Phoenix, Arizona Weekend, February 11-13

 Larry and I loaded our two suitcases and two backpacks into our little rental car and headed south to Boulder, Nevada to see the Hoover Dam. We enjoyed this remarkable structure thirty five years ago and today a super highway and phenominal bridge had just recently opened routing traffic in a different direction over the Hoover Dam. This new bridge is currently the world's largest expansive cement and steel bridge. It was a fascinating structure to view from the Hoover Dam. Unbelieveably, while at the dam we spoke to a Virginian from Rudee Inlet.(She took this picture of us) What a small world!

We had a great picnic lunch and traveled on through scenic highways of saghura cactus, mountains of boulder rocks, fabulous mountain ranges and desert views with very little traffic. Just a fabulous ride with about seven different venues of diverse land formations and vegetations. For Larry and I the scenery was candy for our eyes. It grew dark as we edged upon Phoenix. When approaching this enormous city, we did not have the same fabulous light show that we received when approaching Vegas.

We arrived at Larry's sister's condo around 9:00pm making it about an eight hour drive from Vegas to Phoenix. We had a nice visit with Larry's mom, Barry and Linda before heading for a good nights sleep. After a fabulous breakfast, we had a nice walk through their neighborhood of manicured lawns with cacti and blooming flowers. All five of us loaded up into Barry's car to get a tour of the many areas of Phoenix. We saw lots of varieties of cacti, modern buildings, golf courses, western style architecture, and many unusual mountains shapes in the horizon in different directions. We viewed the Arizona State University campus. Basic brown was the color of most of landscape unless it was irrigated. The weather was a sunny 70 degree welcome.....a great change from the Virginia winter temps! We had a delightful lunch of fish and chips outside on a porch of an English Pub before returning back to the Barry and Linda's condo.

                                                Mom in front of Linda and Barry's condo

Kristy, Brian, and Molly awaited our arrival at Brian's grandparents home for dinner. Clarence and Mary Lou  welcomed us royally into their beautiful home with a delightful cookout and lots of lively stories. The evening passed too quickly.

The next morning after taking Viola for a little walk to the   Marriott Hotel, we said farewell to Linda and Barry and took Larry's mom to the Phoenix Airport. Leaving the airport around noon, Larry and I continued our winter get away, heading our rental car west for Temecula, California.

We enjoyed traveling through the desert terrain, seeing many small western towns . We took an amazing road in the evening that led us up into a curvey mountainous area where we viewed the bright night lights of the towns of Palm Springs and Indio. Unbelieveably, it snowed while traveling this mountain road causing us to move cautiously. We arrived at our new home in Temecula for our next two week stay around 10:00 pm.

Snowing on Idylwild Mountain, CA

What a terrific weekend! Great weather! Wonderful traveling scenery! Lushious lunches and dinners! Fabulous visits with family and extended family! Although the weekend had been a perfect getaway... we both eagerly awaited our next adventure to begin in Temecula, California.