Jeeping in Sedona

It's a beautiful Sunday morning in Verde Valley.  We've been here since Friday evening with Jeremy & Brandon next to us.  The weather has been absolutely perfect!  Yesterday, we headed to Sedona to find some Jeep trails.  After stopping at Barlow Jeep Rentals for some advice, maps and to let air out of our tires, we headed to the first trail.  Soldier Pass was a pretty easy trail, less than a mile long.  But we still managed to find some mud.  There's nothing more beautiful than red mud on the side of a green Jeep!

After enjoying the scenery, we headed across town to the Broken Arrow trail.  This one is just over 4 miles and was a little more challenging - especially on the way out.  This one is heavily used by the local Jeep tour companies and we saw no less than 5 Pink Jeeps while we were at the end of the trail, or Chicken Point as it's called.  While there, we enjoyed the scrumptious lunch that Jeremy made for us.  The ride back was the best part as there's a part of the trail called "The Steps" which were extremely challenging.  We scraped bottom in a few places!  On the way out of town, we stopped back at Barlow to air our tires back up.  They were so friendly and helpful there.  If you are ever in the mood to rent a Jeep in Sedona, I highly recommend using them.

Our Jeep performed very well and we had a great time.  When we got back to camp, the puppies were SO excited to see us.  We left them at home so that they could sleep and we could enjoy the Jeep ride!  In the morning, I had put a pot roast with potatoes, carrots and onions in the crock pot, and it smelled delicious when we got back.  We hung out outside until it got too chilly, then we moved inside and had dinner.  It was a great end to a fantastic day!  Today, Jeremy and Brandon are leaving us, but we are planning to stay until tomorrow.

I've posted some of our pictures from yesterday.  There are a few more on my Facebook page.  As soon as I figure out the most efficient way to get my pictures from my phone to the computer, I'll put them in a Picasa album.  Have a great week!!

Christmas Eve 2009

It's Christmas Eve and we had a fantastic day.  First, Dennis and I sold our Joyner this morning.  A couple from Missouri who winter in Quartzsite came to look at it and bought it.  After an hour at Bank of America (THE WORST BANK EVER!!) we finally got our money and they got their title.  The poor saps had to open a checking account because apparently you can't get a BofA cashier's check with your BofA credit card unless you have a BofA checking account.  Give me a break!  What should have been a simple transaction and notarization became an hour-long chore.  The good news is everything went through and we no longer own the Joyner.

I worked until 4 and Dennis picked George up at the airport at 2:30.  We met up at home and got ready to go to Ray & Mary's for our 5th annual Christmas Eve dinner.  Ray's mom, sister and nephew were in from New York.  We took our dogs for a play date with DD and GG.  A good time was had by all.  We had some great wine, a FANTASTIC dinner and a nice dessert (Derby Pie).  I love Christmas Even with them!  We are now watching District 9.  Not very Christmas-y but interesting nonetheless.  Our dogs are SOOOO exhausted now!! 

Tomorrow we are cooking a turkey.  It's soaking in kosher salt right now in the kitchen sink in ice water.  It's going in the oven at 9am for a 1pm dinner.  We are also making mashed potatoes (real), candied yams, stuffing, broccoli/cauliflower casserole, Derby pie and Pumpkin pie.  And don't forget the cranberry sauce and Grands biscuits.  Yum. Lyn and Dan are coming over to have dinner with us.  It will be fun!

Saturday morning it's off to Verde Valley in the motor home.  We are spending Saturday and Sunday nights there, then driving the car home Monday.  Dennis and I are heading back up Thursday after taking George to the airport and getting home from work.  We'll be ringing in the new year with our friends Bill & Dave in Verde Valley. 

We hope everyone has a great Christmas holiday and day off from work.  Whatever it means to you, I hope that it's all that you hope it to be.  Happy New Year, and raise a toast to 2010 being better than 2009!  Take care everyone!!

Relaxing weekend

Thursday at 5am, we left Bajada Drive for a 7 hour journey via motor home to Jamul, CA to stay at Thousand Trails Pio Pico. We made 2 stops along the way, one at a Rest Area on I-8 and one in Yuma to fill our tanks with gas. It was a great day for travel. The dogs did really well. We got set up and decided we all wanted pizza so we went into town to Filippis pizza. It was delicious! The beer was good, too. Thursday evening, we sat under the Easy-Up around the fireplace to stay warm and dry. That's when the rain started.....

Friday it rained on and off all day. Any dry opportunity we had to take the dogs out, we took advantage of. Each time we brought them in, we'd give them a little rinse on their undercarriage. They tended to pick up a lot of road dirt! Lori, Marilyn, Dennis and I went into Chula Vista on Friday to get some necessities at Walmart and then even more necessities (wine) at Trader Joe's. The rest of the day was spent inside, eating and drinking and eating. Oh, and drinking. We tore up the wine on Friday!

Saturday our friends Dave and Bill stopped by - they lease a spot at Pio Pico and came over for the weekend since we were there. We met them over Christmas up at Verde Valley. We had a margarita brunch, talked, and played Sequence. It was a lot of fun! After they left, we had a sandwich and then watched a couple of movies - Defiance and Alien v Predator - Requiem. I snuck in a few naps, too. As evening approached, Dennis was feeling cold and run down, so he stayed in with the dogs and I went over to Dave and Bill's coach and had a glass of wine with them. It was very nice to spend more time talking and getting to know them. Such fun guys!

Today it was another early rise - 5:15am PST. We were packed up, loaded, and hitched and pulled out of the park at 7am. It was a nice trip home. We drove in snow, rain, fog, sunshine, clear, cloudy/overcast....we saw it all on our 7 hour drip home. We stopped at a Rest Area at the top of the mountain and then in Yuma to fill up with Gasoline. We arrived home around 3pm. It was a very relaxing, enjoyable weekend. It was great to connect with Lori and Dave again as well as Dave and Bill. The only thing that could have made it better would have been dryer weather and about 5 more days!

Lyn & RJ and Lylah arrive from Ohio tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to their visit. Dennis got to see them a few weeks ago, but I haven't seen them since Kate's wedding in November. We're going to have a great time! Enjoy the week! I would love to hear your comments and reactions to my blog. Feedback is always welcome!