Thursday, December 30, 2010

Storm - Girls to the Airport and Clear Sailing


Today it didn't look promising for the drive to Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport to get Sierra and Ansley on their trip back home...


... the wind was gusting and the clouds were filling the sky...


... and looking ominous to the max.


Matt and everyone else were ready for breakfast...


... so we drove to the Country House Family Restaurant for some chow...


... and the girls were in a great mood waiting for the food.


After dropping Sharyn back at the house, Matt bundled up for the drive...


... and as soon as we left Sierra Vista we ran into snow and some hard winds...


... and some of the snow accumulated on the side of the windshield...

...and was starting to accumulate on the road...

...but then it started to warm up above freezing shortly after getting onto Interstate 10.


There were even bikers on the road...


...then in Tucson there was sun and partly cloudy skies.


Tucson has some nicely decorated overpasses ...

... and highway walls...


... brightly colored and depicting the mountains and other southwestern themes.


We left Tucson behind and passed Picacho peak which is now a familiar sight to us on I-10


A little farther down the road there was a truck mishap leaving the trailer on it's side. There were no ambulances and I'm hoping the driver was in good shape.


All along the drive were some impressive clouds...


... sometimes hidden behind billboards. This particular Blue Beacon is one we stopped at on the way here and we highly recommend them for a quick RV or Truck wash.


Finally at the airport the girls ...


... disembarked from the ruggedized Mini Musemobile to find their flight...


... leaving me to wait for Matt's return. We did already get the call they had arrived safely five minutes after Matt and I got back to Sierra Vista.


I snapped all the way home until my batteries died getting the overpasses in Phoenix...


... and they are works of art flowing over, around, under each other like a giant Guardian Knot ...

... not easily untangled.


They also had a simpler design of their access ramp in Phoenix as opposed to the colorful designs in Tucson.


Although this is cool it's not a highway wall.


I love teardrop trailers...


... and sunsets in the desert...


... full of color and promise.

Scrabble - Matt and Sharyn were playing I-phone Scrabble but never finished the game.

Quote of the Day
French: "J'aime bien les couchers de soleil. Allons voir un coucher de soleil.

English translation: I am very fond of sunsets. Come, let us go look at a sunset." ~ From the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Fort Huachuca


photo credit: Sharyn Viel

We cooked out the night before going to Fort Huachuca and I babysat Matt's great grilling machine. We had taken Issac to his hotel in Phoenix and were all tired - but we ate well.


The next day Matt took us by his office and we met several of his coworkers. Matt has worked hard at his job and it was good to see the awards and certificates at his desk. He then took us to a picnic area on a hill above the Fort...


Where the views were spectacular. I took a few pictures and like this mother and son shot of Sharyn and Matt


We then went to the Fort Huachuca Museum...


... which was very well put together with great displays. I couldn't help thinking this soldier was related to Dennis Hopper.


We got a pretty good idea of the uniforms that once were worn here from the 1800's through the 1900's.


Some of the uniforms reminded me of Prussian troops of old.


This display shows the first pictures of Geronimo...


... and this is a carving of a sign for the 10th Cavalry.


Fort Huachuca was one of the homes of the Buffalo Soldiers and much respect is given them in the museum and at the Fort.




There were many great displays and I wish the light had been brighter...


...but our I-Phone did a good job capturing the displays...


... some a little better than others.


The museum captured more than the soldiers in depicting the families...


... of those who served here...


... and I like the woman cooking and her pie.


Respect was paid to the Scouts...


...and Generals ...


... and the Signalmen soldiers...


... and they pointed out "History is People"...


... in various times and beauties of humanity.



Standing on the porch of the museum I realized history is also places like this with a past and a bright future.


Sharyn walked over to a bench near the museum annex and a wonderful statue ...


... titled "Eyes of the Army" sculpted by Dan Bates showing a scout guiding the way for an army officer...


...and the sculpture was impressive even in silhouette framed by the sun.


We next drove around the Fort and ended up at the stables where some horses were grazing...


... along with a really cool donkey. It was a great day.

No scrabble except for Matt's slow motion (a play a day) game with someone using his I-Phone

Quote of the Day
"Mr. West, not every situation requires your patented approach of shoot first, shoot later, shoot some more and then when everybody's dead try to ask a question or two." ~ President Ulysses S. Grant

Copyright

©Paul Viel