San Diego Zoo and much more! (Sunday, 9/4)

The sun came out on Sunday and we were up early, had a great breakfast and headed to the world-famous San Diego Zoo. How much fun was it?

Well...we saw fabulous fauna..for which the Zoo is known for as much as their animals

The Pandas

The mama Hippo with her brand new baby (look close, the little one is kissing
mom)

The King of the Jungle - who paraded around for all to see his manly self!

An elephant name Devi who enjoyed jumping in the water for a swim and getting carrots from her trainer.

Two adorable giraffes.

And an cuddly koala bear.

We got an aerial view of Balboa Park from tramway and then drove through on our way out.

After a tour of downtown San Diego, we crossed the bridge onto Coronado Island had a late lunch with libations on the beach patio at the elegant and beautiful Del Coronado Hotel.

We were exhausted! Dinner was pizza delivered to the room where we all fell asleep watching 'No Country for Old Men.' We woke long after the movie was over, I sent the kids off to their room and I went back to sleep with a fresh sea breeze blowing in the window. Tomorrow is another day of fun!

To be continued....

San Diego, CA - I made it!

From sea to shinning sea - 4037 miles! I could see the Pacific as I drove into Old Town San Diego and a much anticipated visit with my good friend Sally, previously owner the best fabric store in Asheville, NC (Waechter's) and now the owner of the best fabric store in San Diego, The Spirit of Cloth.

We had so much fun catching up! We talked for over 5 hours non-stop and could have gone on for at least that many more. Of course, I have a nice bag filled with beautiful fabrics that I am returning home with. I really hated to leave but I had a big present waiting for me at The Shores Hotel in La Jolla - my #1 son Tobin, whom I haven't seen in almost 2 years! Plus I get to meet his lady friend for the first time. I know he's my son, but mom's love to brag - isn't he handsome? And tall?

He and Julie have lots planned for me to see and do in the short 4 days we have together. We wined, dined (at Julie's sister's Louise's beautiful home with her cute husband Steve, who didn't get in the picture!)

We went downtown LaJolla and saw the seals who congregate on the beach.

We went to the famous Del Mar racetrack to watch the ponies run.

We rode a double-decker bus to and from the racetrack with a driver who played the ukulele and sang Hawaiian songs

And the whole time Tobin and Julie made me feel they were glad I was there to share all of this fun time with them.

We did all of this in a day and a half and even managed to get the Jeep in to have it oil and filter changed, tires rotated and new front brake pads installed. Phew! But that's just the beginning.

To be continued.......

Palm Springs, CA 8/31-9/1

I left Terry's early morning on the 31st hoping to avoid some of the heat on the drive to Palm Springs. (4 1/2 hours) The Jeep has air conditioning, but it has lots of open spaces where it leaks out and hot air comes in and when that hot air is 112º, well guess which wins?

I had booked reservations at the Palm Mountain Resort & Spa for 2 days with one full day dedicated to a much needed massage and facial. I was told about this true gem of a resort from my good friend and couture sewing teacher extraordianire, Claire Shaeffer, who calls Palm Springs home. Though she wasn't home while I was there, she highly recommended the Palm Mountain Resort and uses it exclusively for her hands-on workshops.

The resort literally backs onto the mountain which is at the end of Ramone Ave, one of the main streets in Palm Springs. I loved how it looks almost on fire as the sun begins to set.

My friend Carol from Prescott had a meeting near San Diego on the 1st and I talked her into joining me for a day of pampering and wine-ing and dining before driving the rest of the way to her destination. We both totally enjoyed our massage and facials and felt and looked at least 20 years younger! We had a great dinner at LuLu's - the new "IN" place to dine in downtown Palm Springs. Oh, forgot to mention that the resort is located just 1 block from Palm Canyon Drive, downtown is literally just out the door and across the street. We strolled the street and enjoyed the people we say (Palm Springs most certainly does have it's own 'look')

We saw this couple at breakfast. They were dressed 'to the 9's' and completely matched each other. Even with her several facial adjustments, you could tell both she and he had to be in their mid to late 80's. So nice to know they still get up early and put on the heels, the earrings, and carry a matching purse. There's hope for me yet!

The other really funny thing we saw was Marilyn Monroe getting a wash outside where we had breakfast. It just struck us as really silly and I had to have a picture.

We found a Chico's with a 70% off sale in progress, so after a wee bit of shopping, Carol hit the road about 11 a.m. and though I had every intention of hopping in the car and driving to Joshua Tree National Park, the 112º heat defeated me and I returned to my air conditioned room, rested, wrote a bit, hopped in the pool (which FYI, at that heat is NOT refreshing and the pool deck burns your bare feet!) enjoyed a leisurely walk through the downtown Thursday night open-air market, enjoyed a nice dinner and was asleep by 10 a.m.

On the road early morning on the 2nd and on my way to San Diego for the long Labor Day weekend.

I love the drive up and out of Palm Springs because of the huge wind farms that dots the mountainsides.

I just think they make so much sense and look so cool turning in the breeze.

Can't wait to get to land of 'perfect year-round weather' where the temperature is 74º and the breeze off the ocean is just fabulous. Here I come......

Until next time....

DHS Class of '64 Mini-Reunion - Prescott, AZ

Carol, my good friend from high school, recently retired after living for many years in St. Louis. She had thought about returning to our hometown of Danville, IL to live quietly for her 'golden years.' Since no one who knew her thought this was a good idea (Danville is now basically a ghost town compared to what it was when we grew up there) we all suggested she find someplace where she might be more active, be surrounded by theater and shopping and good weather...and we were all thrilled when she chose to move to Prescott, AZ.... and bought a house big enough to have lots of visitors!

She and I were both astounded when we learned just how many of our female classmates had spent their years since leaving Danville, living and working and retiring to the Phoenix/Scotsdale area. Carol sent out an invite to everyone and though quite a few couldn't make it, we had a great turnout.

We all arrived on Friday and were up and going early Saturday morning, talking non-stop about what we remembered about each other and who we had dated and what we had been doing since we last saw each other. Carol suggested that we would all love a day in Jerome, an old mining town high up in mountains, where the weather is quite a bit cooler than 'the Valley.' We wandered, shopped and just spent the day enjoying each others company. We had a great time - as you can see from the smiling faces!

The next day we drove into Prescott and enjoyed getting to see Carol's new hometown, the beautiful, tree-filled square, the shops and many restaurants and bars that line "Whiskey Row".

The Phoenix contingent headed home after lunch and Carol and I returned to her lovely home to spend a quite evening and discuss details for our meeting up in Palm Springs in two days.

I took off early the next morning and drove from a reasonable, temperate Prescott into 'the Valley' and temps hitting 112º to enjoy 2 days with one of my oldest and dearest high school friends, Terry, and his partner Greg. They have a lovely townhouse in the Glendale section of Phoenix where I have visited often over the years, but got a tour of their brand new condo in The Biltmore residential resort area. They are all ready to move - just waiting to for the townhouse to close.

Terry is retired now so we got to spend all days just chatting, eating, getting me a much needed hair cut, and catching-up.

Old friends are the very best friends. They 'knew you when' and still like you today. We hugged goodbye and knew that we would keep in touch and see each other again soon.

Until next time.....

Bernalillo, NM and points West!

Since I am a wee bit behind in my blogging, I had to go back to my calendar to make sure I had the dates correct on this next leg of my adventure.

On Wednesday, 8/24, we packed up the Jeep and I drove Ellen to Albuquerque to catch a flight back to her home and I turned around and drove back to Bernalillo, the home of my dear friend Jami, whom I have known and loved since we went to high school together in Danville, IL - oh so many years ago. Jami's health is not good, so even though she really had hopped to be part of our mimi-reunion in Prescott, she just didn't feel up to making the trip. But she and I spent a day and an evening catching up and sharing what had happened in our lives since we had last seen each other. It was a very quite, peaceful visit, topped off with a lovely evening with drinks and dinner at the Hyatt Tamaya Resort.

The next morning I was up early and ready for a long drive. I headed south on I-25 (I know, it's an Interstate) but only for an hour when I hopped on US 60 in Socorro and headed West toward Pinetop/Lakeside, AZ - my destination for the night. I had chosen this route mainly because it seemed the most direct, not knowing that I would be taking one of the most beautiful drives I had taken so far! I would be driving up into the Datil and San Mateo Mountains and I was not prepared for the vast, open plains with high mountains in the distance. All I could think of was Clint Eastwood in High Plains Drifter.

My photos do not come close to showing just how beautiful this part of the country really is.

One of the places I drove by was the National Radio Astronomy Observatory VLA Telescope.
- also know as The Very Large Array, one of the world's premier astronomical radio observatories, consists of 27 radio antennas in a Y-shaped configuration on the Plains of San Agustin fifty miles west of Socorro, New Mexico. Each antenna is 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter. I didn't know what I was seeing and of course thought...'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' as Roswell, NM is just a wee bit southeast of this location and everyone knows that where aliens have always chosen to land when visiting us.

I wish I could have stopped and toured this facility, but it was not open to the general public - or at least not open the day I drove by.

As it was getting to be quite a bit past the noon hour and my tummy was letting me know I had had a very small continental breakfast at the Days Inn a long time ago, I thought it was time to find a place to rest and dine. And all of a sudden I was climbing up...and up into the Sawtooth Mountain range and into Pie Town, NM. Now there is really...no, there is absolutely nothing in Pie Town, NM except the one place I found open and selling what else but....pies! Fresh backed and delicious pies of every kind and berry and fruit, all topped with ice cream, of course, if that was your pleasure. Oh, they did have a small sandwich menu to go with your slice of pie.

I heard all about the menu as soon as I stepped out of the Jeep as the owner was climbing up a ladder to change the sign to tell everyone passing by about the big 'Pie Festival' to be held on Labor Day weekend.

He told me there were no stores within 50-60 miles and to really shop for groceries or clothes or household goods, you planned far ahead and drove back up to Albuquerque and loaded with a few months worth of stuff! This place is really a long way from any place!

He told me I had to ask for Helga, the best waitress in the Pie Town Cafe, to wait on me personally. Turns out that Helga, who still has her Swedish accent, is the only waitress that the Pie Town Cafe has. And since I was trying to be good and not eat pie for lunch, she talked me into taking 2 'mini-pies' (4 slices each) fresh out of the oven, pipping hot, with me as a house-warming gift for Cousin Nancy in Pinetop! At her recommendation I chose a Hoppin' Hot Cherry (fresh bing cherries with red chili peppers to spice it up!) and New Mexican Apple (fresh Grannie Smith's, pinenuts and green chili peppers). Both were fabulous!!

After lunch I crossed the border into AZ and drove through Springerville and Eager (where John Wayne had a ranch for many years) before heading up higher and higher into the White Mountains (the ones that made the news as they were burning like crazy not that long ago!) and into Pinetop/Lakeside where my cousin Nancy and her husband Tom have a beautiful home. (Little Bear Lodge)

As you can see from the picture of my guest room, bears are the theme and there are quite a few real ones roaming the area this year - so much so that the human population of this area have become quite leery of them. Nancy have pictures of them in her drive way and peaking in the living room windows!

Tom treated me to a lovely dinner at the country club and we all enjoyed the pies I brought as desert. It was a quick visit, only one night, and after breakfast with Nancy,

I was on the road to Prescott and my mini-high school girls reunion.

Until next time....

Canyon Road

Our last day in Santa Fe was spent exploring the art galleries that line this 1-mile street in downtown Santa Fe. We found that their claim of 1000 art galleries in a one-mile stretch was true!

We found galleries that specialized in beautiful paintings; galleries that specialized in life-sized or larger bronze statues..

And galleries that specialized in a little bit of everything...all were interesting and all were totally out of my price range!

But looking at, trying to understand and just being near art is an uplifting experience. It broadens your appreciation, fills your minds-eye with amazing colors and images and somehow makes my life better just knowing that such talent exists in today's world.

For our last evening in town, we literally drove across the road and enjoyed a delicious dinner and a breath-taking sunset at the Encatando Resort. Ahhh.......
it was a perfect way to end a great, 5-day stay in Santa Fe.

Until next time....

Georgia O'Keeffe's Southwest

When an artist with the eye of Georgia O'Keeffe falls in love with the desert southwest, you know there is something very special about the land, the sky and the ever-changing colors.

The day after Indian Market finished, we hopped in the Jeep and headed out of Santa Fe to find the famous Ghost Ranch where Ms. O'Keefe made her home northwest of Santa Fe, near the town of Abiquiu. It was here that she found the inspiration and solace to create her most famous paintings.

But before we headed to Abiquiu, we took the winding, high road toward Taos to visit the historic village of Chimayó and see their frequently-photographed church, el Santuario de Chimayó.

Miracles have been reported on the sacred grounds of the santurio and today it receives visitors and pilgrims from all over the world.

This tiny, quiet village was founded in the 1700's by Spanish settlers and many of their descendants. There is a children's chapel, a funky art gallery and a beautiful, typical doorway that I just had to photograph.

We asked several of the locals who were working where the best place to stop for lunch was, that they all unanimously said we had to dine at the restored hacienda that was now the Rancho del Chimayó.

I've learned over many years of traveling that listening to the locals is always the best way to find the best places to eat, shop, overnight....and they were right again! Ellen and I enjoyed a delightful and delicious lunch sitting under a large umbrella on the sunlit upper patio on a clear, beautiful day. Our waiter was one of those descendants whose family had been in this little village for 100's of years and he just happened to be very tried ... as he was a brand new father of a not-sleeping-much baby girl.

The only problem we had during our lunch, and it seems to be an on-going, everywhere problem these days is the people at the next table talking so loudly that you might as well be part of their conversation! And if they aren't talking loudly to each other, they are yelling into their cell phones. What has happened to quiet conversations between just 2 or 3 people? I really didn't care about the painter next to us who was so terribly unhappy about the way her latest prints had turned out and certainly didn't need to hear about her companion's gout!

After lunch it was back down the winding road, through the Nambe pueblo and back up another winding road toward Abiquiu. What can I say about the scenery that I and so many others haven't already said other than it makes you slam on your brakes, pull off the road, grab your camera and somehow try and capture the breathtaking beauty that your eyes are seeing.

The day couldn't make up it's mind to be sunny or cloudy or dump great bursts of water on our heads - it decided to do all 3. We found the dusty, dirt road entrance to Ghost Ranch about 8 miles past the town with the cow skull logo on the gate.

The skull logo was taken from a painting Georgia O'Keeffe had done and given to the owners of the ranch, the Pack family, in hopes that they would sell her the ranch. Over time, they did sell her 7 acres and the guest house that was located there, but would never sell her the entire ranch as she had hoped. Her house and 7 acres remain part of the O'Keeffe family trust and are not open to the public, but Ghost Ranch was opened by the Pack's to the public and today you can take a twice-daily landscape tour, hike the many beautiful trails, enjoy outdoor concerts and partake of a long list of classes from painting to photography, poetry, writing and many more. This link will give you all the details...The Ghost Ranch.

As we headed back into Santa Fe after a long day, we still could not get over the beauty of the land that surrounded us and vowed we would return again soon. I am especially interested in a week-long class at the Ghost Ranch that combines both photography and writing!

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to shoot a photo of the purple-tinged flower that Ms. O'Keeffe immortalized in so many of her paintings...

Until next time......