November Excitement

Grand Canyon Trip

Grand Canyon

On Veteran's Day weekend, I took a trip up to the Grand Canyon. Susan had to stay back with Gladys, because she was still on cage-rest for her neck injury, so I packed Zoe and myself into the car and headed North. We stayed in a KOA cabin in Williams, Arizona, about an hour south of the Grand Canyon. It was freezing that night, around 20°, and the "heater" in the cabin was a tiny space heater. Zoe and I were curled up together under the comforter, trying to keep warm. We made it through the night, though, and headed up to the Grand Canyon the next day. We went in the South Entrance and walked along the rim for about 1.5 miles. I can't tell you how many times I heard comments about how big Zoe was and "I didn't know they allowed horses!"

October Update

Honestly, this month was mostly my typical routine of working during the days and lazing around on the evenings and weekends. I didn't go to any local attractions. I did have some cool jobs, but my confidentiality keeps me from spilling the beans! I did get the chance to go to Texas, though, and we had some developments with the pets, so read on!

San Antonio

I went to San Antonio for a week in early October to interpret for someone that was helping run a conference. I didn't have a lot of time to myself, but I did get up to a few cool things while I was there. As usual, I hit up the Hard Rock to buy some pins. I got the annual Breast Cancer month pin as well as a San Antonio pin.

While I was there I also had a chance to explore the Riverwalk, which is basically a nice walkway along the river with lots of trees and some small waterfalls, and it takes you into the heart of San Antonio where there are lots of shops and restaurants along the river. The Hard Rock cafe is actually right on the Riverwalk. I was excited that they had water taxis, however whenever I needed one, there was never one to be found. Lots of tour boats, but not enough taxis.

I decided that I couldn't leave San Antonio without seeing the Alamo, even though I wasn't really interested in it. Mostly it was a gift shop and some small buildings. It was much smaller than I thought it would be. There is a very cool tree in the back, huge and serpentine, and they also had a nice little stream with huge koi in it. Honestly, the pretty grounds were more memorable than the building itself. I'm just not that much of a history fan! Oh, and there was a candy shop across the street with a mirror maze. Now that was a trip!

Pets, Pets, Pets

 The later portion of the month was focused on pets, namely Gladys. We spent what seemed like an entire Saturday with her at the emergency clinic. It appears that the discs in her spine are degenerating and causing her a lot of pain. Thankfully, we caught it in the early stages and it looks like surgery isn't needed. She's recovering with steroids, pain pills and cold-laser treatments (to help reduce the inflammation.) Fingers crossed that she makes a full recovery!

Baxter, on the other hand, is getting snarky again. When he's not playing with his kitten (yes, he acts like he is the only one that can play with Mr. Leonardo DiCatrio), he alternates between wanting attention and wanting to bite us. We had to muzzle the poor guy just to clip his nails and give him a bath. Its not that he doesn't love us. He just gets scared all of a sudden, for no reason that we can see, and his first reaction is to growl and bite. We recently took him to the vet and we hope to put him on a doggy anti-anxiety medication. Fingers crossed that it works!

Fall in Tucson

It hasn't really felt like fall around here. I feel like the trees in our complex are looking a little more yellow, but it's positively green compared to the yellow leaves we see in the East. Some leaves have fallen, but the ones that are still up are only slightly brown around the edges. The temperature has come down, but it's still in the 70s and 80s by the afternoon. The only thing I can really see is that many of the plants and grasses are starting to turn brown now that the wet season is over.


 There are certain hills, like Tumamoc Hill, that I didn't realize had been fairly grassy until I noticed how yellow they became this month. The Ocotillo plants are losing their color and the colorful fruit have fallen off the prickly pear cactus. Mostly, it's just dry here. My lips have become chapped, so I must not be drinking enough water. Otherwise, it's still gorgeous here. Blue skies every day and lots of palm trees (which I assume have been imported.) If you're not ready for winter, I have a guest bedroom!

Pin Collection

Promise to post about the trip to San Antonio, but for now, my Pin Collection!

Pins, Pins and More Pins!

I've been collecting Hard Rock Cafe pins for a long time. Over the past year, between my cross-country trip to San Francisco and then my move to Arizona, my collection has grown by leaps and bounds, so I decided to show them off and share the stories of where they came from.

Cayman Islands, approx 2002 - My first ever Hard Rock pin. This is from approximately 2002. I had the opportunity to go to the Cayman Islands because my fiance at the time had an Aunt who lived there. We spent Christmas there with his Aunt, Uncle, parents, brother and brother's girlfriend. I got to scuba dive for the first time. It was also the first time I went outside of the country, except for Canada. Got a passport and everything!

End of September

Pets for Pets

Waiting for the vet to check his sniffles.

Earlier this month, in an effort to get our cat Joon to come out of hiding, we decided to get him a friend. Meet DaVinci, aka Leo. He's 4 months old and we got him at an adoption event for the humane society. They were having an event at a local car dealership. They paid for all the adoptions that day! His mom was a stray but he has no fear of humans and loves to cuddle. A few days after we got him, he did develop the sniffles, so we had to put him on antibiotics. Typical animal shelter upper respiratory infection.

First Half of September

Things I've Learned in Arizona and Arizona RID Conference

We've done so much since we arrived here that we needed a weekend off. So, instead of posting about something fun we've done, because there isn't really much to report, I will post about some of my observations and things I've learned while I've been here.

1. I. Love. Mountains! I never imagined that I would be learning to navigate a new city and using mountains as landmarks. I can tell which way is North by the shape of certain mountains and I can see how close I am to home based on how far away a mountain is. Also, mountains are beautiful. As the sun starts to approach the horizon, the shadows lengthen and each undulation of the mountainside comes into view. As evening falls, they turn from coppery reds and browns into royal blues and purples.

Labor Day Weekend Part 2

Fort Bowie and Chiricahua National Monument

Not a sign you want to see while driving.

Sunday we headed out to Chiricahua National Monument, which is an amazing area where, due to erosion, there are towering columns and balancing rocks. A few miles before the entrance, there was a pull off for the Fort Bowie National Historical Site. Not really knowing anything about it, we turned down the road. For 6 miles, we drove on an unpaved, rocky road, dodging potholes and bouncing up and down hills. When we finally arrived at the parking lot, we realized that the actual ruins of Fort Bowie were another 1.5 miles away, accessible only by hiking through desert scrub and rocky terrain. If we had planned appropriately, we might have done the hike. It looked like it would be a nice walk, but it was just too hot and we hadn't even gotten to the National Monument yet.

Labor Day Weekend Part 1

Kartchner Caverns

We stayed fairly close to home this weekend so we wouldn't have to pay for a hotel or a dog sitter. Saturday afternoon we drove about an hour away to Kartchner Caverns, which is an Arizona State Park. We had to wait around for over an hour to join the 4pm tour because the others were full. While we waited, we had fun taking pictures outside in the hummingbird garden.

Month 2

Week 5: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Apartment Tour

College started up this week here in Tucson, so I got a taste of what it's like to work at both the community college and the University. I'm also up to 4 agencies that I work for, so the work has been coming in. I've already worked at the Air Force Base, one of the casinos, and the Desert Museum. Soon, I have a job at the Biosphere! I've also been doing the typical doctor's appointments and business meetings.

Rounding out the First Month

 Week 3: The Perseids and the International Wildlife Museum

This hawk has been hanging out in the apartment complex

Monday - Friday has started to become routine for the two of us. The school year has started for Susan, so she's now on a normal schedule, and I've started to get work. At night, it's been too hot to take the dogs to the dog park, so we've been taking them on a walk around the complex after we get back from working out at the gym.

The First Few Weeks

Week 1 - Susan's Birthday and "A" Mountain

My sorry attempt at celebrating Susan's birthday on the road.

The first week or so was really dedicated to getting settled in - getting the apartment set up, figuring out where to shop, finding good dog parks, etc. Susan started orientation on Wednesday and was learning about her new job. I took the week off and focused on the apartment. Also, a priority for me was celebrating Susan's birthday, which had been on one of the days of the long journey across the country and I sucked at recognizing. I found a little bakery nearby and placed an order, just hoping that the cake would be good. I also booked a sunset horseback riding trip through Saguaro National Park for the two of us. I picked up a few Wii games from a local box store and got some amazing magnets for her collection from a cute shop on 4th Ave.

The Drive

Day 1: Rochester to Casey, IL

Accidentally deleted the post from this day. :(

First day of the drive wasn't too exciting. We took the dogs to the dog park to run around before we left. Matt and his friend Josh took off very early in the morning with the moving truck and we didn't see them at all this day. Stopped at the Hard Rock in Indianapolis. They had barely any city specific pins, and the one I got ended up having 2011 on it instead of 2012!

Day 2: Casey, IL to Clinton, OK

Not sure what time we got on the road, but Susan was still dead tired, so I did the driving. First major stop of the day was St. Louis. We saw the arch on the way in and stopped at the Hard Rock. It was a cute little one, tucked back behind a mall. They had a much better selection of pins.

Susan napping with Baxter and Zoe.

We had been in touch with my brother throughout the day and they had hit St. Louis a little before us. They were taking a tour of the Budweiser factory while we were at the Hard Rock. Since we had the animals, and no real interest in the Bud factory, we kept on going. A few hours later we made a stop in Lebanon, Missouri for some food, a walk for the dogs and the Russell Stover Candy Factory/Outlet. We spent so much time there, that the boys ended up catching up with us. We put some stuff that we no longer needed in the truck and parted ways again. (The truck could only go 75mph, so we were able to go a bit faster than them in certain areas.)