Fall break

Sam has been on fall break, so we celebrated at a weekend barbeque with our good friend Kathie.

Sam was the chef, of course, and cooked chicken and okra on the grill. Kathie provided a yummy salad and her usual scintillating conversation. And her house. And the neighborhood BBQ grill.

Later that week Sam entertained Mom while I made my weekly visit to the laundromat. They discovered a rampaging dinosaur at Rattlesnake Ranch in Dragoon. Mom really enjoys Sam's sense of humor, and he's a great help to me.

Last weekend we drove up to the mountains, where Dennis and Lucy (see our post last week) loaned us their Heart House on the edge of Show Low. They work with Apache women and young people on the nearby Whiteriver reservation and also work with churches in the area.

We had some relaxing time on the porch and walked in the forest.

We drove around beautiful Fool Hollow Lake, which brought back good memories for Mom of camping there with my Dad Ben, who died 5 years ago.

Deep in the forest, we had no cell phone signal, so we got our cyber fix at cafes with wifi.

Sam was thrilled to find out it was the weekend of the Run to the Pines Car Show, which started with a cavalcade of cars led by a vintage fire truck.

They just kept coming for an hour or two.

You'll see this one again later.

All sizes and shapes, and all beautifully restored.

The next day was nice and sunny, so we spent an enjoyable hour or two walking around the actual car show at Pinetop Country Club.

Mom especially enjoyed the 1930s to 1950s models, which reminded her of her childhood. Anything later and she said, "That's not old!"

Sam made a new friend (surprise!) of a former owner of an auto body shop who transformed this 1960 Chevrolet Biscayne from a 4-door to a 2-door. (See previous photo.) How do you even do that?!?

Sam wanted you all to see this old bus restored into an awesome motorhome. It's for sale, so it could be your new RV for only $65,000.

The next day we took another side trip down memory lane to Snowflake, where my parents lived in the 1970s when they built a youth camp outside town. My Dad designed and built two houses in his lifetime, and this was the second, a saltbox style.

We were able to tour the interior, which brought back a lot of memories for Mom. We're happy to see it's still in pretty good shape.

Our long weekend soon came to an end and we had to bid goodbye to the pines.

Time to hit the road...

With some beautiful scenery along the way.

We drove through Salt River Canyon at sunset. What a spectacular place.

But we were all happy to wake up the next morning to a sunrise on Pumpkin Patch Ranch. Have a great week, everyone!