After a beautiful cruise to Alaska and a visit with Mike, Robin, Cameron and Kyle, we are spending some time here in Dewey Beach, DE. We plan to go to DC on Thursday, the 8th, to swap homes with Alice's Aunt Swanee. We'll be meeting up with John and Alice and Miss Maddox, as well as with David and Sooty and David and Alexandra. What fun.
Bill is sick right now. We hope it's just a reaction to the flu shot.
Bob and Phyllis Hanavan spent the weekend with us. We went to Shucker's and Fin Bar. Nice weather, nice friends.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
A Friday in Albuquerque
The day was warm...in the fifties and sunny. Alice, Bill and I took Maddox to Academy Hills Park. It is about five minutes away. There as another toddler about two months older than Maddox, Emory, playing there, too. His dad was a good source of information about the city. The two kids played well together on the slides, etc. The park is in a large area surrounded by a one-mile jogging trail. There are two covered areas for picknicking, and lots of fields for games and running. When we left Maddox annunced that "We had fun."
This evening we went to Garcia's for New Mexican food. It is on the corner of Comanche and Juan Tabo. Emory's father recommended it for family fare. The decor is heavy with tropical birds and sombreros. Maddox ate almost 1/2 a cheese quesadilla as well as sampling some chips with hot sauce. John, Bill and I ate stuffed sopaipillas. They were delicious. Alice's entree was chicken burrito. One of the waiters waved at Maddox but she announced that she didn't like him.
What a week. We are looking forward to going home, too, but this has been a great experience. The full moon was out tonight over the city. Since we are so high, we descend into the lights as we drive. The city is expansive and backed by the mountains...really pretty.
i am forever grateful for family and friends.
This evening we went to Garcia's for New Mexican food. It is on the corner of Comanche and Juan Tabo. Emory's father recommended it for family fare. The decor is heavy with tropical birds and sombreros. Maddox ate almost 1/2 a cheese quesadilla as well as sampling some chips with hot sauce. John, Bill and I ate stuffed sopaipillas. They were delicious. Alice's entree was chicken burrito. One of the waiters waved at Maddox but she announced that she didn't like him.
What a week. We are looking forward to going home, too, but this has been a great experience. The full moon was out tonight over the city. Since we are so high, we descend into the lights as we drive. The city is expansive and backed by the mountains...really pretty.
i am forever grateful for family and friends.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Explora! with Maddox
Today we spent the morning in the children's museum in Albuquerque:Explora!
I have never seen a children's museum so perfect for toddlers! There must be twenty different little rooms with interactive science material especially for little ones: simple machines, bubble making, water flow, aeronautics, air movement, gears ....we only looked at these, and there are many more. Parking is free and there are outdoor picnic areas with playgrounds. It is right in Old Town and around twenty-five minutes from John and Alice's apartment. Maddox was delighted. She could do the activities herself, which is her primary concern.
In the afternoon Alice went to her new gym for a session with a personal trainer. We had a great supper here at home. Last night we ordered pizza from Dion's which is the 2008 best pizza for Albuquerque. It, too, was great.
We are going home on Saturday.
I have never seen a children's museum so perfect for toddlers! There must be twenty different little rooms with interactive science material especially for little ones: simple machines, bubble making, water flow, aeronautics, air movement, gears ....we only looked at these, and there are many more. Parking is free and there are outdoor picnic areas with playgrounds. It is right in Old Town and around twenty-five minutes from John and Alice's apartment. Maddox was delighted. She could do the activities herself, which is her primary concern.
In the afternoon Alice went to her new gym for a session with a personal trainer. We had a great supper here at home. Last night we ordered pizza from Dion's which is the 2008 best pizza for Albuquerque. It, too, was great.
We are going home on Saturday.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Visiting in New Mexico with the NC Dolbows
Happy 2009 to all!
We drove from Cameron to Amarillo on New Year's Day. It was a long ride, but weather was warm and dry. We took advantage of it.
Bill kept trying to get a milkshake, but the machine was either down, or the restaurant was being razed! We finally got one at a SONIC. Never went to one of those before. In order to drink we had to water the milkshake down with old coffee....actually not too bad. Laugh.
In Amarillo the hoteliers sent us by limousine to the Big Texan Steakhouse. The meal was delicious. We sat at the bar and talked with two truck drivers, father and son both named Don, from Calistoga, CA. This is in wine country, they told us. They were "stuck" in Amarillo, because a woman did not pay her $1600 delivery bill as her husband is in the hospital. These are independent truckers, going from haul-to-haul. They sleep in the truck, watching movies on DVD at night. Amarillo was the farthest the son had ever travelled, but the dad had once gone from Daytona, FL to Alaska! We found them to be delightfully nice men. You have to wonder about that kind of life. The family included six other brothers, and one sister. "Don" is the oldest. He does not want to get married until he can be a father ho is home more. He believes that Obama is going to bring a big chnge to the economy.
The next day we took our time setting off, as we knew we would arrive in Albuquerque before the kids. We visited a very remote park along a dammed up part of the Pecos River. Not too exciting.
In New Mexico we found a Red Roof Inn in a somewhat run-down part of town. The people at the desk were very helpful. We met John, Alice, and Maddox at the airport and helped them load up the rental car. Maddox had been up all day, through two plane flights. At one point she told me she wanted to "hold her bed." I don't blame her!
The next day we all met for brunch at "Peeps." John had been here before in his travels. Great place for breakfast!
Then off we came to 5304 Tennyson St. This is an apartment complex of stucco, tile-roofed buildings. They look out on the Sandia Mountains, and the view is just wonderful. Like the ocean, the weather over the mountains is always changing. We have some beautiful sunsets.
Alice did a wonderful job organizing this move. All the furniture was here and placed when we arrived. The kids spent the weekend emptying boxes and getting settled while we played with Maddox. The weather is kind of cold, even for New Mexico, I gather. But we have been able to get outside every day.
I will try to post some pictures.
We drove from Cameron to Amarillo on New Year's Day. It was a long ride, but weather was warm and dry. We took advantage of it.
Bill kept trying to get a milkshake, but the machine was either down, or the restaurant was being razed! We finally got one at a SONIC. Never went to one of those before. In order to drink we had to water the milkshake down with old coffee....actually not too bad. Laugh.
In Amarillo the hoteliers sent us by limousine to the Big Texan Steakhouse. The meal was delicious. We sat at the bar and talked with two truck drivers, father and son both named Don, from Calistoga, CA. This is in wine country, they told us. They were "stuck" in Amarillo, because a woman did not pay her $1600 delivery bill as her husband is in the hospital. These are independent truckers, going from haul-to-haul. They sleep in the truck, watching movies on DVD at night. Amarillo was the farthest the son had ever travelled, but the dad had once gone from Daytona, FL to Alaska! We found them to be delightfully nice men. You have to wonder about that kind of life. The family included six other brothers, and one sister. "Don" is the oldest. He does not want to get married until he can be a father ho is home more. He believes that Obama is going to bring a big chnge to the economy.
The next day we took our time setting off, as we knew we would arrive in Albuquerque before the kids. We visited a very remote park along a dammed up part of the Pecos River. Not too exciting.
In New Mexico we found a Red Roof Inn in a somewhat run-down part of town. The people at the desk were very helpful. We met John, Alice, and Maddox at the airport and helped them load up the rental car. Maddox had been up all day, through two plane flights. At one point she told me she wanted to "hold her bed." I don't blame her!
The next day we all met for brunch at "Peeps." John had been here before in his travels. Great place for breakfast!
Then off we came to 5304 Tennyson St. This is an apartment complex of stucco, tile-roofed buildings. They look out on the Sandia Mountains, and the view is just wonderful. Like the ocean, the weather over the mountains is always changing. We have some beautiful sunsets.
Alice did a wonderful job organizing this move. All the furniture was here and placed when we arrived. The kids spent the weekend emptying boxes and getting settled while we played with Maddox. The weather is kind of cold, even for New Mexico, I gather. But we have been able to get outside every day.
I will try to post some pictures.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The Second Leg
Today is January First Two Thousand Nine.
The new picture on the post is of Cameron and Kyle chasing around Kyle's new remote controlled car. This is what the boys were doing when we arrived in MN on Christmas Eve....giggling away to beat the band. It was wonderful. That is supposed to be a video, but it does not play, at least here in Amarillo. That is where we are right now.
We left our Minnesota family on New Year's Eve day. From weather reports that as the better day to leave. Snow was promised for today.
We drove to Cameron, Missouri, a little town about fifty miles north of Kansas City. The receptionist at the Comfort Inn sent us to the Honey Creek Steakhouse. Some local color, believe me. When we walked in the door we had to wait a few minutes while they seated about thirty very large people in the main dining room. They were all elbow-to-elbow and looked happy to be squashed in. I guess they were all together. They seated us in the smoking area, just to one side of the bar.
We were seated next to a nice young couple who had a three-year-old named Elizabeth. The father was smoking. Then, the family who came in immediately after us sat at the bar. The mother chain smoked and the eleven year-old son played the video game permanently stationed on the bar.
No one got a fast meal. The place was packed. Our waitress's name was Robyn, and she was a whirling dervish, making drinks and waiting on many tables. We ordered a mushroom appetizer, expecting four or five mushrooms, and she brought a bowl of around twenty deep-fried mushrooms with sauce. We ate the insides. Then we split a sirloin. The food was OK, but the people were a riot.
Next to the bar came a much older (around eighty) couple all dressed up and hitting on each other. Finally, in came a statuesque (?) policewoman (? She was wearing a badge) with steel gray hair. She was drinking beer out of a bottle and accompanied by a pony tailed, handle-bar mustached man wearing a stetson. She was waving and conversing loudly with many patrons. Finally she asked Robyn for the house phone so she could call her "Mama." No kidding this woman as at least fifty years old herself. I think she was explaining her evening plans or something...apparently there was a parking problem in the trailer park community.
Everyone got their meals finally. Little Elizabeth was very patient. The young couple left about the same time we did. We wished them happy new year. The father said they were leaving because "In a minute, everyone in here is going to be hammered." What a New Year's Eve.
The new picture on the post is of Cameron and Kyle chasing around Kyle's new remote controlled car. This is what the boys were doing when we arrived in MN on Christmas Eve....giggling away to beat the band. It was wonderful. That is supposed to be a video, but it does not play, at least here in Amarillo. That is where we are right now.
We left our Minnesota family on New Year's Eve day. From weather reports that as the better day to leave. Snow was promised for today.
We drove to Cameron, Missouri, a little town about fifty miles north of Kansas City. The receptionist at the Comfort Inn sent us to the Honey Creek Steakhouse. Some local color, believe me. When we walked in the door we had to wait a few minutes while they seated about thirty very large people in the main dining room. They were all elbow-to-elbow and looked happy to be squashed in. I guess they were all together. They seated us in the smoking area, just to one side of the bar.
We were seated next to a nice young couple who had a three-year-old named Elizabeth. The father was smoking. Then, the family who came in immediately after us sat at the bar. The mother chain smoked and the eleven year-old son played the video game permanently stationed on the bar.
No one got a fast meal. The place was packed. Our waitress's name was Robyn, and she was a whirling dervish, making drinks and waiting on many tables. We ordered a mushroom appetizer, expecting four or five mushrooms, and she brought a bowl of around twenty deep-fried mushrooms with sauce. We ate the insides. Then we split a sirloin. The food was OK, but the people were a riot.
Next to the bar came a much older (around eighty) couple all dressed up and hitting on each other. Finally, in came a statuesque (?) policewoman (? She was wearing a badge) with steel gray hair. She was drinking beer out of a bottle and accompanied by a pony tailed, handle-bar mustached man wearing a stetson. She was waving and conversing loudly with many patrons. Finally she asked Robyn for the house phone so she could call her "Mama." No kidding this woman as at least fifty years old herself. I think she was explaining her evening plans or something...apparently there was a parking problem in the trailer park community.
Everyone got their meals finally. Little Elizabeth was very patient. The young couple left about the same time we did. We wished them happy new year. The father said they were leaving because "In a minute, everyone in here is going to be hammered." What a New Year's Eve.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
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