Homestead Phoenix-Arprt-Tempe

... story of how Melissa and her boyfriend were named Homecoming King and Queen of their high school here in Mesa.

Melissa stood up and did her Miss America wave to everyone with this great Daisy smile--
I mean... think Daisy with a red cowboy hat and jeans and you have this girl.

Made me tear up, dang it.

Oh, and when we walked in they gave us each a little gift--me a bright blue boa and Bob a western tie. Oh yea, we were cute. You don't ...

Maybe we've been in the desert too long, but the Salt river was gorgeous. Clear, cold and full of pools and riffles, it flows out of seemingly dry mountains east of Phoenix like a miracle--a wet mirage.

Along it's length from Mesa to Saguaro Lake (backed up by the Stewart Mountain Dam) are access points with parking lots the size of Target, but today, Black Friday, they were mostly empty--just us and a few others avoiding the mania in town.

Further up the river lie Apache ...

... highlands are drier and generally thinly vegetated except during the rainy season.Only the eastern and southern highlands conform to the image of Ethiopia as a featureless desert.
- Capital city is Addis Ababa with a population of about 3.1 million.
- Official language is Amharic. English is widely spoken.
- Main religions are Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, Islam and Protestant Christianity. Ethiopia also had a ...

... potato, green bean casserole, broccoli, cauliflower, gravy & cranberry sauce. For dessert either pumpkin or apple pie. Later Janine & I went to a huge craft shop called 'Michael's' where I 'saved' Fred 30% on all my purchases, including all the stuff that was already discounted!

For the famous Thanksgiving Day Sales, we decided to go to Toys R Us first which opened at 12am, but when we (Fred, Janine & I) got there, there was a ...

Yummy breakfast this morning with the State of Texas shaped waffles – heh heh. Naturally Fred, Josh & I had to sample them!

Hit the road by 9am and drove straight to Wilcox, Arizona where we had a rather disappointing lunch at a local Burger Joint called 'Carters' – cost us $25 for the four of us, and that was 3 small burgers (tiny by U.S size standards), 2 ...

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.

... a pool shark giving a show on the upper floor and ended up being his assistant - and they were filming his show! ChefAnton.com Back down to our booth where I spent the rest of the afternoon. At 5 John and his 'girls' (Dana, Lori, Heather and me) headed out to his car via a trip through the shops in the Venetian. Somehow we have missed seeing this one so enjoyed it, and at last we all squeezed into his small rental car and headed back to the hotel. Dana's mon, dad, uncle and aunt ...

Awesome MLK Day in Tempe. Went to a Diversity Breakfast where Zita received an award. Really cool line-up with Buffalo Soldiers (which made everyone in the audience cry), music and cool talks. Saw cousin Steve and Joan and Jennifer. Then left the luxury of Pen + Zita's and drove to Texas. Past the ...

... to be the only ones there, but seems a lot of people had the same idea as us! Temp was 72 and blue, no clouds and no wind making it a great day! December 31st Wednesday, the last day of 2008! Up early to go wheelin again with Jayne and Steve, meeting them at 8 AM!! Another couple went along with us in Steves Jeep - Pierre and Lyn from Quebec. A very interesting and interested couple - they are beginning cachers and beginning rock hounds, she makes beautiful ...

... I'm told it's just a big **** off hole in the ground that's too big to take it. Anyway seeing it regardless and we are getting there with style. The car we hired is new, a white Dodge Charger. Check it out on the web. Tis is one big pimp looking ride. Way over the top but that's America. We should look **** kewl on the road. On Monday we are driving into Las Vegas in our pimp machine to take a friends class and try teach a few. Never imagined I'd be ...