Donna’s aunt Jonny and cousins Joanne & Vicki came to visit us. We took them to White Sands, San Elizario Mission and the Rose Garden as part of their tour of the El Paso/Southern New Mexico area. The final day we hiked up the mountain to Crista Rey, then stopped for a margarita at Rosa’s Cantina.
I visited the VLA on the way home from a Rotary conference in Albuquerque, NM. The Very Large Array, one of the world’s premier astronomical radio observatories, consists of 27 radio antennas in a Y-shaped configuration on the Plains of San Agustin fifty miles west of Socorro, New Mexico. Each antenna is 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter. The data from the antennas is combined electronically to give the resolution of an antenna 36km (22 miles) across, with the sensitivity of a dish 130 meters (422 feet) in diameter. Click on their website to learn more about it. http://www.vla.nrao.edu/
Donna & I attended Jon & Kelsey Penn’s wedding in Plano, TX. We also visited the George W. Bush Memorial Library during this trip and spent time with the Penn & Mannino family at Jan & Steve Penn’s home in Dennison, TX. We took Mimi & Beamy with us on the drive to Arlington and dropped them off at my sister – Carole’s home for the 7 days we were at the wedding.
Here are pictures we took while on our trip to Pennsylvania & Delaware for the Christmas holiday season. We drove over 5000 miles total and had an opportunity to see all the kids and grandkids.
This was a three-week camping trip which began with a family visit to Donna’s brother Carl’s home in Vista, CA. We stayed at Guajome Regional Campground and visited several places in the area, including the USS Midway. From there we drove to Peggy Sue’s Dinner near Barstow, CA where we met our traveling companions from the Rotary RVF group. We all had dinner at Peggy Sue’s then traveled to Death Valley for a week at the 49er Encampment. Death Valley was an incredible place this time of the year and we saw as much of it as we could. The group disbanded on Monday after a week of fellowship and sightseeing. Donna & I headed east toward Chaco Canyon and spent two nights seeing the wonders within this National Historic Park. Getting to it was a real challenge, because the entry road is 18 miles of washboard dirt. The temperature at night hit 25 degrees but we had a great time.
This was a trip we took with the Las Cruces Southwest Environmental Center as part of their “Back by Noon” outings program. The trip included a hike into some of the most interesting areas of Hueco Tanks State Park.
This was a trip we took with the Las Cruces Southwest Environmental Center in conjunction with their “Back to Noon” outings.
This was another climb up Mt. Crista Rey with the local citizens as part of the Easter pilgrimage. This time Charlie and Barb hiked up to the top with us. It was quite an accomplishment for them.
We took Barb & Charlie to visit Carl at his home in Vista, CA. Carl entertained us by taking us on several tours in the area; fishing on the pier in Oceanside and along one of the inlets. Donna & I stayed in the camper at Gualome County Park – our favorite spot when we visit Carl & Dawn. Steve & Cheryl were able to join us on this trip as well.
This was one of our annual trips back to PA for the Christmas holiday season. We stayed at Donna’s parents’ house and made frequent visits to see the kids and grandkids. It’s always fun to go back to Pennsylvania to see everyone.
