Vacation Recap

Warning this is a long post and there are a lot of photos!

We’ve been home just a week, and it’s time for a vacation recap. I’ve finally been through all the photos once and chosen those I think I might want to print. I deleted a few, but must go back again and get rid of all the duplicates. Yesterday I managed to edit the ones you’ll see here.

We were gone nearly 3 weeks. I took over 1100 photos, we drove through four states (Tracy drove clear across the country, but I flew from NY to Colorado), we visited three national parks, four sets of friends and family. I read five books, but sadly missed meeting up with three blogging friends I hoped to meet. Aside from serious pain issues, it was a great vacation. As some of you know, I had surgery in early March and was left with some serious, undiagnosed, and untreatable pain which made walking very difficult. It went on for 10 weeks, and really impacted my lifestyle, and sadly, our vacation. Miraculously, the day we left to come home it disappeared, and I’ve now been painfree for a little over a week. I have new appreciation for chronic pain, and don’t know how you get accustomed to it. I never did, and I was worried that this would be a lifetime affliction. The surgeon has now diagnosed it as an impacted fibroid, but the truth is none of us are quite sure what it was. But yeah, it’s gone!

So, on to vacation. We started in Denver where Matt has taken a new job, which thankfully, he seems to love. We found him an apartment, but weren’t there to help him move in, but our friends did. I’m still waiting to see photos! But here’s the apartment building. He’s on the fourth floor and on a clear day, can see the mountains.

He’s just two blocks from the Denver Botanic Gardens where we spend a couple of hours one afternoon.

When we left Denver, we drove to Santa Fe and spent an afternoon in the downtown area and visiting a fabulous photography gallery. We were here ten years ago, and would love to spend more time again.

Tracy much prefers state roads to interstate highways, so on our way to Phoenix to visit family we took the long way and got to see El Morro National Monument where Native Americans and pioneers left their marks on the rocks. The earliest are petroglyphs, but I was amazed at this beautiful script carved into the rock.

And we drove around the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Parks:

In Phoenix, we visited Tracy’s brother, here with his beautiful daughter, Lena. I was terrible about getting photos of family and friends. Not like me, I’m blaming it on the pain, but I’m so sorry I don’t have better photos. (Or in some cases, any.)

We also got a chance to visit Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s western home. Thanks to Deb, I also did a little shopping at Scrapbooks, Etc. and sent myself a box of scrapping goodies which I can’t find locally.

From Phoenix, we drove to Tucson. We’d never been here before, but had a lovely time. We visited Saguaro National Park . . .

the absolutely fabulous Desert Museum . . .

Tohono Chul . . .

the beautiful San Xavier Mission . . .

and the fabulous Center for Creative Photography as well as having dinner with old book group friends from Rochester.

On our way to California to visit Sarah and Adam, we stopped for a day at the Joshua Tree National Park,

Spent a night at Morro Bay:

And visited San Simeon, William Hearst’s castle on a hill overlooking the Pacific. The gardens and walkways were my favorite part.

But this shot of the indoor pool, gives you a better idea of the ornate and elaborate house.

And finally, we ended up with Sarah and Adam for five restful days of family visiting. I did get a great family photo here (and you’ll see it later), but I love this one of Sarah and her dog, Sadie.

If you made it to the end, you deserve a treat!