Forest Fun ... (or not, depending on who you ask!)

Hello friends!

I hope all those that celebrated enjoyed a Happy Thanksgiving and managed to make it home alive if you braved the shops on Black Friday!  Personally, I can think of nothing worse - I hate crowded shops, loathe queuing even more and if I had my eye on something specific would much rather order it online from the comfort of my sofa with a glass of wine - much more civilized!  Don't get me wrong - I love a bargain as much as the next person, however, the timing of Black Friday always seems rather comical to me when I see pictures on TV of  hoards of people trampling each other (literally to death a couple of years ago!) and fighting in the aisles over cheap goods just hours after being thankful for what they already have.   No thanks.  I think I'll wait for one of the other 927 sales that seem to happen here almost weekly.

This year, as Ethan's 'Fall Break' coincides with Thanksgiving and Mr B has had another crazy schedule of traveling over the last couple of months, we decided on a relaxing week in a cabin up at Pinetop, a small town up in the 'high country' of NE Arizona to do nothing but spend time together as a family - eating, drinking, playing games and getting outside to enjoy the fresh cool air of the White Mountains (a welcome change from the record heat we have had for the past 6 months) - just how every 14 year old boy wants to spend his school holidays right?!  Lol.

What?!? ... no signal?!  My life is over.

We have actually stayed at this resort before.  6 years ago in fact, whilst on holiday from the U.K.  Never in a million years did I think that a few years later we would be making our home just a short 3 hours drive away!   You never know what's around the corner do you, which I think is what makes life such a fabulous adventure. 

On our first morning we looked for somewhere to continue our Sunday brunch ritual and were directed to a place called Darbi's, 5 minutes down the road.  It was a very homely place and clearly popular with the locals - one of whom seated at the next table to us was also proudly displaying his right to the 2nd amendment.  I have to say I didn't feel entirely comfortable gazing at a holstered pistol whilst trying to enjoy my breakfast, however,  I did find it slightly hilarious when the waitress delivered his order to watching a large gun toting cowboy sitting alone at a table tucking into ....  Desperate Dan size steak and eggs?  Bacon, sausage & grits (bleugh by the way)?  ... No.  A bowl of yoghurt with granola and fresh berries!  Obviously a healthy cowboy.

I opted for the more traditional eggs, bacon & hash browns, which came with a choice of biscuits & sausage gravy, toast or pancakes.  I thought I would go with the biscuits and gravy as I haven't had these yet  ... and I can report that it is unlikely that I will be having them again!  Whilst the 'biscuits' themselves were ok (a cross between a scone and a dumpling I guess), if a little on the dry side (hence I suppose the gravy), the 'gravy' was more like a luke warm tin of Campbells mushroom soup poured over the top ... ugh!  (and probably not too far from the reality as tins of Campbells soup seem to feature heavily in a lot of recipes I have seen here!)

Bleuugghh!

The Teen decided on a breakfast burrito - a flour tortilla filled with cheddar cheese, scrambled egg, green chilis, hash browns and bacon.   From being a toddler, Ethan has always turned his nose up at eggs and would never eat them.  Since we moved here though, he surprised us both by announcing one Sunday that he would try an omelette, promptly pronouncing it as 'delicious'!  He had refused to expand his egg repertoire any further though until today's breakfast burrito.

"Oh.  It tastes just like omelette!" he announced after the first tentative bite.  Well, who'd have thought.  **face palm**

After we had finished stuffing out faces we embarked on our first hike of the week along the Mogollon Rim Trail.  Ethan kept us entertained by reading out each informative sign we came across in the voice of Brian Cox, complete with northern accent - hilarious!  Interestingly, it seems that the Ponderosa Pine, which featured heavily on our walk, has the largest population here in Arizona of anywhere in the world.  No small feat for somewhere you automatically associate with the desert.  

Also, co-habitating happily beside the pines were both Aligator & Utah juniper trees (I immediately thought of you Donna!) which is unusual apparently as both types of tree generally require very different types of habitat.  

Aligator Juniper

Utah Juniper 

 Anyway, botony lesson over.  

The next day we woke up to pouring rain so after a lazy morning catching up on some reading and Mr B's obligatory visit to the gym **rolls eyes** we decided on a trip to the local cinema to see Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them followed an early dinner at the local steak house. 

Well, when I said we went to the movies to escape the rain, that wasn't entirely accurate!  Halfway through the film there was a strange noise that got louder and louder.  I looked across at Ethan who clearly thinking I had morphed into some neurotic old dear, whispered "it's ok, it's just rain on the roof".  A few minutes later, very realistic sound effects of a full blown waterfall could be heard coming from down at the front of the theater ... I was confused ... there was no water scene in the film?  After another minute or so I realised that it was an actual waterfall as rain poured through the roof!  Nobody else seemed to bat an eyelid though - weird!  The film was great viewing by the way although don't go expecting it to be like Harry Potter.  It is connected yes, but is quite different and as this is the first of reportedly a series of 5, it builds up the story gradually leaving you ready for the next one  - especially after the introduction of one of my favorite actors at the end (I won't spoil it for you if you are still planning to see it but he was made to be in this series!).   Afterwards, we stopped off at Charlie Clark's, the local steak house, for an early dinner.  Hmmmm ...  disappointing to say the least ...  but then as I am not easy to please as I love to cook and love to eat,  and therefore am really fussy when I eat out.   I really resent paying a fortune for something that I could have made better myself at home for a fraction of the price (but clearly I wasn't at home and just wanted to eat a tasty dinner that I hadn't had to make myself).  The salad tasted of stagnant pond water, the steak had a very odd earthy flavour, my mashed potato was cold and the peppercorn sauce which accompanied it was a lukewarm congealed mass with a skin on top which wobbled in the gravy boat it arrived in.  Yuk! I can feel a Yelp review coming on as we speak ...

The next day awoke to blue skies and sunshine again and we had planned to go to Fort Apache, which was a short car ride away, however, after chatting to the resort manager when we popped in to get a map who told us there wasn't really much to see, we decided to give it a miss in favour of a forest hike just at the back of the resort instead.  It was a 4 mile loop and whilst it was nice to be out in the fresh air getting some exercise, I have to say it was a little monotonous (or in the words of The Teen ... "boring as").

" ... is that Fort Apache?"

"shoot me now ...!"

We were all tired and muddy when we got back and so opted to cook burgers on the grill on the decking rather than going out, although what Mr B thought he looked like when he ventured out to cook later that evening I do not know!

Bobby Flay never looks like this when he does BBQ! ... 

Wednesday's adventure was a trip to explore the Petrified Forest National Park.  Ethan was beyond thrilled.  

... when you're a Teen and have to go sightseeing with your Mum & Dad

Sport the bored 14 yr old - "I'll just wait here ..."

The Petrified Forest is known for its fossils, especially fallen trees that lived in the late Triassic period, about 225 million years ago!  It was incredible to see what were once these huge trees now littered across a vast area, crystallized into hard rocky quartz.  Some of the colors were amazing and photographs didn't really seem to do it justice.

Petrified Wood

The landscape changed in each direction you looked and you could be forgiven for thinking you might had inadvertently fallen through a black hole and landed on some obscure planet ...

From rocky outcrops ...

miles of deserted plains ...

strange rocks that looked like giant sandcastles (called 'the teepees')

and rocks covered with ancient petroglyphs ...

created by Puebloan people living along the Puerco River between 650 and 2,000 years ago!

The petrified forest finally gave way to the area known as the Painted Desert, which was equally beautiful and well worth a visit if you are ever in the area (but maybe not if you are a 14 yr old boy!)

Painted Desert

Finally, on Thanksgiving itself, we attempted a full roast turkey dinner, cooked in the tiny cabin kitchen which turned out surprisingly well considering the limited cooking utensils and amount of space available!   Just before dinner Marcus popped across to the Resort Reception to see if he could get more dishwasher detergent (a must after a big roast!) and came back to advise that Christopher, the young duty manager, was working until 7pm and then going home to spend the evening in the company of his 14 yr old dog :(  We all felt a bit sorry for him and so as we probably had enough food to feed the entire resort (Northern habits die hard!) I plated up one extra and sent Marcus back with it.  Hope he liked sprouts! :D

Now back home to reality, 4 loads of laundry and a week's worth of mail to open ... oh look another letter from the IRS addressed to Ethan.
"Dear Mr Barlow, unfortunately your request for a Tax Identification Number has been rejected due to insufficient identification records ..... "  
OMFG!!!!!!!!  What is wrong with these people?!?  To be continued no doubt after Mr B wastes another half day trying to get through to someone with half a brain on Monday morning ...

Have a good week friends and see you next time
TTFN
Bev x

Turkeys, Trimmings & Trees ... !

This week, Ethan has been on 'fall break', which I guess is the equivalent of half term in the UK.  I must confess to finding the timing rather odd though, as term started on Aug 17th and they break up for Christmas in another 3 weeks?!  (If I were being cynical I would say it maybe had more to do with the Rancho staff wanting a few extra days off for Thanksgiving as most other schools seemed to have a week off mid October!).  Whatever the rationale though, it was a very welcome break, especially as Mr B also took a few days off and we managed to cram so much in.  It felt more like a two week holiday! 

On Wednesday, whilst I was having a long overdue haircut, the boys decided they would do their Christmas/Birthday shopping (every year they complain how inconsiderate it is of me to have my birthday 2 weeks before Christmas!).  When I met up with them again for lunch some two and a half hours later, they were loaded down with shopping bags.  Just as I was thinking 'Ooooooh, lucky me!', I noticed that the bags were all Holister ... American Eagle ... Abercrombie & Fitch ... Express etc., (all places they like to shop for their wardrobes).  Hang on a minute ... "Erm ... did you actually buy anything for me?" I joked, thinking they had probably cleverly secreted my presents inside the other bags.

"Weeeell ... **both looking shifty and smiling nervously at each other**... we did look but then decided that you are too fussy and we would probably get the wrong thing so we thought you could go and choose your own....?"  Seriously?!  Hopeless.

Later that evening, we visited 'Zoo Lights', an annual light display featured at the Phoenix Zoo.  I am not sure what I was expecting exactly - maybe a small display with a few pretty lights wound round trees?  What we saw though, completely exceeded my expectations!  WOW!!!  It was a magical display of thousands of coloured lights formed into all kinds of animals and birds (including a moving hummingbird), set to music, covering the majority of the zoo! Really pretty, and made even more enjoyable as we were able to stroll around in comfortable temperatures, free from the cumbersome heavy winter coats that we have been used to wearing at the end of November, which was so nice.  By the time we left, we were all in the 'holiday' mood (which we have come to learn kicks off the day after Halloween and lasts until January!)

Tiger, Tiger burning bright ...

The next day was Thanksgiving - a first for us - and we were all looking forward to experiencing a traditional Thanksgiving dinner later that day, thanks to the generosity of one of my friends who had invited us all to join them at their home.

We began the day though watching the famous Macy's Holiday parade on TV.  Whilst I imagine you can only get a small sense of the celebration on TV, it was nonetheless a spectacle to watch (if a little cheesy)  Huge floating balloons, marching bands and colourful floats, interspersed with musical and dance performances, closing with the main man himself ... Santa on his sleigh!  Whilst it must be spectacular to experience first hand, I'm not sure I would want to be watching it live in New York ...   all those people packed in liked sardines along every inch of the route ... ugh! Much better to watch it from the comfort of my cosy bed with a mug of coffee and a bacon sarnie.  

As it was a beautiful cool morning and we weren't expected for dinner until 5pm, Mr B and I decided to take a hike (literally) up one of the mountains close to our house.  It was a lovely way to start the day and quite invigorating, although the scenery became somewhat monotonous being mainly cactus ... after cactus ... after cactus ...  I should just add here that The Tween was nowhere to be seen for either of the above events, preferring to fester in his pit binge watching The Walking Dead on Netflix!

desert hike ... (now a dessert hike would have been much more fun ...!)

And so to the main event of the day, the Thanksgiving Dinner.  It appears that here in the US, whenever you are invited to someone's house for any kind of event, you are expected to bring a dish towards the dinner, as co-ordinated with the host.  I had agreed to bring two side dishes and chose sides that were traditional in our family growing up, and which I have continued to serve every Christmas dinner.  As someone else was already bringing the sprouts (!), I chose mashed carrot and swede (think that may be a Northern thing?) and pigs in blankets, both of which appeared to be unknown to the 14 other dinner guests, and were met with murmurs of 'interesting ...' and 'how unusual... ' as they gingerly spooned it onto their plates.  I must confess to being somewhat intrigued by what to expect as I had seen a few features on breakfast TV over the past week focusing on Thanksgiving dishes, which included sweet potato with marshmallows (one 'innovative' chef  also adding crushed up Butterfinger bars, which is peanut butter covered in chocolate ... pass the bucket!) and my hairdresser telling me how their Thanksgiving dinner is not complete without some equally sickly sounding dish called 'Candy Yams' ... boiled with brown sugar and butter ... Oh good lord!

Everything was quite delicious though, if somewhat different to what we are used to, and thankfully, not a marshmallow covered sweet potato in sight!   There was so much food ... turkey, beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, mac and cheese, acorn squash, sprouts, corn with bacon, broccoli & grape salad (?), stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy ... and then dessert of pumpkin pie, chocolate cake & butter tarts (very similar to tiny mince pies).  Phew!  We could barely move afterwards!  In order to accommodate the large number of guests, tables were split between the dining room and the lounge and as the latter had the TV ... and of course the traditional Thanksgiving football game ... the man gravitated towards that one whilst us ladies opted for the former, which seemed to be the perfect solution!

The following day was Black Friday, allegedly a shopaholic's dream and the day that most Americans start their Christmas shopping.  Personally, whilst I LOVE to shop, I couldn't think of anything worse than fighting with crowds of frenzied shoppers, high on sweet potato & marshmallows and so aside from popping down to the Guitar Center with Ethan to choose a new acoustic for his Christmas present, I did all of mine from the comfort of the sofa ... all of the bargains - none of the crowds, perfect.

Another busy week lies ahead with I think only two free evenings between now and next Sunday!  The 'holiday season' is well and truly underway here - decorations are up and twinkling lights are everywhere you look.  Also, the 'holiday party' invitations seem to be arriving thick and fast - we can't keep up with them all!  (I think perhaps inviting the novelty British family is a thing this year!) Still, we're not complaining.  We wouldn't have it any other way!

oooh ... shiny!

What are you all up to?  Are you getting into the holiday spirit yet? (and yes, I am aware that it is still November ... but when in Rome ... or the USA ... !

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by.
TTFN
Bev x