swell times in cave creek arizona

did you know that the BIG road trip is not only an adventure in camping but an experiment in social networking? while our weekdays are filled with campsites, driving and cheap motel rooms with free wifi, our weekends are to be full of meeting our internet friends and that is just what we did our first weekend out.

after our walking adventure around the southern rim of the grand canyon, mr. a-go-go and i headed south to cave creek, arizona where we would weekend with paper artist extraordinaire, my friend in blogland, tara anderson and her family. since the plans had been made awhile ago, i remained in an excited state but as we got closer and closer to our destination i began to get nervous and worry that it would be a disaster...what if they hated us. it seems a few people we know have mentioned that we seem to have our heads in the clouds regarding all this meeting of internet friends. they think that it can't possibly be as great as we think it will be. but the thing is, we're fully aware that some experiences won't be what we imagined. we're aware but we're still hoping for good things all around. that said, i needn't had worried so (at least i hope so). once we pulled into the driveway and got to greet each other all was well.
tara is an amazing host. her graciousness, flair, fun and humor made us super comfortable. both mr. a-go-go & i managed to dazzle the young kidlets. mr. a-go-go especially had a fan in tara's daughter who roped him into many rounds of barbie. he even got a new nickname, more hugs than the huggiest tree hugger and proclamations of love both in written and verbal form. tara and i had many a giggle over the whole thing.the weekend went by too quickly. we stayed up far too late in all sorts of discussions, we toured the tiny town of cave creek, thrifted and got a tour of tara & peter's beautiful salon and spa, Fate and i even got my very first blow out, how's that for pampering!after much discussion and procrastination we finally got out the craft supplies and got to crafting. tara made me an awesome cover for my road trip journal and then guided me to layering bits of happy for my puzzle book. ooh, and she even whipped up a special gadget for my duaflex so i can join the ttv club. i've got a lot of practicing to do!so far, i have to say, our very first weekend spent with internet friends and now real-life friends was a success. we had a joyful time and got to see a part of arizona we might have missed otherwise. and i have the pictures to prove it! you can see tara's nifty photos here
check out her blog the pink couch
her etsy shop with a twist
and if yer in scottsdale or pheonix, check out their salon!