All around Arizona

Collin and I drove out to Arizona on New Years Eve and welcomed the New Year in with my sisters and nephews and nieces. It was sedate and quiet, had a beer and minutes after the clocked struck, we drove over to my mom’s and crashed out. 3 days before that we had drove from Sacramento to San Diego then San Diego to Prescott. I’ve had the Fusion since August and yesterday, it turned over 11 thousand miles.

(a stop over at Glamis with Collin)
Over the next few days, we visited friends in the area, Collin finally proved that he was able to kick my butt at Halo and he did, 25 to 2, ouch, I’m totally out of practice.

We went down to Phoenix Saturday night and stayed at a Motel 6 on Scottsdale road, good things about that place, they were cheap and allowed pets. Bad things were the beds squeaked and the blankets had an odd musty smell and unless you counted my son, I had no brought along a pet.

The next morning, we went out to breakfast with my dad and Collin caught a 9:25 Southwest flight to Sacramento and a little after noon, my wife flew in. We went out to pizza with my friend Swan at Patsy Grimaldi's Pizzeria‎, thanks for lunch, the pizza was great.

Afterwards we went stopped by my dad’s house then went by the hotel and dropped off Heathers bags. That night we went to a partial family reunion at my uncle Larry’s with 15 or so of my relatives, this was the first time for some of them had met my wife. I think it went over well.

(at my Uncle Larry's house)
Afterwards we stayed the night back at the M6 and the next morning, drove up to Prescott with a brief stop at the factory stores. I had reserved a room at the Prescott Resort or Bucky’s, it’s a hotel that was built by the Sheraton in 1989 on top of a hill overlooking Prescott and taken over by the Yavapai Indians a couple years later and turned into a partial casino. I’ve wanted to get a room up there since the place was built and it seemed like a prime time. It was one of the nicest rooms Heather and I have stayed in, I wouldn’t have minded having that bed in my apartment. Beers down in the casino were a dollar and we met up with my high school buddy Larry and his wife Jennifer and turned up a few and watched the snow fall down and not stick.

(my wife never caught snow before)

(my buddies Jennifer and Larry)
On the dresser in our room, there was a letter that said we could stay another day for 50 bucks (great deal), so we brought it down and they were booked up for the rest of the week due to a religious conference and it sounded like they were taking up most of the empty rooms in the town. So I called a place where this group was unlikely to have rented a room for the next night, the Hotel St. Michael. A historic hotel located on the corner of Whisky Row, built in 1901, we got a second floor room overlooking the town square, great atmosphere and the breakfast that came with the room was excellent.

(view out our window)

(and of our window)

But before we went to the Hotel St. Michael that night, we went out for another family met up hosted again by my uncle Larry (thanks again Larry!) at the Prescott Airport, he flew in from Chandler with his wife Michele and my cousin Amy, my Aunt Lynda and Uncle Phil and daughter Diana drove up from Tucson and my cousin Jenny, her husband Elijah and daughters Emily and Jessica drove up from Phoenix to see my Grandmother Heatherbelle who is staying with my half sister Crystal. Oh and my sister Sarah and her two kids were also there. A good time was had by all, grandma has happy to see everyone and remembered the names of her kids.

(cousin Diana, uncle Larry and my sister Sarah)

(Mason is the one with he crazy face, Corbin and Emily are the ones with the cheeses on)