Life threw curve balls

Life threw us a couple of curve balls with health issues and the death of my wonderful 94 year old father. I miss my Dad so much but know that he is happy to be with Mom again.
Just a quick update to our schedule. We will be leaving Desert Trails on February 8th and heading as quickly as we can to Florida. We hope to get to St Augustine for our reservations at the State Park on February 13th but it will be a grueling drive. Wish us luck. We will pick up on our itinerary after St Augustine. In the meantime we are really enjoying the great friendships here at Desert Trails. Jean & Bill Potabi will be visiting from Jan 26th to Feb 1.

Happy New Year!

2010 has been a great year with a few ups and downs. Welcoming Christian to our family was a highlight, as is the prospect of a new Granddaughter in 2011. Congratulations Shannon & Chris.

Since I last blogged, we enjoyed Christmas at Desert Trails and in Pittsburgh, PA. Desert Trails had a fun holiday dance, caroling, and a luminaria night party. The people here are fantastic and we have made many great new friends. Christmas week we spent with Chris, John, John Ryan, and Annie in Pittsburgh. It was cold with pretty know on the ground. Traveling was uneventful which was lucky since a big storm blew through the east coast after we left. We even had gentle, pretty snow on Christmas morning as we opened our packages. Lots of phone calls to family back in the northwest made for a great holiday.

Tonight is the big New Years party at Desert Trails. Steak and Shrimp for dinner and champagne for midnight. Other fun surprises are planned. Should be big fun as long as we can stay awake. This is the first New Years in a long time that we haven't spent it with Doug & Diane our Brier neighbors. Feels funny to toast in a new year without them.

Winter 2011 Itinerary

Update: looks like we will be in Tucson for another month. More on that later. Depending on when we leave, we will be skipping most of our Texas stays and blasting to Florida. Texas is close enough to reschedule later in 2011.

We are getting a better idea of our itinerary for January - March 2011. Only the Florida dates are reserved so everything else is subject to change. Here is the current plan:

January:

Week 1 - Guadalupe Mountains NP & Carlsbad Caverns NP

Week 2 - Big Bend National Park

Week 3 - Texas Hill Country & Austin

Week 4 - Rio Grande Valley & Houston

February:

Week 1 - Biloxi, Mobile, Florida Panhandle

Week 2 - Tallahassee area & north atlantic coast of Florida

Week 3 - St Augustine and Ocala Florida

Week 4 - St Pete, Tampa, Naples, Everglades National Park

March:

Week 1 - Florida Keys

Week 2 - Central Florida on the way to Savannah

Week 3 - Charleston & Savannah (Trina & Sue will meet Elaine for our annual girls trip)

Week 4 - Western Carolinas, maybe Tennesee and Great Smokey Mountains NP (weather dependant)

April:

Elaine flies from Atlanta to Vancouver for the arrival of baby girl Martin!

December in Tucson

December in Tucson is a unique experience for a couple from the NW. The weather has been unseasonably warm (in the high 70s) and sunny. We love it but it is a little weird getting into the Christmas spirit. We went to the local garden for a Christmas lights, music, and treats night with our dear friends Kirsten & Cline. It was a lovely night and the lights were pretty. Sat outside at 9 pm at night to have our after event Starbucks.

LeAnne came to visit for a big birthday celebration. It was so wonderful to have her here. We had a great dinner in the coach and another at Vivaci which is a local italian restaurant. The weather cooperated and we walked the trails here at Desert Trails and also took a good long hike in the Sweetwater Preserve, adjacent to Saguaro National Park. She had to go home too soon. While we were in Phoenix to take LeAnne to the airport, we stopped for a hike and dinner with our new friends Jan & Bill.

I am still dog walking at the local animal shelter and enjoying every minute. John and I join the bike group at DT for a bike ride and lunch every Monday. Each week is full of activities here at the park and we could be busy every minute. As Kirsten says it is our "winter summer camp for adults". Life is good.

We do miss all our family and friends. Elaine has airline tickets to Portland in April to help Shannon & Chris with the new baby girl. John & Elaine will both be in Portland and Centralia in June for Sis' 50th wedding anniversary and Dad's 95th birthday. Lots to celebrate this year.

Rockhound State Park with Jean & Bill

Great time at Rockhound SP with Bill & Jean. We haven't camped together since April so lots of catching up to do. They bought a new deisel Allegro... beautiful with so much room! Got to keep John away from the RV dealers ;-)) First night was a great dinner in their new place.

The next day we spent the day in the car but it was soooo worth it. Drove to Silver City for a quick stop at a fun coffee shop. Then on to the Catwalk National Recreation Trail. What a fabulous place! Pretty canyon with a creek wandering through it and big Arizona Sycamore Trees turning color. The catwalk was used to maintain a pipeline that ran down the canyon to a mill and mine. We had a great walk on a sunny crisp day. On the way home we stopped at City of Rocks SP. Weird and interesting rock formations. A good place to come back to.

The next day started out with a fun hike at the campground with view back to our sites. Then went to Spring Canyon, just up the road to look for Ibex. The Shah of Iran gifted 27 Ibex in the 70s and they herd has grown to around 500. They had been spotted the days before but unfortunately we didn't see them. Had a nice walk instead.

On Wednesday we headed home. Thurday was a great potluck dinner with 100 people and tons of yummy food. Talked to the kids by phone. Shannon & Chris did a wonderful job of hosting their first Thanksgiving including Erik, Jenn, their Dads & Matt. I'm so proud of her and a bit sorry I wasn't there to enjoy.

Hiking, Biking, Exercizing, and Painting

Hard to believe that we have been at Desert Trails 2 1/2 weeks. One of the best parts of DT is how active we are here. We have been hiking at Madera Canyon, Brown Mountain, and met Bill & Jan at Catalina State Park.

We go biking on Mondays with the bike club which is a great way to find new bike paths. Kirsten & Cline arrived a couple days after we did and we had our first dinner at Mi Nidito (fun mexican restaurant). I had my first acrylic painting class of the season. Lake Michigan on a stormy, snowy night. Not too bad for an amatuer.

I have a new volunteer project. On Friday mornings I am a dog walker at the local shelter. I walk 5 or 6 dogs for 20 minutes a piece. They are in cages all day unless there are volunteers to walk. It is hard to walk away at the end when they look at you with their sad eyes.

Heading to Rock Hound State Park near Deming, NM to meet Bill & Jean Potabi (from Albuquerque). Staying Sunday through Wednesday. Then back to Desert Trails for Thanksgiving. Hard to spend the holiday away from the kids. But I made my reservations to fly to Portland in April when the baby is due. PS - It's a girl!!!

November 5th - Desert Trails and catching up

Back at Desert Trails on October 31st! Lots of fun catching up and watching new people come in every day. Day 1 I fell off my bike into a big ole prickly pear cactus and a big OUCH! Pat and Russ (nearby when I fell) came to my rescue, the angels. John spent hours picking spines out of my arms, legs, side, and even my ear. Had to throw away some of the clothes I had on because too many spines that I couldn't see and I sure didn't want them back in me. Our first entertainment night was a Steel Drum concert outside on a lovely evening. Fun!

Finally, I am caught up on my blog after a month of traveling and I am vowing to do a little every week from now on. Love the sunshine! And the sunsets are spectactular.