Traditional Christmas bread making

Decorating outside

Good dog

Villa Mirage pool, waterfall

Hot Tub

Monday drive

Lunch at Canyon Lake

Birds in tree, swans in water

Hike just past Tortilla Flats

On the way out we diverted to Lost Dutchman State Park

We resisted hiking

Tuesday:  The next photos are from Desert Splash Seaplane Adventure, our birthday present from Laura and Tom
Glad we took the Apache Trail drive yesterday.  We now flew over it and more.
The first three photos are from Mike Rightmire, a fun fellow passenger with a chicken

That's Mike in the red shirt

He greeted us as we entered the terminal,
and handed Charlie the chicken

Mike gave his chicken top billing in this photo
That's OK.  We were busy with head phones

Touchdown on the water

Roosevelt Dam

How about those roads?

I found the different color roofs interesting

Tuesday afternoon we hiked around Papago Park in Phoenix
We never found the entrance, but just parked along the freeway, as others did too

This reminds me of the sphinx

Wednesday, 28th we drove to Globe to view the Besh Ba Gowah Archaeological Park

I climbed to the second floor to get the above photos

Thursday we visited Scottsdale Old Town and met Ermal Walden Williamson at his corner book signing
Ermal was a stand-in for John Wayne and he gratiously signed a book for me,  "To Judy, in memory of Fran"
Fran would have loved it.

On the way to Laura's for dinner, we visited Cosanti, the home of Paolo Soleri known for his Soleri Windbells. For me, this complemented my visit with Laura and Jess to Arcosanti in March 2012. However, this time I actually saw the innovator himself at work on a patio in his home where the sign said "do not enter". So I respected his privacy and took no pictures.

Thursday evening we celebrated Charlie's birthday with a delicious steak dinner cooked by Tom  
and Laura made Charlie's  traditional chocolate cream pie.
A perfect ending to a wonderful vacation