AZ Trip Spring 2009

Angela and I went on a trip down to Az to see my mom for a week in the middle of May. The weather couldn't have been better - 85 degrees for 2 days and mid 90's for the rest of the trip. We stayed in her guest house at the back of her property and it was wonderful! We decided not to plan anything and we spent most of the time just sitting around watching the birds. We flew down on Tuesday and on Friday my cousin Dave flew in from CO. and my cousin Chris and his wife and daughter flew in from OR. We had a great get together on Saturday and my uncle Bill and aunt Cindy were there and his sister Debbie and her husband Ray also came down from New Mexico. My sister Christy did not make it down. It was great seeing them all and they are all doing really well. Angela and I agree that it was one of the best quick vacations we've had. We didn't take too many pictures, though. Here are some of the pics we did take.


This area is known as Sue's skylight lounge. It is a great place to take in the beautiful Arizona sunset.


The back porch. This was a great place to hang out and Darrel has fresh spices and peppers growing in the pots on the left. We had many excellent dishes that Darrel and my mom cooked with fresh herbs and vegetables from the garden, Darrel is a world class chef in my opinion.

We also had the second annual "pepper-off." This is where the mentally challenged or crazy-brave attempt to eat 5 or 6 of the different varieties of hot pepper that Darrel grows. Last year we finshed off with the Habanero and burned our mouths like crazy. This year we ended with the cayenne peppers and it was necessary to have a glass of milk handy. It was a fun time and I look forward to next years event.

We went in the pool and the water was the perfect temperature. Darrel has set up an ingenious pool heater by pumping the water up to black tubing on the carport roof and back down into the pool, I thought this was an elegant solution. He also installed a solar-charged automatic gate that you can barely see in the background, this was really handy.

Note: I thought I'd spare you from my swimsuit picture, figured you'd thank me for it.

One of the only pics of Angela I took on the whole trip.

Angela took this picture of one of the big Saguaros, I thought the perspective was cool.

My mom doing backbreaking labor while keeping a smile on her face.

My cousin Chris's wife Heather and their daughter Katy.

We had to get a bunch of pics with her cause she was so cute.

Her and I and her favorite book of the moment.

This is a pic Angela took of my mom's cat Pepper, I thought this was a great pic.