Anniversary party

Dennis and I had a small party last night to celebrate the anniversary of being together 20 years.  I was 19 and in my second year of college when we met.  He was 25.  We met at a party in mid-November and had our first date 11/21/89.  A lot has changed since that fateful day 20 years ago.  But the one thing that hasn't changed, is that we're still crazy about each other.  Thank you to those who were able to join us for the celebration last evening.  We've graduated from a keg to a pitcher of Sangria and shots of Jack Daniels.  We had a blast. 

One more day of work and we are on vacation until Monday the 30th.  Tuesday morning, we're throwing the dogs in the motor home and taking off for Temecula, CA.  We're meeting some friends' there and staying at the home of one of them's mother.  We are really looking forward to not only the journey but the destination.  We love Temecula and are excited to go back after nearly 3 years.  We are planning to come home on Saturday, in advance of the Thanksgiving traffic rush.

We'll be making a trip to Ohio in a couple of weeks as well.  We're visiting to meet our new nephew Knox, and to celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary.  We're also planning to celebrate an early Christmas with both of our families.  Please order some warm weather for us, family and friends in Ohio!!

Thanks for all of your support of my Examiner.com writing.  I had a fantastic month in October with over 15,000 pages views.  I've exceeded 8,000 so far this month.  I've been slow to add new content this month with so much that's been going on.  I'm hoping to post something on the way to California, or shortly after arriving.  Please continue to visit my site often.  The link is to the left.

We hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday.  Let us not lose sight of all of the people and things for which we are thankful.

Weekend with the girls

This past weekend, I went up to the motor home with Lisa and Lyn.  We hung out, relaxed, had some great food and beverage, and went on an amazing buggy ride.  We went to Blue Ridge Reservoir and Blue Ridge Dam, just a little ways from Clint's Well.  We had to travel about 4 miles on the highway, but there was absolutely no traffic on Saturday!  The Reservoir is about 4.5 miles off of Hwy 87 on Forest Road 751, and the Dam is another 2 miles past the reservoir.  The views were amazing.  I was also awe struck at how close you can get to the actual dam and see on the other side of it.  It's a great place to go for a day-trip from Phoenix, or for the weekend if you want to tent camp in the area. There's also a public RV park, Happy Jack Lodge, just 4 miles away from Clint's Well and it's open year-round.

It was a little chilly up there since it is October, but it was so nice and relaxing.  Dennis and I are going up with a bunch of friends this weekend, and we're bringing our motor home back to Phoenix, since Clint's Well is closing next week for the season.  It's been a great summer, and we are looking forward to winter camping!

Our big trips coming up include Roosevelt Lake in mid-November and Temecula, California for Thanksgiving.  We are looking forward to hitting the road with the motor home!!

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week!  Please visit my Examiner.com page (link to the left) for the full story on Blue Ridge Reservoir and Blue Ridge Dam.  Thanks!

Picture:  Blue Ridge Reservoir

Independence Day 2009

What a great weekend! We left work around 3 on Thursday, grabbed the puppies and jumped in the motor home and car. Dennis drove the RV and the boys and I followed behind in the car. I was worried about towing the car on the sharp curves and mountain grades going up to Mingus Mountain. We encountered a few sprinkles on Fain Road, just outside of Prescott Valley. We got there around 5:45. There were a total of 6 RVs Thursday night. We stayed at the Playground area on Mingus Mountain, hosted by our friends Brandon & Jeremy. The weather was so gorgeous.

Friday we had a nice breakfast. Jeremy's mom Shane and her husband Steve came from Temecula to spend the weekend with us. Steve made bacon and pancakes, and hash browns and Ron & Bob made a nice egg casserole. It was an excellent breakfast! The rest of the day was spent hanging out, setting up the Easy Ups for our group dinners and preparing for our Friday night potluck. Barb & Karen arrived after taking the 'long' way to Mingus Mountain so there are 7 RVs there Friday night. After a nice wine and cheese happy hour hosted by Ron & Bob, we had a fantastic dinner - 2 kinds of pork, salad, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, veggies followed by apple crisp and ice cream. YUMMY!

Saturday we had a red white and blue breakfast, compliments of Jim & Greg. We had blueberry and strawberry pancakes with whipped cream and sausage. Yum! We then put together the smoker that we bought to smoke the meat that Brandon & Jeremy were making for dinner Saturday. Once that was done, Dennis and & went into Jerome with Melinda & Dorian. We wandered in and out of some of the shops there, then went to the Mile High Grill for lunch. It was fantastic! We got back to camp just in time for about 8 or 10 more sprinkles of rain. We played a little Wii bowling, then started happy hour about 4.

Saturday night's dinner was a fabulous smoked brisket, salad, corn on the cob, Parmesan bread followed by peach cobbler made on the dutch oven and homemade ice cream. NUMMY!! about 8:15, several of us headed to the campground down the road to get ready to watch the fireworks. We had 2 vehicles and 11 people going, so we had to make a couple of trips to get everyone there. We were able to see the Cottonwood fireworks from atop Mingus Mountain, which is about 7,700 feet (Cottonwood is about 3,200 feet). It was pretty cool! We also caught a glimpse of the fireworks from Flagstaff at the same time. We then shuttled everyone back to the Playground and enjoyed the fabulous fire that the 3 who stayed back had built and enjoyed.

This morning it was time to pack up to head home. We left the camp about 9. Dennis drive the motor home and was having trouble with large moths that had taken up residence in our motor home over the weekend. At one point going down the hill, he pulled over and started swatting them. In all, he encountered about 10-12 moths that somehow got into our motor home while up there. We stopped at Cordes Junction before getting on I-17 to use the dump station and put some gasoline in my car. I-17 was moving surprisingly well for Sunday of a summer holiday weekend. We got home about 11:30 and got everything unloaded. We then stopped at Safeway to fill up the motor home before taking it back to storage. After getting everything put away, we were back home by 1. We've been relaxing ever since.

The weekend was a dog weekend. We had 12 dogs at the camp. Everyone got along well. Our boys had a BLAST on Friday chasing a tennis ball with Haas and Diva. They got SOOOO dirty! We had to give them a bath Friday afternoon! They really enjoyed it! Jeremy and Brandon had their 3 dogs Daisy, Peggy and Joey. Jim & Greg had Haas and Diva. Shane & Steve brought Molly and Zeus. Melinda & Dorian brought Pat and Henry. And Ron & Bob brought Sedona. Karen and Barb left their dogs at home and enjoyed a weekend without them! But....our little lovers gave them some attention.

We hope everyone had a fantastic Independence Day weekend. We sure did. Happy Summer! I've attached a couple of pictures from the weekend. Have a great week!