A Year in a Day

Geez, I just realized that it has been almost an entire year since I've updated my blog.  We left off with McKenzie graduating from basic training in San Antonio.  Since then.....

Mom and I stayed for another two weeks in San Antonio.

We had a great time eating and shopping our way through Texas.  We tubed the Comal river, caught a pepper festival, and checked out the old missions and botanical gardens.  It was so much fun to get to hang out with my Mom.

After leaving San Antonio, Todd and I headed to Boise for a month.  We had a good time and managed to get in a  kayaking trip down the Boise River.

Our next stop was the Portland area.  We hiked Multnomah Falls and enjoyed peak blackberry season.

In keeping with our propensity to visit a part of the country in the off-season, we headed north to Anacortes Washington.  We stayed right on the ocean at Fidalgo Bay Rv Park.  Although is was cold and wet most of the time, it was nice to use the Tommy Thompson Trail to get outside and get some fresh air.

After being cold for nearly 30 days straight, we decided to head to sunny California.  We found Durango RV Resort on the river in Red Bluff.  This was quite the resort complete with a hot tub that we made full use of.  Red Bluff is such a cute town and was within walking distance.  We happened to get there just in time for First Friday and were treated to wine and hors d'oeuvres while we shopped on Main St.

Next, it was back to Quartzsite Arizona to spend Christmas with the folks.  Little did they know we would end up squatting in their driveway for three months.

I love being around retired people.  They aren't all stressed out by their jobs and they get to spend all their time having social events.  Jam sessions, get togethers, happy hours, atv rides, and anything else you can think of to keep you entertained, it's going on in Quartzsite.

During our travels, we decided it was time to buy another house and settle down again.  We chose Spoknae to be our new home.  We love that we have access to civilization yet there is plenty of outdoor activities to keep us busy.

We bought a fixer (something we said we'd never do again) that has an amazing view of the city.  I think it should keep us out of trouble for a few years anyway.

We also have added a new member to the Harrop family.  Parker Justin Harrop was born to Justin and Christina in April.  I'm pretty sure he is the cutest baby I have ever seen.

His Grandpa is pretty good lookin' too.

McKenzie is now stationed in Albuquerque. New Mexico.

She has become a responsible adult and is making a wonderful life for herself.

Off We Go Into The Wild Blue Yonder

Our next stop was in San Antonio for McKenzie's Basic Military Training graduation.  If you would have told us our daughter would join the military I would have laughed, but that's exactly what she did.

She graduated with honors and we couldn't be more proud of her.  Graduating with honors also means that you get an extra day off to spend with your family until you ship off to tech school in Whichita Falls, TX. 

Great-Aunt Joyce, Grandma Naylor, Aunt Dana, and Uncle Lyle were all able to come to San Antonio for the festivities.

We also celebrated McKenzie's 19th birthday that we missed while she was in Basic.

After weeks of intensive training, Kenzie was ready to take it easy.

Georgetown, Texas

Georgetown was just a random stop on our way to San Antonio that turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.  Just like most Texas towns, Georgetown's historic town square offered quaint shops and historical markers. 

 

Round Rock was only 15 miles away, so we rode the bike over to catch a Round Rock Express basesall game. 

 

Since Austin was only 30 miles away, we drove down for the day to check out the scene.  Austin was nice enough to allow us to wander around their beautiful Capital Building.

 

Texas is H-O-T in the summer.  We found this park in the middle of Georgetown that created a great water park by damming the river enough to make a swimming hole.

What a relaxing way to beat the heat.

Portland Japanese Garden

We flew to Vancouver, Washington to take a look at a potential house and decided to spend the day at the Portland Japanese Garden.  The gardens were beautiful and neatly groomed. 

 

 We spent the day wandering through the 5 acre garden.

World of Coke

Although we don't drink soda anymore, we decided to check out the history of Coca Cola at World of Coke in Atlanta.

We were treated to a tour of Coke history and memoribila minus the part about it being developed in a drug store using drugs.

At the end of the tour, we were each given a cup in a room that was filled with soda machines.  We tried 80 sodas from around the world.  Some were wonderful and some, like Beverly, were terrible.  One was called Menthe and tasted like sweet mouthwash.  I had to use the Pineapple one to get rid of the taste.  They gave us each a bottle of ice cold Coca Cola on our way out via the gift shop. 

Stone Mountain, Georgia

We spent a few days near Atlanta, Georgia in Stone Mountain Park.  Stone Mountain is the largest single piece of granite in the country.  There was a 1.5 mile hike to the top of the mountain, but we found the Swiss cable car was a much faster option.

There was a great view of the Confederate Memorial Carving.  It is the largest relief sculpture in the world. 

We went for a spin/cruise on the Duck.  It is a 1940's Army amphibious truck.

We spent some time geocaching and have reached 100 finds.

We joined every field trippin' sixth grader in the area for the Sky Hike.  I figured that if they let children on it, it must be safe and easy....wrong.  It was scary and challanging but lots of fun.

Weatherford, Texas

We heard there was going to be a get-together in Weatherford, so we left our rig in Orlando and flew to Texas.  Over the years, I have learned to appreciate being able to spend time with our families.  We were also introduced to the wonderful game of Lasso Golf.  Todd is a natural.