All at the Giants game on Easter Sunday.
Easter showed up in March this year. So Brett joined us on the annual trip to Mecca (Phoenix). He seemed thrilled at the opportunity to have a real 'Spring Break' sort of vacation. Unfortunately, the Giants also seemed to leave Phoenix early, so the last week in March (after Easter), only had one or two games in the desert. What would we do with ourselves in the desert without baseball?
While spending an afternoon with Lindsey and her girls, she told me of a time she rode around in the desert with her Mom's parents in an RV. Hmmm...that sounds like fun. I found a deal through CruiseAmerica to drive an RV from Mesa, Az. (close to Phoenix), to Oakland, Ca. That was what we did with the rest of our week -- drive.
And then there is another deviation from the usual plan. Last year I reconnected with an old friend whom I got to know when I went to school Sacramento - 1978-1980. We met when we both showed up at a training session to sell Cutco knives. We never did sell knives, but we spent quite a bit of time together for the next two years. We parted ways without ever taking time to exchange goodbyes and such. Neither of us can remember much about that time.
So, last summer on our way back from Grand Caymen, we spent a day in Charlotte, No. Carolina - surrounded by lots of people with a strong southern drawl - reminded me of Cutco from Gerogia. I looked him up on the internet, and we were talking within minutes. --- Cut to the chase- he and his boy joined up on our trip. So it was Mic, Brett, Chris - (recently returned to NorCal), Cutco, and his son Garrett.
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All at the Giants game on Easter Sunday. |
We all met at the Phoenix airport on Sat night at Dennis's new hotel: The Hotel Scottsdale. They sent a shuttle to pick us up. The place is very nice, and the rates are phenomenal! Dennis lent us his Toyota Forerunner for the weekend. Now that is customer service!!
Sunday morning, before the game in Surprise Az, we attended Easter services at the top of Camelback mtn. We were not alone.
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Not too far up, we took a quick break. Mic noticed that Cutco had lost one of the lenses in his $160 French sunglasses. Fortunately, he only paid $29 for them. The lens was recovered. Garrett had a major hangover from the night before, so Gary (cutco) stayed back and the rest of us forged on to the top. |
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Brett close to the top. The last several hundred yards are sort of like a free-for-all. There is no 'path' but more like rock climbing. |
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At the top. |
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After the game we went to Dennis and Mary's for dinner. Also attending were Amy and Eric, Mary's parents, her nephew and niece. But we didn't get a group photo, but instead someone took this one of us playing in the park behind their house. |
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Monday, we picked up the beast and headed for the Grand Canyon, about 4 hours north. Here is a pic in front of Mom's house in SF. |
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We got in to our campsite at night. The temp was about 20 deg. We gathered firewood and played around with the sleeping arrangements. Then someone suggested we drive to see the big hole under the beautiful moonlit night. Took us 30 minutes to find the hole, but stopped to ask herd of HUGE elk for directions. The morning view was spectacular! |
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We started down the Bright Angel trail, and it was VERY creepy. Lots of people, and some ice on places where the trail did not see the sun. The following pic is a close-up of the lower circled area. |
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We were wearing tennis shoes. I slipped and fell twice on this little stretch. Chris and Brett in the distance. |
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Garrett, hung over again, decided to stay behind. Gary Cutco being the good dad, hung out with him. The rest of us continued to the first rest stop at 1.5 very slow miles. We had lunch and headed back up. Coming back up, we passed a couple of kids walking down to the river with beach towels and wearing snorkel gear. They asked, "How far to the river?" Ohh, another 10 miles or so! (kidding, but we laughed at the idea for about 10 minutes.) |
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Then we headed down the road to Las Vegas. We got to Hoover Dam that evening, shown here in the background. We made arrangements along the way for a place to park the beast on the strip. Circus-Circus has an RV park, and the woman we spoke with on the phone volunteered to cook us breakfast. What luck! BTW: Garmina, our GPS travel companion was invaluable! |
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We played on the strip for awhile, then took a bus to Fremont Street, the old section of LV where I spent time 30 yrs earlier. Things have changed a bit. |
See the movie.
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Party central - Las Vegas Blvd and Fremont Street. |
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We drove that afternoon to New York City for an In-and-Out burger. Actually, that is the NY-NY casino in the background. |
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Highway 127 - the 'Gateway to Death Valley'. |
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Along this stretch, the wind was crazy. At a rest stop, we had to enjoy the weather. |
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We didn't take many pictures the rest of the trip. We headed for the coast - Pismo Beach - the next day. got kicked out of a parking lot by the police. Fortunately, we found a WalMart and slept in their parking lot. In the morning we headed for Santa Cruz and spent the day on rides. That evening, we had dinner at Round Table, rented a movie at blockbuster, and slept in their parking lot. Very convenient. Then to rainy SF. We got to Mom's, cleaned out the beast (a LOT of work!) and borrowed Gus's van to tour the city for the Cutco family. Chicken feet, a delicacy in china town.
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Sat morning we headed for Oakland and then to our respective homes. Chelsea picked us up at CruiseAmerica. Good trip! |
