Just Another Quiet Weekend or the "FAMILY-BLITZ Weekend"

JoAnn and I relish our quiet weekends together. We find time to play, do a little work, read a few books, and maybe watch a little television. Sorry Tim, no sports. In Indiana we used to go out for drives on Saturday afternoons. We could always find someplace in the country to go and enjoy ourselves. It has been a little more challenging in Las Vegas. The beautiful country is all desert and there are a limited number of times you can look at the desert. Instead we have taken to discovering some of the older neighborhoods in Las Vegas that have larger homes and have not had their owners escape to newer neighborhoods. But when we get a chance to leave town and see something other than desert, we jump at it.

Wednesday last we left late in the afternoon for Albuquerque to spend time with daughter 5 and her Marine husband. I had a little work to do that afternoon just outside of Searchlight, NV. We were at the Walking Box Ranch. "The Walking Box Ranch was built in 1931 by legendary silent film stars Rex Bell and Clara Bow." More on that in another post. We left from there late and drove toward Laughlin, NV and Bullhead City, AZ (what a name) and then on to Flagstaff before we decided enough is enough. We got up early the next morning and left for Albuquerque and arrived in time to have lunch with Marine son-in-law. We went out to a little place called "Baggins", like in Bilbo (you will have to read the Hobbit). Excellent sandwiches. Be sure to put it on your go-to list in Albuquerque.

On the way into Bullhead City our air conditioner went out. Thank goodness for cool mountain weather. That is, once we got out of the Colorado River basin. We got it fixed in Albuquerque, but the car was in for a spa weekend. So we took the kid's truck to Aurora. Left on Saturday morning, had a great afternoon, evening, and Sunday morning with daughter 2, her Air Force civilian husband, their 4 kids and with daughter 1, who flew in, and her middle child.

It took me almost 2 minutes after our arrival to discover the quiet weekend was fully out the window! Daughter 2's son was receiving the Aaronic Priesthood (reason to travel, like we need a reason) and they had a party to celebrate his birthday. The noise level was off the scales. All the women were in the kitchen (I lost count) and the men were in the living room playing video games. Son-in-law's dad and I were left to fend for ourselves. I think we were both exhausted. I know I was after a 4 am get up and on the road for 8 hours.

Sunday after church we reversed the trip and headed back to Albuquerque. The Albuquerque kids have had so many family trips recently and have more planned, they couldn't take any time off. We got our car back on Monday late afternoon, and drove home on Tuesday.

Monday evening JoAnn and daughter 5 made chicken fajitas with guacamole sauce, all from scratch. We had some good meals on this trip, but this "hands down" was the best meal of the trip.

Tuesday we finished our not-so-quiet weekend with a drive home. We were exhausted and just sat in front of the tele and vegged last evening. But it was a great family-blitz weekend. We drove 2,000 miles in 4 days and still had time for fun. There are several more blogs and photos to come from this weekend.

I think next weekend is a quiet weekend, and the one after that, and the one after that, ....

So How Hot was the Salsa?

Saturday night we received a green and red salsa. Krissie promised both were hot, but couldn't remember which was the hottest. Jeni discovered it was the red salsa. I will pay for posting this photo, but it's worth it. Please note at least one of my daughters is trained as a model. Krissie didn't miss a beat - all smiles.


I guess now I know why our grandchildren make so many funny faces. Lots of parental (and grandparental) modeling.

Gotta Love Spring Travel

I truly have become a Las Vegan. If it isn't sunny, warm, and nice I don't much care to travel. Well in the last week I flew to Salt Lake City and upon arrival I picked up my car for the drive to Provo and the woman at the rental counter says, "We are expecting 5 to 8 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow." My response was, "If that's the case, I won't be back tomorrow." Not that I don't like driving in the snow (I don't), but especially not in Salt Lake City or any other big city. And, I'm just a little out of practice. Not much snow (or rain) in Las Vegas.

Jeni, Craig and the kids came for spring break and I promised to drive Jeni and the kids back to Denver since Craig had to go back to work. As I watched the weather (remember I just dodged a storm in Utah) I noted that Denver was set for a Friday-Saturday snow event (that means .1" to 24" depending on how mother nature feels). So we opted to go through Albuquerque to Denver. Yes, it is a little longer, but the scenery is still new to me and with David & Krissie in Albuquerque it makes for a nice stop.

We got off moderately early (5 am), saw Hoover Dam just as it was getting light. Noted the new bridge is making great progress and then headed south to Kingman, AZ and Interstate 40. Off we were east to Albuquerque and making good time. We stopped for gasoline in Flagstaff, noted the wind was getting brisk (how about just plain hard) and got 17 miles east and hit a standstill. We made 1.2 miles in 2 hours. I could see our "good time" going right out the window. By the time we got to the off ramp - yes the road was closed - we were informed all roads east were closed due to high winds (gusts up to 65 mph). So, we turned around, back to Flagstaff, found a hotel with an indoor pool (lukewarm water and cold indoor space, but still indoors) and after everyone quit shivering we were off for lunch. Back in the room we looked outside and yes, the wind was blowing, the side roads were filling up with trucks (nowhere to go) and then the snow hit. It was horizontal (a good Iowa snow) and whiteout conditions.

It really did look a lot colder and snowy when I looked at it. Photos make a car look like it lost 10 pounds - or more.

By comparison the rest of the trip was uneventful. However, as I was driving east on Saturday through eastern Arizona and western New Mexico I thought more than once about the movie Cars and how much scenery we must be missing. Remember the scene with all the traffic on the interstate. Well, that was us! I decided to save that detour for another trip. After all we will be going to Albuquerque 2 more times this summer - on the way to Denver. Thank goodness I don't have to go to Boise to get to Denver.

We had dinner at a little Mexican restaurant on Saturday evening in east Albuquerque, close to the Air Force base, and it was truly a mom and pop operation. The food was superb. It may have helped that we were all starved, but we did have a great time. I had a photo of Jeni expressing just how HOT the red sauce was, but had to censor it (for fear of my own health).

This shot of Alyssa came as she was being a bit of a teen and not wanting a photo taken. I set my iPhone on the table, propped it up with hot sauce container and shot a series of time lapse photos. This was the point where she asked what I was doing. Of course I told her nothing, but I don't think she believed me.

Now, as I sit in the Denver airport waiting I'm excited to go home and see my lover. I've forgotten what it was like to have kids at home and how little of JoAnn I really got to see.