Enjoying being in San Diego!

We have enjoyed our week in San Diego.  We've been visiting friends and getting lots of things done such as doctor appointments, RV appointments, insurance appointments, refinancing appointments and more!  We've attended the great vollyball and baseball games of our friends' grandkids.  We've gotten some card games in (which we lost to Jim Crownover), but had a good dinner and lots of fun!

We've had horrible internet/cell service.  Ted moved the antenna around again and it's better today!

Getting on the internet today..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Back in San Diego at Pio Pico!

On Wednesday we arrived back in San Diego at Pio Pico which means the cell/internet service is not so great!  We find we can use the internet the best in the mornings and texting works better than calls!  Oh well, the weather has been great!

While we are here in San Diego we are making doctor appoints, RV appointments, nails, hair and more!  I got a hair cut yesterday and nails today.  Ted has already had a hearing test and we have an appointment to see about hearing aids.  So in other words he didn't do so well on his test!  The doctor was very good about explaining everything to us.

On Thursday we made it to Jeri and Stan's grandaughter's volly ball game.  She is in high school on the Junior Varsity team and their team won!  Mallorie played a great game.  Last night we went to her brother's doubleheader baseball game.  Trent played an awesome game.  He was hitting great and came in to pitch the final inning.  The top of the inning his team was hitting like crazy, some players got up 3 times to bat.  His team started feeling bad for the other guys.  By now it was 10:30 p.m. and they were the last two teams on the field.  Trent was called in to pitch and struck out the first batter, he caught a line drive from the second batter and struck out the third batter.  His team won 23 to 3 in the 4th inning!

I took this picture at the campground.  The squirrels and rabbits are driving Max crazy!  But he loves the ranger station, they give him doggie cookies!

Enjoying San Diego..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Last day at the Grand Canyon :(

Lunch at the El Tovar Hotel, a nice way to end our time at the Grand Canyon!  I had the smoked salmon salad and Ted had the pork tenderloin chili.  Both were delicious!  We spent some time around the canyon and got to the veranda before the rains started again.  The weather wasn't as spectacular as Sunday and there was no rainbow but still fun to watch the lightning and hear the thunder and of course people watching!  It was in the low 50's and some young guy was running around in his shorts (not underwear) only and flinging his arms toward heaven.  Not sure what he was asking God, but he seemed to really be talking to him!  Anyway, it was a lot of fun!

We left the Canyon yesterday about 9:00 a.m. and made it almost to Kingman, Arizona before the rains started.  It got down in the low 60's so at least we didn't have to worry about hail!  Ted drove about four hours in the rain before we finally saw the sun again!  We arrived in Cherry Valley around 6:00 p.m. last night.  We tried to make it in time to play bingo but we had to eat and take care of Max.  It was a long day of driving for us and we were all tired anyway!

This morning we felt an earthquake!  I don't know if it was very big or not, but it was the largest we have felt in our RV!  Felt like we were bumping down the road or as if someone was bumping into us!  Max finally woke up when it was almost over!  Guess not all animals have the early warning sense!

We will leave here this morning for Pio Pico down in San Diego!

Today is our nephew Chip's birthday..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Back at Grand Canyon!

We are back to the Grand Canyon!  We had a short drive and got to Trailer Village in the Grand Canyon a little before noon!  Just after we got set up we had a pretty good thunder, lightning and rain storm.  Fortunately it didn't last too long and we made it over to the Canyon just in time to enjoy some more weather!

We had just gotten to the El Tovar Hotel when it started to rain...pour...gush torrents of water!  The thunder and lightning was right on top of us and then the wind started and it was brrrr cold!  Everyone huddled on the porches and watched the weather!

First the wind stopped, then the rain stopped and the sun came back out.  There were clouds down in the Canyon and they would pop back up, almost like smoke rising from the bottom of the Canyon!  It was really amazing!

When the sun came out everyone got back out to enjoy the Canyon and Ted and I were able to snag a table on the Veranda once they dried everything off!  We had just gotten our glass of wine when the fog rolled in!  It started out of the Canyon and just came up over the edge.  It was eerie and cool!

The fog went away again and the sun came back out so we enjoyed people watching from the veranda at the El Tovar.  It's one of our favorite places to enjoy a million dollar view!

It started getting cold so went shopping.  When we came out of the shop, we saw this beautiful full rainbow!  The ranger told us it's very rare to have a double rainbow that goes all the way down in the Canyon!  My camera could not even come close to capturing the beauty of the rainbow!  People were all gathering, taking pictures and ooing and ahhing!

Enjoying the sights of  the Grand Canyon..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Stormed into Flagstaff!

Yesterday was an interesting day.  We said goodbye to our friends and got on the road.  It was a chilly 49 degrees!  It's a pretty drive from Taos down to Santa Fe.  It started warming up to about 75 degrees and we turned west in Albuquerque.  We could see rain ahead but little did we know when we got there it was a torrential downpour!  Of course I was driving, the temperature dropped to 47 degrees and it started hailing pea-size hail like crazy.  When the semi's pull over, you know it's bad.  Fortunately it didn't last too long.

We made it all the way to Flagstaff without incident.  It was just getting dark but we gained an hour once we got to Arizona.  We are at Black Bart's campground.  It has a pretty low rating in the Good Sam Directory but they have a really nice restaurant and we can stay hooked up (truck connected to the RV) since we are leaving this morning to go up to the Grand Canyon for two nights.

After we got set up we had dinner, Ted had steak and I had ribs...delicious.  The waiters all sing between taking orders and serving your meals.  Being named Black Bart's we had thought they would probably sing country music but they sing show tunes!  We had been here before a couple of years ago and enjoyed it and enoyed the dinner and music again last night!  Everyone is friendly and it was a nice end to the day.

Or so we thought!...Got to bed and a few minutes later the biggest, loudest lightning and thunder storm blew in.  Again, pouring rain.  Poor Max was pretty scared (so was I if I care to admit it)!  But, this morning the sun is shining even though it was only 44 degrees when I walked Max!  Brrrr...

Making it safely through the storms..."Ain't Life Grand!"

The Enchanted Circle!

Yesterday we had breakfast with our friends James & Gail and their friends Bucky & Ivy.  After a yummy breakfast we visited the Millicent Rogers Museum.  We had not heard of this woman but she set up a wonderful museum of Pueblo Indian Artifacts.  There were rugs, a couple of dresses, artwork, jewelry, pottery and more.  It was an interesting museum.

Sorry Kelli, I know it's small if you can't open the collage!

From there the groups separated and we visited the small local casino.  It was our lucky day, I doubled my money and Ted won $4.00!  We left the casino and visited the San Francisco De Asis Church.  The adobe mission church was built between 1813 and 1815 and they still have daily mass and three on Sundays!  It is a beautiful church.

It rained most of the night last night and when we got up this morning there was snow on the mountain tops!  It was cool all day today.  We went to breakfast with the other two couples and another couple they know, Kim and Sandy.  Ted and I had a sinful cinnamon roll! 

After breakfast Ted and I drove the 90 something mile ride around the Enchanted Circle.  We started off in Taos through the Carson National Forest and over the mountains.  We drove through beautiful pines and down into Angel Fire, a ski resort at 8420' in a beautiful meadow.  It was a cute but very small town.  The next stop was the town of Eagle Nest at 8258'.  I tried to get a picture of the Eagle Nest Lake but it was too blurry!  We followed the Red River and over the Bobcat Pass at 9820'.  We saw a beautiful group of wild turkeys.  Red River was a little bigger town and we would have had lunch there if we weren't still stuffed from our you-know-what! We were now in a rocky mountain area with red, yellow and gold rocks.  Questa was the last town and it was the least impressionable.  It was a beautiful drive.  The snow was still at a higher elevation and 49 degrees at our highest point!

Tomorrow we leave Taos and are headed for the Grand Canyon South Rim.  We have a reservation for Sunday and Monday nights.  They are booked solid on Tuesday.  Not sure where we will stay tomorrow night.

Meeting new people and sightseeing..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sightseeing in Taos!

Today we took a drive into Taos.  Ted got a haircut, we got some stuff from Ford for the truck, had lunch and did some shopping in the Plaza!  Highway 64 runs through the town and it's several miles long.  There are lots of restaurants, cute shops and art galleries.  We had lunch at The Gorge restaurant.  They like those hot chili peppers there but I managed to scrape them off my grilled cheese!  We were by the window and it was some good people watching!

We walked through a little part of the plaza and Ted bought me some pretty Kokopelli earrings.  We looked in a couple of galleries and this Lincoln's Union sculpture was out front.  We thought it was very interesting.  It is in three pieces, using the front and the back!

Our Traveling Supremes friends, James and Gail, arrived today.  We picked them up to go see the Earthship!  They actually have a visitor's center so that you can see how everything is made and how all the systems work.  They build with recycled materials such as cans, bottles and tires.  They have water harvesting, a contained sewage treatment center, solar/thermal heating and cooling, solar and wind electric power and food production.  They are building these houses all over the world and there is a development (The Great World) right near the visitor center.  I can't help but think about kool-aid for some reason!

 To get to the Earthship we had to cross the Rio Grand River over the Historic Rio Grande Gorge bridge!  The river is 650' below!

We were getting hit by rain drops while we were visiting the Earthship and got back to the RV and saw this beautiful rainbow!

Earthships and rainbows..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Labor Day!

We just took it easy yesterday.  Got laundry done and a couple of errands including a new surge protector and now the computer is operating a lot better!

Today we drove northeast to Taos.  It was a pretty drive.  On the road into Taos there were odd houses built into the side of a hill.  When we got to the campground the lady gave us a brochure on them.  They are Earthship Biotecture homes!  Apparently you can take tours of some of them.  The brochure indicates you can purchase the Euro Earthship (3 b/r's 2 baths) for a mere $400,000!  Total annual utility bill is $100!  I'll try to get some pictures of them, they are very interesting!

Our campsite is on a hill and there is a pretty view out our window (and a bit windy up here too):

Ted was really interested in the clouds.  He said they were great for soaring!  You could really gain some altitude on them!

Tomorrow we will do some sightseeing.  A Traveling Supreme couple, James and Gail will arrive here tomorrow afternoon.  They are attending a big music festival!  It will be good to see them again!

Some place new to investigate..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sightseeing in Santa Fe

On Friday we went to the Plaza in Old Town Santa Fe.  We decided Friday would be a little less crowded than Labor Day weekend!  We had a bite to eat at a little French restaurant and then took a tram around the city (after finally finding a place to park the BIG truck)!   The driver pointed out the "real" adobe houses, you could even see the straw in one of them.  Since 1967 the architecture in Old Town must be adobe style and colors.  There are 248 art galleries in Santa Fe with 120 of them on one street!  We drove up Museum Hill and saw the bronze statue of a conestoga wagon pulled by a mule team.  He pointed out the New Mexico tree and flag.  It was an interesting tour.

After we got off the tram, we visited the Loretto Chapel and it's miraculous staircase!   The chapel was built but there was no staircase up to the choir loft.  The Sisters tried to find a carpenter to make the stairs but because of the height of the loft there wasn't room to make a staircase.  The Sisters made a Novena to their patron saint, Saint Joseph the Carpenter.  Legend has it that a carpenter arrived on a donkey with a saw, hammer, a square and tubs to soak the wood.  His "miraculous staircase" contains 33 steps in two full 360-degree turns with no center support, nor is it held from it sides!  When complete the carpenter disappeared without seeking payment!

It is a beautiful privately owned chapel now and open to the public.  It is available for weddings and other special occasions.  It has a very nice gift shop with tons of crosses to select from!

We walked around town and looked in a few of the shops, then rested our feet in the Plaza Square with some ice cream!

Yesterday we took a drive to the small town of Pecos and the Pecos National Historic Park.  It started raining but we managed to go into the visitor center and see a movie on the history of the area.  It stopped raining finally and we were able to walk out to the Pueblo ruins.  There was a large community of Pueblo Indians that were taken over by the Spanish Conquistadors.  They brought missionaries with them and the large building is the second church built on the site.  The Indians revolted at one point and burned down the first church they built.  The Spanish left for awhile but came back and took over again.

At the site of the ruins, there was a group of people that were making pottery in the way of the Pueblo Indians.  We got there just as they were just starting to build the kiln.  We left the ruins and took a drive through the Santa Fe National Forest.  It was a bit rainy and cold and we didn't see any wildlife, just a lot of people fishing in the Pecos River and camping out along side the river.  We drove along the Santa Fe Trail to get to the ruins.

We followed the Santa Fe Trail back to the campground, dropped off Max and went to Harry's Roadhouse for dinner.  We have seen tons of cars there every day.  Thought there would be a big wait but it is an old house converted into a restaurant and there was a lot of seating in each room, along with a big patio area.  We had the pizza and it was okay.  We must have not picked the really good food that all of the people come in for!   I tried the White Peach Sangria and that was very good!   Hmmmm!

This morning we took off to the Buffalo Thunder Casino.  They advertised $25 in moreplay but when we got there that promotion had ended.  Now you "flipped" an electronic coin to see what you would win between $5 and $500.00.  We both won $5.00 hmmmm!  We played for a couple of hours, finally getting a bonus or two at the end and are now home.  Today is a cloudy and cool day, may get some more rain! 

Our computer has been shutting down on us and I finally plugged it in to the socket instead of the surge protector.  So far so good, keeping my fingers crossed!

Enjoying Santa Fe..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Santa Fe, New Mexico

We left Chama this morning, drove about 100 miles and are now in Santa Fe, NM!  We got here early so I took off got a Starbucks and my nails done!

This afternoon the skies got darker and darker with rain in the distance.  A warning came on the tv for a flood watch in the county.  We are up in the hills so we shouldn't have to worry about flooding.  We are still waiting for the rain to come through, just have some wind and it's getting chilly outside (63)!

Labor Day in Santa Fe is a "Mexican Fiesta"!  We will probably stay away from the crowds but there is still a lot to see here!

HAPPY LABOR DAY ALL..."Ain't Life Grand!"