The kids were excited to have their Mum and Dad back last evening. Mickey and I went out so the family could have some time alone. Today we all went to IHOP for breakfast...a really good choice, as there was a man circulating through the patrons making balloon creatures for the kids.
Elly got a pink donut to chew on...
Charlie got a white and yellow cat...
And Max was thrilled with his Spiderman. (all three creatures are still 'alive' tonight)From there we split up - the family to do together stuff, and Mickey and I on a search for Montezuma's Castle.
All I knew was that we went through Anthem when we went there in January so that's where I instructed the GPS to take us. How were we supposed to know that there are two towns named Anthem in Arizona...one just north of Phoenix and the other way southeast of us. Darn GPS...sent us on a wild goose chase.
It was an exciting adventure for a couple hours though...we saw some of the less than beautiful (ugly underbelly!!) of beautiful Arizona...real desert...sand and all...not a soul in sight as we drove through decrepit dusty little towns...even the cactus looked tired and dirty. I must admit that at one point I was watching the gas gauge pretty closely and wishing we had brought at least one bottle of water with us! We're such gringos! (whatever that means).
Our salvation (and I wish we had taken a picture of it) was....
are you ready?......
WalMart!!! In the middle of the desert!!!
Well, actually, on the outskirts of a town called Collidge..although we only saw one other building there. That's where a kind lady told us that there are two Anthems in Arizona and apparently we were heading to the wrong one! So embarassing. So after stocking up on water and pop, and making sure we had enough gas to return home, we turned around.
Once again we made the mistake of trusting the chick who lived in our GPS when she told us where to go....she made us take an exit off the I-10 and re-enter it, heading right back to where we came from! At that point we decided to trust our instincts (we're such seasoned explorers after all) and made our way back to civilization. Where we promptly found a ladies clothing store and treated ourselves to a few new shirts and pants.
The day ended on a relaxed note as Sara and Quincey served up barbeque steak, salad and corn-0n-the-cob for dinner, topped off with pie and ice cream.
Followed by a beautiful sunset.
6 comments:
you forgot the part at IHOP where Charlie yells, "I LOVE THIS PLACE" as though she were paid to be there and say that.
I love IHOP too Charlie. Sorry you lost your way...GPS units like computers are only as good as their programming. The dinner looks delicious. I wish I was there.
The chick in the GPS doesn't like you too much, it seems to me. She doesn't like me either because I don't use her. I just don't go to new places where I need her. LOL If you stay at home all the time why would you need GPS?
The IHOP balloons look awesome and that they survived overnight is miraculous. I love IHOP too, but don't eat there much anymore since GBS.
What I have been eyeing in your photos is the corn-on-the-cob, that looks absolutely delish and isn't it nice to come home to a dinner prepared for you by someone else other than yourself.
Sorry the kiddos ae leaving, but you'll still have some fun in the desert sun. Speaking of desert sun, love the sunset picture.
The balloon characters are cute!! IHOPs butter pecan syrup...yum! We never eat there tho. Its always so busy with loooong wait so we go on.
GPS lady.... what can I say? My mom, sis, and I have our own special name for her!!! Need I say more. But I do LOVE it when its not confused!!
My cousin programmed hers when we went to Minneapolis a couple years ago. Well she programmed everything to be Minneapolis and not the other surrounding cities. Lucky for us all our destinations were in Minneapolis til that point. Then we were short on time and headed to a dinner show and thats when we found out the mistake. We ended up behind a Home Depot instead of the theatre!! We made it just in time for the show.
With my job I use mapquest ALOT. I am amazed how many duplicate towns there are in one state!! Why?
Yeah he looks thrilled.
Ha Ha JQ, that's exactly what I said. You really captured his excitement Mom.
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