Blogs from Phoenix, Arizona, United States, North America

The serious planning for this trip began almost a year ago. We have always wanted to see the world and so we will be doing that in a couple of days! First was to decide where we were going, we knew we would want to take a cruise as we find this the best way to see the most for your money and in a short amount of time. Cruise line would be Royal Caribbean as we like this cruise line. Next was the itinerary, where would we want to go. We narrowed it to the Mediterranean finally. Navigator of the Seas became our next adventure as we booked it and began making payments until paid. By the way, we always buy trip insurance. This week the trip adventure is finally here and we will begin ... read more

Hello everyone, My name is Cheri. In one week, I will be turning 40. Hard to believe I made it this far. My life has been hellish so far with twists and turns that would have driven anyone crazy. I can't believe I still have my sanity but I do. I consider myself a survivor. I've been through abuse, both physical, mental and emotional and also managed to survive being homeless as well as survive traveling all over the US by myself. When I was 30 years old, my mom died. I'd been taking care of her since I was 11 and she had become my entire world. I sacrificed most of my life to tend to her and after she died, I felt exhilarated that now I had my freedom from her but also scared. ... read more

The last day brought a much later breakfast - 8.30Am! We hoped that we would get a lie in thie morning but knew that that was improbable. Still we held out hope. It turned out that it didn't affect how early we got up but it was a nice feeling to know that we didn't have to get up and go early. We had a few hours to laze by the pool until we had to check out at 12pm. Some of us played in the pools and hot tubs and some others chilled out in their rooms and packed their cases. We met at 12 to board the coach to go to Arizona Mills - a large shopping outlet centre that is a mile long. We checked the rooms in a systematic way before departure ... read more

Day 5 dawned cold at around 0 degrees in Williams, Arizona. We were excited to see that our hotel was on Route 66 and after breakfast, we decided to have some photos taken by the famous road signs. Some of us were loving the nostalgia attached but others were unenthusiastic as they are probably a little young to appreciate the significance of the iconic route. On route to Montezuma Castle, we visited the mountain town of Sedona which is set in Oak Canyon, another stunning example of the natural beauty in this part of the USA? Sedona is famous for it's natural energy vortexes and prides itself on being the reason the world didn't end at the strike of midnight on the year 2000. 6000 people held hands and channeled their energy which supposedly made the ... read more

Saturday Oct. 13 - Stayed the night in Riverside, CA at a campground with a beautiful park. Sunday Oct. 14 - Arrived in Scottsdale Arizona and made ourselves at home in Kelli's condominium. Monday Oct. 15 - We visited Kelli at her work to say hi and then drove to a near by disc golf course and played 18 holes. We lost 2 discs in the water and met a lady who had an albino border collie puppy. Tuesday Oct. 16 - Drove to the nearby town of Fountain Hills to check out another disc golf course. It was in a park also named Fountain Hills, which ran around a small lake with a giant fountain in the middle. The fountain was off most of the time, but it spouted like a geyser every hour or ... read more

Op een dag dat de mussen van het dak afvallen zijn wij naar Phoenix gereden. Het was daar 109 Fahrenheit, dwz bijna 43 graden Celsius. En dat voel je, god dat voel je. We waren even buiten, eventjes maar en de buitenlucht beneemt je dan haast direct de adem. Dat er mensen zijn die (serieus) daar een sweater aan hebben begrijp je niet maar dat er ook mensen zijn die met die temperaturen aan het uphillen zijn (op een MTB) verklaar je natuurlijk helemaal voor gek. Het zal misschien allemaal meevallen als je eenmaal geacclimatiseerd bent (en daar geloof ik helemaal niets van, ik wil alleen overkomen alsof ik heel breed in opvattingen ben en opensta voor andere zienswijzen hahahaha). Onderweg van Sedona naar Phoenix word je gegrepen door de woestenij van de Sonoran Desert met ... read more

Starting in Phoenix and then London and then Rome. Phew, only 4 more hours of packing and I should be ready for the airport. So excited to share the Anthony Bates Foundation research posters / abstracts with my doctor friends in Italy at the Advancements of Cardiomyopathy 2012 in Florence Italy. You know I won’t be able to make this trip just about work. There will be tours, pictures, food, tours, wine, pictures, fun and festivities. The trip will last 16 days, but the memories will last a life time. Next blog will add new pictures of the great countryside and fun in Italy.... read more

Yesterday we decided to just stay put in Roper Lake State Park and take it easy. We rested, blogged, read and rested some more. Kerry and Gena went down to the “island” and walked around and waded in the lake. After supper we all went into the hot tub for a little more relaxing. This morning we packed up and headed to Tonto National Monument. It was a beautiful drive through the high desert and past Roosevelt Lake. At Tonto NM are some well-preserved cliff dwellings from the 1600’s and before. The saguaro cactus, along with most of the other cactus species, are in bloom. Tonto (which the ranger said means “foolish” in Spanish) also overlooks Roosevelt Lake. Quite a stunning site in the middle of the desert. The road we planned to take from Tonto ... read more