December 2007

We started our December with a day trip to the Indio Tamale Festival. Fun and yummy too! We sampled all sorts of tamales…….at the top of my list are sweet corn tamales and roasted pork with pineapple tamales. The dessert tamales were great too. My favorite in this category was carmeled apple, butterscotch and walnut! Fantastic!

Oh, Oh! Now Mike has introduced Pat and Ron to off roading…….we spend time a fair amount of time in the desert and it is beginning to grow on me - It seems the desert takes on a beauty of it’s own. In the picture above you can see the Salton Sea in the background.

Mike had arthroscopic surgery on his knee this month. The doctor called it a “significant” tear in the meniscus. He is doing great - nothing seems to slow him down a bit. We flew up to Portland for a week to spend Christmas with the kids and grandkids. Had a wonderful time. My goodness those kids wear me out…..I must be getting old. We had snow on Christmas and the day we flew back. I returned to Palm Springs with a cold but it was all worth it!

November 2007

We love our winter home here in Indio - we have warm weather and great friends here! Outdoor Resorts threw a wonderful “Welcome Home” party - a good time was had by all!
We took the motorhome to Borrego Springs (about 90 minutes south of here) where Mike went to a two day off roading driving school. He really enjoyed the class and said he learned quite a bit.
We have started our off roading trips with the gang here and have already seen several desert trails this season.
My sister Jeri, her husband Brian and their friends came to our desert area in November and we enjoyed spending an evening with them.
Mike’s sister Pat and her husband Ron have arrived and will be staying in Indio for the next few months. It will be great to have them so close.

October 2007

October has taken us to see some beautiful sites! We met up with our friends Ken and Darlene Sutton and toured through the beautiful Zion National Park, spent a day in breathtaking Bryce National Park, visited Snow Canyon in St. George Utah, drove through Kolob Canyon and headed up in the snow to Cedarbreaks National Monument at 10,500 ft. All of these locations are in southern Utah (one of the most spectacular states we have visited)
From Utah we traveled to Las Vegas where we visited with Cliff and Marcielle Scott (Sunriver friends) and took in a fabulous seafood buffet (ate way too much - you know how those buffets are) While we were there, Mike had an adventure of a lifetime. He got to drive a NASCAR at the Las Vegas Speedway. He rode (at 165-170 mph) three laps with a professional driver then after some instruction, they strapped him in a real NASCAR and he drove (by himself) 8 laps where they clocked him at 133mph. He said it was an unbelievable rush!

We are now at Outdoor Resorts in Indio (near Palm Springs) where we will spend the next several months. We are very fortunate to be quite a ways from the devastating southern California fires. The weather here is warm, beautiful, clear and dry….every day.

October has ended with Janet’s 60th birthday. Who ever thought that 60 could be so wonderful. I’m having a great time!

September 2007

We are so fortunate to have a home with wheels. What a great life! This month, we started out in Flathead Lake, Montana. What a beautiful area. Flathead Lake is the largest body of fresh water west of the Mississippi. We drove around the lake, took a boat ride on the lake and enjoyed a picnic on the lake shore.
From Flathead, we headed to Glacier National Park. We toured the park, took a boat ride on Lake McDonald, hiked to a beautiful waterfall, saw some big horned sheep and took in the beauty of the park. We ran into Mike and Carol Semple from ORI (where we spend the winter) - great to see familiar faces and catch up on both families summer adventures.

Next stop - Livingston, Montana. We spent a few days here visiting with Denny and Kay Struss (also friends from ORI) Livingston is in a beautiful location just north of Yellowstone. When we left Livingston, we drove south and through Yellowstone National Park - just passing through, we saw buffalo, coyote, elk and a bear.

On to Driggs, Idaho where we spent 4 nights with Chad and Jill Stettler (also from ORI - living on the road has given us so many wonderful friends) Driggs is located on the west side of the Tetons and is quiet, great summer weather and full of so many friendly people. Mike took a float trip on the Yellowstone river with Chad while Jill invited me to tag along with her weekly hiking group. We hiked up in the hills - now I know what bear scat looks like! On to 5 days in Jackson Wyoming (on the east side of the Tetons) In Jackson, we toured Teton National Park, took a float trip on the Snake river, saw numerous eagles, hundreds of buffalo, elk, a bear and a moose too! We took a gondola ride to see the beautiful Jackson Hole valley, and we hiked to a remote incredibly beautiful lake and waterfall.

In Olathe, Colorado, we met up with Denny and Kay Struss and Dave and Roberta McCleary where we all gathered to participate in a FMCA 4-Wheelers Rally. We toured an amazing car museum created by the fella who owns the Discovery Channel. The car collection is located in Gateway Colorado. We went on 4 off roading trail runs and saw some incredibly beautiful country. We even had to slowly make our way through the middle of a cattle drive - complete with real cowboys!

August 2007

August began with busy activities in our Sunriver “home”: bike riding, weekly “Music on the Green”, the Sunriver Quilt Show, a neighborhood potluck, the Sunriver Music Festival. By the middle of the month we had packed up, said our goodbyes and headed off to the Portland area for a 4 day stay at Champoeg State Park to celebrate our annual “Fox Family Campout.” We had games, prizes, crafts, bike rides, s’mores, and a visit from two fabulous clowns (Mike’s brother and his finance) who painted our faces, danced with us, and made balloon animals, hats and swords!

On to our next adventure……. We were happy to meet up with our friends, Tom and Linda West, for one evening in Hermiston on our way to our destination, Missoula Montana. The wildfires in the Missoula area have filled the “Big Sky Country” with smoke but they are reported to be well under control. Mike, his buddy Neil, and some new friends set off to retrace a 465 mile stretch of the Lewis and Clark trail on their bicycles. The weather was warm (mid 80’s) but thanks to many weeks of training, they all did well. I spent the seven days he was gone exploring Missoula, bike riding and quilting.

July 2007

July has been a great month! We spent the 4th in Sunriver - The weather has been great. Mike has been riding his bike every day training for a 7 day - 500 mile ride in August. He rides 30 - 35 miles at a quick pace with many hills for conditioning. I also ride every day with a couple of gals. We ride slow and enjoy ourselves.

We spent a fabulous week on a cruise to Mexico with Marc, Maria, Brandon and Karen. What fun! The ship was great - the ports (Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas) were all great - the food was INCREDIBLE and the drinks were flowing! The best part was spending an entire week with our wonderful sons and their fantastic wives. I only hope they had as much fun as we did!

Brandon, Karen, Ben, Anna and their friends Jodi, Trevor, Ollie and Sam came to Sunriver for a campout. We went swimming, off-roading, rafting, golfing, shopping, biking and had a general great time.

The Sisters Quilt Show was fantastic (as usual) I really enjoyed seeing the creations and getting inspired to do some sewing.

June 2007

Can you believe it? Little Anna has turned two! Her second birthday party on June 10th was great fun. June 11th we headed to Sunriver. It’s great to be here again. The air is so clean, it smells like pine trees, we love our time here. The winter wasn’t too kind to our deck. Mike spent several days stripping and refinishing it - It’s beautiful now! We seem to have so many deer this year - There is a doe and her two very little fawns that have been by several times and a couple of bucks too. We see deer most every day

Mike’s sister Pat and her husband Ron have just sold their house, retired from their jobs, purchased a new truck & 5th wheel and have hit the road. It’s a great lifestyle! They came to spend a week with us in Sunriver. We really enjoyed having them here. While here, they found some property and have purchased it for their new “summer home” We had a BBQ with all of our Sunriver friends to introduce them and celebrate their new purchase.

May 2007

Spent a wonderful 5 days in Lake Havasu City with Joan and Norm (Sunriver friends) Saw cigarette boat racing, hiked to a gorgeous slot canyon, afternoon visit with Bob & Maryanne (Sunriver friends), great tours of the town and the London Bridge, golf at the Refuge, boat ride across the lake and a visit to Oatman, AZ (a unique small town on Route 66 where the wild burros come down from the mountains each day and roam around the town)

Next stop Monument Valley, UT where we took a tour of the valley (gorgeous!) Monument Valley is on the Navajo Indian Reservation and there is an abundance of Navajo history in this beautiful place. Spent a day touring Canyon DeChelly - another breathtaking canyon filled with ancient ruins.

Spent 9 days in Moab, UT where we met up with the FMCA 4-Wheelers group. Went out on several organized “Jeepin trails into the unbelieveable beauty that is in the backcountry. We got the chance to see just what our Rubicon is capable of. We had some great times with some great friends.

Next on to Vancouver where we got to spend 3 days with our two youngest grandkids while Mom and Dad were in Hawaii. We are really loving this “On the Road” lifestyle so after they returned, we cleaned out our storage unit and moved our “must keeps” into Brandon & Karen’s attic. We had a huge garage sale (3 families total) and sold quite a bit of “stuff”

We are currently at Marc & Maria’s…..Maria is having her tonsils removed and we are here to help out till she gets back on her feet.

April 2007

April has been a quiet and somewhat windy month. The days are in the 80's but we have had a fair amount of evening wind making everything dusty. The RV resort is slowly emptying out, folks are heading home. We have attended numerous "Going Away" parties. We have spent several months in close proximity to so many wonderful people and now we must say goodbye until next winter. Although it's difficult to say goodbye, we are getting itchy to get on the road. There is so much amazing country out there and we want to see it all!

Both of us have been riding our bikes (I ride with the ladies and Mike goes out with men) The weather here is perfect for bike riding. We have spent our Wednesday's "Jeepin" with the off roading group, have seen some old mines and some beautiful cactus blooms. I have finished a quilt and have just finished a quilt class - hope to finish that project this week. Mike went to a remote control Jet exhibition which he said was really neat and is now getting in his last bit of desert golf before we leave. We drove up into the mountains and met friends for lunch in Idyllwild. Idyllwild is a small mountain resort community in the mountains overlooking Palm Springs. It's at about 6000 feet and the weather was cool, brisk and sunny with snow on the ground. It was beautiful!

March 2007

March 2007
Oh, Oh, this “off roading” thing is turning very serious. The Tahoe has been replaced with a 2007 4-door Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. Mike couldn’t be any more proud about the new addition to our family. Note the picture above, now we can go into places where the Tahoe just wasn’t equipped to handle!
We spent a day with friends at the Da Vinci exhibit in Palm Springs. It was an incredible exhibit and we came out with a new appreciation for a very intelligent man who was so far ahead of his times.

February 2007

February 2007
We started off the month with a “60th Birthday Party” on our lot. We had 66 people here and had a wonderful time. Mike is starting a new decade but it certainly isn’t slowing him down!
During the middle of the month, we flew up to Portland to celebrate Camryn and Colby’s birthday’s. Camryn is now 7 and Colby is 4. They are growing up so fast. While in Portland, we stayed at Marc and Maria’s new home in Sherwood, took in a “Hoop-a-thon” (fund raiser for Camryn’s school) attended the super joint birthday party, had a fun night with Brandon, Karen, Ben and Anna, went out to dinner at Benihana’s (Camryn & Colby’s favorite restaurant) and spent an afternoon at a local swimming pool. Great time!

January 2007

January 2007
Looking forward to a great new year full of adventure and travels. We are at Ourdoor Resorts in Indio (We call this home as we spend about 6 months a year here) Weather is wonderful, while the rest of the country is shoveling snow, we are enjoying clear blue skies and about 70-75 degrees) Mike has found a new hobby - He is now interested in “Off roading” By the picture above, you can notice that I’m still not too sure of this new adventure. We are taking the Tahoe out every Wednesday with a group from our resort. We head out into the desert and have seen some interesting canyons, vistas, old mines, beautiful cactus, a lot of rocks and a fair amount of dust.

December 2006

December 9-12, 2006

We flew to Portland to celebrate Ben’s 4th birthday and our family Christmas. Stayed with Brandon & Karen and had a great time. Spent our “Christmas” at Marc and Maria’s along with Brandon & Karen and all the grandkids.

November 2006

October 27-November 5, 2006 Houston, TX

What a great week in Houston. We went to the San Jacinto monument (The battlefield where Texas won their independence from Mexico)
We met up with Tom and Linda West. Mike and Tom played golf everyday for 6 days. Linda and Janet went to the week long Houston Quilt show. Awesome time!

Nov 5, 2006

Thanksgiving Outdoor Resorts, Indio, CAIt feels great to be “home” We just love it here. The resort looks wonderful. So many flowers in bloom, trees are trimmed, streets are clean. This is a true oasis in the desert. We have it all here. The nice warm weather of the desert and the beautiful green manicured surroundings that are everywhere.

Thanksgiving 2006

Marc, Maria, Camryn and Colby are here! Also Chuck and Eva are here. We had a great time with everyone. Maria, Eva, Camryn, Colby and I spent a fun day at the “Living Desert”

October 2006

Visited with Mike’s cousin who owns a 320 acre alfalfa farm in Norton Kansas.

Through county records, we found Janet’s grandparent’s marriage certificate and their first home in Phillipsburg Kansas

October 7th – Dodge City Spent an afternoon touring the Front Street and Boot Hill museums. Great memorabilia from the days of Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp and countless “Wild West” bad guys.

October 8th Oklahoma City

The memorial to those who died, those who survived and the rescuers from the 1995 Federal Building bombing is incredibly moving. It is a beautiful and sacred place. I am so impressed with the spirit of community in Oklahoma City.

10-12, 2006 Fredericksburg, TX

Fredericksburg is located in the “Hill Country” of Texas. While here, we toured the historic town, the Admiral Nimitz museum, the Lyndon Johnson homestead, the Lady Bird Johnson park, a turn of the century working farm and we went to Luckenbach Texas (the tiny, one horse town frequented by Willie Nelson)

October 13-16, 2006 Austin, TX

Austin is a beautiful town. We took a tour of the town, the historic old town, the new awesome beautiful part of town, the inside and the grounds of the State capitol and we spent an entire day at the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum.

October 17-20, 2006 San Antonio, TX

In San Antonio we toured the Alamo, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 5 of the missions in and around town, a boat tour of the “River Walk” (which we liked so much that we walked the River Walk also.)

October 21-23 Galveston, TX
Galveston is an island south of Houston. The weather is beautiful but very windy. In Galveston, we met Mike’s cousin and his wife for a great seafood lunch and they showed us some neat places in town.
We also toured the Houston Space Center (pretty incredible)

October 24-26 Beaumont, TX

We spent several days is Beaumont. Mike’s cousin lives in Bridge City Texas and was a fabulous host, showing us the sites. We drove over across the border into Louisana to see some of the devestation still left from hurricane Rita (over a year ago). There are still many houses with blue tarps for roofs, many FEMA trailers, an entire beach community washed off it’s foundations.