Since our quick 13.1 mile jaunt in September, we had a few other trips. On 9/18 we went with PCC on a day trip to Julian. We ended up with Rick and Judy at an outlet center that happened to be across the street from an Indian casino. We had great fun with them but didn’t realize we were all the way down in San Diego with a long drive home. Worth it!

On the 9/24 – 9/26. we visited Luke on the ASU Parent’s Weekend. I’ve finally posted pictures of Luke, his roommate Zak and their dorm room. I also have Luke and his Air Force ROTC uniform. We’re pretty proud of his goals, and wish him all the love and support to reach them. We hope that 4 years from now finds him with an Air Force Commission.

On 9/30 we hit the road with PCC and 6 cars, headed for Albuquerque, NM and the Balloon Fiesta. Andrew, Kathleen, and their friends Lake and Kathy met us up there. We overnighted it in Flagstaff, coming and going. That gave us 2 days at the Fiesta. Gail brought her friend Elle with her. Elle just happens to be a balloonist, so we got quite an education. We also found out, that just as you pack your clothes, you need to pack your wine! Ok, we’ll know this from now on. What a great time we had with this group.

Starting with a flat tire on Bob and Linda’s car, everything that went wrong turned into good times. Who would have thought that searching for a tire for a C4 Corvette would be such an adventure. Ending up at Mad Dog’s would not have been first choice on my list, but what great food and talk with the locals. Getting up at 4 am is not my idea of a good time, but going to the Gondola Club and watching 500 hot air balloons take off was awesome. The Gondola Club brought us special parking, great viewing spot, flush toilets (oh yeah!) and a great buffet. Did I mention open bar???

The evening session in the Club brought us a storm that literally almost blew us away. No evening glow of balloons, but wonderful food and company including another couple we just happen to meet when they pulled up in a Corvette. Seeing their Texas license plate made great conversation for Andrew and Kathleen. They sat with us through dinner and we found out they are an retired Air Force couple. Add in unlimited Margaritas and no storm or wind could dampen the evening. Fireworks at the end made it worth staying as well.

Sunday morning was another early wake up call. We were part of a car show taking place at the Fiesta. We had to wait behind a little hill to wait for the balloons to go off, but we didn’t miss a thing. Instead we got a totally different view of them. Add in other people owning classic cars, and again it was a great time. Driving up onto the field was special in it’s own right. I kind of like having people getting excited and taking pictures of my car. Several people posed in front of it when we were parked, and one little boy asked Danny how loud does it go, trying to get him to start the engine. That night we had to say good by to Andrew and Kathleen as they were starting their drive back to San Antonio very early the next morning.

Monday, we started our trek back to Flagstaff. Didn’t know we’d be caught up in finding a Cracker Barrel so I could buy candy. ( It started with the road bingo that Marianne set up for us for the ride going up. I never could find the Cracker Barrel on my card.) Mission accomplished, the rain kept us in the breakfast room at the hotel. Nothing like good company, wine and pizza.

The next morning we got caught in a torrential downpour. Once again it was worth it so see the double rainbow. I have never seen a rainbow from end to end. We could actually see where it spilled into the ground! We couldn’t seem to find a place for lunch and ended up again in Winslow, AZ. We found the La Posada Hotel and found out a lot of celebrities over it’s history, had found it before us. Great end to a great trip.

The following Sat. we went with PCC to the Mullin Museum in Oxnard. Lunch in Ventura was fun…visiting the bakery in the Valley on the way home – priceless.

This past Thur. we headed to Las Vegas for a short trip to our timeshare. Tony and Judy were supposed to join us, but had to cancel at the last minute. They need to fly to Chicago for an emergency. That means last night and today I have finally able to download pictures and put them into albums. Good thing I’ve caught up this far…next weekend we meet with our group to start planning our next big trip in 2012. Since it seems we have now added half marathons to our agenda in addition to traveling, Linda suggested we change our “Cruise Parties”, to “Adventure Planning Parties” – or APP for short.

APP with start next Sunday and we have a half marathon for Feb and next June already planned. Travel might be to Venice, Greece, Peru, Australia or??? The week after that, we will be leaving for a week in Puerto Vallarta again. The Swenson’s and Sandifer’s will be joining us. The Mulkern’s will be in town as well – so we know there is more fun to come!