We just spent 4 wonderful days at Casa Grande, AZ convention. Those of my readers who attend conventions would know how we felt being there, truly a foretaste of heaven. The natural food was tasty too: tacos, chicken chili, pasta, hot dogs, and of course stew! The setting left a bit to be desired.... I want to apologize for those of you who live in and love the desert....but we find it kind of ugly! Too dusty, brown, dry and HOT for our taste. But it was a wonderful haven. And to top it all off, we saw so many old friends and even several relatives. It was a blast from the past. Plus we made new friends- always expanding our horizons. I wish I had photos of all those old friends but I felt a bit like a stalker :) Here are a few...
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| Autumn and Alec- our buddies from MN who are now nomads with their parents. They plan to settle somewhere soon! |
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| Another of Alec because I couldn't resist. They call us their WI grandparents but that has changed now to their CA grandparents. |
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| Their nomadic parents- Brendan and Kayla sitting in their new temporary home- a 28 foot trailer. |
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| Looking toward the meeting shed- 2 inch dust!! |
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| Sarah - used to live in WI near us and Carmen- a good friend of Nikelle's |
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| My good friend Mary who knows all my past....she went to AZ temporarily about 29 years ago and never returned! I am excited to be only living about 6 hours from her. Dawn who surprised me by flying in for the weekend form WI. And her sister Rhonda who also left for AZ years ago. |
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| My cousin Karlan and his son Aaron |
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| Brad, Candace and cutie pie AJ . Candace is Dave's cousin. |
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| Charlie - Nikelle's grandpa |
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| We were the photographers for this family photo. A wonderful group with roots in WI and IL but they now represent TX and CA |
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| My "daughter" Ahalya |
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| It was great to get chat a lot with my twin cousins- Karlan and Arlan. I can even tell them apart now! |
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| Please don't tell Chad that I posted a picture of him.... but they are too cute not to share! |
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| Here is the scenery from our trip home- first the saguaro cacti |
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| Then we stopped in Yuma for supper with this sweet couple- Dave's aunt and uncle |
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| Next came the sand dunes... |
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| That fence is the border of Mexico!!! We passed through 3 checkpoints on the way home. Luckily the questions weren't too difficult, "Are you both American citizens?" At one checkpoint he just looked at us and waved us through! |
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| Finally over the mountains and back to nice cool San Diego. Dave did enjoy coasting at 102 mph down the slope!! Luckily he stopped before we hit the border patrol car!! So we had good days, a safe trip and memories to last a lifetime! |
