Winter Vacation

Winter Vacation 2014

In February we took our annual vacation to visit the grandparents in Palm Desert, CA and Tucson, AZ.

We enjoyed fantastic weather the entire trip. It was in the 70s and 80s in Palm Desert and the 70s in Tucson.

This year we organized the trip a little differently with an open jaw flight itinerary. That gave us one less day of driving since we only had to do the Palm Desert to Tucson drive in one direction.

The girls had a ton of time in the pool in both places. They love hanging out in the Palm Desert pool with Aunt Betsy. Grandma and Aunt Betsy also like to take them shopping.

We did a bunch of cool outdoor things this trip. While in Palm Desert we went horseback riding at Smoke Tree Stables, and we also went for a hike in Indian Canyons. Carol and I went hiking there the previous year and loved it so much we wanted to return with the girls. Audrey also went with Carol and me to ride the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.

It's become a tradition to have our farewell breakfast at a pancake place called Keedy's. Another part of that tradition is we always try to get a good family photo. We scored this year.

Carol and I love to road trip, so we enjoyed the 5-hour drive to Tucson. I love the wide open vistas when driving in the desert.

In Tucson we visited several favorite places.

The previous year we discovered the fantastic Children's Museum Tucson and this year we returned there and had just as much fun.

Carol and I went for a date night to a restaurant we also discovered last year: the Downtown Kitchen. Even with my post-cancer treatment taste and saliva challenges I enjoyed dinner.

We always spend a few hours at Funtastick's. We ride go-karts, play laser tag, ride the rides and play mini-golf. They also have bumper boats but it wasn't quite warm enough to get that wet. The highlight this year was that Audrey was tall enough to drive a go-kart by herself. She loved it!

Dennis and Mary treated us to lunch at the Westward Look Bar & Grill. We had a lovely lunch on the patio with a beautiful view of the Tucson valley and the mountains to the west.

We also visited the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, another favorite place. It and The Living Desert Museum in Palm Desert are very similar, with a long path that winds through the desert among animal exhibits that manage to not feel very much like a zoo.

Finally, we did some more hiking near Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dennis' house in Oro Valley. We hiked the Lower Javelina trail in Wild Burro canyon starting at the Dove Mountain Resort.

Phew! That was a busy vacation! But very fun.

My Spring Collection

My Spring Collection

Having a dog leads one to walk around one's neighborhood a lot more.

During those walks this spring, I've been enjoying all the flowers in neighborhood gardens. When I see especially pretty ones, I snap a photo and send virtual flowers to my sweetheart.

This album is a collection of my favorites.

John's Birthday

John's Birthday

My birthday was this week.

It was an especially happy one. Way better than last year, when I was in surgery for a biopsy on my birthday.

Whenever I don't ride my bike to work, I take the train and then walk a little more than a mile to the office. I often walk along the Greenway and pass the Custom House. A couple of months ago I stopped in and discovered that one could go up in the tower. At the time, Boston was still in the throws of a prolonged unusually cold winter. I wanted to wait until it was warmer and then have the family join me in town after work to visit the tower.

The stars happened to align for such a visit on my birthday!

The family met me at South Station. We made a brief visit to a Pop Art exhibit at the Intercontinental Hotel. Then we visited my office for a few minutes and Audrey and I played some foosball. After that we moseyed along the Greenway (the park on top of the Big Dig) to the Custom House.

While we were waiting for access to the tower we explored the lobby. The building is now a Marriott Vacation Club hotel. The round lobby is beautiful, with two balconies and a high domed ceiling. There's also a cool cutaway model of the building.

Then we were shown to the elevators and went to the observation deck. It was an excellent clear evening and we could see forever. The tower has a very cool view of Logan Airport just across the inner harbor. It also gives a great perspective on the North End.

The girls chased each other around the tower a few times.

On our way back down we stopped in the Game Room, which happens to be where the clock mechanism is. It's surprisingly small, and the single mechanism is linked by four arms to the clock faces on the four sides of the tower.

Apparently that linked mechanism was added later, in order to make room for elevator shafts. Before that, each face had its own mechanism and, since they never agreed, the tower clock was known as "The Four-faced Liar".

From the game room we could see through a window to the inside of one of the clock faces. We could see through the huge "6".

After the tower we went to nearby Quincy Market to have dinner at Wagamama. It's a new favorite of the girls'. They have yummy noodle and rice dishes. Audrey has been enjoying their teriyaki cod.

We would have also ridden the cool one-year-old custom carousel on the Greenway, but it was only open on weekends until Memorial Day - we were a few days too early. Next time.

After dinner we made our way to the T for a quick ride home.

This was the best birthday I've had in a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed our family evening together.

And no surgery!

Spot Pond Kayaking

Audrey has been asking to go kayaking on Spot Pond for a long time. Today we finally did it. We had a great time.

I bought a 4-pack of passes that are good at several locations so we'll also check out Lake Quannapowitt in Wakefield.

Rhodie at Four Months

My mom reminded me last night that I haven't been very good at sending updates about the puppy. Here you go!

Rhodie is four months now. She got her last round of puppy shots last week so she's been to the dog park every day this week. She's getting the hang of it.

She is quite popular on our walks in the neighborhood. I'm meeting all kinds of new people!

Training is going pretty well. It can be frustrating and challenging at times but it's definitely working. Carol is the alpha dog and Rhodie knows it. 

I am usually the first person Rhodie sees in the morning and she is very sweet. She gets out of her crate and melts onto my lap for some love. She also greets me very warmly when I get home from work.