Tucson 2014 - Pre-Trip report

I haven't written a trip report in a while, so this should be interesting.

Pat and I have been planning to visit Tucson for some time now. We wanted to visit some places from his childhood (old house, schools, etc.,) and do some stuff in the area, like the museums and National Parks.

We had our days mostly sketched out before we left, since we were staying near the airport. This would make it much easier to avoid back-tracking from one area of Tucson to the other. Tucson is pretty spread out, and we were already driving 9 hours to get there, so we wanted to be optimal on time and gas.

We decided on the Hampton Inn at the airport because it was easy to get on and off the freeways, had free breakfasts, got good reviews on Trip Advisor, and had reports of good wifi!

Next we decided on 6 nights because that would give us three full days at home to recover, before we had to go back to work on Monday. I like this plan! It means when I come home from work I won't be met with piles of laundry, no groceries, and a horrible mess to clean up.

We decided to take Adventure Mickey with us, because after the last trip to Laughlin with one of the turtles, we didn't want to chance the bad luck while being so far from home. We didn't take as many pictures with Mickey as I would have normally wanted, but we still carried him everywhere!

Finally, we decided to go off our diet for a fun time of chimichangas and eegee's (which I had never experienced before). It was awesome!

Anyway, here are the play by plays, pictures, and thoughts from our trip!

Ready!

Chips: Wavy potato, cheetos, tortilla and cheddar sun chips.

Snacks/sides: fruit and trail mix, chocolate chip cookies, pineapple upside cake, guac, cheesy buffalo chicken fries, pasta salad, hot pockets, various microwave burritos, cucumbers, peppers, club crackers, chocolates of various yumminess, smarties!, caprese salad

Dips: homemade ranch and spinach dip (without mayo), rondele,
Meals: Pulled pork sandwiches, bbq mini meatloves

Breakfast: Cinnamon rolls, english muffins with eggs and tomato slices with mozzerella

Drinks: Bud light, blue moon, *-a-rita's (lime, mango, raspberry), party punch with apples, cantaloupe, and pineapple. Captain, Smirnoff, and various mixers. LOTS of water!

Energy drinks: (Because poor N has a crazy schedule and is normally in bed by 5. Plus Pat loves Monster Ultras and Vodka.) Sugar free rockstars for tic-tacs, Monster Ultras, 5 hour energy for mid-morning pick-me-ups, before the drinking begins.

Porch and misters working, yard cleaned, food prepped, and now - I am ready to relax all weekend!!!!

Ah. The rain.

The sky is beautiful with color though the sun is no where to be found. It fades into the purple hues as its hidden from sight. The clouds hang low, so close you can almost touch them

It’s raining nearby. The clouds streak across the sky and down to earth. Will it rain here soon?

Darkness, almost. Not quite. The wind picks up suddenly and the drops begin to fall. Lightly drizzles, and then in earnest.

The rain! THE RAIN! Patters of droplets and all other sounds are gone. Birds take respite. A lone bark in the distance. Now and then, the sound of a passing car. But ah! The rain.

The wind! THE WIND! Powers of forces unseen and unyielding. The trees powerless as they bend and frantic leaves as they rustle.

Dissonance in the sky yet a perfect harmony.

Lightning! Yes. Some. Not as great as the end of summer storms like a monsoon. Thunder only from far away. The hope of a great storm, fading fast into the night.

The rain, it dies away. The drops change almost imperceptibly in their free fall towards earth. Lighter now, as the wind rushes one last time. An anger that has rampaged out and is ready for rest.

Water from the roof, onto the soaked ground drip and drop. A slight breeze as the storm passes. The smell of water from the earth and the peaceful chimes of trinkets hung outside.

Ah, the rain. Imprinted on my memory like a kiss that leaves you breathless.

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Erratic Fanatic: 5.4 Date Gives Me Great Joy - More Time To Fish!: Yesterday Blizzard announced that WoW patch 5.4, Siege of Orgrimmar, would be released on 10SEP13. This is very exciting news for me, bec...

The Lazy Weekend

So we've been getting a LOT done on our weekends and quite frankly, we're exhausted. So we decided to take a weekend off and really kinda laze around and do nothing. It was great! But now I'm ready to go back to work and next weekend we'll get back to the productive stuff. I hope!

My mage is level 41, Tina is working on achieves and lots of fishing.

We got the bare minimum of stuff done, front yard mowed and cleaned up, ants in the backyard eradicated, dishes done, laundry done, the usual stuff!

So much to do this weekend!

To help me be motivated (and guilt Pat into it), I've decided to put up my list of stuff I have to do this weekend!

Shop at Wal-Mart
Shop at Albertsons
Go to Lancaster for a trip to Costco and Trader Joe's
Detail my car front
Detail my car - back
Clean out my trunk
Vacuum Pat's car (Pat did this!)
Vacuum my car  (Friday night push of doing stuff)
Clean off my desk
Wash sheets
Wash towels
Clean all the window sills in the house (This one gets another caveat! Dust is teh devil, and have infected all our window sills with disgusting inches of dirt. So I got 2 done and will work on the others next weekend!)
Rotate our mattress
Clean the front room trash can
Work out
Clean the microwave
Clean out both bathroom's medicine cabinets
Clean out the far left bathroom cupboard in the hall bathroom
Gas up my car
Do mycoke rewards entries
Wipe down baseboards in halls and bathrooms
Weed front flower area (no flowers there currently)
Pickup pinecones (This one gets a caveat! Apparently we have neglected the pine cones and needles in our front yard SO long that it's going to take a few trash pickups to get everything done. So I did the first 1/15th of the yard and called it good/_

Pat:
Mow backyard
Weed/pickup backyard
Make clouds
Sweep front porch


As I/we get them done, I'll edit and mark them off! GO ME!

Also, I am working on leveling a mage so I can start raiding with her come the new expansion. She was at 15 when today started. Now she's 23 (will update this as it changes!). Really hoping I can level her up steadily! [Sunday Night Update: Auma is 30! YAY!)]


Have a great weekend all!

I Stood Outside In The Rain

It doesn't rain here often. So I stood outside letting the drops fall around me.

The sound of the water hitting the trees and the ground is glorious. The slant of the water as it streams down against the wind and is carried off before it hits its intended destination is beautiful. The feel of the drops as they touch me, first warm and wet then cold as the wind hits, brings about a euphoria than cannot be matched.

My honey put his arms around me and we stood and watched the rain fall. We watched for lightning and listened to the thunder together. I ran in the puddles and made footprints that quickly faded on the warm concrete.

The rain lasted longer than it usually does but not long enough for me. I changed into dry clothes and sat in the house, watching it and listening to it. The storm is passing, no water still falls. But while it did, I stood outside in the rain.