"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood... And sorry I could not travel both. I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference." --Robert Frost

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Finishing our time in Surprise with Family & Friends

Surprise, Arizona
Happy Trails RV Park


The last half of February kept us very busy.  We took a little break before family arrived for the memorial service and we went to see the Disney movie, Coco.  It was cute and entertaining and a nice distraction.
 I liked the effect the purple lights had on the palm trees outside the theater at night.
 
Curt and Glenda brought their new home over for us to see the next day.  They traded their nice Big Horn 5er for this really nice Winnebago. 
 Congrats on the new rig!
 
Steve's Dad's memorial service would take place on Saturday, the 17th. Our son Shane would fly in on Thursday and our other 3 kids would fly in on Friday as well as Steve's two brothers and Bunny's granddaughter and her husband.  Thankfully all of them Ubered over so we didn't have to spend all day and night picking them up from the airport.
Steve's stepmom, Bunny.  She's been a wreck all month so we've been helping out as much as we can with arrangements.
 Hurley on the other hand was quite content with all the company.
Brennan, Ryan, Shane, Mickey, Steve, Jeff, Kaylee and I.
Unfortunately this was the only family picture we took.  Good thing Shane thought to take a selfie.  I had intended to take several family photos as we were all dressed up and it would be a long time before Steve and his brothers would be together again.  It's also rare to get all our kids in the same place and I would've loved a nice family picture too.  I completely forgot about it. The memorial service started out with a Military Presentation of the Flag and Taps.  Not a dry eye in the place.  The rest of the service was nice and went smoothly.  Curt and Glenda even drove up from Gold Canyon.
Steve and his brothers.
 We all changed into more comfy clothes and had a family BBQ after the service.
 Robert, Kaylee, Bunny, April and Marty.
 Our boys playing some Frisbee.


 I really like this picture of the kids.
 It was a long day that ended with a beautiful sunset.
The next day we all got together for lunch at the Texas Roadhouse before everyone flew out.  Minus Shane.  He had to leave early.
 With the service over and the holiday here, Steve and I spent the day geocaching with Jeff and Mickey.  It was Mickey's first time and he loved it.
 Mickey's first geocache.
The cold front really kicked in and it was a very cold and very windy day.  We finally were able to finish the day off with our 3900th find!  Now, off to dinner for some pizza and wings.  I wish they could've stayed longer.  We had such a great time with the brothers. With Mickey and Jeff now back in Virginia, we had just a few days before we left Surprise and headed to the Parker/Lake Havasu area.
Posing with Jon Taffer of the Bar Rescue TV Show.
 
You may remember on my last post that Steve and I wanted to hike to the 2000 year old Juniper Tree that was in Prescott with some friends.  All week the weather was threatening to snow on Friday.  And that it did.  I don't mind hiking in the snow or the cold, but it had been very windy too.  That's not a combo I like.  The windchill was horrible.  So instead we met Skip and Tammy for lunch at  Chilleens on 17 in Black Canyon City for BBQ.
Tammy is a retired firefighter from Prescott and Skip is a retired firefighter from Phoenix.  We had all just seen the movie, Only the Brave, about the Granite Mountain Hotshots and they thought they did a really good job with it.  Tammy had worked with many of them in Prescott and they both knew the Steinbrinks well.
 
We didn't get to do the hike, but we had a great lunch and talked for hours.  Steve even won a squeaky pig out of one of those claw grabber games.  We'll make a geocache out of it somewhere.  We said our goodbyes and hope to spend more time with them next year once they finish their new house.
One of our last outings was an 8 mile hike in the Sonoran Desert Preserve.  I've hiked here before and love the trails.  We were invited out by Faye and Dave.  Curt and Glenda joined us as well.
 Curt finding one of many geocaches along the way.
 I tried to capture the moon but it just didn't show up as bright in the picture.
 We shared the trail with some 4-legged hikers.
 
This was an easy hike on the Apache Wash Trail.  Towards the end we spotted this Saguaro whose arms drooped making it look sort of like a Christmas Tree.

Of course we ended up back at Fay and Dave's for some of Dave's famous BBQ.  He brined a pork butt overnight, dry rubbed it in his own special seasonings then smoked it all day while we hiked.
Faye made a delicious grape salad that I'd never had, but loved.  Glenda made a green salad as well as some appetizers and we brought the desert.
What a great way to wrap up our month in Surprise.  We won't see Fay and Dave for a while as they will spend the rest of this year in Colorado and then on to the East Coast.  We will see Curt and Glenda as they spend a couple of days in Placerville on their way up to Oregon and I'm sure we'll cross paths with them while we're in Oregon too.  Funny how we run into someone no matter where we travel.  I love that part!
  

14 comments:

  1. Its a sad set of circumstances to get the family together but still nice to be able to. Don't speak to us about windchills until they are at least -45 below. Where to next? Just so that we aren't there.

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    1. Yes, sad but true. One of the few times you can get family that lives all over the US together. And I'd NEVER think of hiking in -45 below! We lived in Upstate NY, so I well remember those times :-0 Don't worry, we won't sneak up on you guys! We're heading back to CA then on up to OR/WA/BC for the rest of the year.

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  2. Looks like some quality time with family and friends. It's too bad it usually takes a wedding or a funeral to get so many together. Safe travels!

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    1. Thanks guys. Safe travels back up to Canada. If we make it to BC, we'll let ya know!

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  3. Great to see you two, had a wonderful day hiking, geocaching and eating with you two. Safe travels, we'll see you when we get back west.

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    1. Thanks again! We'll be looking forward to it!

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  4. Looked like a great service. I bet it was nice to have everyone together for the remembrance. Take your time getting up to Oregon, still pretty cold up here!

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    1. Thanks. Don't worry, we'll be waiting for warmer temps. How is it?

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  5. If you get close to the Alberta side of the Rockies I know where we can find some Canadian Whisky :) If you are travelling in the rockies then Jasper is in our opinion better than Banff. Just sayin

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    1. One of these days we will make it up there! Would love to see your part of the way way north!

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  6. Bittersweet gathering of family. Love the pics of you and brothers geo-caching, so much fun!!! I agree the pic of the kiddos is a good one too :-) Sadly we missed meeting Fay and Dave in Page when I got sick and we've yet to catch up with them on the road ever since :-( I spent yesterday shopping in Surprise and of course thought of you two.

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    1. The day of the memorial really brought a close to the last year. Quite sad and stressful. Nice to have the family together. Faye & Dave are huge doggy lovers. They would've loved Tessa. They are great people. There's always another time. It's a big US, but we always seem to pass each other eventually! Ah, so we just missed you in Surprise! There is a great olive oil/balsamic vinegar store just south in Peoria that we finally made it to. Nice to stock up again.

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  7. We never miss an opportunity to hang with you fast and loose people. We'll continue to cross paths as long as we can. Some of our best times are with you. Looking forward to the Pahrump rally. See you soon.

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    1. And we love to "rollin" with you guys too ;-) Looking forward to Pahrump and some more hikes!

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