Holiday Inn Hotel And Suites Mesa

... at each other, "Where in the world are we?"

The show was rollicking and the food, great, but you know what was the very best? During the before show entertainment we noticed this Down Syndrome girl sitting under the window writing in her workbook, grinning at nobody, singing along to herself...

Well, the singer introduced her to us. Her name is Melissa and she's the singer's sister. She had written a song and been to Nashville to record it about this ...

... Canyon Lake and 80 miles from Phoenix, Roosevelt Lake and Dam, built in 1911 to control flooding.

The whole Salt River to Roosevelt Lake area lies within the Tonto National Forest and every parking lot requires you display your $6 Recreational Pass. We probably saw 200 signs, "Did You Buy Your Pass?", "Cars Without Passes Will Be Ticketed," "Cars MUST Display Tonto National Forest Recreation Pass," with the closest place to purchase such pass being BACK IN PHOENIX. I'm sure ...

... discovered, even older skeleton, were discovered and also is the home of the 4th highest mountain in Africa - Das Rashem at over 14,000 feet. Contrary to the images of drought and mass starvation that most westerners remember about Ethiopia, the country is also home to the most extensive indigenous rainforest to be found anywhere in Eastern Africa. The Central highlands are openly vegetated, green fertile and densely cultivated. The ...

We leave for Ethiopia on December 15th and are getting very excited. This is one of the first steps
towards keeping friends and family updated while we are gone.
This is our first trip to an African country so we are extra excited for a completely different experience.

... visiting. It's great to see an old friend with a great family, but it also makes you reflect. It was the first time I really got to play with and study a two year old. And now I know why they say an angel watches over all small children.
Erin and I have decided to make our visits more frequent in the future.

... 8217;t need much in the way of groceries but was nice to go with her. Latter in the day Connie stopped by to chat a while, and a bit later I dressed to go out to dinner with 5 other ladies. I even dressed up in one of my skirts – I miss getting dressed up and dining out! We went to On the Border at Power Rd and it was fun. Margaritas and Mexican food! The other women were fun too- can’t recall their names except for Jane. I was tired when I got home so took ...

... delivered to my house.

And now for the final reflections on my summer adventure 2009. The whole thing was truly amazing, from the very beginning to the very end, despite the insanity of the very end. I'm so thankful to have had Bekah traveling and working with me all those weeks. We got along great and found out more about each other all the time, even though we've been friends since we were 5 years old. So many parts of the trip went just as ...

... being introduced to the chief, and giving him bags of sugar and tobacco, we were just welcomed in.  Not a warm welcome with singing and drums-beats like you might imagine it should be, but a quiet authentic acceptance and welcome according to their quite and relaxed cultural norms.  It was still nonetheless totally brilliant.     We stayed for 2 days and experienced life in a rural Himba village: milking goats and cows; making a sour, buttery ...

... near our camp park you think you are in a commercial district but if you look at a satellite view of the area (use Google maps and enter 3265 E Main, Mesa,AZ 85213) you find behind most of the businesses on the street are hundreds of mobile and/or motor homes. You notice a sign that says something "estates" and a driveway and actually that is the entrance to a whole gated community with up to 1000 parking spaces. On the ...

Beibei and I left her house at about 6:30 AM and got all the way back home in one day. We stopped for about 5 minutes in Liberal, Kansas to see the things set up for Wizard of Oz. Apparently that is where Dorothy is from. Other than that, our stops were ...