yipee, i 've had a great past week and i needed it, my sister came out to see me for her birthday, she was only here for 4 days but we took advantage of every hour. we decided to head north up to the beautiful red rocks of sedona arizona, the mountains are beautiful up there and its much cooler, the town has alot of little shops to check out, so we booked a room for 2 nights. i was ready to go when she got into phoenix, so off we went. we felt like thelma and louise. the hotel room was very nice and nicely handicapped accessible,so that eased my fears. the view out of our window was breathtaking. the 1st nite there we asked about a good place to eat, as luck would have it we were right next door to an outlet mall and the restaurant was in the mall, so we tried it out. it was a nice place but no prices on the menu, we looked at each other and said we are on vacation, who cares about prices and we thought it rude to ask. sedona is a retirement and artist community. you will find gorgeous paintings, jewelry alot of native american crafts. so we had our dinner and a drink and the bill was only 60.00, not to bad we thought. the food was great. next day we hit the outlett mall and some of the small shops downtown. we shopped till we dropped. then we hit the casino, not much luck there but we had fun. oh well, we were exhausted so to bed we went. the next day we were off to come back home and hit another bigger outlet mall just outside phoenix and shopped some more, ate lunch, then we all went out to dinner that night for her birthday. she wanted to take us out but i wouldn't hear of it, it was her birthday so we took her out. the next day saturday she left to go home. i was so depressed all day, my fun vacation was over. my sister had come to phoenix right after my stroke but didn't have time to sight see, so i was so happy i was able to show her some of arizona. she loved her visit and we both had a great time, i just hated to see her go so soon, we are planning another visit next year or so i can come and see her newly remodeled house and my new grand nephew due next month. my nieces and nephews are very special to me and all the new babies born since my stroke. also before she came, the sewer line was replaced, thank goodness, but they busted the main water line doing it, lol. professionals at work i guess. now my front yard is back to normal. also replaced my dishwasher, so i am a happy camper again. it took me a couple of days to recuperate from my vacation but i expected that. i am so thankful i was able to do it with my sister, we were very close growing up and i have missed her. i felt i deserved this vacation, i have had my share of hardships to get through since my stroke. we also talked about our mothers death, just 2yrs ago that we weren't able to talk openly about til now, that was much needed by both of us. tears flowed but thats ok.