Flagstaff to Albuquerque - Route 66

This post is going to be very pictorial. The journey between Flagstaff, Arizona to Albuquerque, New Mexico was so amazing that it can only really be shared this way.


We didn't really intend to stop between Flagstaff and Albuquerque but we saw a sign for a Meteor Crater - we just had to stop to take a look!



"The Painted Cliffs"


Arriving in New Mexico


We heard lots of severe weather alerts for the storm crossing the Albuquerque area on the way in. We managed to skirt the storm completely.




In Albuquerque we stayed Priscilla. She made us feel very welcome!

The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon was probably the part of the trip we were looking forward to the most. Nothing can prepare you for the actual awesomeness of seeing it for real. It really takes your breath away! Anyone who knows me will know that I'm not a big fan of heights so I was very proud of myself going all the way to the edge for a look! I was not looking forward to the drive there - fearing that it would be one of those thrill drives along cliff edges with no barriers. This was not the case at all. It was a long straight road, mostly through forest.



Not much really impresses our boys (teens and a preteen, say no more!), but I think even they were pretty awestruck.


.............Apparently falling over the edge can be quite fatal....mmm....glad they warned us!

We stayed at the Drury Hotel in Flagstaff which is trying to be a greener hotel. One of the things that made us all chuckle when we arrived was the choice of flush on the toilet. We are all familiar with the low flush option, but here they are obviously targetting the people who are not....

....and the warning not to drink the reclaimed toilet water....very useful advice indeed!

Lake Havasu, AZ - June 12th

We had a lazy morning today and didn't leave until 11.30am. We were all so tired after the last few weeks that we just hung around and drank coffee! After an extended stop we arrived at our Lake Havasu hotel around 4.30pm. We thought it would be 5.30pm when we arrived but were reminded that this part of Arizona doesn't observe daylight saving so they are currently the same time zone as California.
Our hotel room is great. We have a nice suite with a balcony on the 4th floor overlooking the lake.

For dinner we went to The Mudshark Brewing Co. restaurant. A perfect little micro brewery / restaurant sat amongst a hundred chain restaurants. The food was ok, they serve Cod (which DOES NOT taste like old socks) and chips as well as American food.
The best part by far was the beer. They quote "All of our beer is made with only the four basic ingredients allowed under the German Beer Purity Law of 1516 (known by its German name, Reinheitsgebot)" OH WOW!! They do it so well! It was simply amazing. We brought a half gallon back to the hotel. I'm just sad they didn't bottles to take to Florida for Mick to try - I know he would love it!
Lake Havasu City is the home of the original London Bridge which was sold and moved brick by brick when the bridge was replaced in London in 1968. Rumor has it that the buyers thought they were buying Tower Bridge (the one with all the history, not the one that was falling down!)

Miles traveled - 275
Travel time - 5 hours
Wiki link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Havasu_City,_Arizona

Tehachapi, CA - June 11th

We set off after school / work to our first stop at Tehachapi, CA primarily because it was in the right location. Known locally as "The Land of Four Seasons" due to it's changeable weather, we have passed by this place many times on our way down to Vegas and wondered what it has to offer. To get there on route 58 you drive up and up, and eventually stop climbing at a little under 4000ft. For such a remote place the town has pretty much everything you could need to live here and seems to be a popular place with retirees. For an overnight stop it had hotels, pizza and lots of Landshark beer! We were all pretty tired so that's all we really needed.

Miles traveled - 283
Travel time - 4.5 hours
Wiki link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehachapi,_California

School's out for Summer

The boys finished school at lunch time yesterday. I was sat outside the High School when the final bell of the school year rang. I have never experienced anything quite like the spontaneous cheer that filled the air and pretty much drowned out the final bell. These guys were louder than the England fans chanting in a Brussels courtyard which I had the pleasure of being in the midst of a few years back.
The outpouring of students from every orifice of the school was quite something too....around 1500 students evacuated the premises in less than 60 seconds......amazing! Shame they don't rush home that quickly to do the chores.....

Roooooooaaaaad Trip!

We are driving to Florida from California this Summer. I plan to post updates on here for anyone interested in following our progress.
This is our schedule.....I will try to update daily (but we all know how that goes!!)

June
11th - Tehachapi - a little mountain top town we drive through on the way to Vegas
12th - Lake Havasu City - where the original London Bridge is
13th Flagstaff - Grand Canyon
14th - Albuquerque - passing through, visiting friends
15th - Oklahoma - just happens to be on the way!
16th & 17th Memphis - Graceland, Beale St, Civil Rights Museum
18th - Atlanta - visiting friends, Coca Cola Museum
19th & 20th Cocoa Beach - give the kids some chill time after the trip
21st - Orlando - Emma & Mick's
22nd - home to Sandy Key :)

Thank you Kathy & Joe

Wow! What a hectic few weeks!
We moved out of our house on May 24th. Our good friends very kindly let us stay with them for just over 2 weeks until school finished. I must admit to having reservations about doing this as we like Kathy & Joe and wanted to keep them as friends!!
Between May 24th - 31st we were so busy clearing the house we were leaving. Kathy covered the parts that usually get neglected at times like these and kept us nourished and watered. Once we had finished moving out it was their turn to pack up house. This meant that we were able to return the favor and go some way to manage the home end while they were busy.
In a nutshell, we had 12 people in a 6 bedroom house all going through one of the most stressful things you can do in life and we got through it ok! We were actually sad to leave. I personally will miss the wind down with wine at the end of the day, and I know that Phil will miss his chats over Port & Sailor Jerry!

I want to help make a difference!

On February 21st I signed up for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I chose the Los Angeles event as the San Francisco one is in July when I will be across at the other side of the country. I will be joined on the walk by Heidi & Kathy - we are all tentatively excited! We will walk 26.2 miles on Day one, and 13.1 miles on Day two (that's a Marathon and a half people!!!)

My motivation for doing this is my friend Julie, at 36 she is fighting secondary Bone Cancer. Her Breast Cancer was discovered 2 years ago and had spread to her hip bone by the time it was discovered.
This is her blog if you are interested http://joolssutton.blogspot.com/

To participate in the walk I need to raise $1800 for the cause. Once all the checks arrive into my account I will be on just over $600. I can only achieve my goal with help from my friends and family. Thank you to all who have already donated. Please donate to my cause online www.tinyurl.com/AndieAvonwalk

My 20 week training plan begins on April 25th. Until then I am keeping up with my regular gym routine and gradually building up my walking outdoors. I am at the point now where I need to get some walking / running shoes better suited to long distances. At the moment I am wearing regular cross training shoes and starting to feel the burn on my feet!

Happy 2009!!

Ok guys, 7 weeks into the new year I finally get around to wishing you all a Happy New Year!

I'm not going to beat myself up about what I haven't Blogged about - instead I'll give you a condensed version and then get on with the "here and now"

Since my last post we have a new President. I was very grateful to be over here and witness the whole democratic process first hand. It was really quite riveting - I became more of a news bore than I normally am! Election night was fun, I spent most of the time having an online party with Claire and Emma. 2 of us were routing for Obama and one for McCain (you were a fab loser Em!!)

Kathy and Joe moved back into their house the week before Thanksgiving - which was so amazing as they were hosting Thanksgiving dinner!! Nunu, you were a trooper!!!!

My mum and Phil's parents arrived just in time for Thanksgiving. We had the most wonderful dinner with Joe & Kathy and their family. When you can eat Al fresco in November life is good!!!!!!!!!! Great Job Kathy and Joe!
Nunu left just after Thanksgiving - we were very sad to see him go. We got so used to having him around (2 whole months!!!)

Then came December, mum headed off to Florida closely followed by myself, Kai and Merl & Joyce. Phil and the boys joined us once school and work were done, Heidi also arrived the same time. We went Mickey mad for about 2 weeks and then the tourists began to arrive And the parks got so busy. That's when we backed off and spent some time relaxing by our lovely pool.
Christmas in Orlando was great. We went to Raglan Road (the Irish Pub in Downtown Disney) and had a traditional-ish meal.

On New Years Eve we started heading into Downtown Disney but it was so busy that we turned around and went back home. Instead we had a quiet night in heading outdoors at midnight to watch all the fireworks. A very nice night indeed!

We got back to California on January 6th to the news that our Visa had been renewed for another 3 years (YAY!!!!!!) Hopefully our Green Cards will be through before we have to go through that whole painful and expensive renewal process again! Heidi came back to California with us for what should have been 11 days. Unfortuantely (or not!) she had to get a Dr's note to delay her flight home for a week.

Ok....that's November, December and January watch this space for February....