Vacation Accounting

All the bills are in, so I can do this now. I've often been curious about the cost of other people's vacations, but when I've asked them directly, more often than not the answer is "We really don't know." Rog and Carolyn, for instance, blithely get on an airplane and fly to Europe to hike and travel for 3-4 weeks. Their response to my "how much did it cost?" question is typically non-quantitative, as in, "Well, we got a good deal on airline tickets, ..." Carol and Ron travel in a motor home but stay overnite in nice hotels (another question?!) and eat all meals in restaurants. Ron's answer goes more like "Too damn much!". None of this helps my planning.

We spent exactly two weeks on our Tucson trip. Six days traveling, 8 days in the Varsity Club suite in Tuscon. Varsity Club is a time share hotel. Our suite was like a large two bedroom apartment, two baths and a kitchenette, swimming pool and good restaurant and bar on premises. It was very nice, and thanks to Phillip's sister's membership in the timeshare, the cost per couple was only $255. Our overnite accomodations enroute were only adequate, but somewhere along the line Susan and Phillip and Jennifer and I agreed to economize. All 5 nights on the road we shared "double-doubles", two double beds and a bathroom, at an average of about $55, or $27.50 per couple. Figure another $135. The best night was at a Hampton Inn in Kayenta AZ, which was done entirely in a Navajo theme, with a completely Navajo staff in costume. It was delightful. The worst night was at a Travel Lodge in Sterling CO, which was on the verge of going out of business. Econotels offered a good, average, adequate accomodation.

We probably traveled almost 4000 miles to and fro. Susan and Phillips' Dodge Grand Caravan was the perfect vehicle for this trip. It has plenty of power for western speed limits and mountain driving, lots of space for luggage and a big cooler, and averaged almost 25 mpg. That's 160 gallons of gas at an approximate average cost of $2.25 for a total gas cost of $360, shared equally. (Susan and Phillip graciously absorbed all of the depreciation and ownership costs for the Dodge -- thanks again.)

The last big block of cost was food and drink, which is a little harder to nail down. Sometimes Susan and Phillip bought, sometimes we did, and sometimes Phillip's brother and sister-in-law Tom and Lois bought. We probably averaged $40 per couple/evening, and a lot less for breakfast and lunches (which I swear were sometimes skipped. I lost 3 pounds on the trip.) The cooler in the back of the Dodge was kept stocked with fruits and cheese and bread and peanut butter. Jennifer made sure we always had dark chocolate to pass around, and there was plenty of trail mix too - -entirely appropriate. Let's just figure $60 per couple/day for food, for a total of $840.

We did some kind of tourist event every day, starting with the Dalton gang's hideout and ending at Arches National Park. Most of the events were in National Parks/Forests, or municipal attractions in Tucson and nearby communities. The least expensive were free; the most expensive was Grand Canyon @ $25 for the vehicle and contents. We probably sprinkled $200 around the Southwest for tourism events, or about $100 per couple.

We economized in some unique and innovative ways: 1) I didn't buy the Yellow Boy 1873 Winchester replica in Tombstone for a savings of over $700. I also passed on a hat, a vest, another pair of boots and a shot of whiskey at Big Nose Kate's saloon. 2) Nobody got snakebit. According to one of our guides, this saved us between $40,000 and $65,000 for emergency room services, not to mention the funeral costs. 3) Jennifer and Susan shopped at a Tucson thrift shop instead of a department store. Untold savings! 4) Jennifer also skipped the adventure of Riding Thru the Desert on a Horse with No Name. This saved us at least $100, and possibly additional medical bills (subject of a future posting.) She says we can save horseback riding for another trip out west. Women harbor some strange fantasies.

The bottom line is that the total trip cost for us was just over $1500, and we enjoyed every dollar and every minute of it.

Profundity

I like to see into your minds thru your postings. It seems like everything is some kind of metaphor/secret puzzle that tickles me when I figure it out. It helps that I know each of you very well (I think) and that we have this shared history where a single word or phrase can recall an entire life-thread. It's absolutely poetic!

Like Heather's "Then Winks". Even though I've read the source poem of the title, I've only a vague notion of what Heather is really alluding to. Once you know Heather's mischevious smile, you can quit wondering about Mona Lisa's smile. Is Heather really just winking at us all? Does she care about frogs or doesn't she? And I know she didn't know the difference between a double dribble and a double play until just recently. Does this wink mean something else? Anyway, thanks to Heather for getting us all started blogging. It's a nice way to stay in touch.

Who would have guessed that Kelly is a poet? I have always thought of her as the Calculator. She's a number cruncher if there ever was one! Her reputation was made with mathematics, algebra, calculus and the highest score ever seen on the Idaho CPA exam (maybe we shouldn't read too much into that one.) Now she takes beautiful photographs, quotes Robert Frost and writes her own sensitive poetry. When she named her blog "Its all about the kids", I'll bet she meant more than the literal content of the blog.

I don't remember if Matt's "What a Beautiful Day" or Michael's "Into the Mystics" came next, but they were both surprises. These guys are Jocks for heaven's sake! Matt is a Republican and Michael is a Methodist! And yet they write some of the most honest and touching prose, with good sentence structure, appropriate paragraphing and accurate punctuation that you'll see anywhere outside of a professionally edited hard-cover book. It's wonderful!

Jennifer's posting, the profound "What a difference a day makes" was what got me thinking about all of this. She was a little bit intimidated by blogging -she said she'd need Powerpoint so she could write a bulleted post- but now she does just fine, spouting double meanings like the rest of us. We started the move into the new house on a Beautiful day, continued into the snowy Mystics, then she Winked and said "It's all about the kids".

What a Difference a Day Makes

Day 1 of the move:

It was great to be able to close on our "new" house a couple of days early. We had a 70+ degree day to carry boxes out and in. Luckily we got a lot done.


Day 2 of the move:

Instant winter! Good thing the furniture movers were scheduled for Saturday. . .

Arches!

Vast stretches of red desert rock. Morning shadows. Impossible arched connectors stretching at will between the boulders.

Mesa Verde

Absolutely unbelievable and amazing - both the drive to the top of the mesa and the ancient Pueblo dwellings we toured.

The drive was extremely steep and long with countless switchbacks -- literally breath-taking -- and that was only the beginning of the trepidations for those of us who are height challenged.

There were several sites to visit. Getting to the largest dwelling involved climbing a combination of many sets of steep rock stairs as well as many ladders. Part of the reason for building in the cliffs was to make it extremely difficult for enemies to enter. It's still extremely difficult to enter! After carefully considering the park ranger's disclaimers we decided to press on. (left the camera in the car for that one -- needed both hands to hang on!)

The climb was well worth it - hundreds of rooms. A carefully designed sacred home for the Pueblos for over 700 years. We were tired and happy and proud that we had decided to make the journey.

Four Corners

There weren't very many signs for Four Corners - so few that we drove right past it the first time and had to turn around.

Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. Not hard to stand in all four States at once.

We really stopped in honor of the Riddle family's all-American rode trip of ~1980!

The GRAND Canyon

Our car trip back from Tucson turned out to be another vacation in itself with stops at the Grand Canyon, Four Corners, Mesa Verde and Arches National Park. For not having a set schedule, timing worked out perfectly -- we were at the Grand Canyon at sunset. As we drove along the South Rim we stopped to take in the vistas from several lookout points.

Philip and Susan were more sure-footed than the two of us.

No, we didn't do the trails on horseback, but it was a thrill to watch the group return to the top of the canyon after a day trip.

Guy and I pretty much hugged the mountain side as we took a short hike on a trail along the top of the canyon.

Sabino Canyon

We spent several hours hiking in Sabino canyon north of Tucson. The park is still recovering from a 10,000 - year - event flood that happened July 5, 2006. Many days of heavy rain following a long draught were culminated in a 7" morning rainfall that caused a massive rock slide, covering most of the hiking trails. A section of the trail just re-opened the day we were there.

We took a tram part of the way up the mountain and hiked a little over three miles on the cleared roads.

The rocks on the trail got thicker as we got to the section of the trail that hadn't been cleared.

We tried to imagine the force it took to crack open enormous cliffs and hurl huge bolders down through the canyon for miles.

As we waited for the tram to take us back down the mountain, Susan checked out the mesquite trees.

The Woodpecker

The Desert Museum included an aviary with wonderful opportunities for seeing birds up close. Some we knew about - cardinals and falcons.

But who knew that a type of woodpecker (the gilded woodpecker) drilled holes in the Saguaros and built nests in the cacti?

And we never would have guessed that there is a large variety of hummingbirds in the desert. It was fun to have them whirring past our ears.

Saguaro Cacti Everywhere!

The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum is west of Tucson on the edge of Saguaro National Park. Saguaro cacti are extremely slow growing - about ten years for the first few inches. The ones we saw were mighty old and there were many, many of them growing in the park as well as covering the mountains all around us.

We had a beautiful day in the 70-80's with fluffy clouds leftover from a gulf storm.

There were paths throughout the park with zoo animals tucked between the trails and rocks. We saw lizards and snakes, bighorn sheep, mountain lions and several other mountain wild cats. Thought of Morgan when we saw burrowing owls - just like in a movie we saw last summer.

Quiet beauty everywhere we went . . .

Tombstone

Just one more serendipity of the trip was that October 26 happened to be the 125th anniversary of the gunfight at the OK Corral and we happened to be on a day trip to Tombstone that day! The streets of Tombstone were full of visitors in full costume who took in the events along with us. It couldn't have been more colorful!

The whole town is in old-west character. Many of the buildings are original. The only thing we missed was Guy having a wiskey at Big Nose Kate's saloon. It was just a little too early. . .

The highlight, of course, was the shootout at the OK Corral. We had good seats for the 12:30 re-enactment. The sun was blazing as hot as the pistols as the Earp brothers wiped out the bad guys. (We thought of James many times. Can only imagine what he would have made of that scene!)

The Varsity Club

Philip is a diehard Badger fan who will do whatever it takes to catch a game. So it happened that on the way out we stopped in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, found a sports/country western bar, and watched the Saturday game. That is, Philip and Guy watched the game and mingled with the cowboys while Susan and I found two great pottery shops to visit. Philip declined to ask one of the duded-up cowboys in the bar if he was a rodeo clown. Didn't think it was wise.

The Badgers won.

Later that Saturday we drove into Tucson and Philip was able to watch games in a bit more luxury. We stayed at Varsity Clubs of America, Tucson chapter. Televisions and games everywhere.

And a perfect swimming pool right outside out balcony which, most evenings, we had all to ourselves.

Getting out of Dodge

All we knew for sure when we started our Arizona trip with friends Susan and Philip Curti was that we would drive and that we would spend eight nights in our hotel in Tucson. Susan and Philip encouraged side trips on the way out and back.

Guy studied the map and found that Dodge City, Kansas, was only a little out of the way. As it turned out, we easily viewed the Gunsmoke mainstreet and toured the gift shop faster than the flick of a gila monster's tongue -- got out of Dodge fast!

Our next cowboy side trip was more fun - the Dalton brothers' hideout in Meade, Kansas. It was a beautiful little farmhouse with big shade trees and a secret tunnel for the outlaws to use as an excape hatch. If they'd only skipped the bank robberies they could have had beautiful picnics in the back yard.

Who knew?

Less than three months ago Guy and I were still in the Cities, recovering from the abstract notion of retirement and the physical reality of Guy's broken arm. Our house was for sale and all indications were that the market was so slow we might not sell until spring. We were bracing ourselves for many more months of transitioning to a new home we hadn't yet found. The uncertainty was exciting, yet overwhelming.

Since then the stars have lined up in a way we never dreamed. We sold the Hopkins house, moved to our "little house" in Lanesboro, bought another house we've long admired in Lanesboro, and were invited to spend two weeks with friends on a wonderful trip to Arizona.

We close on our new home next Tuesday. For not knowing what was around the corner, we're thrilled with how our adventure is unfolding.