Winter Getaway

Last winter we began making plans for an extended "winter" holiday. Our thought was that Bob would retire early in January 2009 and we would spend a leisurely 6 weeks traveling the Southwest. We'd go to see our land in New Mexico and the Garvey's in their new place near Phoenix. Well, as the saying goes, "the only constant in life is change" and we retired in September instead and the rest is history!

So, our leisurely winter turned into a "move, work, work, work," fall and "get settled" winter. And, our winter travel plans changed to one week in Phoenix, flying nonstop from Bellingham. (Someday we'll have to get to see that land in New Mexico...not to worry, the taxes are only $15 per year!).

Our one week getaway sure ended up being fun, however. There was sunshine, warmth, beautiful mountain views, lots of wine, good company and food. Geri and Mike were hosts extraordinaire! Bob especially loved the desert fauna. Visiting the "Casa Garvey" was like being in a resort and the entire week had relaxation written all over it. One of the most interesting things we did was to visit the old copper mining town of Jerome. We stopped into this little outdoor recreation store and the salesperson regaled us with a history lesson of the area. (See "cute" visitor's center below). We are already thinking that maybe next year we'll extend our time there and we have Geri looking for rentals...sounds divine, doesn't it?