Winslow/Holbrook

For Ordene's 80th birthday we got to travel to Holbrook! and stay in Winslow at one of my favorite places La Posada which is a rose among thorns, literally. Here is a small history lesson:

"Rated as one of the top 5 historic hotels in Arizona- La Posada was built in 1930 and was the last and most elegant of the Fred Harvey Hotels built by the Santa Fe Railroad. It was designed by Mary Colter- perhaps the greatest architect of the Southwest- as a fabulous Spanish hacienda."

Each time Tim and I stay there, they have added something new, renovations are slow due to funds and the massive undertaking. Here are some snapshots of the gardens, for some reason I took not one picture inside, I have no idea why.




Hollyhocks!






And for good measure, a belly shot.

Sea World

I prefer Sea World to Disneyland for 2 reasons, it's not crowded and I can feed the barking seals.

Here I am right after a seagull had taken out part of my skull trying to get my fish. A very loud impatient seal was waiting for his snack.


A very brave kitten getting ready to jump into the arms of his trainer, I don't think Fatness would do this.


Yet another brave kritten.


Look at his paws!



These 2 delightful children would not move, they were completely hogging the dolphin interaction. The dolphins were swimming right up to their hands and allowing them to rub their noses. I was very frustrated.


By the time those children moved, the dolphins were no longer interested. I flicked my fingers for several minutes trying to make them come to me. They just kept shooting by, taunting me.


Don't waste your time with the highly advertised show "Blue Horizons" this set is more interesting than the show which consists of a few dolphins waving their fins and a lot of high wire acrobatics in bad costumes.



I always enjoy the tide pools, right up until I turn over the starfish.



Tim wasn't too thrilled that I dragged him into the aquariums, probably because it was filled with hideous fish.


Shamu was in fine form. I was disappointed that the trainers do not swim with the killer whales anymore, for obvious reasons. They do a lot of standing next to them though.



We returned to my car with this seagull on my roof.




San Diego was beautiful as always and we had a very relaxing time...right up until the 5.7 earthquake that rocked our 11th story hotel room. Glad it happened at the end of our vacation because I made Tim drive us home that night.

Utah

The main purpose of our visit was to see my Mom. She is in a rehab center which she loves, mainly because she gets a lot of attention from very handsome young men, I wouldn't want to leave either. My sister Jeri and my niece Cyd are taking very good care of her.


Tim is famous for centering pictures and not including a lot of wall.


We did some sight seeing too. We had one sunny day to walk around Temple Square...



and take photos with creepy Brigham Young mannequins. Tim said he felt compelled to take on another wife.


I insisted my picture be taken in front of my old work place, back then it was called First Security Bank and I was dating a co worker who was gay. How should I know he was gay?! So what if he dressed up as Judy Garland at Halloween and made ruby slippers to wear and decorated his apartment tastefully, give me a break.


Tim wanted to see the State Capital which is quite awesome.



Our hotel was very cute, here is the lobby. They offered hot cider and chocolate each evening.


(Time for a kritten picture) This is Teddy, he is a loverrrr.


Tim has a thing for Brigham Young.


The sweet sister missionaries almost had Timothy converted, maybe next time ladies.

Giggling in Seattle

I was very excited to fly to beautiful Seattle and leave the very obnoxiously hot Phoenix behind. I told Tim, I might not return until mid November.

It didn't take long after being picked up at the airport before Allicat and I were bursting into laughter, maybe 5 minutes.

My first morning in Seattle we visited a farmers market, which is very close to Alli's condo. It was full of fresh flowers and jewelry, bread, cookies, quilts and interesting shops. One in particular caught my eye called "Paws." Thankfully it was full of kritten stuff and the proprietor was a proud owner of 9 felines.



We took a walk along a river where my assignment was to find moss. Allison explained to me that she would mix said moss with buttermilk in a blender and then spread it on her rock wall to grow moss. I was happy to oblige. I was also told to act like a forest pixie and consume wild raspberries.


I have always wanted to visit a winery. We went to St. Michelle and signed up for the free 30 minute tour. The winery looked like a house that had been transported from France and the grounds were lush and green. I learned a lot about wine, like, grapes do not need a lot of rain because their leaves get too big and cover up the grapes which need sun.




There was a wine tasting segment afterwards. Allicat informed me that she didn't like wine, I don't either, but the last wine we tasted was a sweet dessert wine which we loved. I learned that wine can smell like green apples and grapefruit.


While we were strolling the grounds I noticed a man in capri pants that I found to look ridiculous and disturbing. I instructed Allison to take his picture while pretending to take mine. (A ploy used by Erica and Malia).


Saturday morning we packed up the camera and tripod and drove to Snoqualmie Falls.




We carefully made our way down a treacherous rocky wall to take pictures of small fishies and better views.


Of course we went to Molbaks were I'm never more at home than among my blessed hydrangea and Halloween decorations. If I could, I would set up a tent and live in that store.




We ate at Machavelli's in the Capitol Hill area, where I had wonderful Italian food. We also enjoyed Panera Bread, Frost Donuts (Alli to do a post later), Mexican food, and Japanese food where I took this pic of Allison. We were equal opportunity food consumers.


Probably my favorite memory will be of our twinkly light, late night conversation which started out with the hanging of the lights, chilling our sweet wine, 70's music and camera tripod set up for 30 minutes. We laughed, cried and reminisced until the wee hours of the morning. We talked about the twists and turns our lives had taken, our loves and losses and how rare it is to have a friendship that has spanned 30 years.