2025 - Fall trip "Part 1" (Phoenix & California)

Our big fall trip was driven by Kathy's destination wedding in Hawaii.  It's easier to get direct flights to HI from CA, so we decided to drive...plus Luke is staying with Amy again, and easier to cart all his stuff over in a car.  Additional bonus - we had the opportunity to visit Phyllis & Beau who recently moved to Phoenix!

We stayed the night in Forth Stockton, TX before arriving at their pad in Nor-Terra (a Northern Phoenix burb).  Beau is the golf instructor at Dick's "House of Sport", newly opened just a week before.  He gets Sundays & Mondays off, so we went to visit him at his store on Saturday and he got us discounts on some pickleball & hiking shoes, socks & pants.

After a yummy lunch at Thirsty Lion, Phyllis took us to the Phoenix Art Museum.  I can't believe Barry & I have never been to this museum before - it was so good!

That night we just hung out at their place: good friends, good charcuterie & good wine 💕

On Sunday we drove out to Cave Creek.  Crazy cool little town north of Phoenix with a lot of stores that sell huge pieces of art!  

That night we celebrated our 34th anniversary over dinner at Buck & Rider.  Well it wasn't technically our anniversary "day", but still our month, and we got some extra goodies from the restaurant and a personalized sign that went up during dinner!

We got Phyllis to try raw oysters!!!!  She likes 'em!

We're so glad we got to stop in for a visit - looks like Arizona suits Beau & Phyllis....and as a post script...meet their new darling girl Daisy!

They disinfected their house as soon as we left on Monday and picked her up later that day - what a cutie!

We hit rush hour traffic in LA and made it to dinner with Bryan & Sian just in time, after stopping at storage in Irvine, and checking into our Airbnb.  

Some big news for our family...Bryan & Sian are having a baby girl!!!  We actually knew a couple of weeks ago, but they were waiting for some standard tests to ensure everything was good to start spreading the word.  

Needless to say, this news has helped us tighten up our plans for moving back to CA!  We knew we would be back in 2026, but it was quite wishy-washy on the dates...now our plan is to be back by early April...more details to come!

On Tuesday morning I made Luke's food for the month that he will be staying with Amy...the things I do for this dog!

We then spent the afternoon with my mom taking her to Best Buy to shop for a new laptop and monitors (we left empty handed) and then IKEA, South Coast Plaza, Target.  

Seems like our short stays in LA are always busy and filled with errands and such...we took care of meetings with lawyers & banks for Mom; and Barry & his brothers are finally selling a piece of property that has been lingering from their parents' estate from 20+ years ago, so there were more bank & notary meetings for them.

We did get to fill in some times for fun & relaxation though before getting ready to leave on the next portion of our trip to Hawaii & New Zealand...

Luke safe & sound at Aunty Amy's!