MERRY CHRISTMAS

                        FORT McDOWELL INDIAN RESERVATION

We hope that everyone is having a wonderful holiday season.  We are staying at Eagle View RV Resort here on the reservation.  The picture above was taken from behind our motorhome.  It's a beautiful place and a wonderful area to walk out in the high desert.  The Verde River is also right behind us and you can see the trees that line the river are changing colors. 

We will be celebrating the holidays with Alex's brother, Matt and his family.  We will also be throwing a birthday party for Chris' Uncle Gene on January 1st.

In case we missed telling someone, (and we can't believe we would have missed anyone) we are going to be Grandparents sometime in May.  Bill and Heather are having a baby boy.  They are in Bogota, Colombia and we will be visiting them soon.  To say that we are thrilled and excited would be an understatement. 

We still love our new lifestyle and can't believe that we will be starting our third year on the road in April.  We hope that there will be a summer in Alaska in the next year or two.

Please keep in touch and, again, Happy Holidays and a wonderful 2012.  Chris and Alex

Here's a few more pictures of the area.  https://picasaweb.google.com/103645060086585742201/EagleView2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCPbiveSqqPDY_AE#

Tucson and Saguaro National Park

We've spent a couple of weeks in Tucson.  We stayed at one of the highest rated Military Campgrounds,  Davis Monthan AFB.  It is very nice and we both enjoyed our stay there. 

While in Tucson, we did a lot of everyday chores and planning.  Two notable events were visits with family and a day trip to Saguaro National.   We got to visit with our niece, Jill and her husband, Dean.  They met us for dinner in old downtown Tucson to celebrate Alex's 60th birthday!  We had a great time with them.  Alex is coming to terms with his new decade.

Our drive through Saguaro National Park had a purpose.  We were collecting information and pictures for our friends in Japan, Kenji and Junco.  They wanted us to send something interesting to their grandaughter, Moeka.  We went to the park's visitor center to get some of their printed material and we bought post cards and other items to send along.  We are hoping she can share all of this with her classmates.  We took about 100 pictures while we were there.  Unfortunately, our computer blew up with smoke pouring out.  So that delayed sending out pictures to Moeka.  We were able to save our hard drive from the old computer and had some geeks transfer all the info.  So, now we've sent the Picasa album to her. 

We thought you might like to take a look.  If you are ever in the Tucson area, you should try to take a drive through this beautiful park. 

As usual, click the link, select slide show and hit F-11 to enlarge the screen.

https://picasaweb.google.com/103645060086585742201/SonoranDesert2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCKzMw5eHqKSNCg#