Category Archives: Trips

Some of our get-aways

Colorado Trip/New Trailer

We went to Colorado Springs this past weekend to pick up our new pop-up trailer. We stayed with my best friends’ family up in Black Forest for a couple nights and loved it. It was a long trip though, and now we’re glad to be back home…oh and I couldn’t believe it but Henry did EXCELLENT. He was just an angel! Wow.

Henry hanging out on Lanny's trailer

 

Blowing on some dandelions

 

Ah, Henry having a lapse in Angelness...

 

Grandpa Lanny and Henry

 

Riding the four wheeler - he LOVED it

 

Riding with Grandma D

 

Henry not wanting to show off on the trampoline

 

All of us
Our new trailer

 

The Tucson hauled it really well

 

Popped out

 

Anal Retentive cleaning the inside...hee hee

 

View of single bed

 

View of queen bed

 

View of sink and cabinets

 

Table setup

 

Different Angle

Charlotte NC Trip – NRA Convention

In 2009, the annual NRA convention was held in Phoenix, so my brother Joe, Tommy and myself were lucky enough to drive only 2 hours to stay with my cousins Jimmy and Becka and attend. This year, it was held all the way across the country in the beautiful, lush little town of Charlotte, NC…and once again we were lucky enough to go!

We arrived on Thursday night and immediately got lost, but somewhere around 1 in the morning finally found the hotel and tried to get a good night sleep – which by the way, didn’t happen. The next morning we headed out to the Convention Center in downtown Charlotte and drove around for probably a good half hour looking for parking. What a mess! Finally after going going in a huge circle we made our way back and found an obscure parking lot right next to a bank that was a few blocks away. That Friday, we did nothing but drool over the acres of guns that decorated the hundreds of booths inside the center. It was amazing.

The highlight of that day, however, was not handling/fondling/drooling over all of these beautiful weapons, it was meeting one of the greatest warriors of my lifetime – Navy SEAL and hero, Marcus Luttrell. If you aren’t familiar with Marcus, he penned the book “Lone Survivor”- a first person account of the SEAL mission he was part of called Operation Redwing. While executing the mission, Marcus and his 3 teammates were discovered by taliban forces and a huge firefight ensued. His 3 teammates were killed and  Marcus, who was seriously injured but able to escape capture while under the protection of a local Afghan tribe, was eventually rescued by American Special Forces 6 days later. If you haven’t read the book, I highly recommend it. Marcus was nice enough to take his picture with both Joe and I and then he signed my copy of his book. It was truly a memorable experience and it was so inspirational to meet him.

On Saturday we drove our rented Toyota Yaris out to the Horne Creek Historical Farm about 2 hours away from Charlotte. It was really interesting. The state is restoring this old farm that was owned by a gentleman named James Hausier back in the early 1900’s. Eventually they want to turn it into a “living history” farm where workers will actually dress up like they did back then and do the same kind of work to give tourists a peek into what people did there on a daily basis. I’m curious if they will hire a pregnant lady to be the wife as the real wife was pregnant most of the time raising 12 children!! Yowza! We toured the entire grounds and had a lot of fun.

On Saturday night we went to the “Celebration of American Values” event and saw several people speak, one of whom was Ollie North. We had a great time, except that poor Joe got a ripping headache and we had to bail before we got to hear Charlie Daniels sing! Oh well…NEXT YEAR!

On Sunday we drove our trusty Yaris up to Asheville, NC to visit the famous Biltmore Estate. Biltmore is the largest swath of privately owned land in the United States…and once you see it, you’d believe it! We spent 4 hours touring the house, the gardens, the bass pond, the trails and the little town of Deer Antler about a mile away. It was breathtaking. The mansion is huge and the architecture is just amazing. My mom and sister could spend one day in the gardens alone! After visiting the estate, we got on the Blue Ridge Parkway which is the number one rated drive in all of America…lots of #1’s for us! We traveled on it for about 2 hours before getting caught in a wicked rainstorm and then making our way back to the hotel.

On Monday morning we returned our faithful little Yaris, got on a plane and flew back home to Tucson.  It was a great, fun-filled, eventful trip. We were all happy to get back home though – me especially since I sure did miss my little monster while I was gone!  Next year’s convention is going to be held in Pittsburgh, PA. Hopefully we’ll be able to make it out again and have another great adventure!

Me and Marcus

 

Me and the Bushmaster .50 cal
"Gunny" signing autographs at the Glock booth
Biltmore Estate
View from Courtyard
Part of the Gardens
View of the Gardens
Walkway infront of Atrium
Atrium at Biltmore
Bass Pond
Bass Pond Waterfall
Trail through forest around Biltmore
Blue Ridge Parkway Scenery
Sitting on a cool tree off the Parkway

NM visit/ Joe’s Tarantula Race

Our little gang went to NM this past weekend to visit Oma and Joe. While we were there, Tommy and I stole away for a quick day trip to Hueco so I could send my favorite climb “See Spot Run.” On Sunday we got up bright and early to watch Joe race in the annual Tarantula. He did really well and it was a nice relaxing weekend.

Me on top of "See Spot Run" - V6
Henry and Oma
Joe and his teammate Jack
Joe at the starting line - Orange bike
Joe is third at the turn
Tommy helping the boys gas up
Finally done!

Shooting Trip/Flagstaff

This past weekend Tommy and I traveled up to Flagstaff to go shooting with our Uncle Keto. He has quite the collection of firearms and was nice enough to take us out and let us shoot some of his cooler ones. We’ve decided that we want to make this an annual event because we had so much fun! Maybe by this time next year, there’ll be some new ones to break in!

Tommy and Keto checking out where to put targets
Getting the Browning ready
Keto feeding in the bullets
Keto and the M-16
Tommy with the SKS
Me and the M-16
The BEAST – .50 Cal
Uh, those bullets are slightly intimidating…
Keto getting me ready for my drill
That target is pretty damn small
Keto gets a headshot

And for your viewing pleasure…a few videos!
(If you can’t see them, be sure to check for pop-ups asking to install the video player plug-in)

Maria “going to town” on an old car with Keto’s Browning

Maria getting her “kicks” on the .50 cal!

“Cool Hand Luke”…until the 2nd magazine!

Vegas Trip

My best friend, Lenni, and I went to Las Vegas for a couple days for some much needed girl time. We watched KA, which was pretty good, and then almost got chased by cops for using an expired tram pass…scary but funny! We had a great get away and didn’t spend too much money.

Lenni and Cameron Diaz
Me and Andre Agassi
Franklin and Washington
Lenni and Lincoln