AZ Trip Day 1: Getting There

We left from Minneapolis on Sat, Feb. 12. Because Dennis was going to a conference, and we didn't want to pay the high price that his ticket cost, we ended up flying on separate flights. Our flight left before his, so he dropped us off and parked the car. He was also in charge of luggage (another perk of being military. You can check 3 bags for free!). So that made our journey easier. Both of the kids have flown before, but their memories aren't that great, so it was like a new experience for them. They loved the "fresh" baked chocolate chip cookies and that I let them have pop.

We beat Dennis to Phoenix which gave us just enough time to pick up the rental car. Crazy rental car story: While getting our car, I started making small talk with the guy about our trip. I told him we were heading up to Pinetop/Lakeside. He told me that he was from there and was wondering what we were going to do there. I told him that we used to teach there. He asked where I taught I told him Cradleboard. Then he proceeded to tell me that his aunt was Toni, who just happens to be one of the people that we were going to see while we were there. He upgraded our car for free! Small World.

We picked up Dennis after his plane arrived and we drove up to Pinetop/Lakeside (3 hours from Phoenix).

Another crazy story: On the way to Pinetop/Lakeside we stopped at Globe for dinner. While we were there we hear "Sperle!!" in that typical way that Apache boys would call Dennis. There was one of Dennis' former students and his family. Small world.
We arrived at David and Kathleen's house in Pinetop late and went straight to bed knowing that the next day would be a very busy day for us.