Monday, June 21, 2010

Tumacacori Mission

On the way back from Nogales we wanted to stop at the Tumacacori Mission, we meaning me and Chris happily obliged. The San Xavier Mission is just a few miles north and is in much better condition (even though it's about the same age), but Tumacacori is still worth checking out. It was built in the late 17th century and abandoned in the mid-19th. Even though it was blazing hot outside, it was nice to walk around and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere. Apparently in the winter, some of the local indians do outdoor tortilla making demonstrations. Can't wait to come back for that. Because it's a National Historic Park, Booker participated in the Junior Ranger Program. And by participated I mean when the Park Ranger asked him what he had seen on his tour, he said "two lizards." This was enough to earn him a little badge and a certificate with his name on it. One week later and he still insists on wearing his badge everywhere he goes.

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Sunday, June 20, 2010

Nogales, Mexico

When Chris found out that we only live about an hour and a half from the border, he insisted on heading down to Nogales to get some real Mexican food. I'm always up for an adventure in another country so we packed up a cooler full of water bottles, the stroller, our passports and headed south.

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I brought Booker to Nogales a few years ago but with all the violence going on, things were pretty different this time around. I didn't see any other tourists the entire time and the streets were far less crowded.

Once we crossed the border, I didn't really take any pictures but here's what you're missing- lots of pharmacies, lots of dentistry's and loads of cheap touristy crap. We shopped around a little bit, bought some guitars, a batman cape and Chris bought a woolen pullover/poncho. Compared to Cairo, the shopkeepers were far less aggressive and offered me shots of tequila (get me drunk, buy more crap?)

My dad has a good buddy who works at the US Consulate in Nogales so we made arrangements to meet up and have lunch. I called him and tried to describe where we were and within a few minutes a big white Suburban pulled up. The State Department always uses the same white armored Suburbans to transport it's employees around. From Riyadh to Cairo to Nogales, I can always count on that. We headed over to a local dive and had some delicious burros.

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The heat had zapped all of our energy so after lunch we were ready to head back home. The line to cross back into Arizona looked horribly long but it only took about 30 minutes to get through.

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On the drive back, I stopped on the side of the road to get a picture of the border fence in the distance. I was climbing through the bushes trying to get to higher ground when I heard a rattlesnake. I took one shot and ran back to the car as fast as I could.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Prescott and Jerome

I've been a little blog weary lately. Photo weary might be more accurate. Between all the pictures I took in Cairo and shooting a wedding a few weeks ago, I'm kinda sick of being behind the camera. Which stinks because it's much easier to blog when I can rely on photos to remind me of what we did.

So this past week my little brother Chris was visiting. We decided to head up to Prescott for the weekend to see my sister Marie, her fiance Kyle and their two puppies. I couldn't have asked for more glorious weather. It was such a welcome change from our 110 degree temps. In fact, it was so cold that I asked Clark to bring us jackets as he drove up to meet us after work. We stayed for two days and two nights. I could have stayed for a whole week. Prescott really is a fun little town. No pictures but I want to remember...

- Feeding ducks at the lake.
- Dinner at Bill's Pizza- delicious. Booker insisting on wearing his knight costume and pretending to fight the other diners- embarrassing.
- Seeing a movie with Chris, Marie, my friend Ashley and NO KIDS. Thank you so much for babysitting, Kyle!
- Sitting around the fire and catching up with my sibs.
- Breakfast at the Dinner Bell- biscuits as big as your face. Yum.
- Walking around downtown Prescott and listening to a local band play.
- Getting candy at the candy shop- trying chocolate covered red vines and jalapeno peanut brittle for the first time. Yuck and yum.
- Staying up late and watching episodes of Arrested Development.

Not a single picture. I know you wanted to see my cute sister and her cute pregnant belly. Her cozy wood cabin in the middle of a mountain. Her new puppy, Opi. I'm sorry. I've failed you. Chris stole my camera for a second and caught one of Booker and Dakota. Satisfied?

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Maybe this will make up for it.

On Saturday my sister had to work for a few hours so we decided to go kill some time in nearby Jerome. It's an old mining/ghost town built into the side of a hill. It's like San Francisco meets the Wild West, with all the hills and whatnot. Back in the day, it was known as "the wickedest town in the West." Nowadays, it's a teeny tiny little place (population around 400) with some really neat architecture, great atmosphere and yummy hamburgers. If you're in the area, check it out. You won't be disappointed.

As we drove up Mingus Mountain to get there, it was pouring rain. I was secretly relieved that I wouldn't have to lug my camera around. But just as we entered Jerome, the skies cleared and it turned into a gorgeous day. We walked around town (it took about 5 minutes) and came upon what remains of the old Bartlett Hotel.

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It's an old shell of a building (apparently Jerome was burnt to the ground not once but three times). We spent a good chunk of time throwing coins in- almost 10 minutes, that's like an hour in toddler time.

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None of us made it into the expert pitch but Clark and I both got one in some of the other things.

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Who is that homeless baby? We forgot to bring long pants for Ike and he was freezing all weekend. Poor kid.

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I wish I could say he had just woken up from a nap... nope.

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The boys played at the park while I wandered around town a little bit.

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And then we headed over to the Haunted Hamburger for some yummy local cuisine.

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Booker ordered a haunted quesadilla with extra ghosts.

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The hamburgers were great, the view from the restaurant patio was even better.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Blog Catch-Up

Whoa, that was one long blogging hiatus. What can I say? Once you've spent a month in Cairo, what more do you have to blog about? It seems like we haven't been up to much but when I finally took the time to download photos off my camera, I realized we've been keeping busy.

With summer in full swing, we've had our fair share of playing with neighbors and keeping cool in the heat. We've been frequenting the mall playgrounds and the dollar movies where someone else pays for our air-conditioning. Here's what we've been up to...

We tearfully said goodbye to dear friends.
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I drowned my sorrows with some Star Wars sugar cookies. I must have been depressed, because I never bake.
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We bought a new car.
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It's a diesel engine, so great gas mileage without the obviousness of a hybrid- we wouldn't want people to think we actually care about the environment.
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My brother and his wife drove down from Utah to hang out for a few days.
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We introduced them to the desert.
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It had some weird side effects...
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David engineered the ultimate water armor... or was he just worried about getting sun-burned?
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And just as quickly as they came, they were gone again.
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We LOVE having visitors, especially when one of those visitors is Yaya.
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