The Shady Dell

 I don't know why I like retro stuff especially Airstream Trailers from the 1950s and 1960s.

A few years ago I wanted this mini Airstream for my birthday. I even decorate it for Christmas and the 4th of July.

Curtis found out about this RV Resort  "The Shady Dell" a few hours south of us in Bisbee, AZ, an old mining town.  I know Curtis is more of a Luxury Resort kind of guy, but I saw this place and I knew I had to go.  Apparently, it is very popular because it was booked up for several weeks.  We ended up going on Thanksgiving weekend as a belated birthday trip for me.

I loved it, I thought it was so fun.   It really did feel like a step back into time. Old vinyl records and a record player, No Wifi.   So many little fixtures in the trailer reminded me of my Grandma's house that was built in the 1950s

Our Neighbor the "Tiki Bus"

The owner would drive guests to town in this old Taxi

An old Desoto Taxi

"God Bless this Trailer Home"

A real working toilet and shower.

Trying to watch old TV shows on DVD

I loved the details notice the old-style hotel key on top of the 1950s TV    

It was a fun weekend.  If you like old Travel Trailers or would like to take a weekend back in time.  This is your place.

Birthday Week

 It is the  Birthday week at our house.  This year was Treyson's "Golden Birthday" he turned 12 on the 12th.  However, as usual, we started celebrating on the 11th.  

The kids are always off school on the 11th for Veteran's Day, it is so convenient to have a celebration on that day.  We did not forget our Veterans.  We first made cookies and delivered a few to our Veteran Friends, Sergio, and Joe. Then we invited Trey's friends Soren and Marco to join us for an adventure at an Escape Room.  It was a great activity in the middle of a pandemic.  We really didn't want to invite a big group.

The Escape room theme was "Tony's Bistro".  We were in an Italian Restaurant, the owner had been working with the Italian Mafia, the partner had been arrested and we had to find the cash and get out before the "Feds" got to us.  Marco was the only one in our group who had done an escape room, so we really didn't know what we were doing or how they worked.  Needless to say, we did not escape.  We did make it to the second room, but we didn't get to the cash in time.  If we did an escape room again, we would have a much better idea of how they work, what to look for etc.  It was still very fun.

The Escape room gang.  Derek didn't join us because he was home sick :(.

After the escape room we came back to the house for Pizza and cake.  I had the neighbor girls pick up the pizza and set everything up while we were at the Escape Room.  It was so nice to have everything done when we walked in.  

Trey and his friends loved it,  they went all "Mafia Gangster" at the end.  It was kind of funny since Marco is a legitimate Italian, born in Italy and speaks the language.  Just a fun little twist to the day.

His friends gave him gifts cards to Target and Amazon as gifts.

Then on Trey's actual birthday, he was sick.  Not surprising since he had the sniffles for a few days before and Derek had been sick as well.  He even stayed home from school.  Kind of a bummer birthday, I'm glad we celebrated the day before.  He opened his gifts laying down.

The family gave him "Mario Odyssey" for the Nintendo Switch, a book about how to be funny, and a Tshirt talking about "Turophile -lover of Cheese"

Then it was my birthday.  It was fabulous.  I got lots of love from friends and family.  Flowers, cards, cakes, treats.  We went to dinner with our friends, Steve and Jane Thomas, Scott and Tiffany Andersen.  I usually go to lunch with my girl friends each year.  With COVID etc, we can't invite too many people and I just wasn't that excited about.  Janae and Steve had gift cards to Flemmings Steak house that they hadn't used. It was a nice change to go with our husbands, so the Thomas' treated us all to Flemmings.  It was a really fun night and Flemmings treated me well too.  They even gave me a card signed by the staff and a small box of chocolate truffles. I got a new kitchen remodel and furniture, so I didn't think I needed any more gifts.   It was a great week of birthdays. 

Road Trip-25 years

 We have been together for 25 years.  We wanted to do something to recognize the occasion.  What do you do?  The world is still in the middle of a global pandemic (there are still a lot of travel restrictions) and you have a new car.  We decided to take a road trip up to Yellowstone.  Curtis originally wanted to get me all the way to Mount Rushmore in SD because I have always wanted to see it.   That was a bit ambitious considering the distance and time frame we had.  I was happy to go up to Yellowstone, I had never been there either  We had a great trip, just enjoying the experience of being on the road. It was also a new experience of driving in an electric car and having to charge for a few hours rather than just "fill er up with gas".

We did our first recharge in Flagstaff, my home town.  It has grown so much since I left, the people and politics are a bit odd, but it is always nice to visit especially in the summer. We did a Tesla recharge and had a meal at Olive Garden while the car did its thing.  Olive Garden was conveniently located next to the charge station.  Then we were on to our next stop, which we were not for certain where we would end up on our adventure.

We started heading north, along the way we had planned to stay in Tuba City, according to our charging app they had a nice hotel with a charge station.  As we were getting closer and closer to Tuba City, we could see smoke, but we were not sure what it from.  Then we realized a structure was on fire. I snapped a picture as we drove by. Nobody seemed concerned, there was a fire truck there. I searched the news around Tuba City for a few days, but nothing was ever mentioned of the fire.  I guess it wasn't a big deal.

It turned out we couldn't stay in Tuba City, all the hotels were closed because of COVID.  We were told we needed to drive about an hour and drive to Kayenta where hotels were open.  We charged the car for a few minutes then we went on our way to Kayenta where there were hotels. I was kind of familiar with Kayenta because I knew my Dad used to drive through there to get to his fishing spot, Paiute Farms on Lake Powell.   It was late, we found a hotel but the guy was cranky acting like we personally brought COVID into the reservation. He thought the whole thing should be closed down.  He didn't appreciate that we were spending money and giving him a job.  

While we were enjoying our very short stay in  Kayenta, We noticed that Kayenta was right next to Monument Valley.  We decided to take a different route and drive through Monument Valley.  I don't think I have ever been thought Monument Valley.  It was totally worth it.  This was one of my favorite detours on our trip.  I don't know why Google said it was closed due to COVID.  There was nothing to close.  It was just a scenic drive.  Maybe we were not supposed to get out and take picks considering there was nobody around.  We even took a few from the middle of the road because there was literally nobody around.

 This was the most nerve-wracking part of the trip.  We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere and the options for charging stations were none.  Curtis felt confident we could make it to the next charging station in Blanding UT.  We would be good as long as... you know the unforeseeable didn't happen.

Fortunately, we made it and we even had a few miles to spare.  We grabbed some food in Blanding while the car charged.

Blanding, UT a little tiny town that still had a payphone outside the town visitor center where we charged the car.

Our next stop was Arches, National Park near Moab, UT.  This was well worth the stop as well.   Many things to see just driving through.  

Next on our adventure was Midway, UT.  A few years back Curtis discovered this place had a Geothermal spring.  We didn't actually take any photos here, but fortunately, someone else did and shared them on the internet.  This was a very cool crater with beautiful blue water at bathtub temperatures.  People use this place to learn to scuba dive.  It was pretty amazing to see.

Interior of Homestead Crater- Very warm and humid on the inside.

It looks like a big dome on the outside.

While in Midway We stayed at the Zermatt Resort.  Midway is about 30 minutes from Park city  I had heard of this resort but I didn't actually know what it was about.  It is based on a European city in Switzerland.  Actually Midway itself felt European with the architecture of the homes and buildings.

The Zermatt was very nice.

We stopped in Honeyville, UT.  This is where Curtis' cousins from the Johnson side of the family live and he spent some summers here.  His Uncle Steve used to be the Mayor.  Curtis thought that was a big deal when he was a kid, but his uncle explained it was a tiny town and it was his turn. 

Curtis took me to "Crystal Hot Springs" another natural thermal spring.  I had never been to anything like this before so it was pretty cool to experience.  Curtis said this place has grown and been developed a lot since the last time he was here.  This place was much different than the other thermal spring.  This was outdoors and the water was a reddish-orange from the minerals.  There were 3 different pools, Each one a different temp.  Cool, warm, and hot.

We continued north on our adventure.  We stopped in Pocatello, ID to for a quick visit with my friend Stephanie Carter and her family.

Next was Idaho Falls.  We found this cool Hotel that was very similar to the one we stayed in when we first got married.  Each room is decorated with a unique destination theme.  Actually, I think the hotel was called "Destinations Inn".  We stayed in the Morocco room.  We were lucky to find this place.  We had wanted to stay at the one in Salt Lake but it was booked up.  We just happened to find this place at the last minute.  It is a unique experience for a hotel.  They treat you right.  We didn't feel like we were in Idaho Falls.

Curtis has a lot of Family in Idaho Falls, there was no way we could see them all, but we did stop at Manwaring Cheese where one of his Manwaring Cousins bought it from another Cousin and was redeveloping it.  We picked up some tasty cheese to snack on during our trip.

Second Job

 After a long painful process of miscommunication and inexperience, Derek started working at McDonald's.  I really wanted Derek to get a summer job, at first COVID was a bit of a set back, but there are so many reasons why I think a kid needs to get a job. 

Back in June, I stopped at the McDonald's drive-through with the kids and we noticed a "Now Hiring" sign.  I asked the drive-through girl if it was better to apply in person online or in person.  She said in person was probably better because things get lost when you apply online.  Which confirmed my suspicions of Derek sending in several applications online and never getting any calls for interviews.  He applied back in June, they called him for an interview the next day.  I would think Derek would be a good candidate for this job because he has a little experience working in the school cafeteria during lunch, and he has his food handlers license.

After the interview I asked Derek how it went he gave me his typical "I don't know, but they gave me these forms to fill out and she said there is one more for my bank info"  I said, "then they hired you if they are asking for employment forms and direct deposit info."  Derek turned the forms in, then he heard nothing.  He would stop by and check-in and they would say I we want to get you on the schedule for Saturday, then he would hear nothing.  After a few weeks, he would stop in (they don't always answer the phone) and they would say "oh we lost your phone number"  these shenanigans went on for way too long, losing his number several times, Derek being inexperienced and uncertain of how to handle these situations.  Finally on August 29th, 2020 he officially started.  He has only been working a two-hour shift one day a week.  We're hoping it picks up. It is hardly worth the effort at this point.  I keep telling him he almost needs a second job.  He made more working a half hour each day during school lunch than this gig.

Changes and more changes

 We have now been in our house for 17 years.  About 16 years too long for Curtis.  He would love to more and have something different, just because he likes change.  I keep telling him there is no reason to move.  He wants to move just to move and I can't think of a bigger pain in the butt inconvenience than moving because it sounds fun.  We settled on doing some much-needed improvements.

We started with the back door.  The glass sliding door was getting too hard to open.  We have already had it fixed once, it was needing another fix.  I could tell we could keep fixing it every few years or it was time to replace it.  We did that and then a little extra.

This is what the room looked like the majority of the past 17 years

Last October I changed out the window treatments.  The windows and doors at different levels always bothered me.

This is the After

The Kitchen got a facelift as well.

Before

After

A few more changes

We had been talking about Curtis getting a new car for a while.  His little convertible BMW was fun, but it wasn't that comfortable to ride in.  It was really low to the ground, it hurt my back driving long distance, I couldn't imagine what it was doing to Curtis' already compromised back.  The back seat was tiny.  It was ok for short trips when the kids were smaller.  Now they are almost all adult size and it is not comfortable back there, nor did we all fit.  The engine still ran well, the issues were the tires and rims.  They were some special fancy-schmancy thing and it wasn't easy or cheap to repair.  We had to keep throwing more money and the rims were due for another $1000ish repair.  I said I'm done we're not putting any more money into that car, especially since we just had it fixed for the same thing back in May.  It was time to take the plunge.  Curtis finally decided on the Tesla S.  He thought he wanted the X, but when he drove it a few months ago, he wasn't getting excited about it.  Test driving the S sealed the deal.  Curtis' Dad happened to be in town, so he went down and picked up the car with him.

Curtis loves his new car.  It is super fast.

First day of School 2020

 School started two weeks later than usual because of COVID.  In order to make up the time a week will be taken off Fall break and a week off Spring Break. School is still online for at least the first quarter.

Trey has decided to return to Jacobson and go back to the Gifted program.  When he met his teacher she said there are only 7 kids in his class for now.  The rest have opted to do true "online school" rather than distance learning which is what my kids are doing.  Distance learning is like a video chat/Zoom call.  Everyone logs into Google Classroom at the designated start time and the teacher can see all the kids and they see her, she teaches as if she were face to face with everyone.  Online school is login, read material, do assignments at your own pace.

Trey and I went to meet the teacher.  It was different than usual.  We had to schedule the 15 minutes time slot, we had to wear masks and only one parent was allowed to come.  Trey was a little uneasy about the returning to school situation. Knowing there were only 7 kids in his class and plenty of room to "social distance" made him feel better about face to face to school when the time is right.

I snapped this picture of Trey hanging out as we were waiting for our turn to enter his classroom.  I figured this was my shot at this years "first day of school photo"  After I snapped it Trey said, "that was awesome I didn't even have to smile for that picture."  COVID has been much easier on the introverts.

And this is our school for now.  Derek and Trey login and talk to their teachers/classmates through headphones and video chat.