We have been missing the sun this wet winter, and haven't had a real "vacation" longer than a week, since 2008 when we sailed to Hilo. With lots of invites from friends in warmer places, we did a road trip to Phoenix. We got a late start, slept in the car up on the pass, this side of La Grande, OR. Well we napped, and when we woke it was 11 degrees out, and and we had frosted up the inside of the car. We tacked down the West side of Nevada with open 2-lane roads, one big valley system after another. Kathleen called it another passage! The empty road shots don't begin to show just how much empty space there is out there! After dark we ended up in one of two rooms occupied in a funky little motel in Austin NV, an old mining town on Route 50. After another 12 hour road day, we arrived in Phoenix at the Worldmark Condo. We were tired and hungry, but nothing but my rudeness and Kathleen’s refusal to commit to an appointment, would put off the wicked marketing woman! Jeeze! We got to see Drew & Mary, and had them over for dinner. He’s looking a little better, and working hard. Dick & Dianes daughter Shandra shared her dogs and made travel suggestions too. One sunny day, I got to play tennis doubles with my sailing buddy Gary. He and Gwen have a sweet place in the sun, with the best grapefruits ever! It was a busy trip touring the Heard Museum, Dessert Botanical Garden, a Sedona/Oak Creek Canyon drive-by tour, Tizigoot and visiting my brother, Andrew in Prescott Valley. Andrew and Sue have a very nice house, and he took me on a little hike up the hill. We returned via SLC, driving in a serious snowstorm to see Kathleen’s brother, Dick and family. They had dinner waiting - yea! On a snow day, they took us for a quick SLC tour and to the impressive Natural History Museum. Then back on the road in the snow, two more days on the road and we made it back to Seattle, over the pass between storms. 3631 miles and Kathleen said that was more snow than she needed to see. . .
I hope you enjoy the pics! (Click on a image below for a "slide show".)