It was a team effort...

Dan and I went down to Phoenix last week to visit my snowbird parents and my aunt and uncle (Maggie and Don) and my cousin and her family (Micki, Bear and Kasey). Micki and I are only 4 months apart and we were in the same grade in school so we were very close growing up. We aren't as close as we once were but we seem to be able to pick up where we left off when we do get to talk on the phone or see each other. Facebook has also become handy for keeping us updated on each other's daily lives. We stayed with Micki and Bear during our visit and we arrived the day before the Super Bowl in which their hometown team would be playing.

Here's the cake that Micki, Dan and I made for the Super Bowl. I had much grander design plans when I started but we just ran out of time. I ended up roping them in to help with the final decorating when my hands and wrists wore out.

Here's Micki checking the crock pot and a few of her guests with ALL the food for the party.

Here's my dad talking to Micki's parents. Aunt Maggie is my dad's sister (he has six others!).
By the fourth quarter, it was a close game and it looked like the Cardinals might win but the Steelers were tough and came back at the very end. That was day one in Phoenix - more posts on our trip to follow.

How many states do you have left?

Dan and I were recently comparing notes on the US states we have not yet visited. We don't have many in common unfortunately. If memory serves, Alaska and Maine are the only states that both of us have NEVER visited...not exactly doable on a roadtrip!

Here’s my list (I don’t count a state if I’ve only changed planes there) using the following key: bold for states I’ve been to and bold and italics for states I’ve lived in.

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C.

In fact, except for Oklahoma, none of these states are really within driving distance for me. Darn! Interestingly I realized that business trips over the years have brought me to many of these states. In fact, I made my first (and only) trip to three states in the last four years thanks to my current job: Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey. How many states do you have left? Wanna meet me somewhere for a long weekend of exploring a new place?

James Lipton + Treadmill = Longer Workouts

On Monday nights, the stars are aligned and when I leave work and go to the gym (essentially to get my cable TV fix - just keepin' it real) "Inside the Actors Studio" is coming on in my local market. Tonight the host, James Lipton, was interviewing Laura Linney. That was kind of cool because Dan and I had just finished watching the HBO miniseries "John Adams" on DVD (highly recommend it - you can get it from your local library)...and Laura Linney won a Golden Globe last night for her portrayal of Abigail Adams. See what I mean about the stars being aligned? On the other nights of the week I might watch "Modern Marvels" on the History Channel or the latest episode of "Food Network Challenge." We're probably the only folks left on the planet without cable so one of my motivations for going to the gym (and I need as many motivations as I can get) is to get a small dose of cable. The best part is that every cardio machine at my gym has its own monitor attached so I can watch what-EVer. I. Want! No fighting, bargaining, or pleading with my better half.

Look, Santa got my bribe...

I asked for this wonderful cookbook for Christmas and Dan's parents gave it to me. I'm very happy. :-)

We are related to an Olympic champion!

Our niece, Olivia, is the 2008 Iowa State Special Olympics Bowling Champion - age 8-11. Here she is with her mom (Andrea's sister) Adriene.

Big horn sheep sighting!

Okay, I'm back folks. A couple of weeks ago, my buddy from Grad school, Larry, and his wife Mary came out to Colorado for a quick weekend off. They needed a break and she was way way interested in the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park (the hotel The Shining was filmed in), so they made arrangements and came out to stay a night. We picked them up the second day, and took them through Rocky Mountain National Park a bit. We did pretty well in RMNP, seeing some stray elk and one pretty big herd before leaving. We also took a nice walk around Bear Lake, where some industrious kid left us little tiny snowmen in pairs every so often along the trail, usually on the benches.

Now, I have to explain something about seeing wildlife up there. Usually, you will drive along, and you will notice 1 or more cars pulled over, their occupants apparently looking at trees on the side of the road; they're actually looking at deer or elk or whatever among the trees, and it's one of the best ways to spot wildlife. In the 4+ years we've been out here, we've stopped many times with the others, to see everything from deer and elk to voles (they're small rodents--think big mice--can't believe they stopped for them!). I've always thought it would be cool to be the one who actually was the first to spot the living animals myself.

So after we left RMNP, we were driving back down to Estes on a road that's on the side of a valley made by a creek flowing along down about 40 feet below and to the right, with houses interspersed on the hillside among the trees. I happened to see a bunch of white butts walking away along the edge of the creek. But the trees and houses kept anyone else from seeing them. Well, when I was growing up, the rule was that at least 2 people had to see the animals for them to be part of the 'official' count, so I demanded that we turn around and go back, as I needed verification. I didn't know what I'd seen exactly anyway, after all, there are a lot of animals with white butts out there. So we came back a ways, and stopped ahead of the way they had been headed, so as to meet them as they came. Larry and I got out and walked over on the side of the road to a driveway that went down to the creek. When we got there, we were face to face with a small herd of bighorn sheep coming up the drive! So I took a few pictures before any other cars came by, and some after. We tried to signal the first cars to slow down, and the very first one looked at me like I was an alien and had a sign "Will abduct you for food" or something. Well, he came pretty close to having a bighorn co-pilot after narrowly missing one in the road. I tried to tell him, didn't I?!!? I creeped closer, eventually getting within about 30 feet of them. The alpha male gave me a look and snorted at me, so I decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and backed slowly away. The encounter lasted about 10 minutes, and they ended up climbing the hill on the side of the road away from the creek and slipped into the woods.

I was first to see them!!! And the several other cars who saw them stopped after I got pictures myself!! Not that I'm excited about it or anything.......... ;-)

Do you own a crockpot?

We own two - medium and large. Dan and I both love using them - especially in the fall and winter when a hot homemade meal is that much better. Well, my friends, have I got a blog for you to check out. Stephanie is the author of (and chief cook for) "A Year of CrockPotting" I haven't tried any of her recipes yet but they look and sound delicious. And she does a great job of tagging her recipes so you can search by crockpot size and by recipe type/ingredient - see the index on the left side of her page. Today she featured John McCain's Crockpot rib recipe - tomorrow she will post Barack Obama's chili recipe.