Guess Who? ©

These glasses aren't very good for 3D or the bright sun in Arizona but they are fun!

(Copyright 2011)

A Desert Thanksgiving ©

Thanksgiving in the Arizona Desert is just like everyone else's Thanksgiving Day except maybe a little warmer than in some of the other states.  

It starts out with a big juicy browned Turkey Bird! The stuffing is made with so much butter you can almost say it melts in your mouth!  The gravy is deep brown due to all the drippings from the bird as it cooks slowly for hours, releasing smells that are coming your way before the bird is ready to be served with all the traditional sides.  Buttery mashed potatoes, candied yams with so much butter and brown sugar you thinking you are eating dessert!  Squash--also dripping with butter and brown sugar--can this dinner really be healthy?  Lets see, there is the jello salad with pineapple and whipped cream, and there are the carrot sticks, pickles, olives and nuts. Oh,

and don't forget the apple pie, the pumpkin pie with the fresh whipped cream, and sometimes the pumpkin bars with butter and cream cheese frosting, and maybe even some early Christmas cookies.  So many calories, so much preparation and so much time but oh so worth it once everyone is sitting around the turkey with their thoughts of what they are thankful for.

(Copyright 2011)

FALL BALL

For you who don’t know what Fall Ball is--it is either the end of the last season or the start of the new season.  During the month of October and part of November, six teams are made up from all the Major League AAA and AA farm teams.  The Fall Ball team names are Scottsdale Scorpions, Salt River Rafters, Peoria Javelinas, Phoenix Desert Dogs, Surprise Saguaros and Mesa Solar Sox.


Each team is comprised of several players from 5 different Major League Teams and for six weeks they play each other--it’s their time to shine!

They are hoping that the scouts and coaches will look their way and that they will end up in the Big Leagues the next year.   If you look at the wall at the Scottsdale Stadium you will find names like Mark McGuire, Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols.
The name to watch for on the Washington Senators team for 2012 is Bryce Harper.  Maybe before too long you will be able to find his name on the wall!  The ball player in my pictures--you guessed it, Bryce Harper!


This was the only game that we attended this fall--it was a good game and and a beautiful day at the new Salt River Fields, located on the Salt River indian Reservation on the east side of Scottsdale.  This beautiful stadium is the newest in town and the host teams are the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies.

See you at Spring Training
or at FALL BALL!

The play off game for this year is being played in Scottsdale on Saturday, November 19th between the Salt River Rafters and the Surprise Saguaros.

Snow in the Desert?©

It was a freaky weather Monday, November 7, 2011!   It was very cool in the morning, but instead of warming up, it got cold, the sky got black and all of a sudden opened up and the rain came which quickly turned into hail.  Within minutes the hail accumulated to about 2 inches and the Town of Cave Creek came to a halt.  We were at the library and out the back windows, which face north, oncoming cars could not get up the hill to get into town.  So a back up began to happen--at one time there were about 30 cars that couldn't move.  Some were able to turn around but had nowhere to go but back home, some were stuck for a half hour to an hour but there were the braver ones that tried and tried to get up the hill, only to get stuck farther up on the hill.  It was a comedy of errors!  We were also stuck but at least we were warm and had things to do--it was not long-lived but it was something.  The strangest thing is that the weather on the south side of Black Mt. was completely different.  It you didn't happen to drive into Cave Creek you had no idea that this white stuff was in town!  It only rained at our house but it was very heavy--go figure!  

Road Tripping All Summer!©

Back in the Desert Again--don’t know how lucky we’ve been.  

Back in the Desert is Good--being right where we should! 

We have spent most of the summer this year Road Tripping. All the way to Seattle and back again, and up and down the California Coast and back again.  Looking for allergy relief in June, August and September, checking the weather, feeling the ocean breezes, and enjoying the moisture and humidity. 

We did have a wonderful summer visiting family, friends, old stomping grounds and discovering new places.  


Despite our best efforts, there wasn’t a place we would rather be than in the desert!  After all the miles, all the exploring and all the fun discovering we came to the conclusion that the change of climate in a different state has no benefit.  

As good as it might sound to live close to the ocean for the cool breezes and moist air, we can’t ignore how crowded it is, that it does get cold and half the day is lost due to the marine layer.  

We are staying put right here in our favorite place--

the Sonoran Desert, Carefree, Arizona

EMPTY BOWLS PROJECT ©

Helping to feed the people in need is an international effort to fight hunger.

It’s simple: potters, other craftspeople and many others work with the community to create handcrafted bowls. The public is invited to a simple meal in exchange for a cash donation and are asked to keep the empty bowls for a reminder of all the empty bowls in the world.  The money is donated to an organization working to end hunger.  

The Empty Bowls meal is occurring in thousands of cities across the globe.  Find the time, make the commitment, get involved. 

“Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy.   You vote in elections once a year but when you volunteer, you vote everyday about the kind of community you want to live in.”                                                                                   Author unknown

Sonoran Arts League Empty Bowls Project Carefree, Arizona October 21, 2011

The Burden of House Sitting! ©

We’ve been everywhere--from San Francisco through most of the North Bay Area.

We've been everywhere--Fremont, Union City, Haywood, San Leandro, Oakland, Richmond,(cross the San Rafael Bridge) San Rafael, Novato, Petaluma, Cotati, Valley Ford, Bodega, Sebastopol, Santa Rosa, Jenner, Fort Ross, Cloverdale, Windsor, Guerneville, Geyserville, Calistoga, St. Helena, Healdsburg, Glen Ellen, Sonoma, Tiburon, Sausalito, Napa, Fairfield--phew, we’ve been everywhere!<

We left Arizona heading to the California Coast for the moist air and cooler weather to determine if a change in the humidity would help the allergy issues.  But before reaching our final destination in the North Bay Area we had to drive through Southern California, making a stop in Pasadena. There we picked up Kayla, took her to her ball game and watched her play baseball.  Kayla started playing baseball about age seven and is fourteen now, in high school and is almost as tall as Grandma Ashley (which isn’t saying too much). It was a relaxing afternoon at the park--after the game we had a little two-on-two time with Kayla and Casey at dinner!

  

We arrived in Santa Rosa just in time to get keys, exchange information and say our goodbyes to Eric and Jan as they were leaving to catch a plane to Hawaii and we were left to house sit.  It was an effortless job--cut the grass a couple of times, water the garden, feed the hummingbirds and try to keep the raccoons away.  The rest of the time we were so busy exploring the area the days just flew by.

We took a day trip from Santa Rosa to Sausalito for lunch and pictures from Golden Gate National Recreational Area and Marin Headlands visitors center by way of Muir Woods and Tiburon.  We have never seen the Golden Gate Bridge from this side--the views from this location are beautiful!  It was a wonderful warm day and we did a lot of exploring--driving by the Nike Launch Site as we headed back to Sausalito.

  

Another day we set off for The Jack London State Historic Park but to our surprise it was CLOSED--open on the weekends only.  So we made the best of that day’s drive, discovering in Glen Ellen a very interesting place--a personal residence with 100’s of metal gargoyles in the yard, on the fences and on the walls of the house!    The sign on the gate reads, “No Trespassing--But Peek Freely”.  After peeking in and taken pictures we were off to have lunch at El Molino--so good!  We actually had three meals there while we were in Santa Rosa--that is how good it is.

Over the weekend there was a Farm Walk Event in which we wanted to participate.  Instead of going back to The Jack London Park that weekend we went to visit the Bee Farm--we really got into this (as you can see from the pictures) and we learned so much.  It was like we were getting ready for a Halloween party--great costumes!  There is really a lot to learn about the bees--each box is a different hive and they have to watch out for intruders from other hives coming in and stealing.  

Of course we couldn’t visit Santa Rosa without seeing Dozer, the friendly giraffe, at Safari West--lunch, pictures and a visit and we were off to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield for a tour!  

It sounds silly but it was great.  Did you know that there are five steps to making the Jelly Belly--by the second step it is a bean but a little sticky and covered in sugar; by the fourth step it has its colored shell but is dull; the fifth step is the polishing.  Once they are polished they are on the conveyer belt being sorted.  The perfect ones get stamped with the trademark and are sent on for packaging and boxing for distribution.  The oversized, undersized and the ones stuck together do not get the trademark and are sold as irregulars for less in the factory store only.  These are the Belly Flops sold in two pound bags for $9.00!!!  

We finally got to the Jack London State Historic Park, and boy, was it worth it!  During our tour of the Wolf House, the Happy Walls House and the Cottage we talked about El Molino Mexican Street Food and other places to eat with the guide and a young couple from San Jose.  At the end of the tour as we were getting in the car the young couple approached us asking about El Molino.  They couldn’t find it on their I-Phone and we couldn’t get on our navigation system so we sacrificed ourselves, showed them the way and joined them for lunch!  

Another day we took a drive to the ocean destination of Fort Ross Historical Park. Fort Ross was operated from 1812-1841 by the Russian-American Company.   A hunting and trading company, it collected furs to send back to Russia, and grew food crops to ship to Russian Alaska for their troops there.   The Russians found this a losing proposition and left the area right before the California Gold Rush. The only original structure in the park from the Russian settlement is the Commander’s house.

  

The day before leaving the North Bay Area we accidentally found Florence Avenue in Sebastopol--I can’t believe that we almost missed it!  All the yard art is made from scrap metal--the artist lives on this street and just about every house has one of his pieces.

  

The last evening we spent at the Charles Schulz’s Snoopy Ice Arena watching Eric play hockey.  He scored the first two goals but the team ended up losing the game--darn.  Eric started playing hockey when he was six but his career lasted but 4 or 5 years. Still, it must have gotten into his blood because as an adult he has played more years then he did as a kid.

Our drive home was uneventful with a wind blowing us all the way--fourteen hours later we were back in Carefree.  We were welcomed home with the end of summer in the desert!

(Copyright 2011)

What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas! ©

There is everywhere else and then there is Vegas!

The drive to Las Vegas was uneventful and before we knew it we were in Las Vegas crawling through the traffic on Las Vegas Blvd.  Once we found the Vdara, checked in and checked out our room, on the 48th floor with a view of the fountains at the Bellagio, we relaxed and made a plan to meet up with Kyle & Jen!  It was Kyle’s birthday celebration week and we drove over for an extra visit since we are in Arizona and they are in Washington.

Our first evening together we ventured out to the old part of Vegas in search of the Lotus of Siam--which turned out to be an uncertain, stimulating thrill of excitement. Lotus of Siam:  known as the best Thai on the west coast, best in Nevada, best in the US--best somewhere!  We found the place and we were all afraid to go in--from the street side it looked like a block of derelict buildings.   But going inside was like watching the Wizard of Oz going from black and white to color--wow!  And the food, double wow! #122. on the menu, “Pineapple Fried Rice, stir fried with yellow curry powder, pineapple, shrimp and chicken, served on plate”, what?  It was just funny when we read the above description.  The food was great and now none of us would hesitate to go back!

In the morning a short walk from our hotel brought us to the the Bellagio where we checked out the Chocolate Fountain, one of the 25 free things to check out while in Las Vegas.  After we picked up the kids we were off again to the old part of Vegas looking for the  Las Vegas Club Sports Hall of Fame--the biggest personal collection of baseball memorabilia--what a bust!  Not much there anymore--it was also on the 25 free things to check out while  in Las Vegas.

The newest attraction at the Tropicana Hotel literally brings the mob to life!  The Las Vegas Mob Experience is a museum with exhibits and attractions that uses hologram and real tour guides to bring you the Whole Story, lots of history and trivia.  If you choose to take the experience you are taking your fate in your hands!

When you purchase your ticket the Experience begins--your ticket is a badge with a RFID chip in it which allows the museum to know your whereabouts and records your decisions.  In other words, it hears what you say and sees what you are doing!  Which of course you don’t know so when someone calls you by your name you are wondering how did they know?  The museum is large and loaded with artifacts, and takes you from the beginning of the mob days to its downfall in Vegas.

With a suggestion from Kyle and Jen our second evening was dinner at Mon Ami Gabi, a french bistro outside of Paris.  The food was great but the company was better and the evening went by way too fast!  

Time for us to head back to Carefree, leaving Kyle and Jen behind to continue to celebrate with friends from Seattle!  


On our way out of town we find the Ethel M Chocolate Factory and do the tour.  This is also on the 25 free things to check out while in Las Vegas.  Ethel M is Ethel Mars--the tour shows how all the candy is made and what is made: Snickers, Milky Way, M&Ms etc.,etc.,everything is sold in their showroom candy store.  FYI the newest M&M is coconut filled.

We leave Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City and the Hoover Dam behind and head south towards home and into a storm that is brewing.  In the distance we see in the dark clouds with long, skinny bolts of lightning.  The car gets a few drops of rain but it never materializes until after we get home--then the heavens open up and the rain comes along with the lightning, thunder and wind.  

The desert is happy!

(Copyright 2011)

Crazy Things Happen in the Desert©

I can’t believe after waiting 31 years to return to the state of Arizona--with the Phoenix Suns and Steve Nash, who is responsible for my interest in basketball, the  Diamondbacks, who are in first place, right at this moment, anyway, and many, many days of outside tennis,




the Herberger Theater, which has given us years of entertainment, the Arizona Archeology Society, which has educated us on the southwest and its people, the Cave Creek Library for giving us the opportunity to serve our community, 

and the beautiful Sonoran Desert with all its hiking trails, which have given us years of peace and quiet while we have been exploring and discovering, with the sunsets that are continuously spectacular, the never ending stars in the night sky and moons that light up the desert and give shadow to the huge saguaros, with the coyotes howling, the owls hooting and rattlesnakes rattling--that we may be leaving it all.

We are faced with a decision of staying in the desert, where we have found out that I am allergic to all weeds, grasses and trees, and the dryness, dust and dirt isn’t doing me any favors.  Or should we follow the doctor’s advice and move close to the coast? It doesn’t seem right that living in the desert only lasted for 11 years after I waited so long to return.

Being Tourists in Arizona!©

Desert Caballeros Western Museum, in Wickenburg, Arizona  

We didn’t know about this gem in the desert and were delighted to have the opportunity to visit. The museum was a wonderful surprise, exhibiting the history of Wickenburg, a reconstructed old town Wickenburg in the basement and a southwest art collection that any major museum would be proud to have. 

There is even a Bolo Tie exhibit!  If you don’t know what bolo tie is--it is a 4-foot length of cord/leather that drapes around the neck with a medallion of some sort, such as turquoise or other gem, stone, copper or silver. The State Legislature actually made it the official neckware of Arizona instead of the bow tie or the necktie. 

Did you know that Henry Wickenburg was a gold searcher during the 1862 gold strike on the Colorado River (near present day Yuma)?  His discovery of the Vulture Mine in 1863, Maricopa County, Arizona, yielded over $30 million in gold and was the most productive gold mine in the Arizona.  The mine attracted more than 5,000 people to the area, and with the ranchers and farmers who settled in the fertile plains of the Hassayampa River, resulted in the founding of the town of Wickenburg.

If you are passing through or spending time in Wickenburg, the place to have breakfast, lunch or a pastry is Nana’s!  The food was good but the bakery goods were world-class--coconut cream pie, apricot pecan scones, sticky buns and so many more mouth-watering pastries!  It's located in the block behind the Museum, and is worth a trip in itself.

A Mission—The Road Trip ©

We escape the summer heat earlier than planned for this road trip after receiving the disrupting news:  a permanent move to the coast is advised due to extreme allergies associated with the desert and its plant life.  

This road trip to Santa Rosa, California, was intended  to be a surprise for Eric’s 40th birthday.  But it became a road trip of Surprises, Searches and Adventures.  

The Adventures. We leave Arizona in the early morning, looking in the rear view mirror at a beautiful monsoon sky with the sun breaking through.  The first day out is long, but rewarding at the end of the day with a cool evening, an ocean breeze and a view of the Ventura marina. We walk the beach and visit the downtown area where we find our first mission--Mission Buenaventura. 

The second day out we head north, stopping in Santa Barbara to visit our second mission:  Old San Barbara Mission, with its great architecture and art, paintings, sculptures and statues--the colonial art collection is rich and varied. Lunch are crepes at Pacific Crepes--not to be missed if you find yourself in downtown Santa Barbara!  

The next stop is Santa Ines, outside the faux-Danish town of Solvang.  Franciscan Fathers take excellent care of the mission, giving life to an active parish--the morning we are there a wedding is taking place. We drive through the town of Buellton, home of Anderson’s split pea soup, to reach the mission and yes, we stop to try the soup!  

The last stop for the day is San Luis Obispo. The town is pleasant with an ocean breeze.  After driving most of the day, we walk out all the kinks  and find Mama’s Meatballs for dinner.  It is a most surprising find--a great little Italian place with a menu from which we want to order everything!   The Mission San Luis Obispo is found in the middle of downtown and is a working parish.  January marks a transformation in the mission--it opens it doors and provides overflow housing for a month to the homeless. 

Before arriving at the Silicon Valley for the weekend we stop to visit Mission San Miguel and The Rios Caledonia Adobe.  The mission is beautiful, busy and houses Padres. The Adobe, built in 1835 by the Indians, was used as a private residence for a family of fourteen in 1851, was sold in 1862 and in 1868 was used for stagecoach stop, tavern and inn.  Local legend has Jesse James, the Delton Brothers and Tiburcio Vasquez visiting the inn. In 1886 it was once again a residence but also a school, post office, mattress-making/upholstery shop, dressmaker and tailor shop.  In 1895 a family lived in the adobe and ran a dairy farm on the property. In 1903 walls were built and a garden court with cacti and shrubs were added, and it was opened to the public.  In 1915 the original stagecoach road became Highway 101.  Today Rios-Caledonia is California Historical Landmark #936 and a San Luis Obispo County Park. After our visit to the old adobe we are told that Dos Amigos is a great place to eat and it is lunch time!  Mission Soledad was the last mission of the day.

Once we arrive in the Silicon Valley we look around and see Yahoo, Google, etc., etc... a different world.  We explore the small towns with their quaint but busy downtowns--Santa Clara, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and Palo Alto.  All inland but with a cool and refreshing breeze  and the temperatures only in the 80‘s! 

After a quiet weekend we are off to the hustle, bustle and crowds of Santa Cruz.  We drive to Carmel/Monterey area searching for the Carmel Mission.  It is truly one of the most beautiful missions. 

Finally, on the day of the surprise, we leave early but make a mistake heading north to Santa Rosa.  Instead of crossing the Richmond/Rafael Bridge we stay on the 101 straight through downtown San Francisco and across the Golden Gate Bridge.  It is beautiful driving across the bridge but it does make us a little late. 

The SURPRISE is on all of us when we end up meeting in the parking lot--literally in the same parking spot of our rendezvous location.  It can’t be—it was, right in front of us--ERIC!  As we turn into the parking lot of Oliver’s Thomas says, is that Eric right in front of us?  We turn right into the parking lot into a tandem parking spot—so we pull all the way forward.  And what is happening behind us becomes the surprise.  Eric turns left into the parking lot and pulls right behind our car saying to Jan, that guy took my parking space and that car is from AZ and the license is GO4EVER, and that is my mom getting out of the car!  SURPRISE!  Okay, it doesn’t go exactly as planned but not only is Eric surprised-- we all are!

Surprise over—on to see Dozer.  Remember Dozer?  My new best friend, now my tallest friend from Safari West.  Lunch at the park is our way to get in for a visit to Dozer.  We spend at least a half hour taking pictures and encouraging Dozer to participate in the visit!  

Our first full day with Eric and Jan we take a drive--we find ourselves in the middle of the redwoods in the morning and in the afternoon we are driving along the coast! That evening Eric’s birthday dinner is at Khoom Lanna Thai Restaurant downtown Santa Rosa.  If anyone is in Santa Rosa, don’t miss this Thai!  

The second day brings a short trip to Sonoma for the last of the twenty-one missions. First, we stop at Quarryhill Botanical Gardens--located on the hill surrounded by grapevines.  

The next stop is lunch at El Molinos, for world-class Mexican food in a converted service station.  Also, we check out the Fairmont in this little town close to Sonoma, and even find a very small Starbucks. 

Sonoma is a quaint town with a square in the middle of town surrounded by vineyards.  We visit the Sebastiani Winery with the purpose of buying a bottle of wine for Judi.  She was okay with scaling the courtyard walls at home after the UPS guy threw over a package that could not have withstood the monsoon rains--thank you, Judi!  

Too soon we start back to Santa Rosa and dinner at Rustic, located in the Francis Ford Coppola Winery--an Italian dinner outside looking over the vineyards. 

Time just goes by too fast--it is now time to head south back to the desert. We take in more missions in on the route south, Mission San Rafael, Mission San Juan Bautista.  Of course, we stop in San Miguel at Dos Amigos for another great lunch! 

The SEARCH is of coastal towns.  It seems like one little beach town on top of another little beach town.  The beach neighborhoods are jammed with one house on top of another, with streets that are almost impassable.  We finding that one town runs into another, so that we never know when we leave one and enter another.  From San Diego to San Francisco the traffic is heavy and the small towns are crowded and too busy.

(Copyright 2011)