Goodby to Sunny California

This blog is so different to do than the one we did while we were in New York. There was so much to do every day that I needed to update every night to I could remember everything. Here, on the other hand, We do so much of the same thing every day that one blog will be plenty. In the morning when we get up the sun is shining (yes Virginia, there is sunshine somewhere every day!).

Dan sits in the sun (but not for very long) and works or studies for the morning. I get up when I feel like it and lay out until about noon or so. After getting showered and dressed we pick somewhere to have a late lunch every day. We pass this beautiful view of the golf course coming and going every day.

Some of the places we have picked to eat have been pretty bad. It's not fun to do that. But some of the last ones we have eaten in were great. We found the Old Town area of La Quinta and it had 7 different places to eat. We have had great meals since we have tried eating in these places. The first place was this one that is owned by Clint Eastwood. It is called the Hogs Breath Inn. He has one in Carmel, and this one. Some of the locals said that he comes up once in a while to check up on it and will stay for the evening and play the piano for a couple of hours. How fun would that have been?

We took one afternoon and went to the Temple in Redlands. It was small, but very unique. We really enjoyed visiting it.

Unfortunately the closest we came to seeing ol' Clint was this: Isn't this picture one from "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly? Or is it from "High Plains Drifter"? I don't remember .

Here we are taking advanatage of the last sun we will get today. It is hard to say goodby to a fun vacation. No matter where it was.

this one was great and the timing was perfect, as far as the weather was concerned. Mid to high 70's is great! In the summer it gets as hot as 120 degrees during the day. Records are even higher. NO THANKS!

Good-by palm trees and desert views. Hello Seattle and the north west weather tomorrow.

Love you all.

Ma and Pa

Leavin' on a jet plane

Here we are saying a last good bye to Vegas. Can't wait to go back!

Las Vegas wrap up

Oh how jaded we must be after only a few short visits to L.V. I realised today that I didn't even take a single picture. How unlike a Conlin is that?
We had a lazy morning and decided to go for a little walk on the blvd. Cold? I mean really COLD! Not as cold as in Colorado where Adam and Colleen and the brood is, but cold for here. It was in the low 20's early this morning and the wind was blowin'. Even on the sunny side of the street it was too cold to stay outside without warmer clothes than we had.
We hustled across the street to eat at a disapointing place for lunch, and hustled back into Ceasars' to stay warm.
This evening we walked next door to the Bellagio to see "O". It is a great show where there is a stage which would change from hard solid floor, to puddles and rain, to a pool that people were diving and jumping in from sometimes a long way up. Acrobats, dancers, trapeze artists, clowns and more were in the cast. It was very worth seeing.
Tomorrow we will be leaving sunny but cold Las Vegas. Can't wait till I can come back again. I love the shows and entertainment you can find here. Celine comes back again in March. Hmmmmmm.........maybe a trip for my BD could be the thing to do.
Miss ya all.
Ma and Pa C.

Yes Fans.....Cher still wears a thong.

As many of you may know, I am a Cher fan. She started performing in 1962 when she was only 16 and I was nine. She has my same birthday and I had never seen her in concert. So tickets to see Cher was on my Christmas list. Dan (with a little help from Ryan) gave them to me. Here we are at Ceasars enjoying a couple days of Vegas Entertainment.

The show was great. There was a Death Defying fly in on the "Contraption of Death" as she called it, coming in from off stage way up high on the right and floating down to the stage amid flashing lights and a pumped up audience. There were film clips from all along her career including the Sonny and Cher show, videos from movies, news clips, and little bits of other concerts. All in all my revue of the show is that it is a good show, good concert, good music, and yes-----I wish my ass looks as good as hers. Maybe when I get older.....

Arizona fun

Here is a picture I took when Jan, Angie and I took a trip to Mesa to go to the flea market. It was so much more than that. I tried to get a shot of one of the aisles of the market and couldn't get much of it. Angie was trying to figure out what I was doing.
The aisles are 1/4 of a mile long and there are 4 of them in a line. There are short connecting aisles on each end. As Jan says, "you can find anything here you could ever be interested in", and now I believe. It was quite the trip and a fun thing to do. Can't wait for next time and I hope we have a little more time to look.

Still Blue, Still Sunny, Still Great!

Oh what a tough, tough life we live! Here I am at the pool while Dan was in a meeting. There were alot of people I recognised around the pool playing hookey. Fun to visit with friends from ING.

I love the shapes and colors of the Southwest.

These little birds are all over this resort. They are some kind of water bird and are so cute. There are also, starlings, doves, and sparrows. They are so tame that they almost eat out of your hands, and they fly onto your table at the pool while you are still eating to try to steal the food.

This is the view out of our window. Not bad, huh?

And the pathway to the pool. Southwest version of heaven.

And speaking of heaven I also found the spa they have here. What a great place to hang around in. I came right back to the room to get my swimsuit and went back over to sit in the hot tub and steam room. What a lovely, great smelling place. I may have to buy some of the aroma therapy products they sell there. And go back while we are here a few more times. Sometimes a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!

Sunshine and Blue Sky??Every Day? ?

Dan and I came to Arizona for a training meeting for Ing. We really enjoy coming to the meetings because there is an added benefit. We have a chance to visit with Angie and Mike and the kids for a few days. Boy how they change and grow.
We were out for a drive the first day we were here and stopped at the Casa Grande National Monument to see what it was. They are ruins from the indian tribe that lived in this area.

Again I say the skies are blue, all day, almost every day. You think there would be some way to even out the good weather with other places.....Like Rainy Seattle Maybe?

Here we are together as some nice tourist is taking our picture. What a good time we have when we come to visit. And we really enjoy seeing new things.