Return to Tucson

After a driving trip to Sacramento for Christmas, we arrived back in Tucson just a few hours ahead of one heck of a storm.  We rocked and rolled all night long.  When John got up at 5 a.m. this morning, the outside temperature was 50 and it went down to 39 before going back up to the day's high of 48.  Thankfully, our furnace was repaired this morning as we are suppose to see the mid-20's as a low tonight. Brrr.  When we left on the 20th for Sacramento, the day temperatures were in the upper 70's; we hope they get close to that again real soon.

Our visit to Sacramento was very busy what with doctor and dentist visits and then the holiday.  We had a great time spending time with Melissa, family and friends.  We left Sacramento on Monday the 27th and we were met with the expected fog this time of year.  From Natomas (suburb of Sacramento) past Stockton, we drove in dense valley fog.

Thankfully, the fog dissipated after Stockton and all we had to do was deal with the traffic on I-5.  We have never driven this Interstate when there was so much traffic.  I guess everyone had the same thoughts of us about not leaving on Sunday.  We spent the night in Lancaster so that I could visit with my sister, Jan, as we hadn't seen her for a couple of years now.  It was nice getting caught up and just seeing my big sister.

Upon leaving Lancaster, we drove through the mountains that had the remnants left of the storm we drove through on the 20th.  The snow made for a very nice picture.

We had originally planned to stop at Joshua Tree National Park on Tuesday but between traffic and the distance involved, we changed our minds and decided to just head for Yuma.  Our drive afforded us the view of the Salton Sea (which goes on for miles).  We pulled off the road to an area we thought would give us a good shot but the area looked like an apocalypse had struck it - burnt out homes, vehicles, abandoned lots.   The area was very depressing and had definitely seen better days. It gave us a very weird feeling compounded by seeing a lot of people dressed up in paramilitary outfits outfitted with paintball guns (we didn't realize that at first!).

We got in to Yuma around 3 p.m. our time (4 p.m. Arizona time - - right, we lost an hour) and checked in to the motel.  We decided to go check out an RV park that recently opened which was very nice but out of our price range especially for the months of January through March.  We then decided to go to dinner and based on a review I read on TripAdvisor.com, we chose Ciao Bella.  Not a problem, we will just type in the address on the GPS and away we go.  It wasn't that easy.  Seems the GPS didn't recognize the address so I called the restaurant and we were guided in by Eric who was fabulous with his instructions.  Now, one of the problems was that we didn't know where the heck we were and he kept asking us questions that we had no way of knowing how to answer.  After a few minutes and a wrong turn or two, Eric  had guided us in and was standing outside giving us instructions by phone until he waved us in.  What service!  I told him on the phone that the food better be worth it lol.  He told me it would be and he was right; John and I both enjoyed our selections and the ambiance of the restaurant.

As we headed out on our final leg back to Tucson Wednesday morning, we were treated to a beautiful Yuma sunrise.

After the beauty of the sunrise to a mileage robbing headwind, we finally made it home.  There is no place like home no matter where you park it.

As this most likely will be my last post for 2010, John and I wish you and yours a very happy, healthy, and prosperous 2011.