Blogs from Mesa, Arizona, United States, North America - page 5

We arrived in Mesa, AZ yesterday afternoon are set up in Val Vista Village. Here is a Google map of our location: url=http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=33.41847,-111.75291&ll=33.41847,-111.75291&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1Val Vista Village RV Resort After a look around and such, we climbed in The Beast and headed to Chandler, AZ to visit friends Dave and Mare, with whom we had met up with earlier in the month in Tubac, AZ. Bellying up to the task, Dave had prepared quite a spread for us. In honor of our get together in their lovely home, Nan made up some of her tasty guacamole dip and I picked up some lovely sunflowers to mark the occasion. It took us no time to break out the batch of frozen margaritas Dave had cold cooked overnight in his freezer, using as a guide my now famous video production ... read more

Geo: 33.4253, -111.727Here are some basics facts about Ethiopia:- Located in Northeast Africa; it shares borders with Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Kenya and Djibouti.- It is the tenth largest country in Africa - about twice the size of Texas.- Climate varies by region, from temperate highlands to hot lowland desert.- Geography is very diverse. Ethiopia has altitudes that span the lowest point in Africa in the Danakil Desert, where Luci, and the more recently discovered, even older skeleton, were discovered and also is the home of the 4th highest mountain in Africa - Das Rashem at over 14,000 feet. Contrary to the images of drought and mass starvation that most westerners remember about Ethiopia, the country is also home to the most extensive indigenous rainforest to be found anywhere in Eastern Africa. The Central highlands are openly ... read more

Geo: 33.417, -111.831Food so good my taste buds wanted to get naked and roll in it. We happened on this great little Mexican butcher shop and bakery in Mesa so plastered with bold colors, large lettering and bright murals on the outside that Bob didn't even want to go in, but I was going in! It was an awesome little place. The bakery with cookies the size of your head extended through 2/3rds of the place with barely room to walk between 6' trays of pastries to the meat counter in back. Now we're at the good stuff. We had pork smothered in red chili sauce w/rice and beans and fresh corn tortillas.After a photo of the cute non-English speaking clerk, we raced to a park with the intent of getting as much of this into ... read more

EUROPE IS TWO DAYS AWAY I leave for Europe in two days. I am still trying to decide what to pack and I have piles of "maybe" clothes strewn all over the floor. Some tough decisions are gonna have to be made tonight. I'd like to be essentially finished packing today so tomorrow I can just do last minute things and celebrate my Dad's birthday with him :) Meanwhile, we're still trying to figure out what is going on with my skin condition. I've seen an allergist and a dermatologist who contradict one another. I return to the allergist tomorrow. I will be heading to Europe with a mini pharmacy. I hope my reaction doesn't return while I'm abroad. That would really suck! Good news is, everyday I look tons better! 2 days! I can't ... read more

We woke to our alarms at 7am this morning, got ready - dressed to impress (Well the benefits people anyway!), packed up our cool bags and drove a short way to a 5 & Diner for breakfast - this is a typical 50's styled diner, Sort of thing you'd see in Grease or Back to the future, each little booth had its own mini juke box. We then drove on to Mesa (about 45 mins) to the Salt Lake Tubing centre. By now my mum was panicking trying to change her mind, but there was no going back! Keith tried to reassure her that the rapids wouldn't be too bad - This made her worse!! We parked up, got our tubes then boarded the bus that takes you to the start point. We placed a towel ... read more