Another Day in Paradise

Salsa had made herself a new snuggle friend, while Josh and I were trimming hedges...

We then took advantage of the beautiful weather and gave the truck a nice bath…

After a few fun chores, we spent the afternoon looking over our maps and planning out our next few destinations with Grandma and Grandpa…

Every visit to AZ must also be accompanied with a dinner out to some Authentic Mexican Food….and maybe some Authentic Margaritas as well. Grandma and Grandpa were smart, they split one, Josh and I probably should have too. Oh well… here’s to having a night of goofinessJ

Sweet Home Arizona

After way too many hours of work on the truck, some much needed RnR was definitely in order, and what better place to be than Grandma’s and Grandpa’s. My Uncles (Uncle Joe and Uncle Paul) came over to visit and celebrate Grandma and Grandpa’s Birthdays. They brought their little one Scruffy…Salsa was Scruffy’s first friend! (Ahhhh)

For dinner, Uncle Paul taught Grandma how to cook a leg of Lamb- we enjoyed the sunset and ate Lamb, Risotto, Salad, Asparagus, and fresh Rosemary bread…sooooo delicious! (Oh how I love Road Tripping)

We stayed up all night long just hanging out, sharing stories, and reminiscing. 

Trouble Trouble- It never fails!

After we enjoyed our morning at the Rim, we began our drive to Scottsdale to spend the weekend with my Grandparents. 

On our way to Scottsdale, we had one pit stop to make.  When we had driven up Sandia’s Crest in New Mexico, Josh realized that his front passenger side coilover (aka Shock) needed to be replaced. He made a few phone calls and was able to make an appointment with Steve from Sonoran Steel located in Tempe, AZ; most genuine guy ever. Steve was very helpful and fun to talk with. He gave us lots of information and awesome ideas for off-roading in AZ and around the area.

After an easy trouble free installation of setting the coil overs 2 ½ inches above stock we were set to head to Grandma and Grandpa’s. However, as we pulled out of Steve’s driveway- Josh bottomed out. When he rolled off the curb, the tire came in contact with the fender. We immediately knew that the new coilover needed to be set higher at 3inches above stock. Steve waived us back into his driveway with sincere concern. He jacked up the truck to set the new coilovers a bit higher. After the re-installation, the truck passed the test…Josh was able to back up off the curb this time without bottoming out! ☺

First order of business on Saturday morning was an oil change for the truck. Everything went seemingly smooth despite the 100 degree weather outside. Everything was just about done when I saw something leaking onto the dirt. I asked Josh about it, and at first glance he thought it was just the new windshield washer fluid dripping out… after a few moments too long of the dripping, Josh realized it was not the windshield fluid….it was the radiator ☹ ughhhh!! 


We made a few phone calls and found a place that would be able to order the radiator; it would be in stock in just a few hours for Josh to install. After several hours of working in the heat, a rusted bolt, a broken ratchet wrench, and a mild case of heat stroke, Josh finally decided to take a break and finish up the truck Sunday morning. We were in dire need of some RnR!

Mogollon Rim At Last

As I hadn’t been back to the Rim in more then 12 years it looked nearly nothing like what I had remembered. Our goal for the night was to find my family’s old campsite and set up camp for the night there. We both thought that it would be a little bit easier to find camp then it actually was. In AZ, forests do not have campgrounds like back East…you can pretty much camp anywhere in the forest/desert…there are no fees in most areas nor are there campsite numbers-just landmarks.

Our landmark to look for was a big Oak Tree- which should have stuck out like a sore thumb in a forest full of pines, however camping at the end of winter/beginning of Spring the forest still had not really bloomed.

After a few hours of exploring and a few phone calls to my Grandparents, we finally found our old campsite. We only had about an hour before night fall by the time we found the campsite so we began to set up camp and start our campfire to help give us some light (since we were still camping at this point with no visible moon in the sky).

The next morning before heading out of camp we took a little stroll around camp, reminiscing about all that I remembered from when my family and I would camp there. I showed Josh the little forest that Alicia and I would play house in, where we lost countless silverware of my moms. I showed him the little pond area that Alicia and I would ice-skate on…the fallen tree trunk that we would set soda cans on and practice shooting at, etc. Having been back to the Rim was hard in some ways but amazing in most!

Adios Albuquerque…Hola Arizona

As we departed from Mommy Sue’s and Richards, we headed to Arizona… our first stop to be at the Mogollon Rim (where my Mom, Dad, Grandparents, Sister and I always use to go camping).

As we drove towards AZ, we were able to drive about 150 feet on Historic Route 66, drove near the Continental Divide, drove passed a few 18wheelers carrying something that was Radio Active, (Yes that’s right I did just write Radio Active…check out the picture below). We drove through some tunnels and other beautiful scenery- our poor little Salsie, she was so tuckered out from the weekend, she slept pretty much the entire way!