As a mini-vacation and for Valentine's Day, I reserved a King Studio room at Flagstaff's Residence Inn by Marriott. It was a corner room with lots of windows to view the San Francisco Peaks and the city.
Today is Superbowl Sunday. The LA Rams are playing the Cincinnati Bengals. Tom and I watched some of the game before heading out for pre-dinner drinks.
The staff of the front desk highly recommended The Annex Cocktail Lounge for cocktails. It was an eight minute walk from our hotel. It was unique --- the building used to be handball courts.
I had a lemon drop martini and Tom had a flight of three bourbon tastes.
We also shared a delicious crab and artichoke fritters appetizer.
For dinner, we had 6:45 p.m. reservations at Lotus Lounge --- part of the Hotel Monte Vista. It serves Pan-Asian food. We made a meal of a number of appetizers --- eel sashimi, crab rangoons, pork gyoza, and softshell crab bao buns. All were delicious! While at the Lotus Lounge, we met a very nice and very pretty bartender --- Genesis Williams --- originally from Georgia.
Monday was Valentine's Day. Tom made an excellent suggestion to visit Walnut Canyon National Monument. It was about a twenty minute drive from downtown Flagstaff. We arrived at about 10:30 a.m. Our first walk was the Island Trail. Over 800 years ago, indigenous people lived in cliff dwellings inside the canyon.
These cliff dwellers lived in the canyon for over 100 years.
As we were leaving the Island Trail loop, a nice woman snapped a nice Valentine's Day photo of the two of us.
We also hiked along the Rim Trail which allows pets. After leaving Walnut Canyon, Tom and I had lunch at a restaurant highly rated by TripAdvisor called Northern Pines. Some friends of ours actually dined there for Thanksgiving last year. I had homemade french onion soup and half of a BLTA (bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado) sandwich. Tom had cod fish & chips. Very good food, indeed!
We returned to our centrally located hotel and walked around historic Flagstaff for several hours. Tom was looking for some new hiking boots. My sister Carrie texted me and my other siblings. Her 28 year old daughter, Lauren, is expecting a baby girl in August. She and the baby's father are not yet married, but they are both delighted. This is a photo of Lauren and her boyfriend Cody.
Lauren lives near near Atlanta, Georgia. My sister Carrie plans to visit Lauren and meet Cody the end of this month.
For Valentine's dinner, I made reservations at Brix Restaurant and Wine Bar. I have never been there, but it has been a highly rated restaurant for a number of years. They have a fixed price tasting menu for Valentine's Day. Prior to our dinner reservation, we had cocktails at the bar.
We checked out of the hotel the next morning. A very nice thing about Marriott is that all of their properties have hearty hot breakfasts. We arrived home at about 10:00 a.m. --- unpacked --- and I was able to pick up the dogs before the 11:00 a.m. checkout time.
Tuesday, Jon came over to work on his jeep in our garage. He also helped Tom adjust our e-bikes on the Hollywood bike carrier.
Wednesday morning, Tom and I had dental teeth cleaning appointments in Flagstaff.
After our appointments, Tom bought a belt at Boot Barn. For his March 9 birthday, his two sons bought him a holster for his new gun. Tom needed a leather belt to hold the holster. We had lunch at Cafe Rio. It is fresh Mexican food. Very tasty!
When we arrived home, Tom had a package in the mail. How very timely --- the holster arrived!
That evening/early morning was a full moon --- the Snow Moon. I wasn't able to get a good photo, but my neighbor did! Thank-you, Maria Rendleman!
On Instagram, I saw a post from my son-in-law David Bernstein. He was riding his bike on the coast of California and he mentioned something about enjoying semi-retirement.
Of course, I called my daughter Donna. David was the Executive Director of a commercial laundry machine marketing company. Recently, David discovered that some of the board members were sabotaging his efforts and making his job unbearable. So, he tendered his resignation. Donna also shared that she and David put their Park City home up for sale and are moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in April. Their home sold immediately and they plan to initially rent in Santa Fe. In the meantime, they took a mini-trip to an RV Park in Malibu. They are staying in their air stream trailer.
David's parents live in West Los Angeles. My granddaughters Meghan and Emily are also in LA. Meghan has a sheepadoodle named Carl. What cuties!
When Jon and Tom were setting up the bike rack for our e-bikes, they noticed that my back brakes were shot. I contacted E-Bikes of Flagstaff and set-up an appointment to have the brakes fixed. Tom's Aveton also needed to be serviced. So on Saturday, I loaded up the two bikes and dropped them off in Flagstaff.
I had a 2:00 p.m. appointment in Flagstaff. A year ago, I was appointed a Precinct Committeeman for the Coconino County Republican Party. A three hour workshop was held at a Flagstaff church to teach us how to Go Door-to-Door. The meeting was kicked-off by Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers.
Sunday morning, both Jamie and Kelsey were enjoying the living room couch. So glad that we have the sofa cover!
That afternoon, I received a text from my girlfriend Connie Young. She and her husband Ray live in Oxnard. Sunday morning, they were having coffee and donuts with some Oxnard friends and the topic of Zion National Park came up. Their friends started talking about a couple who lived and worked at Zion Lodge. The story sounded familiar. Connie said do you know Becky Ebbert? Audrey and Werner Keller came to Zion while Richard and I worked there in 2003 or 2004! I knew Audrey through the Organization of Executive Women.
On Monday, four of us played pickleball in the Rodeo Barn. The barn was being used that evening for a concert, so the City Maintenance took the trailer out. Yeah!
Jon and Tom worked most of Tuesday getting the fishing boat trailer ready for registration. They bought the trailer several months ago, but had not readied it for transport. Nice job! And, they passed the inspection! 😁😁😁
A severe winter storm is in the forecast for Northern Arizona beginning Tuesday evening and continuing through Wednesday evening. In the morning, we had at least 9 inches of fresh snow. Tom tackled the driveway problem with our snowblower.
Thursday morning, we woke to a total of 13 inches of snow and clear blue skies.
Truckers and other concerned citizens are rallying and crying out against all of the Covid restrictions across the nation. A People's Convoy started on February 23 near Barstow, California, and is headed to Washington, DC. Interstate 40 is their beginning route. Tom and I went to the Williams overpass Thursday morning to support the movement.
Later in the day, Tom and I drove to Flagstaff for my appointment with Dr. Risner. She is my dermatologist who is monitoring my head injury. We also picked up our e-bikes at Electric Bikes of Flagstaff.
Dr. Risner removed some of the dead skin around my wound. She also ordered a prescription of topical antibiotics. The wound is not healing as quickly as she hoped.
In addition to the topical antibiotics, Dr. Risner ordered some collagen powder from a medical firm in Tempe, Arizona. This should "jump start" the growth of hair around the wound. Friday morning, six of us played pickleball in the Rodeo Barn.
That afternoon, my former Executive Vice President boss --- Roy Henderson --- came for an evening stay at our home. Roy and I worked together at Union Bank of California in the mid-1990s. Roy and his wife Mel Gee now live in the Salt Lake City area. I had time to take Roy to Bearizona. The junior bears were active in the drive-thru section of the park. And, we saw the jaguars, Nacho and Libre.
That evening, we had adult beverages at home and then we went to the Best Western Steakhouse for dinner. It was a very nice visit!
