Pining for the Fjords

Last weekend, we headed northwest for just over two hours to do some camping at Alamo Lake, an Arizona state park best known for its excellent bass fishing.  We were thrilled to be camping with our buddies from Tucson, Bryan and Jen, as well as their two dogs, Bogey and Bronx; our girls would be coming along, too, for their very first camping adventure! The four of us at Alamo Lake! Can you pick who forgot to wear his sunglasses for this picture? It's been a busy few months, work-wise, for the Olsen household, so we had been counting down the days until the trip.  We clocked out of work on Wednesday and headed out to east Mesa to pick up Arlene; once home, we started loading up the trailer and preparing food for the adventure.  In all of the other locations we've camped so far, we generally get a takeout dinner from a local spot for our first night, but the remote location of Alamo Lake (while making it great for stargazing) didn't allow this to be an option; we'd be br

A few weeks ago, Chris and I had the unique opportunity to tour one of Phoenix's iconic landmarks, Tovrea Castle .   Pronounced Toev-ree, the Castle has been around since the 1920s, but it only opened for tours about ten years ago.  Tours don't run during the summer, and since only a small number of people can go on each tour to preserve the Castle, tickets are hard to come by.  We were lucky enough to score some for an April date back in September 2019 when they went on sale (it was a lottery system, and they sold out in 20 minutes!), but then the world became horrifying, and our April tour was rescheduled for early October.   After a full year of waiting, it was time to visit! You start your tour at the Visitor's Center right off of Van Buren Street, not too far away from Sky Harbor Airport; technically, the Castle is "Tovrea Castle at Carraro Heights," and the total land area encompasses around 30 acres.   We were early for our tour (you're shocked, I know)

Hello, all! New month, new "random, silly updates from us" post! Here we go! August wants you to know that she's been watching nature documentaries, and she's enjoying them quite a lot. September 2020 What's Your Current Work Situation? I learned just last week that University of Phoenix has extended our (alleged) temporary work from home status until May 30, 2021; we kind of figured that would be the case, but they just made it official in a leadership call.  Certain departments in the University have now been made permanent work from home positions from this point forward; while my job hasn't done that yet, it seems reasonable to assume it might be coming down the pike as well. Chris is still doing the "in the office two days a week" thing, and he's working from home on the remaining days.  His currently woodworking project is building a new desk for the media room, so he seems to be figuring Gore will be doing this for the longer term as well.