The desert is hopping!

Lots of money being spent in the area this week. The Super Bowl and the FBR Open are both on the same week-end and the local channels can barely contain themselves. :-) Celeb sightings everywhere, except evidently where I go! We are going to attend the FBR Open but couldn't quite afford the ticket price for the Super Bowl. Andy was hoping he would get a shot at a ticket with his season ticket but wasn't lucky in that department. There were very few given the shot at that. Anyway, it is a very exciting week here in the Phoenix area.

The weather has been cooler but I was sweating after our walk today. I feel guilty saying that after hearing from my Minnesota sister that they had a SEVENTY FOUR degree temp drop in 12 hours. God, I do not miss that crap!!! I also saw that my former school dismissed today at noon due to terrible weather. Drive safely all you mid-westerners!! And I will make sure I put sun screen on each day. Sorry, that was mean.

Well, I will throw a couple of pictures up of Drew just because it's my blog and I can. :-) The first picture shows Drew doing the Richard Nixon impersonation I taught him.........

Dogsitting on a rainy Sunday

Megan, Andy and Drew flew to Omaha on Friday so Mark and I have been watching our "granddog" Sox. Friday and Saturday were absolutely gorgeous days and Sox and I took long walks. Today, not so good.......although much needed rain in the desert is falling. It is supposed to rain all day. Sox is just lounging around the town house and has discovered our bed. I love Sox like my own but must admit I am super glad she is on Mark's side of the bed................ :-) That's what we get for not making the bed immediately upon arising this morning. Hope you all are enjoying your week-end. We are!

Drew's first hair cut

Last night Andy cut Drew's hair......

Back in the saddle

After our fantastic 3 day week-end it was time to get back to my day job.....and that job was as sweet as ever!

A Monday in Southern AZ...Beauty and life in the desert

This morning we checked out of our hotel and had one more stop to make before heading back to Phoenix, the AZ-Sonora Desert Museum. I am extremely happy we decided to check out this spot. It was a wonderful experience and just beautiful! It was a mix of desert wildlife and vegetation and well marked the entire time. Lots of walking along great trails and most of them were paved. If any of you three or four people that read this blog ever venture to the Tucson area Mark and I strongly recommend this park. It was great!

We arrived back at the town house around 3:00. After unloading the car, Mark decided a quick nap was in order after our long week-end and I decided that I had to go see Drew for just a little grandson "fix". He was as cute as ever. :-) I have had too many posts here lately without him in the picture gallery so will remedy that tomorrow!

Picture explanations, whether they are needed or not. :-)

1. Mark checks out some of the vegetation on the walk.
2. One of the beautiful scenes from our walk today. Not bad, huh?
3. Agave plants. I really love these desert plants and have some planted at the townhouse.
4. A barn owl. It weighed less than a pound and we guessed 2 and three pounds! It was all feathers evidently!
5. Desert big horned sheep. They really blend in with nature!
6. A havelina. Look like an ugly duckling cousin of an Iowa pig. They were butt ugly, actually! Sister Sharon says they frequent her golf course at Terravita. Looking at the teeth on these creatures, I doubt I would go near them!
7. A long nosed prickly pear cactus
8. An ocelot sunning itself on a rock
9. A pin cushion cactus
10. A Raptor Owl. This creature was gorgeous and the pic does not do it justice
11. A fox. She was sunning on what looked like a purple silk piece of material. A rough life for this fox!
12. A wolf. Mark and I decided our late dog Mindy had some wolf in her as she looked very similar to these wolves in this area.
13. A wild turkey

A Sunday in southern AZ...it's WWII all over again!

Today we ventured to the Pima Air and Space Museum here in Tucson. Arrived at 9:45, took a tram tour from 10:00 to 11:00 then spent until 4:00 just walking through the massive airplane display outside and in several hangers. It is the third largest air museum in the country and it was pretty awesome. Mark is a big WWII buff and this awesome display of fighter planes and bombers and hundreds of other types of planes was a dream come true for him! I am the peace loving type of "make love, not war" so some of the fire power these things produced left me a bit speechless. :-) We met a WWII fighter pilot in one hanger who was signing autographs for his book. I guess the old guy was quite the pilot in his younger days. Very colorful fellow who flew many successful missions AND survived 5 marriages....all his wives are dead! I also learned he is from Newton, Iowa! Small world.

I was very interested in the Air Force One plane on display which was used from '61-'64 for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. It was nice inside, but I thought it would be more "plush" for a President but then remembered that was over 40+ years ago. Makes me feel old. One can only imagine how nice Air Force One is today for "the decider." :-)

The pictures:
1. This "little" plane was called the Super Guppy, a NASA plane that hauled the Saturn boosters and other space craft parts. Look closely and you can see Mark standing below it.
2. SR-71 Blackbird, a VERY impressive Mach 3 strategic reconnaissance aircraft that could fly from LA to DC in one hour and 4 minutes, back in the early 70's!
3. Air Force One used by Kennedy and Johnson.
4. Mark and I descending that plane.
5. Designates this AF One
6. A B17 G Flying Fortress. Quite huge and a real war breaker, I guess
7. Mics. planes

A Saturday in southern Arizona..first stop, Boothill

Mark and I became midwest tourists today and left Phoenix this morning and headed to the Tucson area. We went about 70 miles past Tucson to the historical town of Tombstone, AZ. Very commercialized, but great fun and most interesting. We learned all about the history of the town "too tough to die" and the scene of the shootout at the OK Corral. We were there about 5 hours and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We had a great lunch at a very fun saloon, Big Nosed Kate's and then walked the streets peering into shops and visiting the court house museum which was our favorite stop in Tombstone. We arrived back at our hotel in Tucson, the Windmill Suites, about 5:00 pm. We are now enjoying a cocktail in our very luxurious suite. :-) We were upgraded to a first floor patio suite so are not complaining about our room one little bit! The photos are from Boothill, the hanging gallows, the court room, our saloon hall lunch and our room tonight in Tucson. Tomorrow we will visit spots around Tucson. Until then.......

Happy Birthday, Dear Drew

Our grandson is one year old today! I cannot believe how quickly this year flew by for all of us. Megan and Andy had a party for Drew on Sunday after Sharon and I finished participating in the P.F. Chang marathon. It was Christmas all over again for Drew. :-) He had a particularly good time with his very own cake. Tonight we are going to Oregano's for a pizza dinner as pizza is Drew's favorite big boy food. :-) Have a great second year, Drew!!! P.S. The last picture is actually a video.

We made it! Thirteen miles!

Well, actually it was 15 miles by the time we got to where we could get picked up. Sharon and I (Megan wasn't able to go) had a great time at this marathon. The mass of humanity behind us and in front of us on this was remarkable. We felt we did really well and we plan to make this a yearly event. There were bands performing almost every mile of the way, cheerleaders keeping us pumped, etc. That all really helped because as I thought about this before hand and made the comparison that this was going to be farther than I drove to work for 33 years to Ogden it started to make me weary. I could not imagine just getting up one day and walking to Ogden. How boring! That is why the bands and cheer leaders and thousands of other people really helped spur you on. We both were pretty tired that evening and went to bed early but otherwise we felt great and still do. It was a great day!

Another week-end

It is a bright, sunny day unfolding here. I went for a walk around the housing development and it was crisp this morning but not bad. Didn't walk for too long.....need to save my feet and legs for tomorrow, the PF Chang half marathon and our 13 mile stroll along downtown Phoenix or Tempe, not sure which city it is actually taking place. :-) Megan and I went to the convention center yesterday and picked up our timing chip, race number and other assorted goodies. I guess you can actually go online and see people's time with the use of this chip. Ugh. :-) Oh well, one can only walk so fast! It makes me really admire a runner who does the entire 26 miles. The training involved must be monumental and horrible on one's knees I would imagine. There were a lot of very, very fit people picking up their stuff in that hall. I felt like John Travolta in Hairspray among all those fit runners and had a moment of hesitation doing this but it IS only walking, I decided. :-)

Took lots of pictures of Drew this week and will attach a few of the ones I really liked. Have a great week-end everyone.