All I want for Christmas is my two healthy kids.

Laurel and Charlie have the flu or something like it. Charlie was tired Sunday but agreed to go out sightseeing anyway. When we returned to the apartment, he napped on the sofa. I noticed his neck was throbbing – a pulsating jugular vein – and it really scared me. I called Barb for nursing advice…

San Francisco

I was going to title this “I left my calves in San Francisco.” When I Googled that, I found that another blogger had already used those words as a title to describe her family’s SF trip. 🙂 (Not that those words are copyrighted – I just wanted to be original.) We’re staying in a tiny,…

Phoenix Mountain Preserve, Arizona State University

On Monday we took the bus several miles north to the Dreamy Draw Recreation Area which is part of Phoenix Mountain Preserve where we picnicked and hiked. Today we took the light rail to Tempe and walked around the campus of Arizona State University. Tomorrow we may do a little more sightseeing before doing the…

Sedona

Sedona is so peaceful and beautiful, especially since we’re seeing it right after Las Vegas which could hardly be more of a contrast. We drove here Friday and have enjoyed our short time here. We’ll leave tomorrow after I sit through a 90-minute timeshare presentation which I agreed to do when the condo management people…

Las Vegas, day 3

Today after brunch we went on a gondola ride on the outdoor canal at our hotel (Venetian/Palazzo) with Dante, a native of northeastern Italy, as our gondolier and serenader. Then after eating carmel/chocolate apples from the Palazzo food court, we sat in the outdoor hot tub and met Californians who gave us travel suggestions when…

“If I had words to make a day for you…”

I’d sing you a morning golden and new. I would make this day last for all time, and fill the night deep in moonshine. My apologies to those of you who know this story… When Charlie was three or four years old, he loved the movie Babe which he watched on DVD multiple times per…

Hoover Dam & Las Vegas

Oh my golly. I rented a car this (Monday) morning, and we drove to Hoover Dam and then Las Vegas (nearly 300 miles from Phoenix). Along the way we saw more saguaro cactus as well as Joshua trees. We toured the power plant at the dam and walked on the road along the top of…

Horseback riding in the Sonoran Desert

It was good to get away from the pavement for a little while this evening and enjoy an hour-long ride through the desert. Our guide, Jake, pointed out petroglyphs carved by the Hohokam tribe about 1,000 years ago and told us about the huge saguaro cactus we saw along the way. I think Jake probably…