Casa Blanca

To those of us who frequent Isla Mujeres, we know Casa Blanca as a grungy strip club. Not my thing, so I've never been inside. But to people who live in Chandler, Arizona, Casa Blanca's one of our local Mexican restaurants. It's close to our house, so we go there a lot! As an added bonus, the food's pretty good.

Sunday, I was crawling the walls after being a shut-in for several weeks, so we decided to have lunch at Casa Blanca before Craig left town.

This sign always reminds me of Isla, so I had to have a photo. Beautiful blue Caribe water, but that beer is definitely north of the border prices! Can't wait to be sitting south of the border on a real Caribe beach ordering a cold drink!

I like Casa Blanca's entrance, especially those big metal chandeliers.

There's definitely no Gregorio to serenade the customers, but this guy was hanging out on the wall behind our booth. He ignored my request for the barking song.

We cleaned up the bean dip, chips, and salsa before I remembered to take a photo! So I thought you'd enjoy a picture of the remains.

I ordered my favorite bowl of chicken tortilla soup hoping the chicken soup remedy would work its magic. They recently reduced the size of the bowl, but it was still filling.

Craig's favorite meal is the chicken guacamole tostada! It was yummy as usual. We both usually order this dish. The inside joke is that they place our order when our car enters the parking lot because the meal's usually on the table within five minutes.

Looking at these pics makes me crave it again! Hmmmmmm. I bet they do carryout! : )

Holiday Road!

I was flipping channels the other night and ended up watching this movie. It reminded me of the fun photos I have of family vacations, so I decided to post a few.

I have to say that my ancestors were pretty dang adventurous. First of all, they immigrated to the U.S. in colonial days, the earliest to Jamestown in the early 1600's. Here are my grandparents and relatives on a cross-country trip from Kansas to the East Coast. You have to remember that the roads were horrid back then. Can you imagine driving cross-country in that? Somewhere I have a little log book where my grandfather wrote down exactly what he spent on the trip. That's him in the back seat with my grandmother and an unidentified child.

My brother and I on a family trip to New Orleans when I was 4 years old.

This is the year my family took the long vacation from Kansas to California and saw the Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, Los Angeles, Pacific Ocean, San Francisco, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Salt Lake, and some other sights. My parents were overly ambitious! My father installed seatbelts in the back of his Chrysler thinking that would keep my brother and I separated so we wouldn't fight. Ha! Didn't work! I remember being shocked that there were actually places in the U.S. where you needed sweaters and jackets in the summer! I also remember my dad's struggles with the traffic in California. Those freeways, exits, and city streets had to be pretty confusing to a driver from a tiny town with no traffic light!


Love this photo of Michael! We were hiking in Rocky Mountain Park. He was a trooper on the trail when he was little, but swore off hiking in grade school when he decided it was work.


Okay, I've posted this one before, but re-edited it. This is my all time favorite funny vacation pic! And don't tell Craig I posted this again! We were vacationing on the Oregon Coast. I think this is Lincoln City, Oregon, but it could be the beach at Newport?

Craig relaxing on the deck in Cannon Beach. The offshore monolith is Haystack Rock.

Craig and Michael in a cell at Alcatraz. I think Michael really enjoyed that tour!

Craig and Michael in a funky restaurant in Koloa, Kauai. We used to stay in Poipu, the sunniest location on the island, and drive the short distance down the road to Koloa for dinner and shopping.

These photos were taken on a vacation to Banff and Jasper in the early 90's. This is Pyramid Lake, where we stayed just outside of Jasper. We could never get over how wild and unpopulated parts of B.C. and Alberta were in comparison to the United States.

Craig and Michael at Hell's Gate, British Columbia, on the way home from Jasper.

A Picnik with Isla Pics!

Life around here's gotten a little boring since I feel too lousy to be out running around in the heat, so I was glad to discover a new photo-editing site to play with this week. www.picnik.com I fed some older Isla photos into the machine this afternoon. I kind of like this cinematography effect.

By the way, I found out I'm sick! I finally went to the doctor and she diagnosed it as bronchitis and a sinus infection. Hopefully, the amoxicillin and inhaler will kick this crud in the butt.

Michael's Kind of Beach!

Our son Michael has never been a fan of beaches. Well, maybe he was on his first few trips to Hawaii before he became totally hooked on golf. And the incident with the Hawaiian monk seal on Poipu Beach and an encounter with a gigantic eel snorkeling on Mauai didn't exactly help change his mind. So anyway, once he was in high school, all of our family vacations involved destinations where he and Craig could play LOTS of golf. Since golf in Hawaii isn't really affordable, we ended up in San Diego, Palm Springs, and Arizona rather than Mexico or Kauai.

Michael did find his kind of beach this last weekend! A golf course overlooking a beach! Bandon Dunes on the Oregon Coast. Now that's his kind of beach! One you can look at from the golf greens! For those not acquainted with the game of golf, Bandon Dunes is one of the premier courses in the United States. Craig's played it once, on the September 11. They were entertaining customers and went right on with their game. Michael, I think, has played it multiple times since he has a buddy from the golf world who works there.

Like a lot of younger people, Michaael insists on relying on his camera phone. He sends me the pics off his Blackberry and I edit them for him. This batch of photos turned out fairly well considering his camera phone is probably about 2 megapixels. Here's his weekend at Bandon Dunes (at least the part he sent me pictures of -- ha)!

He's a lucky guy!

A Few Weekend Polaroids

Just a few more photos from Labor Day weekend that I edited into Polaroid frames. This is my first attempt at editing on Picnik. I really like that website! : )

An Uneventful Holiday

I feel like I need to throw something up (oops -- bad choice of words!) on the page, but I'm not inspired to do anything. Today was the deadline for feeling better or going to the doctor, but I think I've turned the corner. I found the over-the-counter remedy the doctor prescribed for Craig the last time he went in thinking he had bronchitis and needed an antibiotic. I've been taking the pills for two days and the cough is definitely better. No more rib-splitting coughing until my head explodes jags. Seriously, I wonder if I cracked a rib?

Labor Day weekend was a non-event. No barbecues, swims in the pool, restaurant trips, etc... A friend called several times to make sure I wasn't dead. Craig put some Adirondack chairs together and after witnessing my plight, ran out and got the regular flu shot on his way to pick up carryout. Saby, bored out of her mind, spent the weekend lying in her den.

I continued my summer book fest. All beach reads, all the time! Right now I'm reading The Condition, by Jennifer Haigh, and loving it. It's partly set on Cape Cod. Just finished The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners set on the island of Capri. Last week, I read Swimsuit by James Patterson and really didn't like it. I guess I expected a lighter murder mystery like Sail. The book was way too graphic/violent/serial-killer creepy for my taste. I decided to throw Killer Summer back in the library chute after reading Swimsuit. Maybe I'll save that one for Isla.

I think I'll take the plunge back into the world and run to Walmart today. The cupboard is bare and Craig's home for the rest of this week. (Well, not home, but in town!) I don't think I've driven my car since last Wednesday. I hope it still runs and doesn't cough and sputter like me!

Labor Day Puddles

It seems like Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends attract bad weather no matter where you live! As a kid, I hated it! Rain and cool weather meant the last swim day at the pool would be cancelled. But here in Arizona, the rain's a real treat!

I was so happy to hear rumbling when I awoke early Saturday morning. Despite the fact that I'm still plagued by this infernal cough, I got a burst of energy. Craig and I decided to see how many times we could loop the neighborhood on bikes before the rain hit. And that number would be about one and a half times before we were pummelled by huge drops. Back home, we took our breakfast outside onto the covered patio and relished in the moment, dreaming of past vacations on the wet northshore of Kauai where it rains everyday.

The cool humid breeze, smell of the sweet lantana, and the sound of rain on the water was downright tropical!

After breakfast, we opened the front door to look into the courtyard. Saby even decided to take a peak, but notice her ears are tucked down. She hates storms.

Craig set a bucket and water can under the drip line and they filled within minutes.

I love it! A brief break from the monotony of sun and heat! In case you're curious, we're thanking Hurricane Jimena for the weekend rain here in Arizona. And fortunately here in Arizona, the pool doesn't close on Labor Day! : )

A Big Bowl of Fish!

To get the full effect, expand the video to full screen. Pretty cool! How would you like to meet up with this group when you jumped in the water at Garrafon!

Sea in a Tray!

Still sick, but I'm determined to unearth antiques I have cubbyholed in closets and put them to good use. I found my old printer's tray that I got for Christmas when they were all the antique rage back in the late 70's. I thought about slapping white paint on it, but then decided to try displaying shells and seaglass in it. I kind of like it! Now I have to figure out how and where to hang it. I need to secure the shells and glass in their little trays. I think I can use the clear shelf putty that was so handy back in Washington State to keep little earthquakes from sliding my valuables off the fireplace mantle.

Craig's back home and Saby is happy. Now she can get her walks again. I'm happy too because he can run errands for me. Maybe he can get some carryout tonight on his way home from work! That'd be a treat after descending to the lower level of the freezer and heating a frozen pot pie and broccoli for dinner last night. UGH! Some day I'll have to tell the story about when my back went out and I was snowbound alone in the house. I fought the dog for a moldy hot dog and the dog won! HA!

Calling in Sick

Ugh. Woke up yesterday morning and I knew my busy self was now sick! I think I have the creeping crud -- not H1N1 caliber, but I wish it would go away! Here's a couple of photos from my last bike ride (well, I HOPE it wasn't my last).

We took a different road on Saturday morning and came across this pretty country lane. I think it's a glimpse of what this area used to look like before suburbia encroached. At one of the homes, they were actually having a goat shearing. Cars and trucks were lined up all the way down the drive, and we could hear the buzz of the clippers. Wish I'd gone up and asked to take photos, but I didn't have the nerve.



Saw this sign from Sotheby's International and thought it was an unusual real estate sign to see on that property. I always think of Southeby's as handling the upper crust, but it was a piece of land with some old bunkhouses on it.

And at the end of the road, they were growing pot! HA! I'll have to go back and look at their pots when I'm feeling better. They also have some really cool fountains.