We went to our property up north, near Seligman, over the weekend. We ate hot dogs in the cold of night off of a neighboring grill; we slept under the stars, that happened to be over us from afar, which actually means they were above the trailer roof we were under while sleeping in a comfortable bed, but... it was cold, we didn't use the propane heater(i guess that's the roughin' it part). I'll let the pics tell the story(along with some commentary, of course... probably too much commentary)...
We headed up north on Saturday; we got a late start. Shocking, I know(sarcastic laugh goes here). "Late" is on our family crest; I'm in the process of making one up. We stopped to get gas and a soda for Michael(he needed his fuel too), then made our way up north. It's a looong drive. We looked on Mapquest and found out it would take about the same amount of time to get to Disneyland as it does to get to our property, give or take an hour. It's true, I tell you! We're planning a road trip to Disneyland soon, more on that in another post. We stopped to get sustenance at a Subway in Cordes Junction; we usually always make a stop here on our way up to the property. We could already feel a difference in temperature; there was a nice cool breeze... ahhh... it was wonderful.
We then stopped at a Safeway in Chino Valley to pick up some grub for the weekend. This is always a part of the trip; it just isn't the same if we don't stop and shop there on the way up north.
And before we knew it(well, actually we knew it for quite a while, that drive is long), we were at the entrance to where our property is, Westwood Ranch.
But we kept on goin'. We said to heck with going to our property, let's go to Seligman(we actually planned that). Michael was up at the property the weekend before last for what is now called 'the annual bachelor party' for a friend of Michael's brother. The guy got married a couple of years ago, you'd think they'd change the name, wouldn't ya? It's an 'all guys' weekend. I don't ask, he doesn't tell(yeah, right). Anyway, while they were there, Michael and his brother and a friend went into Seligman to get the water truck filled with water. Little did they know they would be the leading vehicle in a vintage car/truck parade. It happened quite by accident. They went ahead and played the part by waving to everyone, and since they were driving an older vehicle, they fit right in. Anyway, Michael found a neat Route 66 store while he was there, and wanted Caitie and I to see it. We also wanted to see the nearby railroad tracks. Caitie loves trains, and that's an understatement. That's all she talked/asked about the whole way up to the property. It wasn't "are we there yet?", it was "is that train tracks over there?", or "where's the train, I don't see it?". This went on and on and on... so going to the train tracks was a must, and we weren't disappointed.
Here's the inside of the Route 66 section part of the store. Michael and Caitie went to look at this old man, and ended up jumping back about six feet when he started talking to them. Talk about funny... I wasn't startled whatsoever; being behind the camera all the time keeps things at a distance, so I'm not affected by what's happening in the moment. Living your life behind the camera has its advantages. Am I making sense here? I hope not. Moving on...
Here is one of the items we bought at the Route 66 store. Michael was trying to figure out what Caitie wanted, and saw this vintage truck; and he just had to have it. Caitie picked out a train. Big surprise there. They played with them on the floor before paying for them. My two kids... gotta love 'em.
This is an old fire truck in the Route 66/General Store parking lot. Caitie loves fire trucks too.
We're getting ready to head over to the train tracks to watch some trains go by. If you look in the background of this pic, you can see a train going by, that's where the train tracks are. Did I happen to mention this is a small town? I'm talkin' small! Everything we wanted to do was within walking distance, but we drove over.
I love railroad track pics. Caitie was afraid to go near them at first; it took me walking across them to get a few pics of some old train cars to get her to go across them as well. She was even afraid to touch the rails. But she finally did. When I first stood on the tracks, Caitie told me to get off quickly, she didn't want me to get hit by a train. She's very cautious.
I love the next two pics. I love the people, I love the lighting, I love the background. It was around 6:30 in the evening, and starting to get dark. I was hoping we would see a train while there was still some sun so I could get pics as a train went by.
Here is Caitie finally touching a rail.
Another rail pic. I couldn't get enough of these. I like the reflection of the poles on the rail.
Hoping to hitch a ride on a train. This girl really does love trains. She still talks about the Polar Express ride we took in December; she can't wait to go again.
We didn't think we were going to get to see a train go by, even though two went by while we were in the store. I was thinking it was too late in the day for anymore trains, at least, not as many would be going by as there would have been during the day. We waited quite a while and then decided to leave, but I suggested we stick around another five minutes, then we would go for sure. And before we knew it, there was a bright light in the distance...
And then came the train... it looked like it was going slow, but when it got to us, it was going really fast! Before it got to us, we told Caitie to do the arm motion of pulling a train whistle when the train got close, that way the engineer would blow the whistle as the train went by... she did this, but since it was dark, I doubt he took much notice of her, but the whistle did blow... right as it was coming up to us. We think it was more due to the engineer warning us to stay back; we were pretty close to the track it was on. Talk about scary! When it went by, I thought it was going to hit me, it was huge! And the wind... wow! I felt like I was going to be blown away. I took one quick pic before jumping back about 100 feet! It was exhilerating! I loved it! I wanted to do it again! I think the lighting, or lack there of, and the beautiful weather, and the romance of the train tracks, all played a part of bringing on the exhilerated feeling I experienced. You had to be there. If you do decide to watch a train go by while standing near the tracks... take my advice and take a few steps back... being as close as I was, and Michael and Caitie too, was a little too scary. This isn't the best pic, it was getting dark, and as you can see in this pic, the train was going pretty fast. I wanted to show how close we were to the train.
I took a few more pics of the train as it went by; this one didn't come out too bad.
We left not too long after the train went by. We headed to the property. It was dark by then, so I didn't get many pics. Not long after we arrived we had a bbq; we had polish sausage and hot dogs. It was a late-night bbq, under the stars, and an almost full moon. The area was pretty well lit due to that, but it was still hard making our way around at that time of night. This pic was taken the next day. We were taking a look at our trailer. We had it towed up a couple of years ago. We still have lots of work to do. We don't go up to the property very often, so it doesn't get worked on much, but we have been taking things up whenever we do go. In this pic you can see the entertainment center; this was in our master bedroom up until we got the new furniture. There's also a couple of tv's and rocking chairs, a coffee table, and some boxes of stuff, those were taken up a while back. I don't remember what's in them. We think we have a mysterious 'black hole' at our house, where things just disappear, never to be seen again, I have a feeling those things are in those boxes. ha
We asked Caitie to try out this cute little rocking chair; it was Michael's when he was about her age. She was giving it some thought and finally decided it wasn't safe to sit in an old rickety chair. Did she say "old"?!?... that's the part that stuck with me. Michael and I are the same age as that "old" rickety chair, actually, a little older. Ouch!
Here is an old fire engine. Why we would need an old fire engine, that has no water near it, and has no hose on it, for that matter, is beyond me. But it is pretty cool lookin'.
Here is the water truck. This is what Michael, his brother, and friend, drove to Seligman the weekend before last and ended up leading in a parade. This is how we'll get water to our trailers. I think eventually we'll all get a huge water tank, but this will do for now.
We stopped by to see our first travel trailer. This is what we used until we brought the other trailer up. It will make a fun 'playhouse' for Caitie. We plan to put it near our other trailer. It's at Michael's Cousin's property right now. This is where we put it when we first brought it up, and it's been there ever since. The fire truck and water truck are on his cousin's property as well. His property is right next to our property, which is convenient. My Mustang is stored on his property too. I got a pic of it, but it didn't turn out good; way too bright. This isn't the best time of day to take pics.
When we got back to our other trailer, we decided to ride the quads around. But before doing so, Caitie encountered some spider webs on the ground. This girl can not stand anything to do with spiders. So she freaked out for a bit, then we moved on. She's keeping an eye out for more webs; poor thing.
I handed my camera over to Michael so he could take some pics of me riding with Caitie on my quad. He did an excellent job of capturing us while in motion. He doesn't take pics too often, but always does a good job when he does take pics. He's a natural. Caitie loves to ride on the quad. She kept asking to go again and again and again... it was fun. I think this and the train were the highlights of the trip for me.
Recently on e-bay we purchased a Fisher Price Little People's house and school house with accessories. I used to have these when I was a youngster, as did Michael, minus the house, that is; he had the school house. I just had to get some pics of Caitie playing with them; she loves 'em. The house, the little green man and some of the other Little People and accessories, takes me back to my childhood. We are now looking for a *gulp* (dare i say it) 'vintage' Barbie van I had way back when.
It also came with a record player; I think I had that as well. It's a wind-up player. You can see the corner of it at the bottom of the pic.
I got not one, not two, not three, but four Mother's Day cards... Four! Michael couldn't decide on just one so got all the ones he liked. The envelopes say: Mom; Momma(he spells it this way, i usually spell it 'mama'), Sweet Pea(he's always called me this. if i ever hear him say my name, i cringe, it usually means i'm in trouble), and Sweetness. Is that sweet, or what? :) He also got me a diamond heart necklace that says 'Mom' inside. It's beautiful. It was nice to be thought of on that special day, even though it was late in the day when he thought of it. ha I put the cards and necklace on my quad to get a quick pic before leaving to go home.
We then headed out. The sun was setting, so the lighting wasn't good; that's my excuse for this low-quality pic. ha We got the truck washed a couple of weeks ago... we don't do that too often. I guess it will look like this for a while. I fought the urge to write "wash me" with the dirt on the back window. It was a nice and fun trip; I want to go back.
