President's day Delight

So, after our recent snow experiences Chuck thought it might be fun to get a little warmer weather, so we headed down to Arizona to see Tim and Diann who live in Yuma. Chuck has been talking about visiting them ever since they moved down there 6 years ago. So, after work on Thursday we threw some stuff in the Echo and set off for warmer climes. We drove as far as Mesquite and spent the night. The little car GPS I got Chuck for Christmas guided us all the way. It’s pretty cool in that it not only shows you where you are but tells you when to turn. Chuck had programmed in their address before we left and it took us to within a block of their house. We arrived on Friday afternoon and went to an authentic Mexican eatery located in a house. It was noisy, the food was good and it was a lot of fun.
Afterwords we went back to the house and Danton introduced us to Rock Band. I had heard about Guitar Hero and actually seen a student give a demo in the last assembly at school. Danton showed us how to play the guitar and he started out on the drums. Diann sang the vocals, Chuck played bass and I made a big mess of the lead guitar. I was AWFUL! I used to be somewhat coordinated. Not so now. Danton kept having to rescue me. After a bit I decided to try the drums. Yeah, I was even worse on those! And that was on the easy level!!! So, not to worry, I won't be leaving my day job anytime soon to join a band. (Chuck did very well on the bass, he was up in the 90% range every game).
Saturday we got up and went to Algadones (Cotton- in English). It was wonderfully warm and I really enjoyed the day practicing my rusty Spanish and bartering. I am not all that great at the bartering part because it seems kind of insulting once you get too far.
So, the pic of the woman painting the mailbox is woman who created our custom made box from scratch complete with two mountain scenes, a rustic barn and our address on the front. All done in less than an hour. She was pretty darn fast. She could certainly give old Bob Ross a run for the money.
I got a few pieces of jewelry and we sat down and ate some yummy nachos and listened to a pretty decent band before we left.
After we got back to the US of A Diann went to run some errands and came across a street market with all sorts of ARTS and Craft vendors in the Old Town section. I found some more cool stuff and we had a delightful time before they shut down at 5pm.
Next morning we got up and had a little tour of the surround area with our own personal Biologist giving us the lowdown on the local floral and fauna (not that there was a lot of florals, but the last pic is one from Diann's front yard). It was interesting to see the difference in the terrain and wildlife.
Tim was also gracious about showing us some of his MANY beautiful butterflies and moths in his collection. They are absolutely amazing!
We finally left for home around 3pm.
We spent the night in Las Vegas. Don't even get me started about gambling and the hordes of people there in a frenzy to get rid of money.
I played one penny game on a slot machine. And in spite of myself won $15 dollars. So, after Chuck played a few games I think we broke even.
We got up early and headed for home stopping for a quick visit and to eat a burger with Tyson and Angel in Utah. We arrived home at 6:30 and unloaded the car, unpacked a few things and tried to get to bed early to get a little rest before the rest of the week.
All in all it was lovely to get a little warm weather (low 80's), visit with family and have a little road trip in the bargain. We listened to 2 audio books and I read my homework assignment for my last class.
Well, that was about as boring an entry as you can get. But, there it is... I guess you had to be there eh?