Rose Parade 01/01/11

Click this picture for just a few ...well, 87...photos from our Rose Parade adventure. We absolutely loved this, despite near-freezing temperatures! We will definitely come do this again. It was especially fun to have our friend Amy Kaye join us for the parade, to meet new friends on the street, to run into Gloria and Charlie Goss (who we had worked with at the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque in Oct), and to see Gregg's cousins Dan and Marge.

We haven't yet figured out how to be there earlier to work on floats which we would like to do another year. The issue is parking the RV in a safe place near the float work areas and not paying an arm and leg to do so. Parking at the Rose Stadium is $100 per night with NO hook-ups. We just won't do that. Street parking not allowed until the 29th and we wouldn't want to leave the RV there, unattended for a full day. RV parks are pretty far away. Gotta figure this one out for a future year.

Wonderful Christmas week

Got to see Sally's kids Sarah and Andy before leaving town...

On our way out of Arizona, stopped in Yuma to see Jan & Chuck Moore and got this cool Christmas picture - Jan with a tree on her head, me with a halo. Awww- how sweet.

2008 Cancun, 2009 Belize, 2010 San Diego

Our progression of beaches and sunshine for Christmas. We've loved this year being in the RV if not in the ocean snorkeling. We'll probably repeat this one after maybe trying South Texas next year.
We got to see my cousins Judy and John and my Aunt Betty. Went out dancing to live music at a cool bar called Belly Up.

Got to see a friend, Sylvia, I haven't seen in about 12 years and her new husband Bill. (Forgot to get their picture - darn!) Always fun to reconnect.
Santa was SO good to us - new 2011 Rand McNally (with Wal Marts), new RV step stool and a cool sign for our front window...

.
.
Christmas dinner at the Marine Room, awesome restuarant on the water in La Jolla. Awesome filet mignon and rack of lamb...










One of our favorite things is a bike path right out of our campground. From here we rode 15 miles one day all around Mission Bay and an island in the middle of the bay. Then the next day, only 3 miles to Pacific Beach then down the boardwalk and back for another 15 mile or so day.



Oh yes - we will be back here to San Diego! Great trip. Next stop - Pasadena for the Rose Bowl Parade.

Happy Holidays!

We consider ourselves to be S-O-O-O blessed to be able to roam around our great USA the way we do in our RV and to be comfortable in our 300 or so square feet and to know that we can get along just fine, with each other and with ourselves, with so little. We have been able to visit so many friends and family and to meet wonderful new friends along the way.
B-U-T we do find we miss just a couple of things: Our longest and best friends, Arizona and our hometown of Prescott. Prescott pictures are of our beautiful Courthouse Plaza.
.
Brunch out with the Prescott girlfriends...took the hats off the walls, that shade off the lamp and the feather duster out of the closet to dress us up.



Holiday time is volunteerism time for me. That is the annual Prescott Last-Minute-Non-Profit-Stocking-Stuffer Bazaar that attracts thousands of shoppers to buy hundreds of dollars of goods benefiting non-profits. The 2 organizations I support are - P.E.O. (selling the purses to the left) and International Street Angels of the World (selling angels and other things on the right) and my daughter Sarah smiling at us in front. She has helped me with this each of the last 3 years. Between our 2 booths we raised $1,600, supporting education for women and disadvantaged children !

It's not Christmas for Sally without getting together with her girlfriends from high school - Betsy and Shirley - and their families... a long tradition.

P.E.O. Christmas party included my two favorite elves, Linda and Marie.

A formal party allowed us all to get dressed up and look our very best.

.

Sally stays busy with the fundraising and working to downsize this house so we can consider being full-time RVers for a while. Gregg stays busy with RV maintenance and improvements and repairs on this house in which we now rarely live. We enjoy being "home" here but we have itchy, itchy feet! We'll be off on a 6 week jaunt westward soon, then return to Prescott for a bit before heading out for another 10,000 mile+ adventure in 2011. Destinations unknown this year - we'll just see where the road takes us...

Balloon Fiesta Pictures

Wow - what an experience this Balloon Fiesta has been. One to not ever be forgotten. Great way to wind up our almost-eight-month trip. I think we can both finally say we are ready to be "home" for a bit.

We'll hit the road for Prescott in the morning and be home by evening, looking forward to unlimited electricity and long showers, seeing friends and family.

We will have travelled almost 12,000 miles, 21 states, 232 nights and stayed in about 100 different places overnight. Thanks to family who put us up for free and other boondocking arrangements we found, we managed to keep our average cost per night down to $12.32 despite $85 per night in the FL Keys for 9 nights.

We're already talking about where and when to go next - not slowing down our RV life yet. Just heading to Prescott for a little respite...

Free slideshow made with Smilebox

Albuquerque Int'l Balloon Fiesta

We are not only here seeing this but here with a group of Escapee RV club members - about 30 rigs - most of whom are volunteering to crew for the balloonists thus earning free crew passes to all events, some free meals and tail gate parties among the pilots crews and probable rides in balloons (valued at $350 each during the Fiesta).

Some of our friends here crew for this Ladybug Balloon.

We are learning LOTS about ballooning. My job is holding the throat of the balloon open while air is blown into it from a high powered fan, then flames are blown into it to heat the air inside. It gets HOT doing this job! Can't wear nylon as it could melt. Can't wear earrings as they may get too hot. Gregg shares that job with me on the other side of the balloon. He's also involved in setting up all the apparatus. Another job I have is handing out patches and pins to collectors wandering among us - thousands of them. Our whole team will help chase down the balloon and pack it back up for the next day.

Our friends Gloria and Charlie on the right and left, our pilot Earl and Randi, the lady who made the balloon we will fly this week.

.

We'll get 9 days of this if weather will cooperate. Having a ball!

Canyon de Chelly slide show

A digital slideshow by Smilebox

Canyon de Chelly

I can hardly believe I've lived in AZ for about 38 years and had never gone to

Canyon de Chelly. What a beautiful park, National Monument, on the

Navajo Reservation.

We loved the free campground and stayed four days so we had plenty of time to drive both rim/overlook drives, take a day long tour by all-wheel-drive open-air vehicle, take a ranger lead hike and the only do-it-yourself unguided hike in the canyon. Every one of those exceeded our expectations. What a great time there!