Sweetie Susun flies out of Phoenix December 10th and returns the 18th. She's so looking forward to being with Sarah and Peter and The Grin Kids, Gage and Van. Susun's December trips are always Super Special.
Chances are we will go down to the Phoenix-Mesa area on December 7th. We want to visit Catherine B. near 7th Street and Glendale and then go to Roger and Nancy's for at least two nights.
Chances are we will simply pick up Susun at the airport on the 18th and beat feet back home.
The Solstice this year falls on a Saturday so, if the weather's OK, we will have a Solstice Party. Christmas comes pretty quickly after the Solstice and it's a sure bet we will be at The Wheeler's for Christmas Day.
In looking at the days remaining in November and the full month of December, we don't really have much time for extracurricular activity. This week is out of the question. Suska returns from the Grand Canyon tomorrow and Marsha and Hugh are coming for the camp fire Tuesday night.
Wednesday is a "go to town" day and Thursday is, well...Thanksgiving. We will be at Neighbor Joanne's Place for a festive Norman Rockwell event. Friday we go up to Pine Tree Country north of Clint's Well for another Thanksgiving dinner with Roger & Nancy. We will be returning Saturday.
Sunday we will be rigging for Monday Match #2 and, of course, all day Monday is totally consumed with staging the match, scoring and storing gear, etc. Monday's weather should be good. However, it's going to get VERY cold later next week.
That means our only time to get out on the Slow Roads will be from December 3rd through December 5th and then just after Christmas--December 26th to December 30th or 31st.
If we do decide to go Road Trippin' next week, it's going to have to be Day Trips. It's going to be far too cold to camp comfortably. We will have to wait and see how the weather looks after Christmas.
If we go anywhere December 3-5, where would it be? Chances are we'd do a Day Trip to Childs via Forest Road #618. It might be kinda fun to just go prowling around Rim Country with no particular destination in mind. We also have been wanting to return to the Robber's Roost area over by Black and Casner Mountains. So, there's plenty of options for that short window we have next week. Whatever we don't do next week will roll over to the little window at the end of the month.
Not sure what we have planned for New Year's but we've never been big on celebrating the passing of the year the way most people do it. If we're lucky, Jodi & Dex will do a repeat of last year's party and we will be there for that--camping in their driveway.
It's important to have our 2014 Bucket List prepared no later than the end of January 1st. We've begun work on it as you can see from the accompanying blog post.
So, basically, the rest of what's left of this year is going to pass very quickly with little time for anything other than pre-determined activities.
Now, let's look forward into the New Year and see what we can create between New Year's and when Sweetie Susun goes to Hawaii in early February. We really have a wide open blank palette for January this year. There's nothing on our plate yet. We don't have any obligation until February 1st when we have our big mid-winter party. Otherwise, it's Blue Sky and Slow Roads ahead.
That's great. We're going to try to pack as much stuff into January as possible this year. Hikes, drives, and maybe some overnight adventures to distant spaces and places. Looking at the calendar ahead, we now know it's time to begin dreaming up our 2014 Bucket List.
A Bucket List is something that requires plenty of advance thinking. No better time than now to get started.
