Los Angeles

As we drove into California we hooked my iPad up to the truck and sang, "Texas! Arkansas! California, here we are!"  Then we ended up listening to the entire Show Ponies cd.

We found a Franky's on the drive.  It isn't spelled right, but Frankie wanted a 50's style booth so we thought it was appropriate.

We stopped in Baker, CA to sprinkle some of Frankie's ashes.

The world's largest thermometer.

"Baker, CA. Gateway to Death Valley"

Thank you so much Linda for letting us stay at your house!  Riley, Danni, and I were very excited to see a few Euro Cup games.

We had a great time with Andi and her boyfriend Patrick.  We went to Venice Beach, saw where she worked at LuLuLemon, ate at BJ's (which was delicious), and we had a campfire at Linda's.

The fire picture was taken from Andi's Facebook.

While on Venice we found an area that was covered in graffiti, and we knew it was perfect for Frankie.  She loved graffiti, and she definitely would have loved quirky Venice.

Today's random bit of advise: Evaluate yourself by your own standards, not someone else's.

Viva Las Vegas

On our way to Vegas we saw bits of Route 66. Apparently this is where it started, and now Frankie gets to hang out here with all the amusing tourists.

3,333.33 ft above sea level!

Finally in Nevada. The landscape was still surprisingly pretty.

The Hoover Dam was absolutely impressive.  Frankie thought it was funny though to blow back into my face.  I bet she was laughing her head off! 

Because we crossed back into Arizona while crossing the dam, we had to cross back... and saw this even better sign!

Claws and Antlers!

Celebrating Riley's birthday with a cake we got off the bakery sale rack.  It was delicious.  Danni brought the candles.

Danni studying her Japanese.

We went to a casino, but ended up playing games in the kids area. Riley won an inflatable hammer, and I won some plastic rings.  I chose them over candy because they were so Frankie.

We also sprinkled Frankie's ashes where Auntie Gem and

Uncle Ray got married: a Little White Chapel.

We found another Frankie place! Too bad it was a bar so Danni and Riley weren't allowed in.

In our last few hours in Vegas we got our ears pierced.  Dan got a second hole on her right ear, Riley got is his first on both ears, and I got my second hole on both ears.  That was about as "Vegas" as we got.

For today's random bit of advice, you will have to read the last post!

Flagstaff, AZ

Sorry for the long lag between updates. We will catch up within the next couple of days. So, with that in mind, here we go. Our trip to flagstaff began in the beautiful desert and ended up the the piney mountains with ski slopes galore.

Our awesome campground in Flagstaff was called Black Barts, and it was set up like a town. There was a steakhouse and saloon, the antiques and general store, and many other old timey buildings.

Taking the scenic ski lift, we went up to the tallest point in Arizona.

There go Riley and I up the lift. It was a little scary at times, but fun as long as you didn't look down for too long.

There is a bra tree on the way up the slope that we read about, and decided to bring two of Frankie's best bras. Here is Alex showing off the one she and Luke are throwing. Fancy, right?

We both had success in landing them in the tree.

See Auntie Bobbie?! Your tons of hamburger buns DID in fact come in handy. We have eaten many a roast beef or turkey or PB&J sandwich on a bun. Our stomachs thank your contribution greatly.

Luke eating his 5 star dinner of two ramens with torn up sandwich meat in it.

Me with the biggest kokopelli in the world! I love these guys so this was an exciting moment.

We found this place in Flagstaff and deemed it appropriate. Frankie had an unusual love of all things pickle. Pickles, pickle juice, pickle Popsicles, probably even pickle pizza if they served it.

This was the highest bathroom in Arizona. Pretty dang cool.

There are over 600 volcanoes in this area we are standing in.

Riley being a mountain goat in the Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon was amazing. Incredibly beautiful and Frankie got to see it.

Flagstaff has much much more to it, but since we are strapped for time, everything will be included in the extra photo tab.

Random Advice for the Day: Cut out complimentary newspaper articles about people you know and mail the articles to them with notes of congratulations.

Tucson, AZ

Hello! This is Danni posting for the first time. We finally made it to Arizona, which proved to be extremely diverse as far as landscape. We started out in the desert.

We went up, up, up into the mountains.

APPLE BOY welcomed us to a place with the most delicious apple pie and fudge we had ever tasted. The store was like a Cracker Barrel store on the inside, but twenty times better.

Once almost out of our first mountain range, we pulled over and played around on some canyon shelves.

Smokey the Bear signs welcomed us everywhere we went.

We have decided to find "Frankies" in every state. In AZ we found a Frankie's Philly Cheese Steaks restaurant that holds the record for the longest Philly cheese steak in the world. They were even on the Food Network for it!

We all enjoyed ourselves tremendously, and stuffed our stomachs to the fullest.

Today's random bit of advice: Never underestimate your power to change yourself.