Merry Christmas!

Val and I want to wish all our friends and family a very merry Christmas.  Our trip to Virginia started Tuesday with a flight from California to DC where we spent the night with Chris and Nancy and celebrated Matt's  29th birthday.  Then it was up to Fenwick Island where Val and I put up a tree and did a lot of baking.  On Christmas eve we traveled to Richmond where we spent time  with family and friends. 

Our Christmas day was in Richmond, first at my brother Franklin's house and then at Beth's house (Val's sister).  We were able to get my parents to Franklin's house which was very nice.  And seeing Joanie and everyone else at Beth's was wonderful.

Of course the day started a little rough as I woke up Christmas morning at the Omni Hotel with a bad case of vertigo with my eyes moving rapidly back and forth.  It took a quick visit to the ER at MCV to get some medicine so that I could function.   And when I say quick, I'm talking about 33 minutes from the time I walked in to the time I left.  Amazing.  And as of this morning ( the 26th) I am feeling much better thank goodness.  What an odd thing to happen.

Matt, Uliana, Emily, Mariam Val and I all drove to Fenwick Island last night where we opened our presents this morning.  It was beautiful to see our tree with the ocean view behind.  It was a nice extension of Christmas.

We will be here in Fenwick until Saturday when Val and I will head back to Richmond for three days to do some visiting.  Then we head back to the west coast on the 4th.  Quite a quick trip.

Our Foray into Mexico for Drugs.

Oh, I get it, you thought I meant illegal drugs.  Shame on you...
I guess it does sounds more risky and exciting than it actually was.  After trying to get an asthma prescription refilled through my primary care physician who unfortunately just retired (and whose replacement wouldn't give me a refill until I saw him in Richmond, just a little hard to do) we decided to do what so many other Americans and Canadians do and take a trip into Mexico.  We went with Barb and Joe who have done it before, and the trip went without a hitch.  We parked the car on the US side and walked into the town of Algedones which boasts (within its four block area) the highest number of dentists, optometrists and pharmacies in the world.  And I believe it.  Mixed in with all the shops were hundreds of sidewalk vendors selling their wares, most of it jewelry. It took some time for Val to realize that she should keep her hands in her pockets since the vendors would literally put their products in your hand as you walked buy.  They were polite but very persistent.  "No, gracias" were the words of the day.
After exploring the area for a while, I finally located a pharmacy that had what I wanted (several places had it back-ordered).  While there we also picked up a couple of other prescriptions that we might need before we can return to Richmond and get an appointment.  Joe and Barb also found what they needed and we headed back to the border where we encountered a short 20 minute wait.  The officer there peeked in my bags of drugs and sent me through with a "have a nice day."  Painless.
Oh, and I almost forgot.  We also bought some 1921 Tequila Crema on the advice of a guy I met playing pickleball at the Nationals.  It was about half the cost of buying it in the US (if you can even find it).  It's like Bailey's with a touch of coffee.  We had some as soon as we returned to the rig.  Excellent!

Here's a picture Val took on a walk in Yuma while I was helping fix our Bigfoot levelers in Yuma.

And then yesterday we headed back to Menifee, California for a few days before we fly to Virginia for the holidays. The drive can only be described as diverse.  We left Yuma  where it was partly cloudy and 50 degrees.  About two hours into the trip, we headed up over the mountains and at 3500 feet hit a snowstorm. The ground was white and the windshield was caked with snow.  It wasn't what we had expected on our trip.  But just as fast as it had started, we descended the western side of the mountains with rainbows in front of us much of the way and then found sunny skies and temperatures in the 60's.  Definitely an oddly beautiful trip.

A little hard to capture the rainbow through the truck window, but you can make it out.

Let it snow, let it snow...

Well, we did get some snow here yesterday in the park, and the trees were ice covered this morning.  I know.  I know.  You thought we'd be following the warm weather in our travels.
Um, so did we.  But it was beautiful, and it melted fast at our level (3200 feet).

Scene by our rig.  Fog is hiding the mountains.

Pictures Val took on her walk .  The sun was melting the snow in the mountains.

Spotted from our rear windows.

We've seen an eagle poised on the rocks above the river several times since we arrived.  But yesterday we saw two, so it was time to take a walk along the riverbank to get a closer look.  I wish my telephoto lens was of better quality (the view through our small Canon image stabilized binoculars was awesome) so that I could have gotten better pictures, but these will have to do.  At least you get the idea.

Meanwhile, it may snow on us tonight.  It brings back memories of Virginia two years ago before we escaped to Florida!

Baby, it's cold outside.

What a change.  We're sitting here in the RV after quickly stowing the grill, chairs and table.  The fireplace is on, and we're listening to Christmas music by way of Spotify, my new favorite music program that seems to have practically every album/CD ever recorded.  I few days ago I went to several lists of the top Christmas CD's for 2010/2011 and added them to my Christmas music playlist.  All but one was on Spotify, so we're listening to all the new music.  Cool.
But back to the "Baby, it's cold outside" title.  It's been chilly at night here near Cottonwood, but days have been beautiful with sunny skies and temperatures in the 70's. Today starts several days of temps in the low 50's (hopefully!) and nights in the 30's and maybe dipping into the 20's. There is even a chance of snow  for the next two days.  I guess we waited a little too long to move further south.  We leave next Thursday for Yuma.
Actually the cold weather will let us do some housekeeping and pre-Christmas prep that we need to get done.  We're flying back to VA on the 20th and have some plans to finish.

Meanwhile, we went to Jerome with Russ and Jodi a few days ago and had a wonderful day.  We started with breakfast at a little place called the Mile High Cafe (since Jerome is right at a mile high) and then spent several hours exploring the town with all its shops and views.  (Margie and Dee:  you will love it there!)

One of the views as we walked through Jerome.

And just to remind us of how much we miss Lola, we saw this shop.

And to remind Dean of what I told him when they got Lola...

On another day, Val and I took the bike up through Jerome and over the mountains to Prescott.  It was a beautiful ride on a warm day.  And two days ago we took the bike on 89 north through Sedona to Flagstaff.  The ride was amazing with the red rock formations all around and great mountain views.  We plan to go back to Sedona to explore if the weather breaks before we have to leave.  Let's hope it does.  Otherwise, we'll be back here in a couple of months.