Monday, November 17, 2008

Road Trip, Part 2

We had finally made it to Bouse, Arizona.
Land of the snow birds.
Bouse is one of those dinky towns along the high way in the middle of nowhere. It's one of those towns that you might miss if you blink. It's one of those towns that has no grocery store and one gas station, if you're lucky. One of those towns that has one, count em, one local diner, fast food is miles away. One of those towns you have to travel 40 miles away from to get groceries, so you better not forget anything on the list. One of those towns where you wonder how anyone can live so far from civilization and you wonder what people who live there actually do. What they do from day to day as well as what they do for a living, since there is no commerce.
Well, this week we found out.


I'll tell you what happens there.
Old people go there to get out of the snow and enjoy a mock summer all winter long.
Mr Bird's dad went for the first time last winter after his beloved wife of over 40 years passed away. His brothers go there for the winter with their spouses and their horses. Grandpa needed to get away so he flew south with his brothers. While he was there he met and fell in love with a wonderful lady who is now his new bride.
Grandpa and Grandma DD liked it so much they decided to get a place of their own so they too could fly the coup when the winter winds start blowing.
After being there for 5 days, I don't blame them.


Mr Bird and I have decided to take a family vacation south every November. Last year we went to Moab the second week in November and it was perfect. It makes Summer/Autumn feel like it lasts just a little longer. Plus there were not many tourists cuz most people have their kids in school. The weather was in the mid 70's every day while is was storming and bitter cold back home.



So what do people do in nowhere land, you ask?
They find the hippie caves where it is rumored that hippies would come and live in during the 70's.


They look at all the cool cacti they have only ever imagined and stare in awe at them and imagine they look like crusty coral from the bottom of the ocean.



They go on lots of rides in dune buggies and four wheelers and horses.
They cart their bikes all they way down there and ride the deserted desert roads and feel the warm air rush over their sun bathed skin...in November!

They find cool old abandoned mines in the middle of the desert, and they must explore them.


They take way too many pictures of those cacti.

They take turns taking pictures of each other.

They find bat caves and try not to step in the guano.
They try really hard not to get any cactus spines in their skin.


They take yet more pictures of these strange cacti and wonder how all those nubby branches can crowd around one cactus pole.

They enjoy the piece and quiet that is nowhere land.

This one enjoyed being rocked to sleep by the dune buggies.

And he loved the 4 wheeler with grandpa. He even fell asleep on that thing too.


We enjoyed having nowhere to be in the mornings and no responsibilities. We played in the dirt and made Grandpa tell us stories of his days on submarines when he was in the Navy.
We got to know Grandma DD a little better and enjoyed her yummy cooking.
When it was time to leave we were not ready for our vacation to be over.
We headed home on Thursday, hoping to be home for some family events over the week end.
Long story short, we missed all our family events and ended up not getting home until late Saturday night. On the way up home we decided to make a little detour.
To find out about this little detour check back tomorrow, I'll give you a hint.
This is the place where all your dreams come true!
How could we miss it?
To see what everyone else is chatting about this crisp Tuesday visit The Lazy Organizer.

5 comments:

Sharida said...

If that detour is what I'm thinking it is, it's not a little detour. But how exciting!!

It was great to see Mr. Bird's dad. I'm glad you guys had so much fun!! And jealous that you had a week of doing absolutely anything you wanted and nothing you didn't want!

Mrs. O said...

I miss living down south during the winter. Looks like a fun trip.

Delighted Mom said...

Looks like my kind of vacation!

Chanelle said...

I'm from Tucson and you just made me super home sick. Other than that, I loved the post and pictures!

Anonymous said...

How fun for you guys. I bet Jay's dad was so excited to have come and play with them. Glad you had a fun and enjoyable week. Can't wait to hear about the DETOUR!!