Saturday, September 27, 2008

Home again - September 2008 version

We're home! And exhausted! We got home about 11 p.m. last night, after a full-day's travel (about a 2-hour time difference from where we'd been for two weeks). So we're not worth much today and probably won't be for a while.

We had a great week in CA, visiting with John's sister and brother-in-law, with an overnight side trip to see our granddaughter in San Diego. She's doing well in grad school, and it was a special visit. In the LA area, we went to Catalina, to the Malibu Getty Museum (which had recently reopened after a multi-year closure for remodeling), to a movie, etc., along with all the family visiting and good eats.

Our second week in New Mexico with John's cousin and spouse on their ranch was wonderful, too. The news wasn't good while we were there (Hurricane Ike and the financial mess), but being isolated in the mountains kind of kept that all at arm's length for us. I do feel for all the folks being terribly affected, though. The family and friends we have in Houston are all okay - mostly had minor tree damage and a week-long power outage. Those poor folks along the coast have really had awful devastation.

The tour in Copper Canyon was great. The Canyons are spectacular, the train ride was fun. Our tour guide was excellent and the other participants made up a good group. The less good parts were a couple of days of long bus rides (after all, it's the "west", and things are far apart out there) (and which our guide made more palatable with lectures and a couple of movies), and the bug bites we got on a river trip. But two of the hotels were exceptional, with one literally stuck on the edge of one of the canyons. What views and what an array of stars at night!

We spent one night in El Paso with an old college friend, and it was fun to renew that friendship and get acquainted with her husband. Followed by a long, but gratefully uneventful trip home.

So far, we've gotten the bags unpacked, the laundry sorted, the mail gone through, the bills paid, and most of the computer stuff caught up. The "to-do" list includes doing the laundry (tomorrow), getting to the grocery store (Monday), downloading the photos from the cameras (probably tomorrow), and hopefully getting further caught up on sleep.

Glad to be back home!

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