Here is Betsy in front of our team booth

KISS was there and they stayed most of the evening!

These were the Liminarias that participants had done at the kick-off meetings. HOPE - CURE

On my birthday, Saturday May 22, Ed and I joined Team Soboba Springs in a Relay For Life Walkathon for the American Cancer Society. We had both collected our target contribution goal of $100 each and were eligible to receive a t-shirt commemorating the event. We showed up for the Opening Ceremonies and to watch the Survivor Lap at 9:00 am. The first lap of the day is for the people who have had cancer and survived it or are still living with it. It's a pretty big thing to survive the Big C so each survivor was given a bag to receive multiple goodies from each booth as they walked around the track.
Ed and I volunteered for the first lap for Team Soboba Springs after the Survivor Lap even though we were signed up for the noon lap. That first lap was only about 45 minutes and we leisurely walked about 2 miles. At just after 10am, we passed the "spirit stick" and wandered around to the other teams' booths and the bandstand area. There was a lot going on and we visited with other residents of Soboba Springs Mobilehome Park. At about 11:00am we headed home for lunch and then returned at noon for our scheduled lap. Mostly we walked leisurely as we watched all the happenings and other walkers around us. On our noon lap we made about another 2 miles. At 2pm we drove back home, watched a movie and rested for the evening festivities.
At 5pm, Ed took me out to dinner at Delgados for my birthday and we returned to SJ High School for the evening ceremonies. At about 7pm, we took over the "spirit stick" again and walked another 2 miles. Each time we walked around the track, we put another bead on our string. 4 laps around the track was equal to a mile and we collected 24 beads each. Wow, if my math is correct, we walked 6 miles that day. Actually that was nothing compared to some of the younger people who had long strings of beads around their necks. I heard one young man say that he was going to walk 24 miles that day or bust!!
At 9pm they had the Luminaria Ceremony. Lighted bags were placed around the track with names of cancer honorees or memorials and the track lights were turned off. It was quite a scene with lighted bags or luminarias everywhere in the darkness. Ed and I enjoyed the whole event but by the end of the luminaria ceremony, it was cold and windy. It was a 24 hr event but that was for the young and hardy. We were cold and tired so we headed home hoping for the best for those that stayed. Luckily it didn't rain that night and the Relay was a success!

Our first stop was the Lumberyard Brewery.

Then we went to the Late for the Train Coffee Shop.

This was the second brewery we went to in Flagstaff
And here is the last brewery we went to.

Here we are set up at Happy Jack.

Bet n Amelia toasting for a great camping trip

Another one of them beautiful sun sets.

Look real close, is Amelia really touching the fish?

Good times around the campsite!!

Dude and Rico are good doggie friends and enjoyed the camping trip together!!

Amelia caught the biggest fish and the boys caught those weird crawfish thingies!

These are the mighty fishermen..........and woman

Last Sunday we loaded up the 5th wheel with enough gear, food and clothing to last 5 days and headed back to the mountains north of Phoenix, AZ. When we came west thru that area on the I-40 in late April there was snow on all sides of the road and a snowstorm hit us a few miles past Flagstaff. We were determined to make the trip in order to join our good friends, Amelia and Tony, for a few days in the wilderness but were a little leery of cold weather.
Tony and Amelia had been set up at their campsite near Happy Jack, AZ for a few days when we arrived on Sunday late afternoon. The RV camp was truly remote and we had a good view of the trees from our site. Luckily there was no snow to be seen. We greeted Amelia, Tony and Rico (their dog) after our set-up and that night we enjoyed a campfire under the stars.
Fishing was the activity of the day for Monday. We headed out with fishing poles and both dogs (Dude and Rico) in the trucks to Mary Lake. The first spot we chose was a bit windy but we persevered and threw our lines in. After about an hour of no luck, we asked about choice of bait from some lucky fisherman down the way and they said anchovies were what the fish were hitting on. I volunteered to make the anchovy run and after two stops, found a couple bags to bring back to the windblown fishermen. The anchovies still didn't produce any significant hits on our lines so we decided to make a move.
We moved a little further up Mary Lake to a spot that was a little less windblown. We had to haul our gear down a bit of a hill to the lake's edge. That spot proved to be a little better at producing fish. Amelia and Tony both caught two fish each with Amelia's fish being the longest and biggest. Ed and Amelia both captured really ugly crawfish which we set free after taking numerous pictures. It turns out (according to a sign we read later) that crawfish are nuisance animals because they feed on fish eggs and we should have put them out of their misery instead of throwing them back. Well, we'll know better next time!!
That night back at camp we feasted!! We had steak, baked potato, roasted ears of corn, salad and fish! After the buttered, seasoned fish had cooked sufficiently in the wrapped foil over the coals, we sat at the table, pulled the yummy flesh from the carcasses and ate until we were stuffed!
Our second full day at our Happy Jack camp we made the trek into Flagstaff to do some shopping and beer-tasting. We had a wonderful lunch with eggrolls, chili-smothered fries as appetizers and a sampler of 12 beers (which we shared). Oooh, it was all so tasty!! After that we needed to walk it all off so we visited stores. There are a lot of unique stores in Flagstaff but I enjoyed Late For The Train Roastery because that was where Amelia bought me an early birthday present of Fireman's Hot Cocoa. It's a mix of cocoa, vanilla, almonds and hot New Mexico chilis. Hot Cocoa with a bite!!! Yummmmm! Thanks again, Amelia, I really am enjoying a couple spoonfuls in my coffee every morning! On the way home from Flagstaff we saw lots of elk and Amelia had to keep a sharp eye out so that she wouldn't hit one if it was in the road.
Our third day we all headed to a different lake for another fishing expedition. It was a fairly windless, really neat spot and I was hoping for the best. We set up our fishing poles, got out the magazines and settled in to wait for the fish to bite. Well, it never happened, I guess I'm just not a very good fisherman but it was fun trying. Ed and I headed back to camp to rest and relax while Amelia and Tony ventured back to Mary Lake for another try at fishing. On the way back to camp, we stopped at the turnout for Mormon Lake and watched a bird swooping and diving after its prey. We couldn't figure out the type of bird but it was sure interesting to watch!
All too soon, it was Thursday and time to head home. It's amazing the temperature change between Happy Jack and Phoenix as we drove home. In Happy Jack it was a pleasant 68-72 degrees each day but as we dropped lower into the Phoenix area, the temperature creeped upwards toward 100 degrees. It finally topped out just below 100 at 98 but that was hot enough. Luckily in San Jacinto today it was in the mid-70s and for our Relay For Life walk tomorrow it should be cool and cloudy. I could walk all day in cool and cloudy!!!!

Really enjoying being back with my granddaughter, Jessie. She'll travel to Spokane with us in July to see her cousins.

I love our garden in the Spring. It's so pretty! The big tree was actually a small houseplant given to me on Mother's Day 3 years ago. Look how big it is now!!

Our smiling sun from Mexico!!

Here is part of the gang a riding the Wilderness Lakes Express

Here is the clan chowing down. This was Betsy's Hobo Soup special, ummmm good!

We got to share this family of Geese with our Families. Imagine there are more there by now as there were a lot of females sitting on eggs.

Here is Warren, Barbara and her Hubby Matt

These are Ed's Kids, Edward, Warren and Barbara

Here is Hannah, Jessie, Rachel, Deanna, Alex and in the front row is Matthew

Here is Matt and Ed with the gang.

And here is Betsy with the gang. She seemed to be the one keeping this gang in line. But they really enjoyed her attention!

Wow, I went thru a major funk when we moved back here to the mobilehome. We spent a couple of days clearing out the 5th wheel and Ed had some electrical problems to clear up with it but got them figured out. Then I slumped! For a couple of days I could not shake the blues.....guess it was the "no more traveling for a few weeks" thing. Well, I'm getting past it again and actually we've got some stuff planned for the near future. May 16 we're headed on the road with the 5th wheel again for 4 nights with our good camping buddies, Tony and Amelia. Dude has a lot of fun with their big dog, Rico, so he's looking forward to it too! We're going to shoot for camping just below Flagstaff, AZ and we'll be hoping that the snow is over for the season. Fishing and relaxing is the past-time when camping with Tony and Amelia with a little brewery visiting and beer tasting thrown in for good luck. In June we'll head up towards the Julian area for 3 or 4 nights with our other camping friends, Gary and Beth, so I'm feeling better already!
Our final weekend at Wilderness Lakes we had family join us at the campground for a couple nights in the rental trailers. We spent two days of fun in the sun with grandkids in the pool, riding on the train and on the hayride. Everybody came over for a big barbecue at our place and the only downside was the wind. It kept it cool but made it hard to eat outside. We enjoyed ourselves tho' and will look forward to doing it again someday.