Phoenix

The girls after their recital in Virginia

I was disappointed with my lack of pictures taken this last weekend.  While JJ flew out to Chicago for the weekend of classes, the kids and I camped at the KOA in Apache Junction, AZ with our friends the Wilds girls.  The Wilds are friends from Portsmouth.  A navy family whose daughters quickly became Annika's best friends and their mom quickly became my good friend, perhaps the connection was so easy because of our Michigan homeland.  They PCS'd to San Diego last August (2011), much to our disappointment, but we were  so happy to be within a days drive now, and even better to have a nice middle meeting point to hang out in-Phoenix!

The kids had a great time just hanging out.  It was as though the last year and some months had never past.  On Saturday we drove up part of Apache Trail, with a stop at Goldfield Ghost Town, an obvious tourist trap, but a good spot to stop for the kids.

Watching a gunfight in Goldfield Ghost Town 

After the ghost town, we continued on down Apache Trail, past Canyon Lake-just beautiful, and the road is a paradise for Motorcyclists-and stopped at Tortilla Flat, the last official stage coach stop on the Apache Trail.  They have a fun restaurant with great burgers and saddles to sit on.  The kids enjoyed the atmosphere, and signed a dollar bill to add to the collection on the walls.

Afterwards we tried some prickly pear ice cream. 

On Sunday Julie and the girls headed back to San Diego, and we ran errands, packing up the RV with supplies until the next time we head to town.  The kids were less than thrilled with IKEA, and all the other stops on my list, but what do you do, when your opportunity to shop is so limited?