Lisa!

 Our favorite niece, Lisa, arrived last week.    It's been almost a year since we saw her, and we were looking forward to her visit.

We did a little relaxing and catching up, then took a trip up to Cottonwood for some wine tasting, beer tasting, train riding, eating and laughing.    Taos accompanied us.

   

Lisa, Janet, Bob and Dave

Lisa's cousin once removed (I think that's how it goes) and Dave's relative by marriage (this gets really complicated and I can't keep it all straight!) and his delightful wife came over from Scottsdale to see her.      After a quick happy hour here we all went to Rancho de los Caballeros for dinner, then they headed back to the Valley.

We rented a nice VRBO house in Cottonwood for three days so we could spread out and enjoy our time together.

see Taos watching me?

It had nice views towards Sedona and the Mogollon Rim in the distance.   

It also had a huge black leather massage chair in the living room.    We all tried it out, it was a very weird feeling.   Some of us liked it more than others.....

We had lunch at Page Springs Winery, sat beside a busy little stream and tasted some nice wine at DA Ranch, enjoyed a good German Lager at the Belfry in "downtown" Cottonwood, had dinner at Nicks Italian Steak and Crab House, tasted wines and ate a lite dinner at Merkin Vineyards Hilltop Winery and Trattoria, and had some yummy take-out Thai from Mai Thai on Main.      The weather was nice (ish) for our four-hour train ride on Monday, but we enjoyed ourselves, nonetheless.  

hinge details at Page Springs Winery

the boys walking to DA Ranch winery

waiting to board the train

comfy couch seats

Green Verde River path

We rode the Verde Valley Railroad train 20 miles into a beautiful canyon, following the path of the very verde Verde River.    Once through a dark tunnel and out of the canyon walls, the brightly painted locomotive engine disconnected, passed us all by, reconnected at the other end and off we went again.    The scenery was just as beautiful on the way back!

Eagle eye logo on the locomotive fills the window as it passes by a fellow passenger

Taos was a very good boy on the train ride.    He slept beneath the coffee table the entire time, only twitching his nose slightly when we opened our charcuterie boxes for a little snack.     He even handled the steep, open backed stairs onto and off the train with only a slight hesitation.   Good boy.....

 

After our visit with Lisa was over and before the next guest arrives tomorrow, Dave took care of a little business.     Actually, he's been brainstorming one particular job for a while now.   He likes to keep Beluga up to date and to replace things before they break down or malfunction, so in that vein, he bought two new air conditioner units a month ago.      How to get the two old units off the roof and then lift the two new, 100 lb. units up and put them in place......

   

up they go!

Steve came over this morning to help and they had the old ones removed, winched down to the floor and the new ones winched up and in place on Beluga's beautiful white roof!     Piece of cake!

Earlier this fall he replaced the inverter that, apparently, fried as a result of a neighbor's birthday balloons hitting our power lines and causing a blackout.       Ahem.       He also located (with Steve's help, again...) an air leak in the system that provides airbag suspension and brakes......All fixed now!

We don't traditionally have any little ghouls or goblins trick or treating here.   Probably not enough houses to make it worthwhile but......here is a little cutie I recognize...

go Annie!