Aunt Marge & Dixie
DECEMBER
– This month was busy as
usual. On the 9th
we drove to Danny's to help him go through Darshelle's things. We
stopped in Indio and met Henrietta for lunch at In & Out. We
arrived at Dannys around 3p. We went across the street for dinner at
the Mexican place. On the 10th
we started bright and early in Darshelle's apartment opening boxes,
sorting out what to keep & give away. It was all quite
overwhelming as there were many, many boxes that had never been
opened after their move in July. Also it was packed with furniture.
We thought we would get it done in a day but we just made a dent. We
decided to stay another day and keep going. By Monday morning we had
the SUV full and at least 40 give away boxes ready to be picked up.
There is still more to do but we got through all of it! Danny will
work on getting rid of the furniture. On Monday we stopped and had
lunch with Sandy at Cal Baptist U. Then we went to Aunt Marge's
where we overnighted. She had a meeting at her house so Mike &
I went to out to dinner. On the 13th
we headed back to Yuma once again – with a stop at Henrietta's for
Brunch. I made Christmas snacks/cookie that week. We mailed a box
to Brandon & family on the 17th
and Dad on the 19th.
Doug/Fran were in Phoenix for a couple of days when they took Bonnie
to the airport. Danny and Lexi were to arrive for Christmas on the
23rd
but they ended up not coming. On Christmas Eve we attended church
and then came back to some delicious Seafood Chowder that Doug/Fran
made. On Christmas day we all decided to go on a hike to the 'flag'
which it on top of the Gila Mountains. We drove as far as we could
in the desert and began our hike. We walked 1.25 miles to the Jester
Trail trailhead. From there we headed up the mountain. Well we
made it almost to the flag. The last 100 feet was pure rock uphill
and by this time we were getting pooped and we still had to get back
down and cook Christmas dinner. By the time we got back to Doug's
pickup it was 4.25 hrs and 6.5 miles later! It was a great hike with
wonderful views. On the way home we stopped at George and Coralee's
for a beer and conversation. We ended the day with our Cornish Hens
on the grill with stuffing and brussel sprouts and pecan pie! A
wonderful day!
On
the 27th
Dixie had a facial and chemical peel at the NiSpa! It was a first
and wonderful experience!
We
had a very small rock chip repair done and ordered a license plate
holder that Doug put on the SUV.
Mark
& Danielle, friends from Nova Scotia that are in Indio came for a
visit on the 29th.
We all went to Algadones on the 30th
and then to Lutz's for lunch/dinner. We enjoyed evening around the
fireplace visiting. They left on the 31st.
We stayed in for New Years Eve. We grilled some steaks and watched
a movie! No we didn't see the new year in!
North Rim of Grand Canyon
Andy & Linda
Carlsbad Sunset
NOVEMBER
– We headed out this
morning with a stop at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. This was a
first on this road of us. It was pretty quit as the lodge had just
closed the day before. We hiked out to a point and had a spectacular
view. We felt the scenery at the North Rim was just a good as the
south and some of it even better. We had our packed lunch and then
continued on the trip. After the detour we continued on to Page, AZ
where we stayed at the Best Western Lake View. We had a nice view
room with a view of Lake Powell. We drove around a bit and saw more
of the lake. We enjoyed some BBQ at a local Texas place. On the 2nd
we headed a bit further south. Today's stop was in Dewey, AZ, just
out of Prescott. We enjoyed a wonderful visit with Andy and Linda
Younger, high school friends of Mikes. They had a very nice place in
a park. We enjoyed dinner out and then overnighted with them. Dixie
got a bit sick overnight and in the morning. We went to a neat
organic restaurant in Prescott with them before leaving around 11am.
We continued on to Quartzsite where we stayed overnight with Bob &
Cheryl. Dixie cut Cheryl and Linda's hair and we had a nice happy
hour with Jim/Linda and Bob/Cheryl. Cheryl cooked dinner and we
visited. Early on the 4th
we headed for our final destination of Yuma Foothills. We stopped at
Doug/Fran's and unloaded our stuff and then drove to Algadones for
Mike's dental appt to fix the crown that had come off. They prepped
him for a new one and we were headed back to unpack. We managed to
stuff all our stuff into Doug/Fran's park model. On the 5th
Dixie did 4 haircuts! The DirecTV installer came and got us set up
so we are in business! On the 7th
we headed back to Mexico to get Mike's crown put on. It didn't fit
right so they had to make a new one so that means one more trip to
Mexico! We had munch at El Gourmet with Doug/Fran and then we drove
to Carlsbad, CA where we stayed with Aunt Marge at her Tamarack
Resort Condo. We spent 3 nights with her and had a great time. Lexi
and Ryan visited the first day. We did a bit of shopping and walked
on the beach. On Thurs. the 10th
we celebrated Mike's Birthday with a drive up Highway 1. We ended up
at Danny's in El Segundo. We went to Manhattan Beach to the Fish
Bar for dinner. We overnighted with Danny for 2 nights. On the 11th
we drove Danny's convertible around...Hollywood where we walked
around, up to Griffith Park & the Observatory (too crowded to
even park there). We then drove Mulholland Dr and stopped at the
Hollywood Bowl overlook...beautiful scenery. We had dinner on the
that night at Britts BBQ with Danny. We left on the 12th
and headed to Indio. We stopped at the COD Street Fair to shop a bit
and then headed to Henrietta's at the Happy Wanderer RV park. We had
dinner & overnighted with her. Dixie cut here hair the next
morning and then we left for Yuma. We drove the east side of the
Salton Sea and made a stop at “Salvation Mountain” and “Slab
City”. We had heard a lot about this place but had never stopped.
It was an interesting site.
Fran's
sister, Bonnie is staying in the Casita for awhile. On the 16th
Fran, Bonnie and I went shopping. On the 17th we drove
Doug & Fran to the Mesa airport so they could fly back to Montana
for a Dr. appt and other stuff! They drove the convertible down and
arrived on the 28th. We went to John and Angie's for
Thanksgiving. On Black Friday we went to look at SUV's at the Sears
Parking lot (we looked at some a few days earlier at another
dealership). Well, we found a very nice 2013 Lincoln MKX (White
Platinum Pearl) with only 19,000 miles. Well before that day was
over it belonged to us!!!! We decided to sell our Ford outright.
Dixie made up a sign and Mike cleaned it up and the next Wed. the
30th we put it on a lot on Foothills Blvd for $20 for a
week. The next morning we started receiving phone calls (5
throughout the day). The first guy that called met us that afternoon
for a test drive and the 2nd couple were there as well.
Both drove it and the first one that called bought it for our asking
price of $4595. We did a few issues as in AZ a car with a 'salvaged
title' has to be inspected before if can be registered. After
several phone calls to MT and AZ DMV and $50 we got it straightened
out. The sad news this month was Darshelle, Lexi's Mom. She ended
up in the hospital on the 14th where she found out she had
a large tumor in her colon and also in the lung. Both were felt to
be cancerous. She passed away on the evening of the 23rd.
It's going to be very hard on Lexi.
Mike & Micheala
Adriana & Dillon
Dad & Dixie
OCTOBER
– Another trip to Great Falls
on the 3rd!
We stopped in Havre to pick up Dad about 845a. Once in Great Falls
we left Dad at the condo and we ran some errands. We brought lunch
back and then we headed to our appts with Dr. Legan at 130p &
215p. All good there! We went back to pickup Dad and headed to his
330p appt with Dr. Santin. We had to wait there a bit but got his
stitches out. All looks good, the upper eyelid droops quite a bit
but hopefully that will get better with time. We all had dinner at
Murphy's in Havre and then we took Dad back home. We got home just
after nine after driving in the rain all day. We had our first
freeze and snowfall on Tue the 4th.
It hung around til Friday then warmed up to the high 50's on Sunday.
We put a lot of our outside stuff away as more cold and snow is
arriving Sunday night. We planted our Blue Spruce tree on Sunday on
the one nice day. Hope it survives the winter weather coming! On
the 10th
we woke up to snow once again. It continued snowing throughout the
day with 5 inches by noon. On the 14th
we went to Havre an took Dad to an appt with Dr. Boes. We attended
Shay's Basketball game that evening. On the 21st.
We fly out of Great Falls to SEA. We rented a car and stayed with
Micheala and Tim until late Sunday and flew back to GTF. We
overnighted in Great Falls and headed back home on the 24th.
Due to the incoming weather we decided to leave a day early, heading
south. On the 29th
we visited Dad in Havre and then went to Shay's basketball game.
From there we drove to Great Falls and overnighted. Sunday the 30th
we drove to Butte. We stayed with Shelly and Jim. Tyler and Jody
came to visit. We had a wonderful afternoon visiting and a great
dinner with them. Just before 7a on the 31st
we headed south. We drove over 700 miles to Hurricane, UT where we
overnighted. We had a nice Chinese dinner just down the street from
the Travelodge.
