DAY 25 Phoenix
(Photos: Alice and Nora in the Randalls' pool; David and Michael flexing for the camera in the pool. Not pictured: Dalice sinking to the bottom of the pool.)
I had a good time at the party last night and Michael and Nora were well behaved for David, he said. Michael drank his whole bottle like a champ and fell asleep. Lisa and I got back a little after 10 p.m., and so we were supposed to use the 24-hour gate with the code lock, because all the other roads in to the campground are closed by then. Well I was expecting some kind of keypad and automatic gate, I guess. Lisa and I pulled up to the gate and it had a chain and padlock on it. I immediately thought that couldn’t be right. I flipped over the padlock quickly and thought I saw just a hole for a key. It was dark, but we had the headlights shining on it. So I called David and said there was nothing to put a code into. So John (who had been dropped off at the camper) had to walk all the way out to the gate (maybe a half mile) with his suitcases from his trip, then he walked me back to the camper and walked all the way back out again. The next morning David went to the gate and the padlock had a combination on the bottom. I could have died. All that walking because I didn’t look hard enough at the lock. Oh well.
This morning we hung around the campsite listening to Car Talk and Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me on the radio and playing with Nora. Some people pulled into the parking lot with horses to go riding on the bridle trails here. One couple let David take Nora over to see the horses. Then she collected rocks for awhile. After that, we went over to the Randalls’ house to swim in their pool. First we met them at the dog park so our dogs could meet their new dog on neutral turf. It went fine, except some little puppy that didn’t belong to either of us came up behind Nora, knocked her over and stood on her back. Now she has a new boo-boo on her knee, which is fine because she was sort of distraught that her old one had disappeared. The Randalls’ house is very beautiful. Their pool was great, too. One of their dogs swims, and both of ours wade. Dalice got a crash course in swimming when he was leaning over the edge and Lisa pushed him in. He sank like a rock, then finally got the hang of the swimming thing. He didn’t get back in after that, though! Nora had a great time swimming and would even jump off the side into David’s arms. Michael also got his first dip in a pool. He was not as enthused, but then the water was pretty cold. After that, we had some snacks and Nora took a nap. I had left my clothes in the room where she was napping, but David said she was still awake and I should run in and get them. By the time I got in there, she was already snoring. After she woke up, we had a nice dinner with the Randalls. Nora didn’t even spill anything on their floor. Then we put Nora down for bed and Michael fell asleep on the couch and we all played board games and cards. It was fun! We scooped the kids up and headed back to the campground late.