2021 By City

Each of the below cities include a one-night stay in 2021. The annual post continues.

• Clearwater, FL
• Kissimmee, FL
• Tampa, FL
• Newport Beach, CA
• Queen Creek, AZ
• Prescott, AZ
• Coronado, CA
• Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ

2020 By City

Each of the below cities include a one-night stay in 2020. This list is short this year due to Covid-19.

• New York, NY
• Anaheim, CA
• Tucson, AZ
• Red Bank, NJ
• Flagstaff, AZ
• San Diego, CA
• Payson, AZ
• Charleston, SC

San Diego for Dave's BD

We drove over to San Diego for a few days the week of Dave's birthday. We left on Wednesday night, August 19 and then came back on Saturday, August 22. Dave worked on Wednesday (and we both did a virtual AZ ethics CPE) so we didn't get on the road until about 5pm. We stopped in Yuma at In-N-Out for dinner and rolled into San Diego about 11pm.

Thursday morning we ate at a restaurant a couple of blocks from our called Cafe 21. It was ok - probably would not go back but our breakfast was pretty.

On Thursday afternoon I gave Dave a sailing lesson for his birthday. So we were out on a sailboat for 3 hours. We both enjoyed sailing and Dave wants to get his license so he can sail more often (I'm all for that!).

Captain Dave

This was John, our captain for the afternoon

We had a late lunch after sailing at Mitch's Seafood - a suggestion by captain John. This was our view from the patio of the restaurant.

We then stopped at Coronado Island and walked around for a while. I took a picture with my car - this was its first time back to California after I bought it over there in 2012. It was nice to drive with the top down.

Friday morning we had breakfast at Parakeet Cafe in La Jolla - this place was excellent (I thought so, Dave didn't give it a high vote) and I would definitely eat here again.

We walked around La Jolla Cove...

...and then went to Better Buzz for coffee/matcha. I wish this coffee shop was in Arizona.

Lunch Friday was at one of our favorite places, Puesto.

Then it was back to Coronado Island to hang out on the beach for a while and then late afternoon we went back to the hotel to relax (I took a nap) for a couple of hours before dinner. We stayed at the Kimpton and this was the view from our room. This Kimpton is the least favorite Kimpton we have stayed at, however, I don't know if we can give it a fair vote because there were no amenities due to COVID.

On Friday night I had reservations at Sea180 at Imperial Beach. It had a nice patio on the beach, but we were not at all impressed by the food. We decided we have found really good places in Phoenix/Scottsdale and now we are spoiled.

Saturday morning we slept in a little, grabbed breakfast and then made the drive back across the desert to the blazing heat.

Flagstaff Getaway to Escape 100 Degree Heat

As a result of COVID and the quarantine, we have not really traveled at all this year. I did a trip to NYC and to Disneyland at the beginning of the year, but nothing since then. Dave had not taken any days off work, so we decided just to get away for a couple of nights to Flagstaff and enjoy some 80-degree temps. We left on Thursday morning and came back this morning (Saturday).

I found a cute little bed and breakfast online called The England House. It was a quaint little place and the owners were very nice and friendly. We stayed in a room called The Pantry, and it was exactly as its name implies, the original pantry of the house. When I booked the room a week ago it was the only one available, but if we stay here again I would choose a different room. The Pantry was just super small and really only had enough room for the bed and a little space to walk around the bed.

It was near downtown so we walked to dinner both nights.

This was our breakfast table both mornings. It was in an enclosed patio, but the doors were open so it almost felt like you were outside.

When we arrived on Thursday we were walking around downtown and found Lux - we were surprised to see a location in Flagstaff.

Thursday night we ate dinner at Bandera Tacos. The food was excellent but we ordered way too much - prices were very reasonable. Most of downtown Flagstaff was closed due to Coronavirus.

On Friday morning we drove up to Arizona Nordic Village to do some hiking. I had read some reviews online that the cross country trails were good hiking trails in the summer. We hiked Babbitt Trail and it ended up being 4.6 miles. Not much elevation gain but it was nice to be in the trees and hike in high 70s/low 80s temps.

There were so many beautiful wildflowers.

At the end of the hike we saw these cows - they all had horns so they were bulls. When I first stopped to take a picture one started running and I thought he was charging at me, but he ran the opposite direction. I told Dave if the bull started charging us he needed to be my rodeo clown :)

After our hike we decided to drive to the Meteor Crater. A huge iron-nickel meteorite, estimated to have been about 150 feet across and weighing several thousand tons, struck the northern Arizona rocky plain with an explosive force greater than 20 million tons of TNT. The massive meteor is estimated to have been traveling at about 26,000 mph, or 7.2 miles per second, through the Earth's atmosphere. At that speed, the meteor could have passed over New York City 8 minutes after being sighted in Paris, and then impacted in Arizona about 5 minutes later! This picture below is the largest fragment that has been found of that meteorite.

In seconds, the result of the impact was the excavation of a giant bowl-shaped cavity (550 feet deep and 4,000 feet across). 

The Crater is large enough for 20 football games to be played simultaneously on its floor, while more than 2 million people watch from the sloping sides. Fun fact: I am an AZ native and did not know about this crater until yesterday. Guess I should brush up on some Arizona history.

NASA has provided extensive science training at Meteor Crater for the Apollo astronauts.

Once we got back into Flagstaff we stopped at Local Juicery for a smoothie. We have been to the Sedona location numerous times, but I had read an article earlier this year that a Flagstaff location had opened.

Dinner Friday night was at Brix. This is the current look for going to a restaurant in Arizona.

A great getaway but I will be happy when life gets back to normal.

Quarantine 2020

Spring 2020 was a time that no one would have been able to predict. By mid-March the Coronavirus, aka COVID-19, had spread from China throughout the rest of the world. I received a notice on March 12th that Vonage was closing offices as of March 16th and they are currently still closed. TruFusion closed the gym on March 17th and it just reopened yesterday, May 29th, with limited class sizes to ensure social distancing. I'm so glad things are getting back to normal, but I also wanted to do a blog post to remember this time (which hopefully there will never be another pandemic in my lifetime - so far over 100,000 lives have been lost due to COVID).

The quarantine time frame was rough for me, mostly because we received so much bad news (that had nothing to do with the quarantine) but I think not having a normal routine made it that much worse. 

I hiked every day that the gym was closed, alternating between either Squaw Peak, Pinnacle Peak or Gateway Loop - these hikes are what kept me sane. I tracked all my hikes and the count is: Squaw - 14 times, Pinnacle - 26 times, Gateway - 33 times and Soldiers Pass Trail in Sedona - 1 time. In total, I calculated that I hiked a total of 266.6 miles during quarantine - no wonder my hiking shoes are falling apart - they took a beating over the last 2.5 months!

We did some takeout and had picnics. We had bonfires in the backyard. I read books. We stayed home. We watched church online. We didn't have a schedule and didn't have anywhere to be. I did weekly family Google Hangouts. If I never hear the words "social distancing" again that is fine with me.

Following are some pictures I took to remember it all.

Spring is the best time for hikes in Phoenix - so many flowers blooming.

Uriah roasting a tiny marshmallow. He just wanted to light things on fire.

Kellyn came out and we hiked Pinnacle with the boys - they make it 1 and 1/4 miles out and back - I was pretty impressed with both of them.

Otis did what he always does - the quarantine didn't change much for him.

We got takeout from LGO every Sunday after watching church online and took breakfast to my parents and sat outside 6' apart.

Farm and Craft picnic at Civic Center in Old Town Scottsdale.

Otis enjoyed sitting on my lap while I worked...and resting his head on the desk.

Takeout from Isabella's - and cocktails to go in mason jars.

Signs at the hiking trails.

Another day of hiking with Kellyn and the boys at Gateway Loop Trail - they had more fun building rock piles than actually hiking.

A lot of grocery stores and restaurants had (and still have) signs on the ground to tell you where to stand.

Gina gave me a fun quarantine gift.

Views at Gateway Loop Trail.

Eating meals on the ground since restaurants where closed.

We did a puzzle - would have done more but I could not find puzzles that were available.

The below was going around on Facebook at the end of March - adding it here so I don't forget.

Just so I NEVER forget..... April 2 2020

-Gas price a mile from home was $2.49

-No toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towel, no laundry soap, no hand sanitizer. Shelves are bare.

-Schools closed 3/13 for rest of year. Online learning begins.

-Social Distancing. Stay 6ft from each other

-Tape on the floors at grocery stores to remind people to stay 6ft away.

-Limited number of people inside stores, therefore, lineups outside the store doors.

-Non-essential stores, and businesses mandated closed.

-Carryout or delivery only at restaurants.

-Parks, trails, entire cities locked up.

-Entire sports seasons cancelled.

-Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events - cancelled.

-Weddings, family celebrations, holiday gatherings - cancelled.

-Churches closed, services online only

-No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, now 5 or more.

-Don't socialize with anyone outside of your home.

-Children playing outdoor but parks are closed.

-Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our front-line workers.

-Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill. -Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their lines to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer and PPE.

-Government closes the US border to all non-essential travel.

-Fines are established for breaking the rules.

-Stadiums and recreation facilities open up for the overflow of Covid-19 patients.

-Press conferences daily from the President. -Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths.

-Government incentives to stay home.

-People wearing masks and gloves outside. Some are homemade.

-Essential service workers are terrified to go to work and afraid to go home to their families in fear they could infect them.

This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, declared March 11th, 2020.

Why, you ask, do I write this status?

One day it will show up in my memory feed, and it will be a yearly reminder that life is precious and not to take the things we dearly love for granted.

We have so much!

Be thankful. Be grateful.

Be kind to each other - love one another - support everyone.

We are all one!

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