Round One - The Raven

Another early morning!  We were up at 5:30 but this time we enjoyed breakfast at home.   We drove to The Raven Golf Course.  We were excited and ready for the challenge.  We hit some balls before we started.  Oh oh, if this is any indication to how my game is going to be it is not looking good.  It was warm today.  The girls brought sweaters along but we didn’t really need them.  We overdressed for the Balloon ride and underdressed for the Jeep tour.  Today the ladies were overdressed but it was easy to pull off layers.  The Raven was challenging and it was difficult to find your ball if you landed in the rough.  We had cart path rules only and I could feel my feet at the end of the day.  We did see a Road Runner again today.  Not such a pretty bird but fun to say you saw one.  We enjoyed a drink at the course afterwards and then did some more shopping at another PGA store.  When we sat in the car the temperatures was 100 degrees.  We went to visit the Eagle Mountain, the course we are golfing at tomorrow .  We saw people driving their carts along the sides of the mountain.  Looks like it too will be very challenging.  We headed home and enjoyed a happy hour.  Lawrence, Grace and I went for a dip in the pool and hot tub while Ralph enjoyed a quick nap.  We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Charleston’s, serving Prime Rib, Steak, Pork Chops and Ribs.   Once we were home, we had a random draw to see who would win our Golf Competition.   Congratulations to Ralph for winning Round 1.  Tonight will be early for an early start in the morning.

Some Awe Inspiring Views

This morning we got to sleep in until 5:30.  We packed up our bags and headed off to Sedona.  We stopped at the Coffee Pot which was once owned by Jane Russell (we learned this from our tour guide on the Jeep tour).  They had 101 Omelettes that you could choose from.    Yummy!!  At 10:00 we did the Mogollon Rim Trail for our Jeep tour from A Day in the West.  Our tour guide was very pleasant and had lots to tell us.  We had another couple from Ohio with us.  The ride was a little bumpy.   The scenery of the red rocks was just gorgeous.  It was very exciting to view the mountains.   The challenge was to pick a picture because we had all taken a lot.  After the tour we went to a camera shop to buy some air spray as the red rock sand was all over our cameras.  We did some browsing in the stores and found a spot called the Cowboy Club where we enjoyed some lunch.  We ordered an Appetiser Sampler which consisted of Cactus Fries, Buffalo Brochettes, Green Chili Rattle Snake Meatballs and Cilantro Flatbread.  They all tasted quite good.  Afterwards we drove a little further North and stopped at Oak Creek.  From there, we drove home so we could give Grace and Ralph a bit of time to do some work.  We are very excited about golfing tomorrow.

Up, Up and Away

The alarm clock wrang at 4:30 am.  We slept like a rock and 4:30 seemed really early.  We headed to Starbucks, enjoyed a coffee and a breakfast sandwich and this is where we were meeting for the balloon ride.  We all piled into Shane’s  (the balloon pilot) truck and we drove around to a few different sites, where he would let off some helium balloons to determine the wind strength and direction.  We finally found a spot to set up (close to another balloon ride expedition).  Here they pulled out the basket, put it on its side and connected the balloon.  They started filling the balloon up with air from a fan.  Once it was filled to a certain point, it raised the basket up to its right side position.  We gracefully crawled into the basket (not!!).  When everyone was in, we left the ground with such ease and floated to about a 4000 foot elevation.  On top there was no wind at all and we merrily floated around enjoying the scenery.  While up in the air we were able to see the other balloon take off as well.  This balloon was quite a bit smaller than the one we were in.  For the landing we were told to hold on to straps in the basket and face the opposite way we were travelling.  We were also instructed to bend our knees to take in the impact of landing.  Just before we landed we saw a Road Runner  but because we were instructed to hold on tight with bent knees we could not take a picture (boo).   While they were setting down the balloon and folding everything up again, we enjoyed some champagne and orange juice and were told the history of why they served champagne when a ride was complete.  We also enjoyed some apple slices with peanut butter and some cheesecake or cream puffs.  What an awesome experience.  So much fun.  Afterwards we went to Cave Creek where they had a Western Festival going on.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch at The Horny Toad and walked through the town.  On our way home we stopped at 2 of the golf courses we will be playing, Rancho Manana and Grayhawk.  Both looked like they will be a lot of fun to play.  We ended the day with a nice meal at The Elephant Bar and than we went to purchase a cooler so we could keep some waters cool and ring them along to Sedona with us in the morning.

Phoenix Trip Day 2

Today we were up at 3:30 am.    We went downstairs with all our luggage and were just pouring ourselves a cup of coffee when our shuttle arrives.  We were at the airport by 4:30.  We were able to drop off all our luggage outside right were the shuttle dropped us off.   It was all very easy.  Crossing customs went fairly smoothly.   The plane left of time and it was a dark flight.  We saw the sun rise as we were heading into Phoenix.  After retrieving all our luggage we picked up our rental Mini Van and everthing went without a hitch.  We are driving  a Chrysler Town and Country Mini Van from New Mexico.  The Van is pretty neat with a view when you back up the car.  The back doors slide open and closed and Grace and I are getting special treatment each time we enter the car.  We dropped off at the PGA  Super Store and I started our vacation with purchasing a new Golf Club.  Hope it improves my game.  We did some shopping in  one of the malls and they were making a Santa Sand Castle.  Was pretty neat.  Next we had lunch at the first course we were going to on Monday.  The course looked quite awesome and we are anxious to try it out.  Afterwards we did some grocery shopping and went to the Total Wine stores.  By 4:00 we arrived at our Hotel and booked into our room.  We had a flight of stairs to walk but our room is quite nice and will serve us well for the week.  We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Cantina Laredo.  They made guacamole right in front of us.  The meal was delicious.  An early night is due and we are looking forward to our Hot Air Balloon ride tomorrow.

Phoenix Trip Day 1

3:30 couldn’t come fast enough.  Lawrence came home around 3:00 and after dropping off a key at Humber for Sandra he came home, finished packing his suitcase and loaded up the car.  At 3:25 I had entered my vacation message and closed my computer for the week.  We couldn’t  wait to be on the road.  We picked up Grace and Ralph and headed to Buffalo.  We stopped at Duty Free and enjoyed dinner at Gordon Briersh.  We enjoyed a filling meal and head to our hotel room for the night.  We shared a drink and went to bed at around 11:00.  We are all so excited an ready for this vacation.

Hailfax Day 4

Today the weather is not co-operating as much as we would have liked, but needless to say we made the most of it.  After giving everyone a bit of the morning to sleep in we met up at 10:30 and than headed off to Pier 21.  We saw all the boats that came into the Pier as well as going on a short tour and hearing about how things went.  We found they made it seem like a holiday voyage instead of mentioning how many people were boat sick during the ride here.  They did stress the life changes of starting over without your family and friends though.  After Pier 21 we headed to the Red Stag Tavern at Alexander Keiths for lunch.  When we finished we split up and everyone went their own separate ways for the afternoon.  Lawrence and I joined up with Liz and Ed and went to the Museum of the Atlantic and saw information on the different ships and activities that happened in the Atlantic.  We saw a 3d movies on the findings of the Titanic as well.  We are now getting ready to go to the Keg for dinner.

Halifax Day 3

We woke up to a bit cooler day.  We all headed off to Tim Horton's for some breakfast and than we did another walk along the Boardwalk.  We purchased tickets for the Silva Tall Ships sail and the Alexander Keith's Brewery tour.  The Tall Ships sail wasn't until 2:00 so we ventured to check out a record shop that sold old records, cds etc. called TAZ.  We had lunch at Cheers but didn't enjoy it as much as we did in Boston.  By the time we were ready for our Sail it started to rain a bit (nothing hard).  It made it very cool on the water but it is nice to see the city from a different view.  The Alexander Keith's tour was fun as well.  Afterwards we had a small rest in our rooms and enjoyed dinner at Durty Nelly's which had some live entertainment as well.  Tonight was a bit earlier to bed then the last few nights.