Heading through Familiar Territory

We left Santa Fe with 4" of snow on the ground and braved our way north toward Highland Ranch to see my niece, Marta, and her family. Highland Ranch is a gorgeous community with every amenity a family could want--good schools, great community/athletic centers, shopping, and restaurants. Marta, her spousal equivalent, James, and their sons, Konnor and Aiden, showed us a good time with a great meal at the Macaroni Grill. We'll definitely look for more of those! We also got to watch Aiden taking his swim lesson and Konnor sled down a hill near their home. It was lovely to see them and we hope they'll pop on up to Washington some day soon!

From there, we headed through the gorgeous snow-covered Rockies. We stopped for lunch in Vail, but needed to hurry on our way as another storm was expected. We managed to get that storm while in Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly with tons of wind, sand, and then snow! Ah...so much for winter travel...and it wasn't even winter yet! We really enjoyed ourselves, though, and saw a herd of wild burros, movie sets from many of the John Ford/John Wayne westerns in Monument Valley, and hiked down to the bottom of Canyon de Chelly where Navajo continue to farm. There are a few ruins from Anasazi in the bottom of the Canyon, too. So sacred.

We wanted to linger in Sedona and Prescott, but with another storm predicted to dump 14" of snow, we figured we'd better scurry on. So, we headed to Laughlin. We'd never been there before and stayed at the campground right in town, so we were able to walk everywhere. The last day of our stay there found us in the middle of that big storm that went through Southern California all the way to Colorado and we simply stayed in the camper all day...not like us at all! But the wind and rain was fierce!

When we left there, we got to see the remnants of the storm's wrath in the snow that was sprinkled all through the high desert. Simply gorgeous! We stopped at the Joshua Tree National Park, but it was closed due to overabundance of snow! So, on we went to beautiful Menifee for a fabulous stay with Karen & Richard. Their new home is simply perfect and the retirement community in which they live is great! They took us on a tour of Old Town Temecula where we tasted olive oils and vinegars...yummy! Like Marta, Karen sent us on our way with a plate of homemade goodies.

We'd never seen the Southland look so fresh and wintery. The hillsides were green and glistening with snow-capped mountains surrounding every valley. It was truly cold as there was frost on the rooftops every morning.

After our stay there, we hustled down to Coronado where we stayed with my friend, Lori. Coronado is as gorgeous as ever and we had fun in the sun! Lori showed us a great time with a walk around Coronado to see Art in the Park, the library where she and I met all those years ago, and the Hotel Del Coronado. Nothing like ice skating next to the beach! Only in Coronado! Lori also introduced to a bottle of egg nog, complete with rum, brandy, and blended whiskey! Woweeeee!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! Have a loving time with friends and family.

Jan and Clint
Chaplin and Zorro