Sunday, August 22, 2010

6 WEEKS OF GYPSY LIFE!
















































After 5000 miles, 13 states, 7 motels, 12 beds, and 6 weeks we have returned to Arizona. We enjoyed casinos in Laughlin, Helena, Hayward and Iowa ( with equal wins and losses....and lots of goodies in Helena!), National Parks in Zion, meeting Mom's newest great-grandchild ( note the four generation picture of Mom, Ann, Nettie and Hani),sightseeing the beauty of Montana, catching some fish in northern Minnesota, raiding Lori's garden in Hibbing (and getting talked into making pickles), laughing at the antics of Mom's second to last grandchild, AJ, Kaila's son in Hayward, enjoying the hospitality of John and Terri at their fascinating house and beautiful landscaping, spending a week at a cute lakeside cabin on Grindstone Lake (THANKS Mary and Reagan!) attending Lori's touching wedding and funny dinner in Duluth and reception in Hayward, laughing at watching the antics of toddlers Daniel and AJ and and quickly growing CJ,a quick visit to Kelly and CJ in Big Lake (Chris was working in Wisconsin, and their water pump was out, leaving them with no water on a hot, steamy day.....house was all sparkling clean for our visit, but last thing she needed was company with no water!), spending a few more hours with the deJongs by meeting them at the Mall of America to go through the Underwater Adventures and see the joy of discovery on Daniel's face, a fun pot luck and bonfire with my riding and camping friends in Zimmerman (THANKS Pat and Dee!), a great lakeside room at Terrible's Casino in Iowa (played all night with our twenty on the new Goldfish...and won on John Wayne!), a free room and Clay Cooper show at Branson (had to attend another timeshare presentation), then impromptu visits to the Precious Memories Chapel , the Chapel with the largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere in Groom, Texas, and the historic El Ranchero hotel and restaurant in Gallup, New Mexico. A long 12 hour drive yesterday got us home at 5 last night. We were both in bed early, but woke to a thunderstorm and rain during the night. This morning was not only hot, but unusually humid!



It was wonderful seeing family and friends and doing some sightseeing, but was good to see home again. Was disappointing to learn that the pool will not be done with it's remodeling until next week, but the AC keeps the house comfortable, and the sun is shining again today. The gypsies show on the road has folded....until next year???