Got photos?

The iconic London Bridge - yes, it is the 'real' London Bridge, the oldest antique in the world.

Sally with our wonderful Kingman hosts Larry & Cindy Lewis. We miss you both already!

An interesting concept - a Monte Christo. It's a deep fried meat sandwich that you put honey or jam on. As awful as it sounds, it was actually quite tasty.

The girls at Parker Dam with Neil Ott.

Stay tuned for tomorrows summary of our goings on today - kayaking the Colorado, the funniest lunch so far and the 'soiree' tonight...

And the people will come......

Who would have thought a man could have so much vision to create a town forty odd years ago and get people to come because he wanted cheaper costs for his business...
Lake Havasu is just that town and yesterday..Monday I think...we started a very busy vocational day and learnt a lot about this place- that sort of just appears in the desert an hour and a half from Kingman.
Our morning began with breakfast in the company of District Governor Jeanie at International House of Pancakes (IHOP to the those in the know). This experience was to scar me for life as I think I was served the biggest waffle I had ever seen (Caroline made me do it) while Sally and Sarah attempted a mountain of pancakes that reached unknown heights hidden under fruit compotes. I am sure Peter was also set for the day. It was nice to meet with Jeanie (thank you YUM) and share a little of our journey so far. Neil our handler and Steve our trusty driver also partook in this memorable breakfast.
Steve then took us to the Chamber of Commerce where we met up with Arizona outbound team member 2009, Jenny Coke.It was great to touch base again and we were introduced to a dynamic team dedicated to making Lake Havasu a tourist and business development destination. We appreciated the time of Lisa (knew it all!), Doug (started only a few weeks ago and found time for us) and Garry (AKA James Bond)and I think we could have chatted all day!
Lunch was at a combined Rotary meeting of the three clubs in town (London Bridge, Sunrise and lake Havasu). We gave our presentation and enjoyed the views to the famous bridge that is a big water feature the anyones scale of things.
Off to the council and to Charlie Cassens acting CEO, who shared how the town with a population of 55,000 (to be confirmed in the census this year) runs and a little about it's management including the water issues . We then headed to the town museum and took in some history of the town with the London bridge purchased for just over 1.3 million and shipped to the states after being carefully dismantled and the pieces numbered...Yes they did know which bridge they were buying...Caroline purchased yet another cookbook in the gift shop and we all enjoyed the model displays, advertising and films(classic 1960s) to encourage people to move here as well as the fantastic Indian baskets.
A quiet walk under the bridge with a snow cone to cool us down completed our day in town.
We then headed up the hill to the edge of town limits and Deans beautiful home for drinks and a view of the lake second to none. Thanks Dean and please look after those hummingbird babies.
I returned home to my hosts, Gloria and Tom, for a lovely dinner and chat. I had hoped to hear more Cyotes (as I had the night before) but alas the evening was still and the moon full.
Lake Havasu has been a big surprise for me. I think it an amazing venture to bring people to a planned town and encourage them to stay and create a community where before there was nothing but desert. Google it and see for yourself. Perhaps the saying is true..Only in America!

WORK!! - isn't that a 4 letter word?

As indicated from Caroline's last missive we were to have a day of working with the Rout 66 Rotary Club on some maintenance at Recreation Area 3 in Hualapai Mountain Park (about a mile from where I'm staying with Larry and Terri Thornton).

We all fronted there around 9-9.30 (with the exception of Caroline who was a bit later due to her host having to unexpectedly go to work). The girls were set the task of washing down the bathroom walls of a hut at the site prior to painting and then set about painting it. I set off to dig some holes for the horseshoe pits (and beautiful holes they were to - except somebody kept filling them in with sand!).

Around 11.30 Larry Lewis suggested that we needed another cultural experience and offered to take us in to Kingman to see what was happening with the Harley Davidson event in town. I agreed that this was an opportunity to good to miss so we left the Route 66 team to their devices and headed down the mountain. We dropped in to Larry's place (magnificent) so that he could pick up his Harley and his wife, Cindy, drove us in to town.

I have never seen so many Harley's in one place! I'd hate to think of the total value of the bikes that were there but ther were thousands - and all gleaming (they do love their bikes!). After having a good wander around the bikes and the Harley shop Larry and Cindy took us off for another US experience to have lunch at the local Cracker Barrel Restaurant. There was a shop attached to this eatery and Caroline managed to find another cookbook (your in for a taste sensation when she gets home Scott!)

We went back to the Harley show to see if Larry had won the raffle (another Harley) but he was unsuccessful. Heading back up the mountain we checked out the work of the Rotary team (they achieved so much in the day - about 40 from the Club plus support for Bull Head Rotarians - and were just cleaning up and settling in to a BBQ when we arrived. We needed more food like a hole in the head but sat around talking with our hosts and others until we all headed off to our respective homes.

I have been stayin with Larry and Terri on top of the Mountain (6500ft) with great vistas all around. It was amazing coming home on Thursday evening with heavy snow and the car (truck) having some difficulty with the wet conditions - but Larry got us through. This was an Arizonan experience I didn't expect but it was beautiful to see.

Off to Lake Havasu today - beautiful morning and expected to be 94F down trhere. Watch this space!

Photo Montage!!

Grand Canyon West!! Everyone should google Grand Canyon Skywalk - amazing experience!

Caroline and Lucy!

Wilfred, Sarah, Kirsty & I

Sedona on the jeep tour!

Enough Said :-)

The Palace Bar on Whiskey Row, Prescott

Peter taking his fill at the Page Springs Winery.

SNOW! in the car on the way through Seligmen to Kingman!

Our freezing Jeep tour!!

There are no words

Good morning (Saturday morning) from Caroline at my "host dad's" desk at his office. By the way - it is appropriate to call somebody your "host dad" when he's three years younger than you???

Anyway, yesterday was the most incredible day!

Our day began with a good fun meeting with the Route 66 Rotary Club - complete with Sargeant-at-arms dressed as a biker in honour of this weekend's Harley-Davidson event in Kingman. Thanks to all the members of the Club for being a great audience :).

Then Larry drove and Mary Kay accompanied us on a great adventure. First stop, the Route 66 Museum where we met with Joshua, who works for the Chamber of Commerce. We owe much gratitude to Joshua -

First, because he introduced us to members of the Route 66 Association and we made a great connection with the most famous touring route in the world. [Penny, Nick and all my KAW colleagues - I took notes and got some good info to tell you about.]

THEN, Joshua also organised for us the Best Day! We all travelled up to the West Rim of Grand Canyon to spend the day with a most amazing man, Wilfred Whatoname [pronounced Wha-TON-a-meh] who is the son of the Chief of the Hualapi tribe. We were invited to experience the Skywalk. Hoo hah. Some of us never thought we would do it... Sarah in particular conquered a great fear by walking on a glass floor 4,000 feet above the canyon floor. Mary Kay also was extremely brave, bouyed up by the strength of Wilfred who held her hand. Meanwhile, Larry jumped up and down a lot and freaked us all out...

We came back to a lovely reception with the Club at Nate's gorgeous home. Everybody here is so kind and friendly.

I have to go now as we are helping Rotary on a works project in Kingman. I just want to say a huge thank you to Joshua for setting it up, Larry for driving, Mary Kay for joining us, and especially Wilfred and the other members of the Hualapi who were beautiful and welcoming. When Wilfred blessed us at the end of our day and taught us how to greet one another with a handshake that enables you to feel the heartbeat of your friend, we were rendered unable to speak for emotion and gratitude. Sorry that this description is inadequate - there just are no words.

Let it snow...

SNOW! In Arizona! In Spring...

Today was our travel day to Kingman. After our freeezing day in Sedona yesterday, i was well prepared with LAYERS of clothes.

We enjoyed seeing the lovely Mayor of Prescott, Marlin Kuykendall again and meeting with him and his dynamic team to discuss our trip so far and also their future plans in tourism.

After saying a sad farewell to Jim and John (thanks again!!!!!) Norm drove us to Seligman. Seligman, for those of you playing at home, is where the cartoon movie CARS was based.

On the way there it did snow! I personally have not seen snow actually fall before, so was super excited!

We arrived in Kingman and had a tour of the towns two Musuems, and have settled into our hosts homes. Tomorrow we will present to the Kingman Sunup Club and afterwards will be heading to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon!! There is a Skywalk there that is going to be amazing.. more tomorrow...

When i find my camera cable i will put some of our fantastic photos up!

Arizona cold? Never! apart from odd Wednesdays...

Today was another early start as we joined Prescott Sunrise Rotary Club. We made the most of sharing with new friends from our time in Prescott and presenting to the members of the largest club in town. Don't forget to put our flag out next week!

It was then off to Sedona with Don on board sharing the plans for District Conference. We hope many Rotarians will join us for this unique experience of the Canyon (and us) as well as an opportunity to get together with fellow Rotarians.

Jim our tireless coordinator and driver was taking us only so far and then Richard took over as we headed to the red rocks and busy roads of this tourist town. Richard took a little while to adjust to us Aussies after driving the Indian team. After identifying roadkill skunk and the accompanying scent he concentrated on the interstate drivers instead of helping us to read the road signs.
We did stop over at the National Park Forestry Centre. I personally was intrigued by the scat display which amused Richard and kept us inside away from the wind.
Those clouds looked ominous!
We all enjoyed our quick tour of Richard and Renata's fantastic home. The views were awesome ! Richard makes some wonderful iron art which we also admired.

Then onto Sedona Rotary club to share our presentation # two for the day. (We are getting pretty good at it now!). It is great to meet so many people who have travelled or know someone who has been to the country we love. Thank you for welcoming us.

The day grew colder but our adventure was only just beginning. Thanks to the generosity of John we took our seats in an open jeep to face the hills of Sedona and head up into the wilds. It was less than seven degrees before the wind chill.
So dangerous we had to sign a waiver, so cold our noses were running and so rough bras broke free in distress! David our fantastic driver did not stop sharing great stories, interesting facts and gave us the inside scoop on some celebrity gossip. It was another great G.S.E. experience and will be a great story for our return. At least laughing kept us a little warmer.

When we got back we had no time to waste- getting back into the van to head towards Montezuma's Well, a fantastic natural spring in the middle of nowhere the Indians had used hundreds of years ago. We had a quick walk, took photos and then back into the van to defrost.

We were pleased to see Jim and Don back at the rendezvous point for the trip home. Thank you to R and R for all their hard work in Sedona and thanks also for letting Lucy the sausage dog share our time too.

Tonight I have enjoyed artichokes for the first time and a great chat with my special hosts Walt and Pat. What a wonderful couple they are. It has been a great 'almost' week and I will be sad to hit the road tomorrow as we head toward Kingman and new adventures. Perhaps we will have double figure temperatures too. Lets hope the road isn't as rough...

Got cake?

Okay, so, we were warned months ago that GSE actually stands for "Get Sleep Eventually" and we politely laughed but hoo hah it's no lie.

Papparazzi Jim (who is at the D'Backs tonight, lucky Jim!) has put us through our paces during our time in Prescott, but all a great adventure.

This morning we scraped ourselves together for a 6:15am meeting time to spend the day in the town of Prescott Valley. We attended the PV Chamber of Commerce quarterly breakfast meeting along with around 100 local business people.

Then our Driver Du Jour, John took us to Tim's Toyota Center. [Please note - for those doubters out there that suspected John would either lose us, lose the van or lose his drivers licence, he was a fab driver!] Now, do you, like us, think Tim's Toyota Center would be a car dealership? Not that we wouldn't have adored a visit to a dealership... We were relieved to discover it's actually a significant entertainment arena/stadium - home venue for the Sundogs Ice Hockey team and several other sporting and music events. Stevie Nicks, Willie Nelson, Chicago and many others have played here - REO Speedwagon and Pat Benatar are coming soon.

Close by is the brand new Library and Council Chambers, where we were graciously met by members of Council and the Mayor, and Vice Mayor Lora Lee Nye took us on a tour around this magnificent facility (constructed to reflect the nearby extinct volcano) - including a groovy high-tech virtual reality suite.

We returned to the beautiful Palace in Prescott for a lunch meeting with the fun Frontier Rotary Club - and were delighted the Club President was able to find synergies between tourism and gardening/landscaping in all our presentations...... somehow... More really excellent questions from the Club, too - thank you all.

After lunch we were accompanied by driver Norm, who kindly made a detour to Costco and allowed us to wander goggle-eyed through the store. Why oh why may I not bring home 2kg of Red Vines, 2.5kg of Jelly Belly and 1.8kg of Reece's Pieces??? Not to mention Pretzels filled with Peanut Butter (seriously). And Kirsty discovered a new treat named "Aussie Bites".

Back to our responsibilities, and the Prescott Valley Tribune had us in their offices to do an interview with us about ourselves and the GSE - thank you for your interest and for letting us steal all your office chairs, Tribune team!

Last official stop of the day was at the Highlands Center, a really beautiful nature education facility just out of town. We took a beautiful walk through the Ponderosa Pine forest. Dave encouraged us all to sniff the bark of a tree........ Is he at home this evening amusing his family with the story? "Ha ha! You should have seen all these strange Aussies today, smelling a tree!" Actually, it did smell delicious.
[Jane K, Ross L - I reckon I have found the perfect solution to prettying up the public toilets in Centennial Park, Cooma! Gorgeous handpainted tiles adorned the washrooms at Highlands - I took photos to show you.]

Sarah's hosts had us all over for dinner this evening, a really relaxing and happy evening capped off by the most enormous (112oz) 'All American Chocolate Cake' which my host Barbara brought from Costco.

Sorry for the lack of photographic evidence (eg of The Cake) - I am too tired to organise myself just now and we've another early start tomorrow.

Message for the day is Happy 42nd Anniversary to Peter and Libby (even though it's tomorrow already, for Libby). It is true, we did not sing romantic songs to Peter today but we DID sing our National Anthem to John in the van this morning..... does that count?

Good night.

You had me at merlot!

Yesterday was a 7.45am start as we were heading to Sedona, and what a day it was!

We met at Janette and Dave Bill's house in the foothills of Sedona for brunch and boy did they deliver. Janette cooked an amazing brunch - bagels, fruit, sausages, eggs, potatoes and something else that I cannot for the life of me remember. Brunch was a great opportunity to get to know the Indian team a bit better and learn about what they do at home.

After brunch, Ed our wonderful driver took us up to the Chapel of the Holy cross which provides spectacular views to some of the rock formations and over a large residential area, which mostly blended into the landscape, with the exception of a monstrosity of a house that was directly in everyones line of sight (pictures to come).

After a short drive through the newest shopping precinct in Sedona, we were off to Cottonwood (best name ever!) with Casey as our wonderful tour guide. We took a short stroll down the street until we arrived at Arizona Stronghold. Formed by Eric Glomski, the owner and director of winemaking at Page Springs Cellars and Maynard Keenan, owner of Caduceus Cellars and lead singer of the band TOOL (woop!), the two have come together under the banner of Arizona Stronghold Vineyards.

We sampled 4 wines under the Arizona Stronghold label - Nachise, Mangus, Tazi and Dayden. All named after key figures of the Chiricahua Apache.

Arizona winemakers use grapes I have never heard of - Petite Sirah and Malvasia Bianca to name two. Apparently Malvasia Bianca is set to become the signature grape of Arizona.

Sam Pillsbury's tasting room was our next stop, which was conveniently located just across the road. When entering the facility we were greeted with 'hello you bastards', which could only come from one of two nationalities - a fellow Australian or a Kiwi. Yep, Sam was a kiwi.

Wine tasting at two tasting rooms all before lunch is hard work you know, but we decided to push on regardless to our next stop - Page Springs Cellars. Here we were hosted to a wonderful lunch provided by Renate, Richard and their merry group of fellow Rotarians. The very knowledgable Norris was our wine tasting expert for the day. As we sat on the deck overlooking the running Spring and spending time with some wonderful Rotarians, it reminded us all how fortunate we are to be here and to be given this wonderful opportunity.

With the water flowing alongside us and the hot sun on our backs, I, like many of the others could have easily curled up and had a siesta, but we soldiered onto our final destination for the day - Alcantara Vineyards.

Located in the Verde Valley and established by husband and wife team Barbara and Bob Predmore, Alcantara is the first winery on the banks of the Verde River. With over 10,000 vines planted over 20 acres, there are some big plans in the making for Alcantara. Barbara is a woman of great vision and passion and I am confident that with her at the helm, her vision will come to fruition in a matter of years. With plans to build a B&B, plant more vines, introduce olives, build a Tuscan restaurant and an entertainment space including an ampitheatre, Barbara and Bob have their work cut out for them.

An ENORMOUS thankyou to our wonderful driver/area coordinator/paparazzi/most tolerant person alive, Jim Clemens for putting up with us the last few days, laughing at our jokes when I am fairly confident weren't even funny and generally being a great person to be around. Thanks Jim - it is people like you that make this trip so special for us all.

We have a Chamber of Commerce breakfast in the morning and we being picked up at 6.15am, so over and out for now...

Mea Culpa! Mea Culpa! We forgot last Friday

Sorry Blog readers - we forgot to fill in the events of last Friday.

We said our farewells to all of our first hosts (very sadly - any future hosts need to know that the bar has been set very high) and Barbara (Kirsty's host) was prepared to kidnap her and hide her for the rest of the trip. Jim and Mark (they had used a bit of common sense - for a change and Mark had picked up Sarah and Sally) proceeded to their exchange point to the Prescott Rotarians. We had a minor stop at a 'frontier village' along the way to get together (and where we practised our best cowboy/girl strut) and Jim made a small presentation to the girls as a memento of his being with us for the last week - and much appreciated it all was (both the gifts and Jim's support of our visit).

We met at the rendezvous point at Cordes Junction and Jim handed over to another Jim (Clemens) our new driver. We headed off to our meeting with the Rotary Club of Prescott where we were welcomed by President Brian Sheldahl. this was our first experience of a 'singing' Rotary Club (led by Zack) and we just hope that we were able to hold up our bit in the singing stakes. The presentation seemed to go well and we fielded a number of questions at the end of our program.

Following the meeting we went to meet a PDG (Past District Governor) of the District who is in a nursing/retirement home and (unfortunately) not in the best of health - but still very sharp and delighted to meet with us and obviously held in high regard by the Rotary members of the Prescott area. Ray Meaghan is a former Coast Guard sailor and recalled his days of going to the Antarctic and having R&R in Sydney (although he wouldn't elaborate on exactly what he got he got up to!). He stated that he didn't care so much about meeting me but was very pleased to see the girls - I think that he could have been a bit of a rascal in his day. It was more about the state of his health tho' and he didn't care about me seeing him in this state of health but was concerned for the girls!

We then headed off for a brief/short(!)/quick walk up Thumb Butte (or Butt as Caroline calls it!) with Mike King. The Butte overlooks Prescott but we only got halfway up as we were due to meet the Mayor at 4.00pm - thanks to the Rotarians who got us nice and 'sweaty/glowing' before this event!! We did a quick change and headed off for our appointment with the Mayor.

Mayor Marlin Kuykendall is a delightful man (forget about politics) who welcomed us into his office and spent an hour with the girls explaining his role and approach to the tourism industry in Prescott. He is only recently elected but shows great enthusiasm for his term and the challenges ahead. He was particularly interested in the roles that the girls have in their regions and was interested to determine our reaction to our visit to Prescott - so much so that he has invited us back to his office next Thursday morning for coffee (and whatever) before we leave the area. We managed to get the obligatory shots/photos with him and departed to be picked up by our host families.

I headed off to Scott and Christina Scott's place with their sons Charles and Colin. they are great hosts and the boys (all three of them) are totally into model trains. They are all over their back yard and around the ceiling on the guest house (my room). This has to be seen and experienced to be believed - but more about that later

Just another Manic Monday!

Monday morning found us at the Prescott Chamber of Commerce meeting in a beautiful location opposite Downtown Plaza (not at the town square, it’s a rectangle! Thanks Don!)

It was great to meet Dave Maurer, the CEO of the Chamber. He gave us insight into the workings of their chamber and the challenges they face. We are seeing many similarities in the issues that tourism faces back at home. The chamber offices are above the visitor information centre.

It is interesting to see that their visitor centre has only one paid staff member and the rest is staffed by volunteers. Prescott is a town that seems to have a many successful volunteer organizations. From all accounts the town has a lot of retirees who devote their time to different (all worthy)causes.

*On a side note we have spoken to many Rotarians who do volunteer, and I am very inspired by this!!


After the Chamber we had a look through Hotel Vendome, which is a hotel walking distance to the town centre. The quirk to this property is that it is said to be haunted by ghost of Abbey & her cat. Years ago, Abbeys husband went out at night to get some medicine and never came back. Abbey starved herself and the cat to death. We checked out the haunted room, and many people have heard and read about the legend and have created a shrine to their memory. A little kitchy (sp?) for my taste.

Lunch was at the award winning Prescott Brewery. Yes Dad, we did do some “beer testing”!! Achocolypse was the most memorable beer for me, but we did also get to try a few beers, tour their brewery, and Kirsty & I tried Buffalo for the first time. Lunch was delicious, and John , the owner has a great passion for beer – due partly to time spent in Germany. (Hard life hey?)

The afternoon saw us tour the Log Cabin B&B and the Smoki museum (pronounced Smoke-eye). Smoki has a great history, I recommend y’all Googling it! I won’t waffle on any longer; this is becoming a mammoth entry. Dinner saw us at the Prescott Resort, a major accommodation and gambling venue on Native Indian land. It was a great chance to sit down, give our Jim a break from driving and paparazzi-ing and stare into the sun – in Sarah’s case!

We girls watched the movie Julie & Julia on the place on the way over. Briefly, this is a movie about Julie, who starts a blog about working her way through Julia Childs “Art of French Cooking” over a year. She ends up having thousands of readers hanging on her every word…
I wonder what our loyal following is? I know I have been sent an email asking what’s happening when we have missed a day or two. Thousands? Maybe not but we appreciate the comments on our blog and that you are “sharing our journey with us!”

Shady Lady or Tainted Dove?

Welcome to cowboy country. Where you could mine at 'the crik' and then spend your whole pay at 'The Palace'-drinkin', gamin' and with women of disrepute in the back room upstairs....
We started our day on Saturday with an early walk around Prescott Square (which incidentally is a rectangle but that just does not sound as nice). Mike King a special Rotarian with an amazing knowledge and passion for his town showed us the highlights and shared some of the rich history. It is not hard to think about how it was less than 200 years ago.
Businesses and abandoned babies were won with the turn of some dice.
A big fire in 1900 cleared out Whisky Row, the haunt of those looking for entertainment then and now. 'The Palace' saved its fantastic bar by patrons carrying it across the street out of harms way to the square!
The walk was fascinating and Mike knew it all! We enjoyed a lovely lunch with some Rotarians at an day long assembly and then ventured back in time to Sharlot Hall Museum. Named after the founder, our guide, Jodi introduced us to Sharlot's great poetry.She was in character and usually dresses up to complete the return to 'the olden days'. It was cool! We also saw examples of architecture and got a feel for the way life had been for those first settlers and pioneers. What a fantastic facility obviously a proud part of the tourist trail in Prescott. The Phippen Museum was our next stop. We are getting very good at getting in and out of the van.
Sally has a wonderful talent for seat belt placement so no one is injured, hung or maimed while alighting... Anyway the Phippen is a celebration of art and heritage of the American West. Some wonderful artists have dedicated their talents to immortalising this important time in the history of Arizona. The last stop after freshening up at Mikes lovely home was the Chino Valley Rotary Beer/Wine night with art auction thrown in. We enjoyed looking at some varied art (knowing that Kincade print would be too hard to fit into our suitcases) while sipping a variety of ales and wines (Jacobs Creek was there I am sure because we were!). By this time I think we were all fading a little (yes I saw you Peter) and after some nibbles and meeting some locals we headed back to our hosts to rest. I apologise we did not blog last night but the days are BIG. Just for the record...I think I prefer tainted dove to shady lady....maybe in my next life!

On Easy Street

Another quick touching-base this evening, this one from Prescott (pron. PRES-ket) - and apologies for the fact our reporting is slightly disjointed. We cannot always each get to a computer AND when we do we are inclined to double up on our story-telling!

So, you're up to date with the Cabela's store, after which we met and dined with Glendale Rotary Club and Gordon Biersch - really good night, really long day.

Yesterday (Thursday 15th) we were honoured to visit Luke Air Force Base (and we have decided we now each need our own call-signs and that we should talk in acronyms more), after which we met and dined with the other Glendale Rotary Club at Knights of Columbus.

What I have been asked to tell you about, though, is our afternoon yesterday. We took a journey north-east from Phoenix through an area of incredible hillside homes and Rolls Royce Convertibles to a place called Carefree. And there, on Easy Street (just off Nonchalant Street) we found AZ Wine. Barbara (Kirsty's host) arranged for us to meet with her brother Richard who took time from his (really very busy) day in the store to introduce our eyes, noses and palates to some scrumptious local wines. (We also amused ourselves by wandering through his store exploring labels from all around the world, including of course Australia.)

Last night we each enjoyed our last evening with our Phoenix hosts and this morning we made for Prescott. Watch for more details and photos soon!

Over and out for tonight,

Ruf [toying with this one for my call-sign?]

Oh yes I will take that synthetic life size elk home!

Cabela's
With our lovely guide Pat who had worked out all the stats in metric just for us and she walked liked us. But I would have enjoyed her navigating the store back wards....She was going to hunt a turkey this weekend. I wish her well!
Oh my, perhaps I did see the most gobb-smaking place yesterday and I have tried all night to get my head around it.
Picture this, a white beach, rolling surf. No not really- I mean. A huge outdoor sports store complete with mountain, plane, stuffed animals worth millions, gun museum and fish pillows!.
A place where you can see trout in an aquarium and then purchase products to catch their relatives.
There would be enough camouflage clothing to look after many African villages (and never see them again!).
One of my favourite spots was the stack of Winchester ammunition just in an aisle as tall as me almost (well it was pretty big). You could buy a hand gun off the rack too!
After perusing the clothing, camping gear, guns and canoes I ventured up stairs to the 'House and Cabin' section and restaurant. I could have bought a night light with tent and fire or an elk jerky sausage.
At one point I looked over at this huge store and just shook my head in wonder. How does Jamie not know about this place? Thousands of others do! People all over the States travel on average 2 1/2 hours to get to a store and then 4 hours wondering around the store.
Once I spotted the life size plastic elk and the turkey to match I thought anything was possible and began to see the attraction. Well there was also FUDGE!. They make over 200 kilos a week in store and give away samples to die for.
I just had to ask the girls to share this with everyone and I hope you will all check out their website as they have bargains unheard of in Australia. Yes Jamie that is permission on some level....
A week has gone by and although I still have not slept through, I feel less surprised each morning as I prepare for another day with Vanilla and Cinnamon Coffee mate and my dear host Barbara. Our support here in Phoenix has been great. We have met so many lovely people and felt welcome and special where ever we have stepped.
Tomorrow is another adventure and we say Goodbye to our first week. After Cabela's I KNOW anything can happen.
Just for the record I am sending the elk by post (I thought it would be nice at Christmas in the front yard). It was only $250 and after all it is only money........NOT

Stepping into the past for an Ice Cream Social

Apologies from us all for no update last night - we had a LONG day and all collapsed into bed in the end.

I'm just providing a quick update on yesterday morning's experiences:

A visit to two historic places - Manistee Ranch and Sahuaro Ranch - the former being a popular venue for Ice Cream Socials in years gone by (and apparently there is another one coming up next month!), the latter bringing to mind Gone With the Wind, with the grand entrance for receiving calling cards and so on.

A visit to the Xeriscape Garden project - low water, drought-hardy plants. (I have some literature for Cooma's Community Garden group.)

A feast at Camalones Mexican restaurant with Sue (Sarah's lovely host) and with Dick and Judy Martin - Judy is an author who kindly gifted us with signed copies of her book about Arizona's history!

A foray into Westgate, amidst TV crews and fans preparing for last night's Coyotes vs Redwings Ice Hockey game.

And a fantastic tour with Pam and Shaunda of the Cardinals Stadium. The grass field lives outside and is rolled into the stadium on rails for each game! So cool!

Two amazing examples of guides walking backwards while delivering their tours - Nancy (Sahuaro) and Pam (Cardinals Stadium), we salute you!!!!

Busy busy busy!

Well we have been busy girls and guys (Jim, our driver and friend has been with us every step of the way!)

Wednesday was a tour filled day for us. I will let Kirsty fill you in on our afternoon. We visited both the University of Phoenix Staduim - Home to the Arizona Cardinals and Cabalas - a HUGE sporting goods store. But more from Kirsty on that.
*I will say that Kirsty did acquire the skill of walking backwards like all good tour guides can while talking!*

On Wednesday morning we toured two historical properties Manistee Ranch (toured by Carol & Chuck) and Sahuaro Ranch (with Nancy), both in Glendale. Two different properties with a lot of stories to be told.

We also visited a "Xeriscape Garden" which is a garden which doesnt particularly require a lot of water. (There will be a much more technical way to tell this tale, excuse my wording!) We were taken around by Jo who was passionate about her job and had been doing some fantastic work sending out the environmental message to Glendale.

It was interesting to hear that although parts of Arizona are in drought, they still do have many sources of water and do not yet require water restrictions. Drought is something that we can all relate to, with Sarah telling us Goulburn's water level was down to 7% at its lowest point.

We had lunch at another amazing mexican restaurant (those who know me - Im loving the mexican food!) with Richard and Judy Martin. Judy was kind enough to give us a copy of her book - "Arizona Walls If only they could speak".

My camera is dead, by hopefully the girls will provide a few photos.

Today - Thursday was a great day. We toured the Luke Air Force Base this morning, presented to the Glendale Rotary Club at lunch and visited the AZ wine company for some wine tasting in the afternoon.

'Say hi to your mum for me'

(Im practising different sign off's - what do you think Aussies?)

More pictures!

Cerrata Chocolate Factory.. waiting for our samples... mmmm

The Bead Musuem (the only in the world!) Artwork with real butterfly wings. (Couldnt do that anymore!)

Caroline is begging someone to take her out to ball game! (Note to team, i would have put my own picture in, but im sure my eyes were closed)

Jane's convertible.. travelling Arizona in windswept style. (Thats Carl driving, not Jane for those of you playing at home).

There has been so much happening.. Ill keep this brief as the girls are providing super descriptions so I just wanted to share some photos.

Go the A team! Day 6 tomorrow!

A pitcure tells a thousand words...or some at least!

Since Caroline has given you a verbal snapshot of today, I thought I would pretty it up with some images to put it all in perspective.

 Giant (the paper to the left is A3 sized) beeds hanging in the entrance to The Bead Museum, promoting an exhibition on just around the corner.

My ENORMOUS taco salad at Bitzee Mama's in downtown Glendale. I put the business card there for perspective, but even still, it doesnt come close to showing the sheer size of it. Needless to say, I didnt eat much of it, and after a while the taco started to collapse from the pressure of all the food. You don't go hungry here - it's all part of the hospitality!

The first rattlesnake sighting. Yep, we were scared!

The team, including Craig (from the Arizona Team that came to Australia and a member of the Phoenix 100 Rotary Club) and Jim (our driver for the week and an honorary member of the Glendale Kachina Rotary Club) listening intently to Marissa at the Cerreta Candy Company.

Tomorrow's agenda includes:

• Tour of Manistee Ranch
• Tour of the Xeriscape Garden (which Kirsty and I are very excited about - and planning to 'steal' some ideas from for use in our own gardens)
• Tour of the Historic Sahuaro Ranch
• Lunch at Westgate
• Tour of the University of Phoenix Stadium (our universities would be shamed if they saw these stadiums!)
•  Tour of Cabela's - Michael and Andrew, by the looks of it, you would quite possibly die if you walked into this shop/store - a sportslovers heaven!
• Presentation to the Glendale West Rotary Club

We have 2 more days in Phoenix (& its lovely nearby surrounds that we have been exploring) before we head to Prescott.

Day 5, 44 more days for me to go and the benchmark has been set VERY VERY high!

Much love to everyone at home.