Mom wanted to meet in Kite to visit Daddy's grave since he has been gone a year on the 15th. It dawned on me I could go down to Dublin a day early and do some family research that I have been wanting to do for probably two years or more. I had enough points built up with LaQuinta that I could get a room for only $15!! So the plans were made!
It was nasty weather today, of course. Mom and I say that it always rains when we get together, but with the weather we've had this fall, I can't say it's our fault! It was foggy and misting rain the entire way. I still made good time once I got out of Covington (I had an eye doctor appointment! My eyes are great, BTW! Doctor was happy. Pressure was only 18 in the left eye! Damage that was there in 2007 is completely gone!) and got to Dublin about 12:30 pm. Once I found some lunch, I headed to the library to get to work!
The Laurens County Library is absolutely beautiful! They have a HUGE Heritage Room with the most helpful lady who works there. (Some GREAT customer service for a change!) I was researching my paternal grandmother's family (Drake) today, and she just kept pulling books for me! It was great! Except I ran out of time and will HAVE to come back. I really don't mind cause it's a pleasure to research here!
I looked at newspapers (Wrightsville, Swainsboro, and Dublin) on micofilm until I was cross-eyed and nodding off! But I did find one item I was looking for, and I found some other miscellaneous items. The jackpot came when the library lady found a book on the Drakes!! It is full of information about our direct line! The book was just published in 2005 and the author's address was included in the book, so I am definitely going to try to contact him and see if there is a copy available for purchase. I NEED that book!!
I really don't even know what all I found today... my head is spinning with the information. I've got to get it home and sort it all out. I do know that my re-organizing my genealogy information into 3-ring binders works great! I brought the Drake binder with me, and I was able to flip right to information I needed. I was so glad to put the system into practice and see how I need to tweak it... and the best part is I didn't find much of anything to tweek this time around!
(Except I do need to remember to pack a pencil!!)
When I left the library about 6pm, it was pouring rain! It's difficult navigating in an unfamiliar town in the dark AND the rain (even with my GPS). I went to my motel, checked in, dumped bags in the room, and headed out to do some shopping and get some dinner. I tried to go to Sonny's BBQ, but after sitting in the drive thru for 5 minutes, I finally looked up and read the sign that said "Closing at 5 today for company Christmas party"!!!! I was relieved to just grab something fast and get back here to the motel to relax.
I have to meet Mom in Kite about 9:30 in the morning. That's about 45 minutes from here, so I'd better get to bed so I can get up and get moving early!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
October 2009 Roundup
Better late than never, right??!
What books did I read this month? Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (Book Club)
Magazines? Guideposts; Reader's Digest
What movies did I see this month? A Mighty Heart (TV/DVR); Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941 version w/Spencer Tracey, Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner) (TV/DVR)
TV Shows? America's Most Wanted; The Cleaner; Dog the Bounty Hunter; Army Wives; CMT Insider; Oprah; Medium; Monk; Criminal Minds; NCIS; NCIS Los Angeles; Two and a Half Men; The Forgotten; 48 Hours Mystery; The Vampire Diaries; Ghost Whisperer; Bones
What special days did I celebrate and how? Tracy's Birthday - we celebrated with Mom in Augusta and then on his actual birthday, we had dinner at Bugaboo and the Moose sang to him!
What illness or health concerns did I have this month? IBS - bad attack at the airport terminal gate while waiting for our flight home!; minor sinus problems due to all the rain
What fun things did I do with friends and/or family? Trip to Phoenix and the Grand Canyon with my mom; visited my mom's sister, who I had never met!
What new foods, recipes, or restaurants did I try this month? Tried a new recipe: Pork with Roasted Peppers & Potatoes (yum!)
What special or unusual purchases did I make? Lots of magnets from our trip; a plant-your-own cactus from the Grand Canyon
What were this month's disappointments? Again, all the rain... I NEED sunshine!
What were my accomplishments this month? Did a genealogy job for a paying customer; Navigating our travels
What books did I read this month? Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (Book Club)
Magazines? Guideposts; Reader's Digest
What movies did I see this month? A Mighty Heart (TV/DVR); Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941 version w/Spencer Tracey, Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner) (TV/DVR)
TV Shows? America's Most Wanted; The Cleaner; Dog the Bounty Hunter; Army Wives; CMT Insider; Oprah; Medium; Monk; Criminal Minds; NCIS; NCIS Los Angeles; Two and a Half Men; The Forgotten; 48 Hours Mystery; The Vampire Diaries; Ghost Whisperer; Bones
What special days did I celebrate and how? Tracy's Birthday - we celebrated with Mom in Augusta and then on his actual birthday, we had dinner at Bugaboo and the Moose sang to him!
What illness or health concerns did I have this month? IBS - bad attack at the airport terminal gate while waiting for our flight home!; minor sinus problems due to all the rain
What fun things did I do with friends and/or family? Trip to Phoenix and the Grand Canyon with my mom; visited my mom's sister, who I had never met!
What new foods, recipes, or restaurants did I try this month? Tried a new recipe: Pork with Roasted Peppers & Potatoes (yum!)
What special or unusual purchases did I make? Lots of magnets from our trip; a plant-your-own cactus from the Grand Canyon
What were this month's disappointments? Again, all the rain... I NEED sunshine!
What were my accomplishments this month? Did a genealogy job for a paying customer; Navigating our travels
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Random notes from Phoenix/Grand Canyon trip...
... that will probably only make sense to me! But I will need them for scrapbooking the pictures later!
10/15/09 - Where we viewed the sunset at the Grand Canyon was Mohave Point.
The tree needles were from a juniper tree.
Other tree I photographed was a Pinyon Pine.
We met the shuttle bus at Yavapai Lodge.
10/16/09 - The Grand Canyon is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
Ponderosa Pine can reach 1100 ft. It's bark smells like vanilla.
The Banana Yucci plant (resembles the palmetto) grows fruit about every three years. The Indians used the sharp needle points and fibers to sew clothes.
Visited Moran Point.
It is 20 degrees warmer down on the Colorado River at Phantom Ranch.
Rangers have to rescue 350-400 people a year. There is a $3,000 charge for a helicopter rescue.
There have been 11 drive offs at the Grand Canyon since the movie Thelma and Louise, including one just in the last couple of months.
Visited Lipan Point.
The Grand Canyon is 14-18 miles across and over one mile down. It is 7000 feet above sea level. It is over 280 miles long.
The Colorado River carved the canyon. The river is 50-100 ft deep; 100-900 ft across; water is 47 degrees.
Visited Yaki Point.
North Rim is 1000 ft higher than South Rim (elevation).
Visited Duck-on-a-Rock and viewed Vishnu Temple.
Visited Desert View and climbed Watch Tower.
The Watch Tower was designed by Mary Colter. It is 4 stories tall. The top is the highest point at the South Rim.
Indians used these towers to keep a lookout for danger approaching.
10/18/09 - We got on the Apache Trail in Apache Junction, Arizona.
Saw Canyon Lake, Superstition Mountain, the town Tortilla Flat.
Area of the Lost Dutchman gold mine.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Dutchman%27s_Gold_Mine)
10/19/09 - Desert Botanical Garden
Exhibit: Chihuly - the nature of glass
Saguaro don't grow limbs until they are at least 30-40 years old.
Sonora Desert
10/15/09 - Where we viewed the sunset at the Grand Canyon was Mohave Point.
The tree needles were from a juniper tree.
Other tree I photographed was a Pinyon Pine.
We met the shuttle bus at Yavapai Lodge.
10/16/09 - The Grand Canyon is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
Ponderosa Pine can reach 1100 ft. It's bark smells like vanilla.
The Banana Yucci plant (resembles the palmetto) grows fruit about every three years. The Indians used the sharp needle points and fibers to sew clothes.
Visited Moran Point.
It is 20 degrees warmer down on the Colorado River at Phantom Ranch.
Rangers have to rescue 350-400 people a year. There is a $3,000 charge for a helicopter rescue.
There have been 11 drive offs at the Grand Canyon since the movie Thelma and Louise, including one just in the last couple of months.
Visited Lipan Point.
The Grand Canyon is 14-18 miles across and over one mile down. It is 7000 feet above sea level. It is over 280 miles long.
The Colorado River carved the canyon. The river is 50-100 ft deep; 100-900 ft across; water is 47 degrees.
Visited Yaki Point.
North Rim is 1000 ft higher than South Rim (elevation).
Visited Duck-on-a-Rock and viewed Vishnu Temple.
Visited Desert View and climbed Watch Tower.
The Watch Tower was designed by Mary Colter. It is 4 stories tall. The top is the highest point at the South Rim.
Indians used these towers to keep a lookout for danger approaching.
10/18/09 - We got on the Apache Trail in Apache Junction, Arizona.
Saw Canyon Lake, Superstition Mountain, the town Tortilla Flat.
Area of the Lost Dutchman gold mine.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Dutchman%27s_Gold_Mine)
10/19/09 - Desert Botanical Garden
Exhibit: Chihuly - the nature of glass
Saguaro don't grow limbs until they are at least 30-40 years old.
Sonora Desert
September 2009 Roundup
What books did I read this month? Shadowfires by Dean Koontz (Audio Book); She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb
Magazines? Guideposts; People
What movies did I see this month? Psyho (TV/DVR); Ocean's Eleven (DVD) (repeat); Horton Hears a Who (Netflix); Gran Torino (Netflix); War (TV/DVR); What Happens in Vegas (Netflix); Treasure Island (TV/DVR); Lara Croft Tomb Raider (TV/DVR)
TV Shows? 24; Leverage; America's Most Wanted; John Edward's Cross Country; The Cleaner; Dog the Bounty Hunter; Army Wives; CMT Insider; Oprah; Medium; Monk; Criminal Minds; NCIS; NCIS Los Angeles; Two and a Half Men; Community; The Forgotten; 48 Hours Mystery; The Soup; Chelsea Lately; Dateline on ID; Golden Girls; Roseanne; Bewitched; Raging Planet; The Vampire Diaries
What special days did I celebrate and how? Mom's birthday - She came up for a visit. We had ice cream cake and planned our trip to Phoenix; Carolyn's Birthday - we celebrated at SDV with cupcakes, singing and gifts
What illness or health concerns did I have this month? IBS - bad attack on the 28th; had some skin tags removed at the dermatologist
What fun things did I do with friends and/or family? Attended Scrapper's Dream Vacation (SDV) in Norcross with Carolyn, Christy, and Stacey; took Stacey to lunch for her birthday and went shopping with her afterwards; cropping at Archiver's with Carolyn
What new foods, recipes, or restaurants did I try this month? None
What special or unusual purchases did I make? A magnetic board and easel to use for scrapbooking
What were this month's disappointments? All the rain and flooding... I miss the sun! And I did not finish reading Moby Dick... but then NO ONE in my book club did!
What were my accomplishments this month? Getting my routines back in place
Magazines? Guideposts; People
What movies did I see this month? Psyho (TV/DVR); Ocean's Eleven (DVD) (repeat); Horton Hears a Who (Netflix); Gran Torino (Netflix); War (TV/DVR); What Happens in Vegas (Netflix); Treasure Island (TV/DVR); Lara Croft Tomb Raider (TV/DVR)
TV Shows? 24; Leverage; America's Most Wanted; John Edward's Cross Country; The Cleaner; Dog the Bounty Hunter; Army Wives; CMT Insider; Oprah; Medium; Monk; Criminal Minds; NCIS; NCIS Los Angeles; Two and a Half Men; Community; The Forgotten; 48 Hours Mystery; The Soup; Chelsea Lately; Dateline on ID; Golden Girls; Roseanne; Bewitched; Raging Planet; The Vampire Diaries
What special days did I celebrate and how? Mom's birthday - She came up for a visit. We had ice cream cake and planned our trip to Phoenix; Carolyn's Birthday - we celebrated at SDV with cupcakes, singing and gifts
What illness or health concerns did I have this month? IBS - bad attack on the 28th; had some skin tags removed at the dermatologist
What fun things did I do with friends and/or family? Attended Scrapper's Dream Vacation (SDV) in Norcross with Carolyn, Christy, and Stacey; took Stacey to lunch for her birthday and went shopping with her afterwards; cropping at Archiver's with Carolyn
What new foods, recipes, or restaurants did I try this month? None
What special or unusual purchases did I make? A magnetic board and easel to use for scrapbooking
What were this month's disappointments? All the rain and flooding... I miss the sun! And I did not finish reading Moby Dick... but then NO ONE in my book club did!
What were my accomplishments this month? Getting my routines back in place
Phoenix/Grand Canyon Trip, Day 7, Tuesday, October 20
Traveling day... we stuffed everything into our suitcases (I think Mom had to jump up and down on hers to get it closed and zipped!) and prayed they wouldn't be over the weight limit.
We left in plenty of time to get breakfast (Chicken Minis again! LOL) and drive to the airport. Of course, the time flies by. We turned in the rental van and caught the shuttle to the airport. We even had time to do some shopping when we got there! Got checked in fine (no overweight suitcases!!) and went through security. Sky Harbor airport advertises itself as "America's Friendliest Airport" and that is true... except for the TSA people. They seem to either be bored so they choose random people to harass (Mom's theory) or they are on a power trip (my theory). Either way, they are not friendly.
We made it through and found our gate. The seats were right by a large plate-glass window. I must have gotten too hot because I proceeded to get sick and have an IBS attack right there in the gate area! I was so terrified that I would be sick on the plane. I did that once on a plane to Sarasota, and it was miserable... and scary. I do not want to repeat that EVER. Finally after two trips to the restroom, cold, wet towels on my face and neck, and sitting away from the window, I felt better. I was fine on the flight home, thank goodness. That was a close one!
It was another smooth flight and we even landed in Atlanta 15 minutes early. We got down to the baggage claim, and our luggage was already going around on the carousel!! Unbelievable for Atlanta! We made our way to the shuttle bus, got back to my car, and headed out. When I called Tracy, he said he was cooking spaghetti for us! WOW! What a homecoming. I headed to the house double-quick!
I am glad to be home (as long as the sun will shine!) and the cats were very happy to have their mommy home. It is wonderful to go, and it is nice to return home.
We left in plenty of time to get breakfast (Chicken Minis again! LOL) and drive to the airport. Of course, the time flies by. We turned in the rental van and caught the shuttle to the airport. We even had time to do some shopping when we got there! Got checked in fine (no overweight suitcases!!) and went through security. Sky Harbor airport advertises itself as "America's Friendliest Airport" and that is true... except for the TSA people. They seem to either be bored so they choose random people to harass (Mom's theory) or they are on a power trip (my theory). Either way, they are not friendly.
We made it through and found our gate. The seats were right by a large plate-glass window. I must have gotten too hot because I proceeded to get sick and have an IBS attack right there in the gate area! I was so terrified that I would be sick on the plane. I did that once on a plane to Sarasota, and it was miserable... and scary. I do not want to repeat that EVER. Finally after two trips to the restroom, cold, wet towels on my face and neck, and sitting away from the window, I felt better. I was fine on the flight home, thank goodness. That was a close one!
It was another smooth flight and we even landed in Atlanta 15 minutes early. We got down to the baggage claim, and our luggage was already going around on the carousel!! Unbelievable for Atlanta! We made our way to the shuttle bus, got back to my car, and headed out. When I called Tracy, he said he was cooking spaghetti for us! WOW! What a homecoming. I headed to the house double-quick!
I am glad to be home (as long as the sun will shine!) and the cats were very happy to have their mommy home. It is wonderful to go, and it is nice to return home.
Phoenix/Grand Canyon Trip, Day 6, Monday, October 19
Our last day in Phoenix... and there was sooo much we wanted to do and see and knew there was not enough time to squeeze it all in. After much discussion, we finally came up with something of a semblance of a plan.
First of all, breakfast. Another Chick-fil-A morning! I do love those Chicken Minis! Then off to Wal-Mart to buy another memory card for my camera... since I had already filled one and the backup I brought wasn't big enough to hold more than 10 pictures!!! Then we had to find the Mail Plus store to ship stuff home. I went ahead and mailed the scrapbooking stuff I had purchased since I wanted to be sure the paper wouldn't get bent. Mom had a plate she wanted to ship home; she was afraid it would get broken in her suitcase. We prayed that with getting this stuff mailed, our suitcases wouldn't be over the weight limit!
Aunt Evelyn and Ted had indicated the evening before that they would go to the Botanical Gardens with us, but we knew it was too much walking and would be too hot for them. So we went ahead ourselves. We were right - it was a lot of walking and it was VERY hot. It was a nice place, though. I took lots of pictures of the desert plants... so very different from what we saw at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in March! They also had a Monarch butterfly house... I took lots of pictures in there.
We didn't linger at the Gardens... it was just too hot. Mom was even getting queasy from the heat. We decided to skip the zoo for the same reason. We started back across Phoenix to pick up Aunt Evelyn and Ted for an outing with them to the Challenger Space Center. Phoenix is a lot like Atlanta in that it takes quite awhile to cross town, but for a different reason. In Atlanta, it's the traffic; in Phoenix, it's just a long way across town! We only encountered two traffic jams while visiting... and one of those was due to road construction (also like Atlanta!).
While driving back, I got a phone call from ADT saying that the security alarm was going off at Mom's house! (Motion detector in the family room) We figured it was the cats, but told them to send the police over anyway. I told them "We are in Arizona; we're not going to make it!" So Mom tried to reach the lady feeding her cats. Couldn't reach her. Called ADT back and now the motion detector in the hallway had also gone off. We started laughing cause we could just picture her cats chasing each other through the house! Mom found out that the lady she left her key with had an emergency and had given the key to someone else. That person did not know to put the alarm in "Stay" mode so the motion detectors would not be activated. Someone finally went over and met the police and we thought it was all settled... until about 3 hours later when Tracy called to say ADT had called and Mom's alarm was going off AGAIN! It was a comedy routine, I swear! It finally got taken care of... but who knows what she found when she got home!
By the time we drove back, tried to find somewhere to eat lunch, and got gas, it was after 2:30 before we got back to Aunt Evelyn and Ted's house. (We did try Whataburger - pretty good.) This meant we were really late getting to the Space Center... especially since they close at 4!! We got over there and did a short walk through... Ted was really enjoying it since he worked for Boeing and worked on space ships... Aunt Evelyn, not so much. It was just too much walking for her. It pretty much worked out then. We went back to their house and took some pictures of all of us. Aunt Evelyn had pulled some pictures for us to look at. Unfortunately most of what she pulled was of Ted's family... and she wanted to tell us who every person was, their background, everything. I tried to lead her back to the Tapley family a couple of times, but she was having none of it! I finally got some pictures of her and Ted's wedding and one picture of her at 6 months old and counted my blessings that I got those. We went to dinner at a great Mexican restaurant (Ted almost licked his plate clean!! LOL) and then went over to Wal-Mart and I copied the pictures for Mom and me.
It was late by this time... 9 o'clock - so we took Aunt Evelyn and Ted home and told them good-bye. It wasn't long before Mom and I were asleep ourselves. We knew the next day would be a long one, what with the traveling and the time difference.
First of all, breakfast. Another Chick-fil-A morning! I do love those Chicken Minis! Then off to Wal-Mart to buy another memory card for my camera... since I had already filled one and the backup I brought wasn't big enough to hold more than 10 pictures!!! Then we had to find the Mail Plus store to ship stuff home. I went ahead and mailed the scrapbooking stuff I had purchased since I wanted to be sure the paper wouldn't get bent. Mom had a plate she wanted to ship home; she was afraid it would get broken in her suitcase. We prayed that with getting this stuff mailed, our suitcases wouldn't be over the weight limit!
Aunt Evelyn and Ted had indicated the evening before that they would go to the Botanical Gardens with us, but we knew it was too much walking and would be too hot for them. So we went ahead ourselves. We were right - it was a lot of walking and it was VERY hot. It was a nice place, though. I took lots of pictures of the desert plants... so very different from what we saw at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in March! They also had a Monarch butterfly house... I took lots of pictures in there.
We didn't linger at the Gardens... it was just too hot. Mom was even getting queasy from the heat. We decided to skip the zoo for the same reason. We started back across Phoenix to pick up Aunt Evelyn and Ted for an outing with them to the Challenger Space Center. Phoenix is a lot like Atlanta in that it takes quite awhile to cross town, but for a different reason. In Atlanta, it's the traffic; in Phoenix, it's just a long way across town! We only encountered two traffic jams while visiting... and one of those was due to road construction (also like Atlanta!).
While driving back, I got a phone call from ADT saying that the security alarm was going off at Mom's house! (Motion detector in the family room) We figured it was the cats, but told them to send the police over anyway. I told them "We are in Arizona; we're not going to make it!" So Mom tried to reach the lady feeding her cats. Couldn't reach her. Called ADT back and now the motion detector in the hallway had also gone off. We started laughing cause we could just picture her cats chasing each other through the house! Mom found out that the lady she left her key with had an emergency and had given the key to someone else. That person did not know to put the alarm in "Stay" mode so the motion detectors would not be activated. Someone finally went over and met the police and we thought it was all settled... until about 3 hours later when Tracy called to say ADT had called and Mom's alarm was going off AGAIN! It was a comedy routine, I swear! It finally got taken care of... but who knows what she found when she got home!
By the time we drove back, tried to find somewhere to eat lunch, and got gas, it was after 2:30 before we got back to Aunt Evelyn and Ted's house. (We did try Whataburger - pretty good.) This meant we were really late getting to the Space Center... especially since they close at 4!! We got over there and did a short walk through... Ted was really enjoying it since he worked for Boeing and worked on space ships... Aunt Evelyn, not so much. It was just too much walking for her. It pretty much worked out then. We went back to their house and took some pictures of all of us. Aunt Evelyn had pulled some pictures for us to look at. Unfortunately most of what she pulled was of Ted's family... and she wanted to tell us who every person was, their background, everything. I tried to lead her back to the Tapley family a couple of times, but she was having none of it! I finally got some pictures of her and Ted's wedding and one picture of her at 6 months old and counted my blessings that I got those. We went to dinner at a great Mexican restaurant (Ted almost licked his plate clean!! LOL) and then went over to Wal-Mart and I copied the pictures for Mom and me.
It was late by this time... 9 o'clock - so we took Aunt Evelyn and Ted home and told them good-bye. It wasn't long before Mom and I were asleep ourselves. We knew the next day would be a long one, what with the traveling and the time difference.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Phoenix/Grand Canyon Trip, Day 5, Sunday, October 18
After grabbing breakfast and a not-too-quick visit to the Goodwill store, Mom and I picked up Aunt Evelyn and Ted for a drive on the Apache Trail.
The trail is a drive through the desert, starting in Apache Junction (a suburb of Phoenix on the east side of town). It winds up and down mountains, past a beautiful lake, through Tortilla Flat and on to the Roosevelt Dam (though we didn't go that far). It was an absolutely beautiful drive. Around every curve was another vista to ooh and ahh over. I stopped so many times to take pictures! Canyon Lake was an absolute surprise. Even knowing it was there was no preparation for the amazing site it is! Perfectly blue, with boaters and skiers, and an overlook to take pictures from. Perfect! Ted seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself - he was snapping pictures himself quite a bit. Poor Aunt Evelyn, I hope she enjoyed it - she said she did, but she couldn't get out of the car at every stop. We drove to about 3 miles past Tortilla Flat and turned around. We wanted to return them home before dark. We stopped briefly in Tortilla Flat and bought some magnets and postcards. The town is really just 2-3 buildings in the old West style. A restaurant/gift shop and an ice cream/gift shop. It was amazingly busy this Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful day so people were out enjoying it, including us.
I took pictures of highway signs, the scenery, cactus, flowers, houses, you name it!
We ate lunch at Chili's before we hit the trail. Aunt Evelyn was very confused, thinking that the name "Chili's" and the commercials they have meant all they served was spicy food. But we reassured her, and she and Ted really seemed to enjoy their lunch. Ted can clean a plate! You would think he had not eating in weeks! Bless their hearts, they have been cooped up in the house for a year... since neither one can drive right now. Ted had Valley Fever earlier this year and it has a long recovery period. He is hoping to be cleared to drive again in the next couple of months. They have limited transportation to the doctor, pharmacy, and grocery store. Other than that, they are pretty much housebound. We did take them to the bank and the Sprint store when we got into town on Wednesday. And I can tell they are really enjoying these outings we are taking them on.
They insisted on stopping at their favorite restaurant, Coco's, for dinner. It seemed they knew everyone there and had missed them for the past year. After dropping them back home, Mom and I went straight to our motel, and I was too tired to even type this update! I fell asleep before 10pm and had to rouse myself enough about 10:30 to get up and take my contacts out!
The trail is a drive through the desert, starting in Apache Junction (a suburb of Phoenix on the east side of town). It winds up and down mountains, past a beautiful lake, through Tortilla Flat and on to the Roosevelt Dam (though we didn't go that far). It was an absolutely beautiful drive. Around every curve was another vista to ooh and ahh over. I stopped so many times to take pictures! Canyon Lake was an absolute surprise. Even knowing it was there was no preparation for the amazing site it is! Perfectly blue, with boaters and skiers, and an overlook to take pictures from. Perfect! Ted seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself - he was snapping pictures himself quite a bit. Poor Aunt Evelyn, I hope she enjoyed it - she said she did, but she couldn't get out of the car at every stop. We drove to about 3 miles past Tortilla Flat and turned around. We wanted to return them home before dark. We stopped briefly in Tortilla Flat and bought some magnets and postcards. The town is really just 2-3 buildings in the old West style. A restaurant/gift shop and an ice cream/gift shop. It was amazingly busy this Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful day so people were out enjoying it, including us.
I took pictures of highway signs, the scenery, cactus, flowers, houses, you name it!
We ate lunch at Chili's before we hit the trail. Aunt Evelyn was very confused, thinking that the name "Chili's" and the commercials they have meant all they served was spicy food. But we reassured her, and she and Ted really seemed to enjoy their lunch. Ted can clean a plate! You would think he had not eating in weeks! Bless their hearts, they have been cooped up in the house for a year... since neither one can drive right now. Ted had Valley Fever earlier this year and it has a long recovery period. He is hoping to be cleared to drive again in the next couple of months. They have limited transportation to the doctor, pharmacy, and grocery store. Other than that, they are pretty much housebound. We did take them to the bank and the Sprint store when we got into town on Wednesday. And I can tell they are really enjoying these outings we are taking them on.
They insisted on stopping at their favorite restaurant, Coco's, for dinner. It seemed they knew everyone there and had missed them for the past year. After dropping them back home, Mom and I went straight to our motel, and I was too tired to even type this update! I fell asleep before 10pm and had to rouse myself enough about 10:30 to get up and take my contacts out!
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