Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #47 – More Arizona Touring & Visiting Family!

 

Sunday, November 20^th., 2022…… We had looked it up online and found that we could do a Sunday tour of the Titan Missile Silo just outside of Tucson, so we booked that.  Or rather Frances did. Her Pima County resident discount was better than my military one!  This probably wasn’t one of those tours that the littles would enjoy, so Frances joined us and the kids spent the morning at their local park.  We ate breakfast in the hotel and then Frances came by and parked and I drove us the 30 minutes or so to the facility. We had tickets for the first tour of the day and we headed off with the rest of our group. Our guide was an actual assigned crew member for the duration of his Air Force career. He was excellent and painted a vivid picture of devastation possible if one of these missiles was ever launched with full warheads!  Instant vaporization and annihilation of millions of residents! Short of the gloom and doom reality, the tour was really interesting!  We saw the control room and he went through a mock sequence of what they had to do (but prayed they never had to!). It was chilling and everyone was stone faced and enthralled. Then we walked through the passageway and saw the rocket in its silo. Wow!   Go if you ever get a chance. We left there and drove over to Kyle and Tiff’s, stopping first at Jersey Mike’s for a quick lunch. We visited with the kids for a while, then left to bring Frances back to her car. We said our goodbyes and went in to our room to rest for a few minutes, then headed off to meet up with her stepson Chris and wife Angie for dinner. He had asked us to meet them at Guadalajara – yep more Mexican food!  But we really liked this place!  They make your salsa and guacamole right at the table. Chris ordered the lava bowl, which is like fajitas but in a bowl that’s over 1000°!

We said our goodbyes and left them and headed back to our room and spent some time packing for tomorrow. We did find some time to go back to the spa. I hope the swimsuits dry overnight!     

Monday, November 21^st., 2022…… Despite Cathye’s protests, we were up and going at 4:30am!  I was warned by Chris that we were going to be in some serious rush hour Phoenix traffic and I wanted to avoid that! Plus, we had to shuttle back in from the rental car drop and also we had to deal with my misspelled ticket again so we needed to go to ticketing first.  We were on the road by 5:00am and made it with one stop for coffee, rolls, and a rest stop at the 76 station. But we made it through everything with no issues and even had time to sit down to a real breakfast at one of the places in the airport. Both flights were uneventful and we got back and to the truck with no issues. We got stuck in rush hour traffic just around Wilsonville, which is just south of Portland and has way too many people moving there and not enough roads to support the traffic! I’ve had issues in this area many times, so we just stopped at Burger King and picked up burgers and fries to eat while we were driving!  We got home about 5:30pm but Penny had already fed the dogs so all we had to do was let them out after they ran out of steam from greeting us!  We unpacked and settled in and rested from the day. I think it was around 8:30pm or so when I gave up and went to bed. It sure was a fun trip! We saw tons of things and met up with many family members. We’re looking forward to the next trip but it was sure nice to be home and to sleep in your own bed!    

Tuesday, November 22^nd., 2022…… Randy and Maryanne are due in today!  They both had work on Monday so they decided to wait until late last night to leave. Randy drove all night and handed off to Maryanne this morning for a while. They got in at around 3ish and Penny came over and we all visited for a while. We made plans for tomorrow. They are planning on mountain biking in the afternoon. I have a dermatology appointment at 1:00pm. We have some shopping to do in the morning. Later, we will go pick up Josh.

Wednesday, November 23^rd., 2022…… Cathye was up early and busy prepping for tomorrow. The kids left around noon, headed for Alsea Falls and said later that they had a nice mountain bike ride. Randy has been many times and wanted to show Maryanne.  My appointment was at 1:00pm. I was tasked with stopping on my way back to pick up a few more last minute items from Walmart. They got home around 5:00pm and Penny joined us for Cathye’s lasagna (remember – this was the second batch she had made last week and froze). We had garlic knots and a salad that Penny had made and we were good to go!  We needed to leave around 6:30 or so to go to Albany to pick up Josh, who took a train down from Portland. I guess the trains were full so they routed him down on a bus – but he made it! He will be here only until Friday when he heads back home then will be heading north to Seattle to see more family up there. But we are ready here for Thanksgiving! 

Thursday, November 24^th., 2022……  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!   We got the turkey in early and were ready for the rest of the family to arrive.  Penny came over with fruit and Cathye had made a breakfast casserole and we all enjoyed those.  Maryanne made an apple crisp for dessert later. Cathye took off a bit later to go pick up Jamie. It’s so nice now that he’s only about 2 miles from us now.  Later, Corey and Vicky and Bailey came over. Brittany had dropped Brandon off and we were all here. The meal was fantastic as you can see from the spread on the table!

 

We all hung around the house and rested and let the turkey coma set in!  We watched football and/or sat around and talked. It was a fun day and we all have a lot to be thankful for! Here are more before and after shots....

Friday, November 25^th., 2022…… Today was breakfast out. Penny met us at Kristi’s and we had a great breakfast. Randy and Cathye and I had a bank appointment in Corvallis so we left everyone and headed off for that. I took advantage of the boy’s muscles and together we got down all of the Christmas decorations and stored them on the front porch.  Then it was about time to take Josh to the train station so he could make his train back to Portland. Cathye also had to go back to the bank because there was one more document they forgot to have her sign – plus I left my jacket there!  Later, Randy and I worked on the headlight bulb on Cathye’s truck. I went off and got the replacements for both sides while we were at it. Later, we ate leftovers and pretty much grazed for the day.   

Saturday, November 26^th., 2022……  We had leftover breakfast casserole and then took a drive. Cathye and Penny and I took the kids over to see Cat’s old place and then went to see Cherrelyn’s place. She’s still in Calif. so we could only do a drive-by. We got back and then Randy and I put the lightbulbs in the truck and we were good to go. The kids left a little after that. They plan to drive straight through so most of the drive will be at night. I’m sure glad we don’t have to hurry anywhere anymore!  We were back to a quiet house again but we were sure glad to see them again! We settled in and watched tv until it was time to call it a night.