These are the Days of our lives...

At every RV park we have been in, there is a tradition that people meet for a social hour. We call it "Cocktail Hour". At four o'clock, you carry your lawn chair to a central location and bring your drink and a snack if you have one. We have met many awesome people this way. We are camping at Valle Del Oro and meet with some couples from Colorado and Wyoming. They have been coming back to Valle for 9 years. They have welcomed us like part of their family. You hear stories of their journeys and places we need to see. It will take us years of this nomadic life style to see and do everything we would like to do. There is a hiking trial north of here that I was going to go walking on. It is beautiful and green with cactus in bloom. At cocktail hour two of the ladies said they saw two rattle snakes this week. They even took a picture of one. So, needless to say, Mike and I will not be hiking in the desert!

We are back in Mesa. Jacob flew home today. It was a whirlwind 10 days. Chris said he slept all the way home from the Peoria Airport. We broke him in on retirement. If it were easy, everyone would do it. He even learned how to play shuffle board. Can you believe he beat us? He is a natural. Yesterday, he got to experience "cocktail hour" with the neighbors. The ladies were very attentive to Jake and he showed them his souvenirs. I fell in love with this shirt. Jake wore it home on the air plane.

We are at the Cochise Terrace RV Resort in Benson. We are about 8 miles from Kartchner Caverns. We are going there tomorrow at 8:00am. Deb and Jacob spent the afternoon swimming. The view is beautiful here.

These pictures were taken at Pacific Beach in San Diego. The water was very cold!!! We went whale watching on the Pacific Hornblower. It was a beautiful sunny day and we saw three whales. If you click on the picture, it will enlarge. To go back, use the arrow at the top of the page. We were very lucky as this is the end of the migrating season. We also saw sea lions sunning on the bouys and the dock.

If you click on the picture below, you can see us. Jacob and I are in the second row behind the man in the yellow shirt and big hat. We got up close and personal views of Shamu. We did end up getting wet, but again, I wore my Sea World poncho. It was simply amazing. We went to Sea World for a day and a half. Jacob talked me into going on the roller coaster with him. Mike bought me a rain poncho. It was a good thing. We definitely got wet!

We started the day off by going to the "Center of the World" in Felecity, CA. We didn't even know this place existed but turned out to be pretty neat. Then we went to the Imperial Sand Dunes in California and talked our way into a ride. This sand rail was powered by a Cadillac engine and the owner said he had about $60,000 in the rail. The ride was unbelievable. This weekend the dunes were full of four wheelers, sand rails and ATV's. He said this was the last weekend until October because of the heat. The temps were about 90 degrees and the Border Patrol was out in massive numbers. And we ended up at a cookout at the Radford's with some friends from back home.

We picked up Jacob from the Phoenix Mesa Airport yesterday. He was excited to be where it is warm. We have a big week planned. Tomorrow we will be in California playing at the Imperial Sand Dunes. We took Jacob to Uncle Les and Aunt Yvonne's for supper. It was the first time to meet his cousins Abby and Evan. After supper we drove up to South Mountain, which is believe or not, south of Phoenix. You can see the city lights for miles and miles.

We have moved back to the west side of Phoenix and are only 15 minutes from my Uncle Les and his family. Uncle Les and Aunt Yvonne brought their grandchildren that live close by over to the motor home today. Abby is 4 and really loves her Aunt Debbie. She is so sweet. She likes sea shells, so I shared my treasures with her. The kids had on their St. Patrick's Day shirts. Evan was 1 in December. We were here when he was born and visited him in the hospital. He has really grown. He loves his Uncle Mike and will always give him a smile. In this picture, I think he is wondering, "Who is this lady!?"

Yesterday, Mike and I went on a motorcycle ride in Apache Junction, Arizona. We started out in Goldfield by the Superstition Mountain. We headed toward Tortilla Flats. It is an old town that is now a tourist site. We got there just in time for lunch. The ride up the mountain was breathtaking! This picture does not do it justice. There were miles of wild flowers in an array of colors. We stopped the bike and got off to take close up pictures. We made it back down the mountain just as the sun was setting. It was a beautiful end to a wonderful day! Wish you were here.

Went to the Commemorative Air Force Aircraft Museum and enjoyed the displays. Lots of history on display. This B-17 was being worked on in the hangar but we were allowed inside to see it.

Deb and I have talked to some of you and heard the weather was not the same as it is here. Retirement really is good!

We stopped on our way to Mesa at a little RV Park off of Hwy 60 called 3 Dreamers RV Park. It was wonderful. Big spacious site with full hook ups right in the middle of the desert. We planned on staying one night but it was so comfortable, we stayed two. We went hiking in the desert. This picture is a dried river bed. The mud was like dried potato chips. As you walked, they crunched under your feet. I was looking down and saw a little miracle. There was a little flower fighting its way to the surface. It was only about an inch and a half tall. We felt like we the only two in the world experiencing this small miracle. Then out of the silence, my cell phone rings and it is our daughter, Michelle. So much of communing with nature.

The trip included some wind generators around Palm Springs. Thousands of them!

OK............. we are still going. We went into Los Angeles today and went to the beach and it was beautiful. The picture is right in Malibu.