First Fruits of BCM KidSmart Garden

Their hard work paid off in the garden. (thanks for the idea Shadie)

Exodus -Day4:Monday

This is the final leg home! Slept in Tucumcari, NM after being stiffed at the hotel i had arranged to stay at. I stayed across the street at the Apache Motel and had breakfast at Kix on 66 next door. [I can now say i have had my Kix on Route 66]. This is my favorite stop on Route 66 because of the big Memorial.
Now on to Amarillo, DFW and HOUSTON! {I think they already have a list of things i'm supposed to do as soon as I get home... and that's a good thing}.

Exodus -Day3:Sunday

After sleeping in Williams, AZ (down the street from the Grand Canyon) I had a great breakfast at the Pine Country Restaurant (cool Hwy66 shrine) and walked around to see some of the cool stuff (like a red caboose). Then I HAD to stop at the Meteor Crater to see a hole in the ground. [ok, just in my nerd mode] The wind gusts across the desert reached 56mph so they made us come down from a cool vista point. But then I (we, me & Dunny) got to see an Astronaut Hall of Fame and it was cool to see my classmate from High School listed on that wall. Thanks Bernard!
The Dinosaur adventure was definitely scary (not) and the rest was road til Albuquerque where I ate dinner at the Frontier Restaurant. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
"if life is a race, then this is the pit stop"-Starbucks Quote

Exodus - Day 2: Saturday

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Saturday morningly; March 21, 2007
I said Farewell to The Carrasco family and left Pasadena, CA into the haze of the early morning. A large number of motorcycles came roaring over the rise behind me and the first helmet that passed me was tiger-striped pink, orange and black. Not until the first few bikes chugged by did I realize that the 20 plus group was an 'all female' motorcycle club. (the pink flag on the last bike confirmed my suspicions). As I rolled into the desert of Barstow, CA I stopped for oil, gas, water & a SugarFree Redbull. I lay in the cool grass under the fresh shade of a majestic palm tree (memories of Saudia Arabia). I found my old friend, the Historic Route 66 (aka Higway 40), again taking me into the Mojave Desert. A High Performance Mazda zoomed by with the unique privilege of being trailered behind a U-Haul... well, I thought of the benefits of being able to put all my belongings in my little Integra... and I am getting much better gas mileage than that big truck.
I was happy because of the speed with which I was traveling, I vaguely remembered that for the past 7 months that I have driven Hwy 40 there has been a detour and bridge construction through a considerable section of highway. (grrr) But soon the High Desert fed through the mountain pass where Laughlin, Bullhead City & Needles beamed in the green irrigated valley below. A famous burger was my heaviest meal all day (keeps me from getting sleepy) and a face to face encounter with a bull elk was my last grin before I slept in Williams, AZ (down the road from the Grand Canyon).

Pasa-git down-dena!

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The house on Navarro has a pretty consistent routine... and it has to. There is lot's to do, and that same 24 that we get, that's what they get. It was good to see Sam and remember our first cup of coffee together about 5 years ago. Micah is a treasure and has her own morning routine with Papi. The screen door latch triggered a 'warm fuzzy' moment thinking about my West Texas childhood... I love a screen door.

Three (3) Little Fairy Princesses

You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by rmaxtorres.

What A Surprise! Guess who? It turned into Houston Day in Pasadena, California (after a day in -the original- Disneyland) when 3 little Princesses from H-Town were representin'(even this photographer is on his way back to Houston after 8 months in Northern California)

EPA Exodus

Leaving the Bay Area... sad :(
Going home... PRICELESS! :)
I've never gone through the Pacheco Pass in rush hour traffic before today... don't really think I wanna do it again any time soon. Getting to Interstate 5 is a beautiful drive, except for the brake lights in front of you.

Interstate 5 is nice & smooth, but I missed the winding curves until I got to Grapevine and the Hill Climb, Curves & Construction brought adventure in the night... Made it to Navarro Avenue, Pasadena just fine.

She sang ' you're so vain.'

She sang ' you're so vain.'
Originally uploaded by rmaxtorres.

I've never had an apricot scarf!

Farewell Dinner @ Buca diBeppos, Palo Alto, CA

Industorious Clock

I was looking through some of the ancient archives from 2003/2004 and found a broken link to Yugo Nakamura's Industorious Clock!, so I fixet it! I know, misspelled, but that's his spelling, and it's still cool!!! [check out his site]