'A little a dis a little O dat'

While doing a driving tour of L.A.'s Hollywood/Bel Air area, we came across a fellah selling maps identifying the 'homes of the movie stars.' We spent the $10 and off we went. The event basically consisted of driving slowly along winding, twisting streets seeing bushes, gates, and security alarm signs. Here is a picture of our favorite set of bushes and wall, because it belongs to one of our favorite stars, Steve Martin. We felt especially connected to his place because we also saw a patio umbrella poking up from above the bushes. After about a half-hour of this tour of seeing more of the same (J-Lo's, Barry Mantilow's, & Danny Devito's), we canned it and went to a museum.

We visited the Four Corners marker for MB. This brass plaque identifies the convergence of four states: Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. The funny thing is, it is just a point on a map that has no meaning beyond that, but it is the only place in the US where this happens. It is a total tourist trap, but Ivy can now say that she sat on four states at the same time, in 110 degree sun, while eating a blue snow cone! MB, you really didn't miss much.

Back in Colorado, we rode the Durango-Silverton narrow gauge steam railroad. This railroad was built 130 years ago to serve the mines (tons of mines!) in and around the Silverton mountains. Because it costs $75 for a round trip ticket and takes 7 hours, we decided to divide the journey between us. The boys rode the train up from Durango and the girls rode it back from Silverton. We highly recommend doing this. From the train, we saw some spectacular scenery and the spot where they filmed Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid jumping off the cliff.


One of the highlights of the trip for all of us was getting a chance to meet a whole branch of Xi's family, one that none of us had ever met before. We had looked forward to meeting C & T at their place in Silverton, but as a major bonus, we got to meet C's siblings/family from Pagosa Springs, CO and Hawaii! We had the best time eating, touring rock collections, and sitting around the fire in the backyard learning about each other.

While staying in Las Vegas, S and the kids visited the Hoover Dam. Here we are walking in the ventilation tunnels in the middle of the dam itself. At the end of the tunnel, we reached a vent in the center of the face of the dam where we looked out over the turbine buildings and the lower Colorado River. Xi opted to wait in line for theater tickets for the evening, and then she went and visited the Bally's spa where she got to soak in a hot tub, get a 50 minute Swedish massage, and was treated like she was 'Queen for a Day.' It was GREAT!

We spent a day in San Diego with Xi's cousin and her family. We hadn't seen J in 12 years, and had never met her family. What a great crew, what great parents they are, and what a great time we had together. We visited the San Diego Zoo and had a Mexican feast for dinner.

Here we are enjoying the feast!