medical attention.  And we know that is true because it says so on the front of the menu.  Most of us had their famous Potato Chip Chicken.  Yummy, but no picture.  Great family fun, group photo, and end of a wonderful visit..  Can't get the photo of the group until we unpack the computer in AZ, it was taken on my camera, not my phone.  

Perfect day!!!