Last week was winter break for many California kids and teachers, and for Lauren and Lauris there was no exception. So we planned a trip down to our home in Tucson, AZ. Lauris has been accumulating things to bring down to the house in the garage, so it made sense to take our minivan and bring a lot of household items with us.
In preparation for the trip, I took the Chevy minivan to the dealership the week before to have an inspection and oil change performed. I was a little concerned only because the last time we took the minivan down to Tucson, we had that major tire blow out on I-5. The dealership did recommend changing the front brakes, which I had done. Everything else checked out on the car, so I was little more comfortable with driving it the almost 1900 miles down to Tucson and back again.
We left on Friday, the 18th to avoid weekend traffic. While we did avoid heavy traffic, instead we got to enjoy un-relenting rain for the entire trip down. The rain impeded our progress a bit and we didn't make it all the way to Blythe, CA our usual stop on the way to Tucson. So, instead we spent the night just outside of Palm Springs. The second day of the trip progressed with more rain, but not as bad as the first day. We did our usual stop in Quartzsite, where Lauren enjoyed picking out more rocks and gems to add to her collection. Her find this time around was a pink colored rock in the shape of a heart.
After a delay due to traffic in Phoenix and stopping at the IKEA in Tempe, we made it to our home just before dinner on Saturday. The house was just as we left it, but it appears someone had turned off the outside water faucet which had been hooked up to a drip watering system, so many of the outside plants were looking a bit under the weather. It might also have been due to the freezing temps they've had overnight in Tucson.
The week for the most part was uneventful, with one exception. I did find a house in the same sub-division as ours for sale that was an REO (bank owned foreclosure) listed for just $119k, with over 1000 sq ft more living space. The house was beautiful, built in 2006, so not much older than ours. It would have been a perfect house for us in California, but being situated in Arizona, it would have been an unnecessary luxury. We still chose to put in an offer, but we've since decided it may make a better project as a "flip", where we fix it up and resell it, rather than a new vacation home for us, should the bank accept our offer.
We left last Friday to return back to the Bay Area, and the drive back was rather uneventful, the only interesting items were the snow in the Grapvine and through the Pacheco Pass. We took the opportunity to stop at Tejon Ranch where Lauren posed for a picture in the snow.
On Sunday I took advantage of groupon discount I had for the movies, and took Lauren to see Megamind, a movie she's wanted to see, and it included popcorn and drinks, and I also spoiled her with dippin' dots ice cream, a favorite of hers. Plus it turned out the movie theater had a claw machine, and I was able to extract two stuffed animals at the same time, to Lauren's delight.
It's back to the grind this week, and school for Lauren and Lauris. Lauren was excited to bring in her rocks to class to give her teachers.
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