Rick & Brenda's Anniversary Trip

Rick & I decided to take a long weekend and getaway for our anniversary this year. We found a great deal to Arizona and since we had never been there thought that it would be a nice place to visit. The weather was fantastic!!! Upper 80"s!! It was a nice change from the weather in Washington at this time of year.

We arrived on Thursday and decided to take a drive on the Apache trail. The first stop was Goldfield Ghost Town for lunch.

Rick next to a giant Saguaro Cactus.

The drive is not too far from Tempe, but it is amazing how much desert is out here.

Believe it or not, we found a lake!! This is Canyon Lake. (It is about the size of Spanaway Lake). There was a marina that we past and Rick was amazed at the number of boats stored there. (if they all went out at the same time you could probably walk across the lake.) We also stopped at alittle town called Tortilla Flat, population 6, for some Prickly-pear ice cream. It was very yummy!

Friday, we decided to take another drive. This time we headed north to Sedona, AZ. The first stop was Montezuma Castle. This is an above-ground masonry dwelling that the Sinagua people lived in between 1125 and the 1400's.

This is Montezuma Castle. It is approx. 100 feet above the ground. It is original and has not been reconstructed. They would use ladders to reach the 5 story, 20 room dwelling.

This is Castle A. It sits a short distance from Montezuma Castle. It was a 6 story, 45 room dweling that was built against the base of the cliff.

Sedona

The Bell

The scenery was spectacular!!

Red Rock Country

We bought a day pass and went hiking in the hills.

Rick on Deadmans Pass.

After Deadmans Pass, we took another trail up to the top for a better view.


Rick at the top.

The sun was going down and it was starting to get chilly. Time to go!

Rick at the Desert Botanical Gardens.


Prickly-pear Cactus!! They are everywhere.

We had a wonderful time in Arizona and a great anniversary!!

Brenda's visit to Madison

I got to go back and visit Chelsea & Jake at the end of September for a short visit. Chelsea recently started a new position as the director of the Oregon Youth Center in Wisconsin. It was fun hanging out with her and the kids for a few days. She held an Open House while I was there to introduce the center to some of the local community. There was a free BBQ with brats, hotdogs, chips, soda & desert. It turned out very well. Jake's birthday also happen to be the Saturday that I was there. We spent the day at a really neat corn maze & pumpkin patch, then went to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant.

Jake & Chelsea at the corn maze. It was alittle cold & drizzly, but we had a great time!!

View of the corn maze.

Hot Air Ballons & Wineries!!!

The Great Balloon Rally

Prosser, Washington

September 25 - 27th, 2009

This last weekend, Rick & I went to the Hot Air Balloon Rally in Prosser, Washington with our friends, Colleen & Mark Blauvelt. We had a great time. The weather was fantastic, sunny and warm. None of us had ever been and it was awesome to see all the balloons. Not only were there lots of balloons, but we also found the time to visit quite a few of the local wineries!!

No sleeping in for us!! Things got started at 6:15 AM

Not quite awake and it was alittle chilly!

Inflating the balloons is alot of work.

Inflated, but not off the ground.

Checkmate!

The balloons were all different.

What a sight

Over the Yakima River

The reflection was awesome

Touch down on the river

Balloons everywhere!

Night Glow

Camping at the Farm

White Pass

On the way home

Crab & Salmon!

Labor Day weekend was spent at Westport with the Newhouse family! Rick & Mike brought back loads of crab.

Rick, his son, Derick, and a few friends then went back to Westport a few weekends later and everyone limited on salmon!!

Pt. Angeles Kings!!

Rick & Randy went to Port Angeles, Sunday, July 12th for a day of fishing. They left Puyallup @ 1:30 a.m. They spent the morning fishing and were lucky to bring in two Kings!! (when they came in to the dock, no one else had brought in anything). These two are some die-hard fishermen!! They can't wait to get back out there and fish some more!!

Fourth of July Weekend!

We spent 4th of July weekend in Ilwaco, camping at Eagles Nest resort. The weather was just right, sunny but not too hot. We had a great time with Jackie, Mike & the girls and Brenda's parents. We visited Long Beach, went fishing & crabbing, found some geo caches, and watched the fireworks from the deck of the resort.

Jackie watching the fire.

Mike grilling dinner for us.


Rick, Me, Alli, Jackie & Sami


Rick, Alli, & Jackie sizzling in the frying pan.


Alli with the sealife!! That is Sami Jo's hand in the crab claw at the top!!


Family geo caching

Sami & Jackie with a cache.
They had to climb to the top of a hill to get this one. Rick, Mike, & grandpa went with them.

Alli finally got to find a cache. She was very excited!!

Rick, Brenda & George went fishing on Friday!! It didn't take long to catch our limit.

Me with a fish. I spent my time on the boat not feeling well!!

Will not be going out in the open ocean again anytime soon!!

Rick & Mike went fishing on Saturday and limited out!!