Tucson, Arizona

I'm going to finish up our winter get-a-way today.  Spring is here - the daffodils are up, the rhododendrons are blooming!  Time to move on!
We spent a week at Wagon's West  RV Park in Tucson where my folks spend most of the winter. 

Our first night there, we were treated to a beautiful Arizona sunset!

Our "home" for the week.

This is the Haan Hide-a-way.

They have a nice big patio.  We spent a lot of time out here.  I love to take a little afternoon siesta on my mom's swing.

John and I went on a hike with about 25 other Wagon's West residents.  It was suppose to take us to a waterfall but once we got there, it was just a trickle!  Our guide had just been there a couple weeks before and couldn't believe it had dried up that quickly.  It was still a great hike and we met some really nice people!

I love hiking in Arizona.  SO DIFFERENT than the PNW!

 Look closely and you'll spot the "waterfall"!

 John cooling off under the falls.

Most of the week was spent just relaxing and soaking in the sunshine.  I spent a lot of time in the pool.

And played a lot of shuffleboard.  I actually improved a lot in the week I was there.  I'm trying to convince John to put a shuffleboard court in his shop but I don't think it's going to happen.

My mom sent me this picture.  I don't know what I am laughing about but I love how we convinced Gary to hold the umbrella over us to keep us out of the sun.

Since my parent's starting coming to Wagon's West, they've had two other couples that I grew up with and an uncle and aunt join them there.  Gary and Nancy lived across the street from us until we moved when I was 14.  Lots of great memories with these guys.  It's so much fun catching up with them!
One evening Marv and Judy (our other Minnesota friends) grilled us a delicious steak supper and another evening my Uncle Rich and Aunt Henrietta made us rollade (a Dutch meat dish).  Uncle Rich has always been quite the photographer and he brought along some slides from my childhood so we had a little slide show on my parent's patio after supper.
Recognize these guys?

And isn't this the sweetest little Dutch girl?!

John and Uncle Glen spent a lot of time checking out different golf courses.  Some days they played by themselves and some days they joined other Wagon's West golfers.

The ladies went to the Miniature Museum on afternoon.

I got my Culver's fix.

And we finally tried a Sonoran hot dog!

Our last night in Arizona we went out for steaks.  The restaurant was in a really neat adobe house. 

We also got one last game of shuffleboard in under the lights.

We got up at 4:00 a.m. to drive back to Mesa to catch our flights home.  John and I were back in dreary and dark Washington by 10:45.  I got a quick nap in before we picked up these two.

They both were happy to see us, said we were missed, and loved their new Arizona t-shirts but I think they had a pretty good time without us too!

And that's it for our 2017 winter get-a-way.  I'm pretty sure I've convinced John this needs to become an annual tradition!  And I'm fairly convinced that between my ever-growing shuffleboard skills and the fact that I did not miss getting up early, cooking supper every night and helping with memory versus that I will make a really good old person some day.

A really cool old person of course.

Holly's Spring Break

I interrupt my Vegas/Arizona adventure to bring you a little taste of Holly's spring break.  Dordt's chamber orchestra and concert band went on tour this year - nine states in ten days.  Yes, they drove.  Yes, I think you can only do something like that if you are a college student.  They stayed (mostly) in host families homes at night.  She said she had a great time meeting new people and seeing new things but of course didn't get to stay anywhere long enough.  Interesting fact about Holly you might not know...she takes after her Dad and when we go somewhere touristy she likes to take her time and read EVERYTHING.  Just a little example, when we went to Alcatraz last summer we all got separated on the audio tour.  Guess who was the last one out?  Holly.  And she had already been to Alcatraz two times before.   
She managed to send her mom and dad a couple of pictures along the way.

When they played in Michigan, she had a bunch of Calvin friends come to hear her.

 

Niagara Falls.

She learned to play Rook.  This made her Dad real happy.

 New York City.

On one of her last stops, Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle Doug and Aunt Sue surprised her and showed up!  She was so excited!!

Back at Dordt getting ready for their final concert.  These are Holly's roommates.  I just wish they weren't so serious all the time.

For posterity's sake, a list of all the concert stops.
Fulton, IL
Hudsonville, MI
London, ON
Penfield, NY
Lafayette Township, NJ
College Point, MD
Cincinnati, OH
Palos Heights, IL
Waupun, WI
Sioux Center, IA

Sedona and our pink jeep tour

Sedona, Arizona is a beautiful place to visit.  The red rock formations are breathtakingly beautiful.  We only had one day in the city so we decided to splurge on a Pink Jeep Tour.  We took the Broken Arrow tour which takes you into the Coconino National Forest.  These jeeps are pretty amazing.  You would never believe some of the rocky inclines they can go up (and down).  They have been in operation since 1960 and have never had a jeep roll over.  It was bumpy but not uncomfortable and the guide was very knowledgeable and fun.  In fact, I'm thinking he was somewhat of a magician...those of you reading this who are my Midwest relatives, ask Glen what the tour guide got him to do.  If he won't tell you, just call me.  It's pretty unbelievable and I have the picture to prove it.
Sorry Uncle Glen.  What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, but no one said anything about Sedona.
Waiting for the tour.

I told our tour guide that Glen and Sue were our parents (he he) so here's a "family picture" he took for us.

If you look real closely on the picture below, you see a white line running horizontally over the rock face.  Apparently, this is a popular spot for mountain bikers to ride across this.  CrAzY.

This was called, "Road of No Return" because it was impossible to drive up it.  It was pretty fun driving down!

Hoover Dam

We left Vegas and made our way to the Hoover Dam.  I had been there in 2009 with my mom and sister but John had never seen it.  They have a great guided tour which actually takes you into the dam.  Very interesting and it downright blows my mind that it was built in the 1920's without the aid of computers and all the other advanced equipment we have today. 

Inside the power plant.

Tunnel that leads from the power plant to the dam.  I think.  I'm not a very good listener.

I can't remember exactly where we are here but that tunnel is one of the four diversion tunnels they had to build to divert the Colorado River before they could start on the dam.

Interesting fact about these tunnels.  Two were built on the Nevada side and two on the Arizona side.  Their combined length was about 3 miles.  Several workers died of carbon monoxide poisoning when they were digging out the tunnels but they reported the cause of death as pneumonia for better insurance benefits.  See, I do listen sometimes.
We got to walk through lots of inspection tunnels.  Every so often there are cracks (which apparently is totally okay) with marking of the date they were noticed. 

 This tunnel led to a grate where you could look out of the dam.

Picture outside the grate. 

Here we are on top of the dam after the tour.

That's the visitor's center in the background.

It really is quite amazing.  Definitely worth the trip if you're in Vegas (only about 1/2 hour from the city).

We also checked out the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tilman Memorial Bridge.  They were about a year from completing it when I was there in 2009.  Here's a picture from then.

And here it is now (taken from inside the dam).  The bridge spans Nevada and Arizona and was built to divert traffic from the Hoover dam.  It is the second highest bridge in the U.S. and the world's largest concrete arch bridge.

Here's the dam from the bridge.

And me and my honey on the bridge.

When Hoover dam was built, Lake Meade was created.  It is a huge recreation area now.

Oh, almost forgot!  We stopped here for breakfast the morning of our dam adventure.  It was featured in "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" and was suppose to have amazing bacon.  I am not nearly the bacon lover my husband is but even I have to say it was dam good bacon....sorry, couldn't resist.