1/31

Yesterday we roamed around the Mesilla Plaza - a stop on the Butterfield Stage route, which was a predecessor to Pony Express. Had a nice lunch at Peppers on the plaza. J said her huevos rancheros were the best ever, and I had a chile relleno burger - something I had never even heard of much less eaten. Very good. J had a turquoise margarita, which had a small piece of turquoise in it which she kept as a reminder. After lunch, we headed north on 25, arriving in Albuquerque around 6:30. Had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, which was packed on a Sun night.

Neither of us slept well last night, so we got a late start. Had a nice lunch on Central aka Rte 66, near Old Town. Then we spent an hour or two walking around Old Town Plaza. Would have stayed longer, but no sun, very windy, and snow started to come down. Returned to the motel around 3;30, and the temp was 41. We seem to bring bad weather no matter where we go. But at least they are not predicting a foot of snow here!

1/30

Returned to Las Cruces yesterday after shipping some pictachios to Mich, and driving through White Sands. Very nice, and the sparkling white sand reminded us of driving through snow. Fortunately, temp was 57.

We were going to stay here another night, but weather in Albuquerque is turning cold - high temp for Tues is 29, with snow showers. Even El Paso is predicting crummy weather. Will check out Old Town and the Plaza here before we head north. Billy the Kid was tried and convicted here, but escaped before he was hung.

1/28

Greetings from Alamogordo. We left Tucson yesterday around noon. J really wanted to see the memorial for Giffords at the hospital on the way out. It was huge and moving. Stayed last night at the Drury in Las Cruces, but they were booked for tonight, so we came here - 65 miles +/-. We may visit the White Sands Monument tomorrow on the way back to Las Cruces. But first we will visit the store that sells local wine and local pistachios. Probably spend the weekend in LC before we head north to Albuquerque.

I have lost count of the # of border patrol check points we have encountered. They always just wave us through, but I would love to know what they see or hear that results in a search. However, I have no desire to find out the hard way.

Many women we have seen on this trip have long, straggly, unkempt hair and spike heals more commonly known among us perverts as f...me pumps. Not really a good look. Or maybe I am just getting older.

1/26

We certainly hated to leave San Diego: great weather, fantastic food, and terrific views of the harbor from our room. Check-out time on Mon was 12pm, so we stayed in the room until 11:45, admiring the view one last time. Mon night in Yuma, and Tues night in Tucson. Our route to the Holiday Inn (after SD, we are back to Holiday Inns and McDonalds) took us past Ina and Oracle, so we pulled into the parking lot. The impromptu memorial is still there in front of the Safeway and there were people milling around, talking, and taking pictures. So J hopped out and did the same. She said it was moving to be there.

We were planning on leaving this AM for Las Cruces, but J came down with a bad cold. Since she has a history of bronchitis, we decided to give her a day of rest, although we spent most of it at an urgent care facility, getting scrip for the good drugs. We passed Gifford's office, which has many balloons, candles, flowers, and personal messages in front of it. Off to Las Cruces tomorrow.

1/23 part 2

J really wishes she could call her father. In 32 years in Navy reserves, he visited SD several times. Said he wanted to buy land here, but it was not in the cards with 5 kids.

When we checked in, there was a large international convention of Rotary clubs. A bellman told us that over 800 of them checked out on Sat. The lobby looked and sounded like the UN

1/23

Easy to figure out why San Diego is so popular: lots of sun, balmy temps, and light breezes. Fri we took a 2-hour boat tour of the harbor. Lots of military ships and helicopters - mostly Navy and some Coast Guard. Also some cruise ships, including the one that caught fire and was dead in the water a few months back. Tugs towed her into this port, and Fri she was being towed back out, on the way to San Francisco. We were told that it was a 10-minute walk from our hotel to the tour boat. Sat, someone confirmed what I thought: distance is over a mile. Do you know how long it has been since I have done a 10-minute mile? We took a bike taxi back to the hotel. That kid earned his money! Sat we took the trolley tour around the city. Hi-lite was a trip across the bridge to Coronado, with a stop at the Hotel Del Coronado, where parts of "Some Like It Hot" were filmed. Nice lunch on the veranda overlooking the ocean. Today J wants to visit (you guessed it!!) more museums. I have done enough walking for a while and will rest my aching knees. Tomorrow (Monday) we leave and head back east. Will visit Las Cruces and Albuquerque, then on to Austin before stopping over in Houston for Emily's birthday (Mar 3).

1/20 continued

Arrived in San Diego early PM and checked into the Hyatt on the water. Very civilized. Hated the last part of I-15: road and drivers both. Dinner at the seafood restaurant in the hotel: terrific - tuna sashimi, lobster pot pie, albacore cervice, crab cakes that were as good as Baltimore.

1/20

It is a sad state of affairs that we need to pass through a security check point before we get anywhere near the Hoover Dam, and another before we enter the building that contains the power plants.

We got a late start leaving Henderson because J wanted to drive down the strip and then stop at the Bellagio, because they had an art museum that she had not seen in the western hemisphere, including Dale Chehuly (not spelled correctly, I am sure) glass on the ceiling of the main lobby that (just like his other work) was spectacular. And the saving grace was Petrossian, just off the lobby. Looked for a motel at Barstow, but there was a Marine base nearby, and something was going on (deployment?), so no rooms anywhere in town. On to Victyoryville. Dinner at Barstow was Peggy Sue's 50's Dinner. Lot of fun. Photos of Annette F brought back old memories.

Arrived in San Diego early PM and checked into the Hyatt on the waterfront. Very civilized. Haated I-15 the closer we got to SD - both the road and the drivers. Had a great dinner tonight: tuna sashimi, albocore, lobster pot pie, and crab cakes that rival Baltimore. Next table was Richard B, who plays a police officer in Law and Order SVU (with Mariska - one of my favorites).

1/18

Rt 66 in Kingman is also known as Andy Devine Highway. I heard that Andy was from Kingman. Drove to Henderson yesterday and passed a vehicle with a sticker: vaginaterian. I think it was Mencken who said that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

First order of business was a stop at the Acura dealership for an oil change. Service dept was busy, but we did not see anyone who appeared to be a potential buyer.

We stopped by Hoover Dam which was quite crowded. We speculated that the multitudes were celebrating MLK day by going to the dam, which was confirmed by our return trip today. Lots of walking, but very impressive and well worth the visit. Also impressive was the bridge crossing the canyon a little down river, in sight of the dam. It was completed recently, and named for Pat Tillman.

We had breakfast at a restaurant visited by Guy Fieri, of Diners, Drive-Ins, etc. Very good.

1/16

Forgot to mention that J's favorite part of the train ride returing from the canyon was the free-flowing champagne. What a surprise!

We reluctantly left Sedona after lunch today. Beautiful weather and scenery. Our hotel had great views of the rocks, and we never tired of looking at them. They changed as the day went on and they got more or less sun.

We arrived in Kingman this PM, and drove around the Rt 66 which runs through downtown. Some great old buildings, the best of which is the Mohave County court house. One can only hope that the inside is as nice as the exterior. Tomorrow we head for the Hoover Dam, which is a long drive - 70 miles! Then we head for San Diego.

1/15

Greetings from Sedona. When we left Lake Havasu, we drove to Williams. Elevation: just under 7000 ft. Temp was 43 when we arrived at 3:30 PM. Lots of snow by the side of the road, and in piles in town, but roads were clear and dry, and nothing but sunshine coming out of the sky. We stayed at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel, which was conveniently located near the Grand Canyon Railway depot. At 9AM, temp was 9, but sunny again. Locals said that Rt 40 was closed recently for 200 miles - from Kingman to Winslow. We watched a wild west show (a little hokey) and boarded the train for the Canyon. Very civilized 2.5 hour trip. Upon arrival, we took a bus trip, with 3 stops along the south rim. Magnificent views. My first trip, J's second. A once in a lifetime experience. As we drove toward Flagstaff ("Flag" as the locals call it), we had more magnificent views of snow covered peaks. Then more great views as we drove down 89A to Sedona. J whined, so we decided to stay a second night.

1/9

Forgot to mention that our hotel lobby has a full scale replica of the British royal coach used by the Royals on special occasions. The other night, we went to the restaurant in our hotel for dinner, and ran into a large party of "parrot heads", most of whom were older than we are. I like Jimmy Buffet as much as anyone, but these weezer-geezers were more than we could handle, so we exited stage right and went elsewhere.

Yesterday we took a 2.5 hour boat tour. From the London Bridge north to just south of the I-40 bridge. Beautiful day: clear sky, 60 degrees, no wind. Great day to spend an afternoon: looking at great rock formations and wildlife - including a pair of big-horn sheep.

Will probably check out the Parker dam (which created Lake Havasu) today.

All the news today and last night was about the shootings in Tucson. Last week the news was about a standoff outside the Chandler Fashion Mall - just down the road from our hotel when we were there. Just what this country needs: another nut-case with guns.

1/6

Greetings from Lake Havasu City. We arrived late yesterday afternoon and checking into the Martini Bay/ London Bridge Hotel. We have a nice view of the bridge. J is not feeling well today, so we did minimal activity. Right now she is out on the balcony catching some rays. Temp is in the high 50s, but the sun is very hot if we are out of the breeze. Yeah, I know: life gets tough in the big city!

Before we left Yuma, we visited the Territorial Prison, dating back to 1875. Very interesting. I asked them to keep J, but they refused. I think she scared them. Had a very nice dinner at Julieanna's Patio. Very nice food and interesting decorations. While you wait for dinner, you can watch the peacock strutting around the patio. Some nice old buildings in Yuma, but most of the town reminded us of Washtenaw and Stadium Ave.

The drive up 95 is very boring. No gas stations or restaurants between 8 and 10. And most of the road south of Parker is straight as an arrow. This whole area is RV heaven. On the road, in parks, and on lots for sale. Have never seen so many!

1/3

Greetings from Yuma! Pulled in here around 6PM, and temp was 60. But the hi-light of the day was the trip to Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch, near the intersection of 8 and 10. Good investment of $5 each, which includes a cup of animal feed for the deers, goats, ostriches, miniature donkeys, and exotic, beautiful birds. The deer ate out of my hand, but an ostrich is very aggressive - and it bites. J took several pictures of the birds sitting on my arm, eating out of the cup I held.

Sunday we drove around ASU campus. J was disappointed that the museum was closed. Afterward, we drove around downtown Phoenix and found their museum - which was open.

Will be here in Yuma for a few days.

1/1/11

I am told that there are several ostrich farms/ranches (which is correct?) here in the Chandler area, and they have a festival in March, which includes ostrich races. Ride 'em cowboy!

J stayed up and watched the ball come down last night. The good news is that midnight in NY is 10PM in AZ.

Lazy day, watching football.