Peoria, AZ
No, we didn't fall off the face of the earth. It's just been mostly boring day-to-day activities lately, so updates just haven't been rolling off the tongue, er, fingertips. We've gone through the house again and have another batch of stuff queued up for donation (they'll pick up on Friday), we got our eyes examined and updated our prescriptions for contacts (Geri) and eyeglasses (George), although Geri has a follow-up appointment scheduled for Friday, and I still need to get my prescription sunglasses upgraded. See, just boring stuff - except that we did get the Christmas decorations all set. Merry Christmas!
We have had a bit of a change in the weather, though, as has much of the country from what we see on the weather. While it's been nowhere near the extremes seen in the Upper Plains (cold) and the Northeast (ice),
we've had several days in a row of clouds, showers, and temperatures in the 50s. We're actually above average for rainfall for the year, and the temperatures have been roughly 10 degrees below normal, but we're surviving just fine. The blood thins out quickly and we're more sensitized to the cooler weather even though we're both from New England originally, but we still have plenty of foul weather gear left from our years in NYC and Philly. We're still glad we're here, and the sun will shine tomorrow (or Friday at least, according to the latest forecast).Actually, the rainy days and some prompting from one of our motorhoming friends have led me to dig into the planning for next summer's big adventure to Alaska. From what I've read, this weather's right on target for what we'll experience! Rod Bahnson has forwarded several links to the blogs and trip journals from people who made the trek last summer, and I've been going through them and taking notes on routes, stops, things to see and avoid, and what to expect. I'm at the point where I'm starting to map out a general route and think about timing.
Many people, including the various caravans, seem to head North in June and start back in mid-to-late-August (most "touristy" things start closing after Labor Day). Since we are planning to participate in a short caravan in California Wine Country in the second half of September, we'll probably head north and start back a few weeks earlier. Current thinking is that we'll leave Arizona in mid-April, cross into Canada before mid-May, head for Fairbanks (as far north as we'll go with the coach) by the solstice (they have a big "midnight sun" festival), do Anchorage and the Kenai in July, and travel south through British Columbia in August. With a couple of stops (Vancouver, Seattle, Washington wine country), we should be able to get to Lake Tahoe (starting point for the caravan) before the September 10th kick-off date. Sounds like a plan - now all I have to do is put a lot of detail into it. This will be an interesting test for me, who likes to plan everything out in great detail, since we'll probably work with a general schedule and make reservations a week or so in advance. We'll see...
In other news, we had saw a good movie from NetFlix ("Hancock") and have had several nice meals. I made a new pair of recipes for one meal, chicken thighs matched with corn salsa with pancetta, leeks and mushrooms (because I can't stop being a funghi). We also had a nice sage-rubbed pork loin roast and a rack of lamb. Tonight, we're making red snapper with couscous; Geri found an asian market with a large seafood department, so we'll give that a shot. Good stuff!
Well, that's it for today - lots of prep to do for tonight's dinner!
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