Albuquerque, NM

Hello All,
We are in DUSTY Albuquerque. What a windy city. We arrived here on the 21st of May after stopping in a couple of sites on the way here, like the Petrified Forest and Sunset Crater parks, and C.O. started work the next day. He is working at the University of NM hospital. Big downtown teaching hospital with a nice crew to work with. We are looking forward to seeing and learning about the native American nations around this area and also the history of this rough and tumble state.

Why Did You Do It?

Well....The decision to go full time of course was based on long research and study of what was entailed, making sure that we could get the amount of $ for our house, and all those serious considerations. Then we said, why not? C.O. is an R.N. and works 13 week contracts that allow us to stay around an area and see the sites. The kids get a lot of "osmotic" education. We have always tried to make all of our activities educational, even going to the pool, zoo, state houses, hikes down to the boonies to swim in a great swimming hole. National and some state parks are great resources for learning thru their junior ranger programs.
Our children are very precocious and make friends, young and old very easily. They adjust very quickly to new areas and look forward (after some gripping like all kids) to seeing and learning new adventures. We both agree that the mainstream is not a place that we want to have our kids. We have always homeschooled and this was a way to expose them to regional and cultural differences and allow them to stretch their comfort zone. It has been very interesting for us to be around here in Phoenix, with all of the immigration issues right at our door and letting them experience it close.
It is fun too. We are both around 40 and feel that doing this now with the kids will provide a foundation for our family relationship that will be broad and deep. Sounds "cheesy' perhaps, yet we are seeing a lot of growth from our travels that would not have been available back in our wonderful 200 plus years old home with the 1/2 acre. We certainly miss the "comfort" of that at times yet it is comforting to be living in the same house everyday, we just can move this one as we like.
Well I have blabbed a lot and hope this will give some help, feel free to write and enjoy the web page.
The Wandering Williams

Idiot and Beauty

So "The Idiot" decides that we should take a nice hike to one of the best swimming holes in the back country (which face it the vast majority of AZ is) of AZ as decided by Backpacker Magazine. Well the drive was rough and then the hike was about 2 miles longer than noted. Pretty country though. Then there was trouble with the enthusiasm of going down the mountain to the swimming hole, as evidenced by the additional 30# on C.O.'s back. We then were able to enjoy ( after a loooonnngggg walk down) this swimming hole which is fed by a spring that literally roils water out of the earth, good to drink (so far) too! Then the long sojourn back up the mountain, which Senor Idioto had been dreading the whole time that we were "enjoying" the swimming hole. Well wonders never cease, the dog walked all the way up with lots of encouragement and even Sam had to be carried only a couple of times. WOW! We got to the truck just a really dark pitch black was settling on Central AZ and drove as quick as we could and stopped at a great Mexican Restaurant in Payson. Now it is 1am and we are going to bed.
The Wandering Williams

Happy Birthday to Sam 4 years old.

We spent the occasion of Sam's 4th birthday in Sedona with grandma. We will be having his party on the 6th, he doesn't mind. What a really nice area, we can see why people pay alot of money to live in Sedona. We also did some geocaching and found a nice cache in Sedona.

Some fun with Grandma

Grandma has come to visit with us and she is getting to see some of the local sites. Here we are seeing the Hohokum ruins of Pueblo Grande. Really amazing spot.

Meet our newest family member

This is our newest member. Her name is Kokopelli. She is a 2 yr old mutt, we got from the pound. Her former owner left at the pound. She is very gentle and seems to enjoy the kids and the attention. She does like her pillow and will sleep for a long time. Her name is an Indian character that is considered a trickster god by some and we thought it an appropriate name for a dog adopted here in AZ.

ATTENTION ! SHE's NOT 40 SHE's 30-10

Wow! That Girl is 40!!?? Yup, Melissa took to 40 just like 39, and Sammy seems a little upset by this?! She took us on a nice hike on her b-day. That sure was nice.

Some Pictures By Nathaniel

These are pictures taken by Nate and of him. He recovered fully from being closely introduced to a teddy bear cholla cactus.

" Why Do We Always Have To Get Our Picture Taken?"

Just a few of the "fun" times the Williams Kids are having, being forced to eat prickly pear cactus fruit ice cream, go treasure hunting with geocaching, and playing in the snow. Man o man what a chore to do.

Pictures

We have seen old indian "apartments" also know as Montezuma's Castle and the ruins of Tuzigoot. These were built and lived in by the Sinagua indians about 400 or so yrs ago.

OK time for some pictures.

These are pictures of the Arizone State Capitol. The state uses 2 other buildings to do thier gov't work and this building is a museum.

Hey all!

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Her are some of the sites we are seeing in Arizona. Cowboys and outlaws, Sam running around and enjoying some of the rare green grass here, the cacti we see and are amazed at how big they are, and of course the beuatiful sunsets.

We are in Phoenix, AZ

We have arrived in Phoenix. A little chilly, but nice. We will be putting up pictures from here soon, here are a couple of pictures from our trip here.

Pictures of BIG BEND National Park

West Texas and the Wandering Williams

Hey all you'se people,
We have left San Antonio, on the 9th of Feb. we hitched up and headed toward SW Texas. We wanted to see Big Bend National park. One of the largest and least visited national parks. What an amazing place. We saw alot of things not really seen by any of us. The roadrunners, the mountains, the Rio Grande'. Several of the pictures that we took are here.
We are in Fort Davis, TX, the highest in altitude town in TX.
Talk to us via comment.
The Wandering Williams
Nate says: Trey give us a call
C.O. says: 10th floor guys you are a great gang, you deserve better.

The Rodeo!

The kids have excited about this week, the San Antonio Rodeo starts and we are in the middle of it. We saw lots of horses today and we look forward to seeing more.
The Williams

The Fun Birthday Lunch

Bekah's Birthday

On Sunday the 22nd Bekah turned 10 yrs old

Here is everyone, C.O. is behind the camera, and we are enjoying some of the fun that our RV park offers.
This is taken with Nate's new digital camera that he got for Christmas.

The Kids have been having a great time. Sam sitting down after a long amble around the San Antonio Zoo.
Then all the kids and friends after the 3 older ones went spelunking in Mammoth Cave in Kentucky on the way to San Antonio.

This some of San Antonio that we have been enjoying.

Where in the world are they?

We are here! San Antonio continues to play host to us. We are enjoying the culture and food and weather and food and the sites and food. We are hoping to get to Austin this week and see the largest capitol building in the country.
Somtime as well we will take the kids horse back riding, but don't say anything to them until after the 13th of January. The weather has been nice but dry. We are not near any of the big wildfires that are going on, but there is a burn ban and the have been some small brush fires in the county surrounding San Antonio.
C.O. continues to be unable to post pictures, we will continue to try.
Happy New Year,
The Wandering Williams

Getting up to date.

There are going to be several pictures that follow. I have finally sat down and decided to get updated.
Thanks for keeping in touch,
C.O.

On the road again

Helllo all.
We are finished in Cleveland. We are currently in Cave City, KY. We visited Honest Abe Lincoln's birthplace and in the AM we are touring into Mammoth Cave. Yippee.
We are headed to San Antonio, TX and will be there for 4 months, so if you want to visit call and we can see what to do, except Gary.

Hey all

We are in the Cleveland area now and are doing great.
We left W. Palm beach on June 1, and spent some time with freinds in Central FL.
Hey Dean and Naomi! Then We proceeded to take a trip up the east coast to see all of the national parks that we could from Florida to Maryland. What a good time. Seeing St Augustine, Fort Frederica, Cape Hatteras, Moores Creek. Very fun. We then got to Ohio and left some things at Melissa's moms house. Then we headed to SW Indiana to Camp Timber Ridge. Where we got to stay for 2 1/2 weeks. CO as the camp nurse and the kids as staff kids. Fun time. Thanks Trish and Charlie! The kids got to stay for a week of camp after we left, since thier dad volunteered as nurse. We finally then settled in the Cleveland area so that C.O. could start his job at the Cleveland Clinic. A very prestigous hospital that won't hurt his resume'. We will start updating more now that we can connect better.
Thanks for your caring and talk soon.
The Williams