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2008 Vacation – part 4

June 15th was the first day of the end of our vacation. Time to slowly make our way back east and towards home. Greg had to leave on a business trip to Colorado Springs on June 22 and we wanted a few days at home before he had to leave, otherwise we would have planned to be home on the 21st. On one of his business trips to San Francisco, he drove around and ended up in Sausalito and he really liked, so that is where we went that morning, bright and early. We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge – twice! Not that we saw much of it because it was completely fogged in!

Sausalitowas very nice. We just drove around… and then went through a car wash at a gas station because the car really needed it. It was nice, being able to take pictures through clean windows again, at least for a little while, until they got all dirty again with dust and bug splat. We crossed the Bay Bridge, too, on the bottom level. Not all that interesting, and it’s not as pretty as the Golden Gate Bridge. The drive that day was loooong and very boring, especially the part where we drove through the Mojave Desert. We made it to Barstowe, California that day and probably would have made it a little farther than that, had the stupid GPS thingie not sent us driving in circles!! Grrr!!! That story deserves it’s on spotlight on this blog, so stay tuned! Here is a picture of somewhere in the Mojave Desert *yawn*

June 16th we left California behind and drove through the Arizona desert and spent the afternoon at the Grand Canyon. That is one big huge hole in the ground! No hiking for us, it was way too hot for that and I preferred walking around in my flip-flops. Not exactly hiking boots. We did it the easy way and drove from overlook to overlook, although we didn’t stop at every one of them. Not sure at which one I took this picture

but this one was taken at our last stop, the Watchtower. What a great view from up there! It was getting late in the evening by then so most of the canyon was in shadows. Made for a nice view of the Colorado River, though.

We would have liked to stay at one of the lodges at the Grand Canyon, but the one we checked out was a little pricey, so we decided to look for a hotel in Flagstaff. There must have been something going on because we checked at several hotels and they had no rooms available. We had no choice but to drive a little more, and ended up in Winslow, Arizona for the night.

To be continued…..

27. June, 2008 | Categories: June | Tags: Arizona, California, Golden Gate Bridge, Grand Canyon, Photography, San Francisco | 7 Comments

2008 Vacation – part1

OK, from the beginning… better make some coffee to keep yourselves awake! 😉

June 5th we got up bright and early (actually it wasn’t all that bright out) and were on the road by 4am. Driving through Texas was sooo boring, and New Mexico wasn’t any better. We left with a full tank of gas, but by the time we reached Midland, TX it was time to start looking for a gas station. There were no signs by the highway exits so Greg keeps going, thinking that something must be coming up soon. Well, it didn’t, and just past Odessa, TX the warning light comes on, letting us know that we were going to run out of gas soon. Greg “thinks” there’s about a gallon (about 30 miles worth) left but he’s getting nervous because we’re still not seeing any signs and west of Midland is pretty much nothing for a while. GPS thingie to the rescue! He looks up the nearest gas station, which was about 18 miles behind us – and we did see it, only Greg didn’t want to pay $3.99 per gallon. Ha ha! Who knew we would end up there after all?! Thankfully we didn’t run out of gas on the way to the gas station and soon were back on our way west. Like I said, New Mexico wasn’t any prettier than Texas, but we did see a couple of dust devils. This one was the biggest one and we spotted it when we were still pretty far away. It was on the right side of the highway but as we got closer, it disappeared as it crossed the highway… but then picked up again on the left side and I was able to snap a picture.

We made it as far as Deming, New Mexico that day and spent the night.

June 6th we made it to Phoenix, Arizona before lunch time and ate at Joe’s Farm Grill. It was one of the restaurants that was featured on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives”. Greg brought a whole list of them so we could stop at the ones in Arizona and California. Lunch was very good, and afterwards we drove to my friend Anjeanette’s house. We met about 12 years ago when we both lived in Maryland, and we worked together at two different places. It was so nice to see her and her husband again, and meet her boys! We hung out at her house for a while first and then went to a nearby playground. The kids all got along really well once they warmed up to each other, and had fun playing together.

After the playground we went back to Anjeanette’s house and waited for Steve to get home, and then we all went to dinner at Thee Pitt’s Again, another “DDD” place that was featured on the Food Network show. Both of Anjeanette’s boys wanted to sit next to Sara, so she got to sit between the two (I see that I’m going to have to lock her in the closet soon, if the boys are already after her! LOL). Sara and Vance got along especially well and were coloring a picture together. Anjeanette and I were joking about planning their wedding.

We said good-bye after dinner and headed to our hotel and planned on maybe meeting for breakfast at Matt’s Big Breakfast (yes, another “DDD” place) the next morning (June 7th), but they opened waaayyy too early and I didn’t blame Anjeanette & family one bit for not wanting to get up that early, especially considering that it was a good 30-45 minute drive from their house. As it turned out, there was already a line when we got there just after they opened, and we didn’t feel like waiting. So off we went to find someplace else for breakfast, and on to California. Again, the landscape wasn’t very interesting…

We got to Anaheim early that afternoon and didn’t really do much. I think we did do a couple of loads of laundry. Greg took the kids over to the pool while I called my friend Bina, and then I went over there myself to take some pictures.

We had dinner at a nearby restaurant and then went for a walk down the street and back.

June 8th we met my friend Bina and her daughter for lunch at Baker’s Square, and then we all went to the Fullerton Arboretum. It was nice to finally meet Bina in person. We met years ago on a message board. Her daughter is 4 and just adorable!

The Arboretum was a great place, with lots of neat plants, like this tree here with a thorny trunk. There was white fluff all over the tree, too, that looked like cotton balls. I found a sign that said that it was a floss silk tree, and native to Peru and Argentina.

The kids got along great, too.

Bina and Miriam had plans that evening so we headed back to the hotel after the Arboretum and relaxed for a while. We decided to go to Downtown Disney that evening because it didn’t look that far on the little map we picked up somewhere. There was a restaurant on the way, so we walked there first to eat dinner, and then walked to Downtown Disney. That’s as close as I got to Disneyland 😦 Oh yes, and it was much, much farther than it looked on the map! Our poor feet! Sara walked most of the way, but Greg did have to carry her on his shoulders a few times. Back at the hotel, Greg got out his little GPS thingie and looked up how far we walked…. SEVEN MILES!!!! If I had known that, I would have gladly paid the $10, or however much it is, to park at Downtown Disney!