Jason, Connor & Jillian at Mackinaw City

Jason took Connor & Jillian to Mackinaw City for the weekend. Looks like they are having a great time. We miss them soooooo much! It's been 5 months since we've seen them and it will be 3 more months before we get back to Michigan.


Jillie & Connor in the snow


On the ice on the lake with
Mackinaw Bridge in the background


Connor looking through an ice
formation


Jillie looking through the ice

At Pirates Adventure Water

Park in Mackinaw City

Casa Grande & California

We left Casa Grande yesterday and arrived in Ehrenberg, AZ for a week. We will be going to California next week and plan to be there for about 5 weeks. We were planning to head north to Oregon and Washington and then take the northern tier back to Michigan, but with the ridiculous fuel prices, we are seriously considering changing those plans. I am not happy about it, but it doesn't make sense to go that way now. I'm hoping that next year the prices will be down enough to go that way. On Monday, Barry & Rachel came to Casa Grande and took us and Vivian to dinner at Eva's Mexican Restaurant. It's a great restaurant and we had a really nice time. Thanks again, Barry!

We said our good-byes to Vivian on Wednesday and she seemed really sad that we were leaving. We were very sad, too. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with her and are certainly going to miss her. We WILL be back!


Eva's Restaurant


Rachel & Barry


Vivian & me

Bob & Rachel...notice how Rach

is much closer to Bob than she

was with Barry. :-)

We went over to Blythe, CA

for groceries last night and

these were the fuel prices

there. Very UGLY!!! Thank

goodness we filled up Wed. in

Casa Grande for "only" $3.48/

gallon for diesel.

Casa Grande

We've been in Casa Grande for over a week and we've spent a great deal of that time with my first mother-in-law, Vivian. She lives right next to the park we are staying in. We were only planning to be here a week, but when we realized that Vivian was trying to get ready for a carport sale and didn't really have anyone to help her, we bought out an extra week at this park and stayed here to help her. She has been sooooo appreciative. She's a great lady and we've really enjoyed our time with her. For 85 years old, she is a little firecracker! She had a great sale yesterday and she's got a few more projects lined up for us before we leave on Thursday. We're just happy to be able to help her out.

Vivian in front of

her "Valentine" tree

Saturday evening I was doing up

the dinner dishes at Vivian's & Bob

told me to come outside...this is why...


Beautiful rainbow over Casa Grande

On the way to the Promenade Mall area

for dinner last night...another rainbow!


Rainbow over Promenade Mall.

Jon, Jason, Connor & Jillian at the Pistons Game

Jon & Jason took Connor & Jillian to the Pistons game last night. Jason shared these pictures:

Jillian, Uncle Jon & Connor

Jillian shooting free throws

Connor shooting free throws

Taking care of Kid Rock's

courtside seats while he's on tour.

Jason, Jillie & Connor

Jillie with the Automation Dancers

Jillie & Connor

Jillie with Hooper

Connor with Hooper

Connor was saying how he loves to trick his Mom by putting Saran wrap on the toilet. Jillian says, "Yeah, that one never gets old". OMG - they are soooooo much like their Dad!

We moved to Mesa on Thursday. It was only 5 degrees in Benson on Wednesday night and was going to stay cold for a few days. The water line to our kitchen sink froze up, so we found a really nice park in Mesa, got a refund from the park in Benson and moved. It's going to be in the 70's here this weekend, so it was a good choice!

You KNOW it was cold on Wednesday

if Bob was wearing jeans & a jacket!

Gammon's Gulch Old West Town

This morning another one of our neighbors told us about Gammon's Gulch Old West Town. We decided to drive over there and check it out. We were pleasantly surprised at how interesting and entertaining it was. Jay Gammon and his wife own the place and Jay has collected buildings and artifacts from all over Arizona. Several movies have been filmed here and Jay's father was one of John Wayne's personal security members. It is obvious that this place is a true labor of love for Jay! He is quite a character and his personal tours are great. He does not advertise and yet he had 3,600 people tour there last year. He wants to keep it small and uncomplicated. If you're ever in this area, this is a great place to visit!



The saloon

Jay playing the banjo for us.
He also played the piano.

One of several antique vehicles.
They all run.


Check out the roadrunner
walking in front of the church.


The Town Hall.

Another one of his treasured

autos at the filling station.

Triangle T Guest Ranch - Dragoon, AZ

Yesterday one of our neighbors here in St. David told us about the Triangle T Guest Ranch in Dragoon, which is very close to St. David. Dragoon is in the "Texas Canyon" area, which has hundreds of huge boulders which make the most interesting scenery. We drove over there and checked it out. We were going to have lunch at the saloon, but it wasn't open. On their website they have pictures of the casitas that they rent out and they are furnished in beautiful old west furniture. There were a couple of RVs camping there.

The entrance to Triangle T.

A stagecoach at the ranch.

The entrance to the saloon.

Our neighbor says they have

great steaks and barbecue.

We may have to go back here...

later in the day next time.

One of many interesting rock

formations.

Mt. Lemmon - Tucson, AZ

We made our trek up to Mt. Lemmon yesterday afternoon and it was so picturesque! It was about 24 miles to reach the top, which meant there were many, many curves. As Bob said at one point, "Around every curve there is a totally different scene". It was a beautiful day for a beautiful drive. I'm still amazed that Bob drove all the way up and back without the slightest hint of the jitters. I still don't know what got into him, but I'm liking it a lot! I took over 300 pictures going up & down Mt. Lemmon, so it was very difficult to choose just a few to post here.

Interesting rock formations

Beautiful vista

The Mt. Lemmon Ski Valley

at the top.

The sun hitting this formation.

I loved how the setting sun cast

a reddish gold shadow on this area.

Sunset on our way back down.

Another sunset shot.