Winter Snow

So pretty! A perfect blanket of snow covers the grounds, shrubbery around the porch and lightly dusts the car. You can't see them, but soft fluffy flakes were falling.

It was all gone by morning.

Primanti for Lunch

Best sandwiches ever! Topped with fries and coleslaw.

Kalen and cousin Ethan

Met with Kip and Paul today, and LeeAnn and hubby Dennis.

Kalen with Pap

Met with Kip and Paul for lunch. Chatted for about two hours. Lee Ann and hubby Dennis also came along with Mom, Kalen and me. Ethan entertained the table with his antics and teased with everyone.

Merry Christmas to all!

May you have a wonderful holiday!

This is the front alter at the First United Methodist Church in Phoenix.

Sarah Brightman Concert

Kabuki for awesome sushi and Sarah Brightman concert.

The night started early, at 5PM, so that we could take our time with sushi and dinner. The show was at jobing.com, so we go to the nearby Kabuki restaurant. We tried three new things on the sushi menu (sorry, forgot to take pictures): King Crab Roll, Kabuki roll and a fancy California roll with salmon. For dinner I had to select (again) the Curry Shrimp because the taste is so incredible.

We walked across the plaza, between the double dancing fountains, for the concert. Sarah certainly has an incredible voice, and a duet for the 'Phantom of the Opera' song was worth it all.

DeVito's Pizza

Consistent and wonderful over the years. Northwest corner of 52nd
street and Thomas on Phoenix.

Celine Dion from great seats!

She played in the center of the jobing.com Arena, so all of the seats were awesome. She is quite the performer. Enjoyed the show.

Gordie Brown

Warm up to Celine. He was a very funny comedian who imitated other stars.

Creme Brule At Coco's

Our class had a light dinner at Coco's to celebrate the end of the semester. All brought yummy appetizers and other dishes so snack on. Coco surprised us all with a delightful serving of her home made creme brule.

Celtic Thunder

This was an interesting group with a huge cult following. Good music. I hadn't heard of the group before, so it was quite a surprise and delight when I found that I really liked them.

Joya Spa at Montelucia

Kalen and I spent a few hours rejuvenating before going to Zinc for
Thankgiving Dinner. The property opened again (it used to be La
Posada) on November 4. It's a beautiful property with very nice staff.

Sunrise in Phoenix

We are expecting a rainy day today. Stormy actually. Checked that Kalen has his umbrella and he just sent a message to go outside to see the sunrise. Awesome!! He said that the earlier version had a rainbow included. Two minutes later this was all gone.

On the way back to Phoenix

I'm at the San Diego Airport returning to Phoenix.

Check this out! Rocking chairs next to plugs. They are filled with happy laptop users.

Made it!!!

We are going through the end of the line, scanning in our credentials and picking up our victory shirts. The place is packed and we are just anxious to make it through the closing ceremonies and find our way to the hotel, a warm bath, a hot meal, and a soft place to sleep...not on the ground...and not with 5000 other people.

Pit stop 4. 1,3 miles to go.

One photo of the line of portajohns. While I often welcomed the sight of these (as they were at the rest stops) I will be glad to be away from them for another year.

Pit Stop 3 Pink Flamingo Dress Up

Check back for the photo! 2.1 miles to go!!

Ladee K. Rickard, MBA

We are off on day 3!!

Ladee K. Rickard, MBA

Hi Samantha!

Finished Day 2!

Done with Day 2. Blisters and sore feet but laughing a lot and having
fun.

Ocean Beach

This is a place holder for the Ocean Beach photos.

Ladee K. Rickard, MBA

Life is tough!

Heavy fog

No photo this morning. Heavy fog has the area in a white out.
Visability is about 20'.

We had a pasta dinner last night then went to the tents. I moved from
my assigned tent with a stranger into Amy's tent in Samantha's place.
Sleeping was tough until I took my Advil.

Teammate Thea message: her feet were doing fine until after lunch when
she developed tendoniyis and swelling in her right foot. She continued
though to the end. You will need to ask her about getting kicked out
of the bar with a bunch of angels. 21 miles!

Ladee K. Rickard, MBA

At camp

Trying to get blogger to work.

Ladee K. Rickard, MBA

Camp One Mile

Almost done for the day. Ahhh. Hot shower! Pasta dinner. Chairs.

Thanks for the view

Enjoying lunch, the sun, ocean breezes and the view. Thank you to my
supporters and donors.

Someone said that we have about 6,000 walkers this weekend. Wow!

Lunch!

Half way through the day. Turkey sandwiches never tasted this good.

Day 1 Opening Ceremonies

We are gathered for the opening ceremonies. Weather is awesome. Nice
crowd.

Thanks for stopping by the blog. Check back throughout the weekend for
updates.

Mandala Tea Room

Enjoying an afternoon Darjeeling 2nd Flush in Old Town Scottsdale.
Beautiful fall day to enjoy a sidewalk cafe.

At the Reception

Ready for the long night ahead

At the big party

Awesome Tina Turner Show

3 hours of high energy. I'm exhausted with all of the excitement, dancing, singing. She started the show on time at 8PM, one intermission, and rocked until about 10:30.

Carlos Santana live!

This show was at the outdoor arena. He certainly is quite a musician.

Happy Birthday Kalen!

Kalen and I went to LGO for his birthday breakfast. Of course, I had to get number candles, sing, and blow out the candles.

Local Jazz Group

Fun jazz concert with local residents at the Scottsdale Ranch
Community Center. Met Coco, Miryan and Dennis.

Everyone sat down

Steve Miller Band

Joe Cocker

Dodge Theatre. 6th row!!

Lyle Lovett and His Large Band

It's not big. It's large. I guess that this is the name of his new CD. Anyway, the concert was good. I am not a historical fan, but enjoyed his performance. The "large band" featured local artists, so that is always a lot of fun. The show started on time, with an intro act. Shaun someone. Then Lyle started at 8:30 and played for 2.5 hours. He has a charming and entertaining stage delivery.

We had good seats at the Dodge Theatre. Section 2, Row 15, seats 1 and 2. Ate at Thai Elephant a few blocks from the theatre.

James Taylor

James Taylor, live, finally, after all those hours I spent with him as
a teenage girl.

Good concert. He was very personable and interacted with the audience. He sang new songs, and some of the old favorites. He sang some that were done by Carol King, although maybe they were his and she did them. Whatever...they are good songs and brought back a lot of memories.

Ate at Majerle's before the show. It is about a five block walk from the theatre.

Ringo Starr and the All Starr band

Kalen and I went to the Ringo Starr concert at Dodge Theatre. We were in Section 206, Row 15, Seats 3 and 4. I didn't realize that this would be a collection of artists that make up the band. They all seemed to enjoy touring and playing together.

Starr's All Starr band (the 10th to date) included an excellent group of musicians including: Billy Squire, Colin Hay of Men At Work, Edgar Winter, Gary Wright, Hamish Stuart of Average White Band and Greg Bissonette. Each of the band members performed hits from their respective catalogs. This meant Squire sang "The Stroke," Hay performed " Down Under," Wright belted out "Dream Weaver" (a song he said George Harrison partly inspired), Stuart led the band on the funky "Pick Up The Pieces" and Winter's monstrous "Frankenstein" made an appearance.

Fun night! I introduced Kalen to "Crazy Jim's" for dinner and the new super secret parking spot. Fast in...fast out. The concert started precisely at 7:30 PM and ended after about 2 hours and 15 minutes.

John Mayer

At Cricket, Section 203, second section from the stage and in the middle. He is an extremely talented guitarist. It was fun to hear the songs that I knew, but incredible to watch him play. He started with the backup band, but at some point at the end came on stage with only his acoustic guitar and his voice. I was thrilled.
Of course, the people in front of me had to stand and dance during the show.

Colbie Caillet in concert

As if I knew who she was. Warm up to John Mayer. Recognized a few songs.

Phipps Conservatory

The Phipps Conservatory is filled with beautiful plants, trees and flowers. There was a Thailand exhibit, but it didn't have enough flowers to suit our fancy. They also had a chocolate exhibit, but this seemed to be more for the kids to understand where chocolate comes from and how it is made. We did join in on the "get a free piece of chocolate" part of the exhibit. Yum!
The most beautiful flowers is in the section which houses the orchids. I stopped to photography them all!
As a very special surprise, we were able to see the Dale Chihuly artwork throughout the gardens. We are fans and admirers and this was a delight.

Frick House

We started the day with a visit to the Frick House. The home is preserved with its orginal Victorian decore. It is located on "Millionaire's Row" and had been accompanied by the homes of Carnegie, Mellon, and other wealthy Pittsburgh industrialists. This is the last surviving home.

You are not allowed to touch anything in the house, as it is about 95% of the original possessions of the family. They did have some "hands on" exhibits to add to the educational experience of the tour. This woman showed us the box that was used to store a fancy beaver top hat. The box closed (under the hat) was used to store cuff and collar stays.

It took us about 2.5 hours to finish the 1.5 hour tour, so we decided that it would be best to get a light lunch before moving on to the next stop of our day event. The on property cafe was very nice, and we ate outside. I had Wild Mushroom and Chevry Mousse soup with Insalata Caprese. I wanted the Caprese because it had wonderful heirloom tomatoes grown on property, as well as fresh grown basil. Ginan had the Caprese also, and Mom settled for the inseason fresh fruit cobbler, opting to go right to the desert. I had planned to have the desert also, but was too full after the soup and salad. I should have followed her lead.

Shear Madness

A very funny show put on by the Civic Light Opera. There is a murder and all of the suspects are on stage. The audience then participates to determine who is guilty. Hilarious!

Here I am with the cast. Can you pick me out of the line-up?

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Gateway Clipper - Lords of the Mon

Took a 2.5 hour river tour, with the presentation of "Lords of the Mon". We traveled north on the Monongahela River while the presenters discussed the coke, iron and steel mills and the industry. The first photo is of a bridge, called a "Hot Metal Bridge". The hot metal was transported from one factory to the other across the river, and the bridge was reinforced to prevent disasters. Mom told us that her father had been driven some of the trains that did this type of work.
This is at the Carnegie Steel works in Homestead. The mill is now a shopping center, but the pump house remains. It is the scene of the great "Battle at Homestead" in July of 1892, complete with locked-out steelworkers, and 300 Pinkerton agents. The link has this summary:



"This event was the culmination of failed contract bargaining between the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers led by Hugh O’Donnell and Homestead Burgess John McLuckie, and Carnegie Steel led by Henry Clay Frick while Andrew Carnegie vacationed at his castle in Scotland."



Look closely at the photo. You can see the intake pipes, as well as the return. The Pittsburgh rivers were terribly polluted during these industrial ages, and the river was eventually declared dead. It has been brought back to life and is now a thriving recreational and industrial river.



Decommissioned barges are stacked as reinforcement along the river bank. They are filled with dirt and planted.


This is one of the few working plants that we saw.
We took the Monongahela all the way to the first set of locks. Locks, another one of those river technology things that amaze me. But that is saved for another trip.


As we were returning to the station, we passed a barge. This is three barges wide and four barges deep. It was huge. Of course, we were coming into a bend in the river and so was he, coming in the opposite direction. I was a little nervous because we were on the left, but it made sense that he needed a lot of room to keep it all headed in the correct direction.
We returned to "Station Square", a shopping and eating area that now stands where the P&LERR used to be. Mom worked here many years ago.
This was a great trip and gives you a chance to see Pittsburgh from a totally different perspective.