Awesome Adventures in Arizona

When we arrived in Phoenix Arizona, we pulled up at the same time my mother had been retrieved from the airport. We plopped the camper in the drive way and began to enjoy the festivities of New Years Eve. The TV showed us the countdown for the regions around the world and we waited for our time to come. To have a little fun, we showed Dylan how to use sparklers and long exposures to make fun images.

The next morning, we drove over to the White Tank Recreational Area to do a little outdoor 'hiking'. The short trail up to the seasonal waterfall was just long enough of an outdoor adventure for some of our crew. We also took a moment to find Dylan's first ever Geocache. Since then, my brother has created an account so they can continue the hobby.

Another activity that we had a blast with was hitting up the local bowling alley. Of course Dylan had to be a show off and get the high score out of all of us. 

We also took a trip to Encanto Park in the center of Phoenix to have a picnic in the sun. Pepe couldn't resist the getting us all into paddle boats to cruise the lake in the center of the park. Dylan expressed his dislike of being in Nanny and Pepe's boat instead of Chris and Liz's. Overall, it was a fun time and Liz's first time ever in a paddle boat.

As a Christmas present, we got Dylan some awesome camping swap including an emergency whistle/compass/thermometer combo (no fire starter just yet). We traveled out to the Buckeye Hills Regional Rec Area where we scored an awesome campsite and cooked up some delicious campfire grub and watched the stars pan the sky above the saguaros. 

Some of the most fun though was spent at home on the trampoline of playing video games in the den.

When Dylan went back to school on the second week of the year, we planned some gnome time and went out to the Botanical Gardens in Phoenix which had a huge selection of cactus and native desert plants. It was beautiful.

We also were recommended to an awesome hike in the South Mountain Preserve called Hidden Valley which had a few rock scrambles and crawl-throughs to give some excitement.

On our last weekend in Arizona, we hopped in the car an drove out to Sedona for some beautiful outdoor adventures. Unfortunately, the weather was uncooperative and rain packed us in early in the day. We still grabbed a geocache and also picked up a salt lamp for Dylan's room. Overall, we had a great time in Phoenix with my brother and nephew and of course the parents. It was a great bonding time for Liz and we were able to spend some of our down time to rest but also start the lengthy planning process of the wedding coming in fall. Very Exciting!

Thanks for reading and sorry for the delay. Things are once again falling behind in life and the blog is the first to go the wayside. As we continue our journey back east and north, the blog will be pretty dormant for a few weeks until we are connected to internet source again. 

Christmas at the Beach

When we last left you, it was hailing in San Diego. The strange weather has continued to poke at us through our continuing adventures including unseasonable rain storms in Phoenix AZ and throughout our drive east to Roswell NM. Nothing the gnome and team can't handle with the right gear and attitudes. Never the less, I digress.

Christmas with the Fulton family was fantastically fun. I think we set the record for new traditions including a flight in on Xmas day followed by some vino and a gluten free meal of veggie stir-fry with peanut satay on a bed of quinoa and oven-baked wings. It was delicious. Gift giving waited until the next morning where we listened to the 'chill indie' youtube channel playing xmas-ish music. Our hostess of the household took on the gift distributing duties of the dozen or more presents under the tree. The Fulton's sure do know how to give gifts including painstakingly wrapping a gift card in 37 layers of paper giving the giftee a good time to unwrap. And it wouldn't be Christmas without the parental unit giving the gift of socks; high quality hikers mind you, that will keep my tootsies warm in days to come.

Overwrapped gift card

After that bundle of fun, the family unit had to do some sunset geocaching down the road.

A locked ammo can with-in another ammo can? WHA

Which Key is it?

Foreshadowing for the House of Hints Escape Room we did later on in the week.

The next day, we headed out to Torrey Pines State Reserve which is a very unique region that has the rare Torrey Pines which sit atop a sandstone cliff continually being washed out by the oceans forces. We took advantage of some vistas points and made our way down to the beach for tide pool explorations and skipping in the sand singing songs we shall never need recall. We left at sunset to see some amazing last moments of light for the west coast.

In the morning, the ladies went out to a local bridal shop to try on some dresses for the BTB. Of course the men folk were not invited so we putted around the AirBNB until our appointment at the House of Hints; a local Escape the Room type venue that provides an hour of entertainment and mystery solving with friends and family. Lets just say, we found the murderer, unlocked doors to secret storage spaces, decoded stuff and escaped the room with just 3 minutes to spare! Very entertaining and a real TEAM BUILDING exercise. That night, we went to Balboa park for the food truck festival that hosted a dozen or more trucks sporting simple greasy foods and treats. We all managed to find a meal to suit our style and feed our grumbling bellies.

The next day while daddy-o was incapacitated with flu like symptoms (possibly from the food truck), the kids went out to Balboa park for a picnic with frisbee's, have a walk around the gardens and just enjoy the nice weather. We saw about 3 brides doing photo shoots, electric wicker rickshaws scooting around and a rugged looking man playing the didgeridoo and hang drum combo. It was a stellar afternoon with some good old bonding time.

Before part of the Fulton fam was to fly out on the 31st, we snagged one last picture in our luxury AirBnB. After that, it was off to Phoenix for some sunny days in the desert with the Glaser gang. 

See next post for our New Years Rest and Resolutions.