Feb. 18, 2022
Today marks being gone from home 4 weeks! This is the longest we’ve every been gone from home. Today also marks the 1/2 way point of our trip. The time has gone quickly for me personally, Tomas likely feels different, we will see if he comments on it the next time he posts. The last week was a hard one due to illness. I suspect Benson, AZ (about 45 minutes east of Tuscon) will never get a fair review from me since I was sick while we were there. When painting a water color of it I only used browns - it was truly the desert, brown, dusty, dry! (It was a horse ranch as well, so let’s just say there was a lot of poo around from cows, horses, dogs, etc.) I only saw saguaros from a distance as we were not up for visiting the park. The good news we will head back to southern AZ on Monday and have another chance to head to Saguaro National Park.
This weekend we are in California. We made it with the RV still in tack! The living room floor is looking worse for wear given all the bumps along the way. (We have driven many miles on unpaved, sandy or gravel roads.) We have a slightly better understanding of what it might have been like to travel West in a covered wagon. No sooner has we left AZ and driven through the check point in CA did we begin to see splashes of green! It was amazing! We are the in the Palm Desert/ Yucca Valley area and there are green palm trees, green Joshua trees, green grass at the golf course - it is so very beautiful to my eyes after being surrounded by brown for a week! My grandma and I have joked about what God’s favorite color might be and I often said blue because that’s my favorite color and it’s the color of the sky and sea but she argues that it is green because that’s her favorite color and that of all the plants; I might have to concede, she could be right. (I love you Grandma Judy.)
We are having out with Grandma Diane and Grandpa Troy this weekend. Yesterday we had a “resort” day, we hung out by the pool, the kids and Benjamin braved the cold water slide. Tomas and I won at Bingo and each were awarded an ice cream bar! Yum! There is a great Family Room with pool table, air hockey, foosball table, and shuffle board table. This room was a big hit! And after not playing with other kids for 4 weeks Gabriella and Tomas made some friends to play with for a while - it was a wonderful. Today we are headed to Joshua Tree National Park. Since learning about it in 4th grade I’ve wanted to check it out, so I’m excited, although, here in the Kokopelli Hideaway (the yard we are parked in) there are many Joshua Trees around. They are such interesting shapes. I am writing this from the living room, looking across the yard at cacti, Joshua Trees and tall partially snow capped mountains in the distance. It is a lovely location! While I’ve decided I would never want to live in the desert, this type of desert with browns and splashes of green is a nice place to visit.
We have all had moments of homesickness in the past week. Hopefully we can fully enjoy the back half of our trip and not “rush” like Lyla rushes on our walks once she knows we’ve made the turn towards home. We miss you, friends and family. We ask that you’d enjoy some trips down the slow covered hill on Avery for us if you’re able. (You know who you are, Cooper, Call, Jayden, Jack and the Roneys.)
Blessings to you all,
Ester
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