Hello from Arizona!

Ahhhhh...... I checked weather.com this morning to see how it was at home & it was -12! Brrrr! It was a balmy 45 degrees at 7am here in Phoenix and should get up to 70 later today. What a blessing this little vacation IS!

The resort we are at is beautiful. Brightly colored buildings, palm trees, FLOWERING plants (I forget that SOME places are not covered in snow in January!), beautiful, blue pools. We are on the 3rd floor overlooking a captivating courtyard. Yesterday I took the elevator to the roof (5th floor) and enjoyed sitting on the sundeck there reading my Anita Stansfield book. A few little birds flitted around but otherwise I was alone. It was heaven!

We've eaten some awesome meals while we've been here. I love eating out. It is one of my frugal downfalls. we don't do it really often, but I DO love it. lol I could go on a food vacation around the world just sampling each countries cuisine! Monday evening we went to the Stockyard Restaurant. It was established years ago by a rancher in the area. The decor was beautiful. Black leather booths, dark wood accents, low lighting. I had a filet minion. Melt in your mouth. Last night we had our dinner connected with the training conference Dave is attending. We are staying at a Hilton Resort, and this was typical Hilton food. Always very delicious and all about presentation. We started with a lettuce salad.... these crack me up. A large head of iceberg lettuce had been sliced in about 4 thick slices and one big slice on each plate. Shredded carrot, cabbage and a few garnishes placed on top. It just makes me laugh when I see those huge slices or wedges of lettuce... makes me think they ran out of time to prepare and left out tearing up the lettuce for salad! LOL! I know it's supposed to be classier... I guess I'm just a small town girl & it makes me giggle. The main meal was a steak and mashed potatoes. Dessert was some sort of marshmallowy, chocolate covered thing... with swirls of chocolate syrup across the plate.

Monday we went to a museum of Indian ruins dating back to 1000 ad. I loved touring the site where they had excavated and discovered pottery and tools from the Hohokam people. I wish we had more time to visit Sedona and the Indian ruins there. I read that there are some cliff dwellings you can view. I always wanted to be an archaeologist when I was young. I guess some of that is still in my blood. :) The closest I get now is digging through the pile of laundry finding an article of clothing someone has lost. lol

Today Dave has meetings until noon and then we have the rest of the day to go exploring. I think we're going to find a mall to wander through, do a little more site seeing. There is a trail head across the road from our resort, we might wander on that a bit.

We are missing the kids like crazy, but otherwise, I am really enjoying someone else doing all the work and pampering me here. Thanks to Audra and her husband for taking care of things there at home!