Henry's Notes

Sorry for not posting for a long while. It's like a vicious cycle... the longer I don't post, the harder it is to catch-up on everything so I don't want to do it. Anyway, now I am just going to update you on everything since my Mexico trip; it's going to be quick though.

Mexico Trip over New Years: Got there safely (finally). Plenty of sight-seeing in Mexico City including Teotihuacan. Drove to Acapulco for New Years. Got sick from too much alcohol drinking not from 1 night, but continuously for 3 days. Pretty much stay sick the rest of the trip. Roberto's dad took us to see the Monarch butterflies (AKA Mariposa) in Michoacan's Biosphere Reserve (here is a great article about them), since it is their prime season in Mexico. It was amazing to see millions of butterflies just hanging out or flying around. You can hear them fluttering, that's how loud they were. I'll post some pictures later.

Quartzsite RV Show, Jan 20-29: Went and exhibited KHS' folding bikes at the RV (consumer) Show. Quartzsite is a small town on I-10 near the border with California. It really is amazing that such a desolate place with virtually no population during the summer and fall would swell to hundred of thousands in the winter and spring. Most of the population growth is from snowbird RVers. I got to stay in a 5th wheel (trailer RV) in Parker - a town 30 miles north of Quartzsite; that was a fun experience, really!
(picture on left: the Big-Tent RV Show)

Tucson Botanical Garden, Butterfly Exhibit, Feb 18: As if I haven't had enough of the butterflies, I went to see the butterfly exhibit. I have actually seen it last year, but since it was so great, I wanted to visit it again before it ends. The monarch butterfly isn't in this exhibit because this one exhibits butterflies from Southeast Asia. At some point these butterflies got so friendly that they stayed on both Pei and I (see picture on the right).

Tubac - a small artist community south of Tucson, Feb26: You know I travel a lot, but it's mostly outside of my home's immediate area so I decided to visit this small city about 50 miles south of Tucson. It's actually the first European settlement/fort in Arizona. It was abandoned and re-settled several times in history. Now, it's mostly an artist community living off tourism and art & craft sales. Pei and I spent a nice afternoon there window shopping and had lunch at a restaurant call "Shelby". We also visited Tubac Presidio State Historic Park - Arizona's first state park.

Mamma Mia! the Broadway Show, March 8: This is why I love Tucson... it's relatively small, yet all the big hits comes through town AND it's easy to get tickets (Lion King is coming this fall... it might be another story). We got the tickets on the day-of and still got a decent (though far because I was cheap) seats. In LA, I'll probably have to buy tickets way in advance. Anyway, it was a fun show where Pei actually stayed up through the entire thing (I make fun of her on this because she falls asleep during most movies, especially the action flicks). The show is cleverly weaved with songs by ABBA. If the show ever goes through your town, I would highly recommend it.

Next week, I go to International Health, Racquet, Sports-club Association (IHRSA)'s trade show in Las Vegas. Then I'll spend a few days in LA before coming back to Arizona.

Also, I have decided to do a supported 2-day touring bike ride: Sonoita-Bisbee on April 8&9. I really look forward to it. Let me know if you are also interested in doing it!

Ohhh yeah, this has been a very dry and warm winter for Arizona, so the weather has been great for doing outdoor stuff. However, we are praying for some rain because we need it bad (maybe I need to sacrifice and get a car wash again... the 3 times that I car washed within the past month, it rained or sprinkled within 2 days)