Nearing Monterey -- Phoenix in August

We do not recommend August for visits to Phoenix -- unless, of course, you enjoy 106 degree days -- and "but it's a dry heat" begins to sound more and more irrelevant after a while. Of course, we wanted to stop there to visit our daughter, Julie, husband Justin and our grandson Tyler -- as well as Chuck's Mom in the Bethesda Gardens residential home there. We stayed with Julie and her family in their very nice house in Surprise, Arizona -- and visited Chuck's Mom a couple of times. Kathi took her shopping for some clothes she needed and she came over to Julie's one evening for dinner.

As with all such family visits, it was very nice -- and a bit too short. We enjoyed visiting Tyler's school (which is within sight of their house, very new and modern) and several of the teachers. He seems to be doing well -- Julie actually got an informal note from his teacher saying how much she enjoyed having Tyler in her class.

One of the things we wanted to do while in Phoenix was to shop for a car -- Justin works at a Mazda dealership. Well, after a short period of convincing on the part of Justin and after Kathi chimed in for a while to try to convince Chuck -- he "allowed" himself to be talked into buying the Mazda MX-5 sports car -- rather than the Mazda sedan they had been considering up to that point. (The sports car will complement the Nissan Altima hybrid sedan they will also be driving.)

Seen here are pictures of Tyler in the pool in their yard and, of course, the car.

A few more pictures of our time in Phoenix can be seen at:


http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/3592518#204205559

Chicago -- Family and Sightseeing

As we wended our way across country toward Monterey, our next stop was Chicago, to visit our daughter Karissa and her husband Dante, who is a recruit trainer at the Navy's boot camp in Great Lakes, Il. Karissa is still working in DC, is actively looking for work in the Chicago area and visits there, to be with Dante, as often as she can.

A number of Chuck's family also live in the area or in downstate Illinois. We weren't sure, though, if we could fit visits to everyone into our limited schedule. That problem was solved when Chuck's cousin, Margherita, whose son David was graduating from high school, decided to change the date of his graduation party to coincide with the Saturday we'd be in Chicago. The party, in addition to including many of David's (and sister, Francesca's) friends, Margherita's and husband Harry's friends and neighbors, turned into a family reunion.

We stayed with Karissa and Dante in Great Lakes, but had a great day on Saturday at Harry and Margherita's home in Arlington Heights, visiting with Chuck's cousin, Rea, and her family, Chuck's Aunt Violet and much of her family as well as cousin Mike Salerno.

We were able to spend one great day sightseeing in downtown Chicago with Karissa. The city has changed so drastically since Chuck knew it as his boyhood hometown -- and has become quite beautiful. It is really a great place to visit these days.




That's Margherita preparing the great food spread; Kathi and Karissa at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and the fantastic Chicago skyline.

More pictures are at:


http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/3592381#204176513

and at:

http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/3592459#204181330