Elaine's Joyful Journey

Sunday, August 9, 2026

Lexy and Ellis came to visit me this weekend on their way to Louisiana and many points in between. Yesterday we went to a BBQ place in Tempe that was really good. Then we went to the Heard Museum. From there we went to a Mini Bricks and Figs store in Phoenix (which was very impressive) and where Ellis got some more Bionicle pieces for his collections. We also visited a store with some really unique and some creepy things. I finally saw a jackalope while there. We finished off our day at an amazing little cafe with a antique store attached to it. We each enjoyed ice cream treats there. They left this morning headed for Albuquerque to continue their vacation. It was great to have them with me and I appreciated so much that they came!

Wednesday, August 5, 2026

Perry and Ellis

On Monday Perry and Ellis worked together to build a gazebo for one of Perry's side jobs. This is what they put together!

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

The CA Duncans

From Uncle Andy: The kids youngest cousin (Conrad) was getting baptized so we decided to make a trip of the weekend. We went down to LA on Friday and pur first stop was to tour the grounds of the Charles and Ray Eames case study house. They were famous modern designers who created architecture, furniture, museum exhibits and films. The house was very interesting and in a beautiful location looking down on the beach. It was in an area heavily damaged by the fires and we saw lots of burned out lots and construction in the area nearby as they begin to rebuild.

Next we went to the Getty Villa which is a recreation of a Villa that was unearthed when they began uncovering Pompeii. It was vast and houses a museum which specializes in ancient Greek and Roman antiquities. They also had an exhibit on the Egyptian book of the dead.

After that we drove up the PCH and had seafood at Malibu seafood.

The next day we went to the baptism and got to spend some time visiting with Russ, Kat and their kids. Later we went to a museum dedicated to the cold war (the Wende Museum) and a fake museum called the Museum of Jurassic Technology which has exhibits about things that aren't real and is more of a quirky art exhibition in the form of a museum. Before heading home we got Peruvian food.