A Little Summer Travel

The blessing of visiting family, friends and new places came our way and today I’m sharing a little summer travel.  I’ll try not to bore you with all the details like a travelogue, but here is a bit of what we did early on this season.

There was a lot of fun hanging around home this summer too, but we did not get much done in the way of projects or chores.  I guess that will come soon enough.

Here’s where we went.

Greer and Payson, Arizona

After the big February road trip, I didn’t think we would be packing up Big Red again so soon.

But.

Just a few months later, May found us loading her up for a mountain trip to Greer, Arizona and then to Payson to see DFs Jann and Ali from Reno and their family (who we also love) Gail and Lane. 

A pic of Jann on the trail.  We found a wonderful picnic site near the creek. Later we had happy hour at the gorgeous Rim Golf Club.

Three of the most lovable, adorable cats live at the Greer resort and spent a lot of lap time with us.  Church spent a good hour on John’s lap.  You can see John didn’t care much for it.  Ha.

Hiking and happy hour and hanging out.  All my very favorite activities in one week.   And up in the mountains which are sacred to me.  So good.

Emporia, Kansas

And then.  Big Red is on the job again for a big trip from Arizona to Kansas.  Yes, we went to Kansas. 

In June.  In the heat and humidity.

I know.  Sometimes I like to visit places that aren’t considered all that sexy.

But, it was beautiful.  Green rolling hills with lots of full lakes and rivers.

There were two goals for this visit.  A.  Do a little family research (my dad’s family is from there) and B.  See fireflies. 

Mission accomplished.  Can I tell you how much I loved seeing the fireflies?  Crazy, I know.

We honestly had a much better time than we expected.  Everything was beautiful and the people were SO nice.  Emporia is a good place.

A day trip to Topeka meant another state capitol visit this year. 

We took the dome tour.  Meaning they made us climb up tiny stairs to the tippy top.  My fear of heights had no meaning to them.  It was quite scary.  I’m happier on the ground looking up.

Colorado

Instead of taking the same route home through New Mexico, we rerouted through Colorado and sprang a last-minute visit on my sister Susie and BIL Mike in Colorado Springs and stayed a night in their beautiful home.

We loved seeing them.  So much.

More mountain juju through Pagosa Springs and Durango.  It was so crowded and so hot.  But no complaints from me. 

Colorado is one of my happy places for sure.  Until it snows, that is.

Show Low, Arizona

A much-needed and long-awaited girls’ trip was hosted by DF Sara in her gorgeous Show Low home.  Evon drove, Cindy navigated and I negotiated bathroom stops on the long drive up.

Cindy and I clocked a lot of trail miles in the fresh air.  We’re both originally from Colorado and we can’t get enough mountains.

Here’s a pic of her on the trail (I didn’t get her permission to post, but I don’t think you can get a facial recognition off it).  If you look very closely you can see Sara and Evon in the distance.

Wrap Up

Oklahoma was the last stop on our summer agenda.  We just returned this week, but I’ll post that trip at a later date.  Suffice it to say, we had another wonderful trip with much loved friends.

Thanks for sticking with me on this post.  Don’t mean to brag, but it’s been a dang good summer.  Sending you love and blessings for one of the last weekends in summer where you are.