Wayne- Scottsdale

Mom and I set out Monday morning for Arizona. We chose the 'get south fast' route, although it seemed the less scenic way (and it was until into western NM). It was a great trip, no car problems or other incidents. We even had the problem of too much food, which hardly can be classified as a 'problem'. We made it to Dalhart, TX the first night, then planned in a little time to see Albuquerque on Tuesday and we made a mostly-unplanned visit to the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. We spent Tuesday night in Flagstaff (choosing the hotel based on its accommodations: breakfast & a hot tub). That left us with enough time to drive the scenic route to Sedona Wednesday morning, then on to Phoenix for Mom to catch her 3:47pm flight to Omaha.

Old Town Albuquerque

Mom in front of the church that Old Town was built around

Proof that I was there

Scenery since this was the first time a Mann family member was out this way (or at least this far southwest, that we know of)

Continental Divide... very anti-climactic

Execution of the penny press: purses down method

Painted Desert, Petrified Forest National Park

The park was a mixture of the Badlands and Craters of the Moon

Trying to show the huge size of some of these trees!

Petrified wood

We finished the loop in time to be ushered out of the park by the ranger

Scenic route 89A from Flagstaff to Sedona... quite the hidden treasure

Just arriving into Sedona

Mom found her favorite statue in Sedona

Snoopy Rock in the distance

Execution of the penny press: automatic method (Mom got 3 pennies in Sedona and I got 2)

Lucky Rotary Javelinas

Stations of the Cross at the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona

Chapel of the Holy Cross

My 'residence' for the next 2 months

My room

Bath

Common area

Thanks again, Mom, for riding/driving with me to Scottsdale and talking me through a few tears at lunch yesterday. All you've done is much appreciated...

EAD

Just a quick update before another busy day begins: Mom and I made it down to Scottsdale without incident (probably thanks to a few prayers along the way). I'll hopefully upload pictures from our journey tonight.

As of today, I am officially an active duty nurse. We have lots of orientation and paperwork these next few days. Let's see if I can remember how to wear this uniform every day...

My address for those wanting it:

Residence Inn by Marriott
c/o Emlyn Mann
6040 N. Scottsdale Rd
Scottsdale, AZ 85253
(They said anything with the actual address and my name will get to me!)

Thanks, and please say a few prayers for me the next few days as I adjust and get settled into this 'new life'.

So long, Nebraska

On my last night in Nebraska, I thought I would share this great sunset picture I took yesterday. It was a gorgeous array of colors, and it changed minute by minute. Tonight's sunset was not nearly as good.


I hit the road in the morning (hoping for a 7am departure). I will be fortunate enough to have my mom in attendance. She agreed to ride down with me (hopefully driving some too!) and she'll catch a plane back on Wednesday afternoon before I need to report. Prayers for a safe and expeditious trip would be much appreciated!

Florida cont.

TUESDAY:
Tuesday morning we had breakfast at our hotel (Best Western Naples got high reviews in our book). We then ventured out to discover Naples. We walked downtown, to the dock, then on to the beach and pier. It was about 65 degrees, but awfully windy at the beach. There were some sunbathers, but neither Cody and I were that brave.Tin City was next of the list, which was a small area in Naples that had numerous souvenir-type stores. Cody and I found a manatee ornament as our item from Naples.

Enjoying coffee on our sunny balcony

Naples Harbor

A sign for Poppy: "All of Naples is a Bird Sanctuary"

Photo-op on the pier

Great sand and great views

 

 

At Tin City

Leaving Tin City

Next, we journeyed to Fort Myers Beach. On the map it was only about 45 miles, however, it took us closer to 1 1/2 hours to get there (traffic out of Naples and road work into Ft Myers was to blame). However, we made it to the Beached Whale so Cody could get fish tacos. Then we headed to see the beach before piling back in the car to make it to Winter Haven for Cody's RCIA class.

A windy lunch at the Beached Whale

A view from the restaurant

Ft. Myers Beach

We didn't venture down the beach, but it looked rather nice

WEDNESDAY = Manatees!
Wednesday we got another early start (with Dunkin', naturally!). We headed up to Homosassa Springs to visit the State Wildlife Park there. We anticipated spending $26 for the both of us to get in, however, the cashier admitted me as her guest (her personally military discount) and gave Cody AAA discount. Our total came to $10! We arrived just in time to catch the boat to the main attraction. The exhibits were very well done and we were able to attend a few educational programs. And I finally got to see manatees! The rather large ones have been in captivity, while the smaller one is wild.

Enjoying the sun on the boat tram to the park

Execution of the penny press

Spoonbill

This exhibit had 3 bald eagles which must have been unable to fly

Just taking a rest

In great anticipation of a manatee sighting!

First sight of a manatee!

The morbidly obese manatee in captivity (this was was on a diet, however, she arrived to lunch first...)

Incoming manatee to join the other two- if there wasn't room to the side, they just pushed their way on top until the giant floating potatoes parted

The wild manatee coming to catch any leftover cabbage

Waiting for the hippo program... ask Cody for his hippo impression- it's quite uncanny

Lou, an honorary citizen of Florida (mostly because no one else wanted this 6,000 lb giant). He's 51 years old and surrounded by splatter zone warnings!

Finishing up our picnic lunch before getting on the road to Clearwater Beach

Then, we drove about 1 1/2 hours south to Clearwater Beach. This was a much nicer drive than into Ft. Myers Beach. We acquired a parking tag from someone that was just leaving the beach, so we got another discount that day. We started down the beach toward Pier 60. Our plan was to stay for the sunset, however, it was very windy and very cloudy. We found a spot blocked by a dune, but we gave up after a while because of the clouds.

Our last beach of the trip... It was much wider with even nicer sand than Naples

Cody was sure this one was still alive...

Sun rays on the pier

We checked out a few shops along the harbor

Waiting for the sunset and lavishing in our wind-block

Just before dipping into the clouds

Our favorite picture from the trip

Cody had long grown tired of driving, so I took the wheel on the drive back through Tampa. Obviously, we survived.

THURSDAY:
Thursday morning didn't allow for much besides a wake-up and drive to the airport. We did, however, find time for one last stop at Dunkin' Donuts. :)

Cody's condo in Winter Haven

My last Dunkin' Donuts.... (until Scottsdale)

We were running a smidge behind getting to the airport, but everything turned out just fine, very few tears this time! I was able to fly stand-by into Omaha so I could arrive 1 1/2 hours sooner. It turned out to be a fabulous trip although we were both tired Thursday night. It's back to the cold for me, until Monday when I start my drive down to AZ. Cody's back at work, and is even thinking about playing golf this afternoon.