Playing Catch Up (04-14-16)

Apparently “some” inquiring minds would like to know what we’ve been up to since my last post, which was, egad, over a month ago. 

After leaving Tucson, we headed to El Paso, by way of Chiricahua National Monument, where we spent some time hiking.

Hiking among the hoodoos at this park is quite a blast…..

…and offers some spectacular views as well.

We spent two weeks with Paul’s mom, taking care of some yard work and just general stuff that she wanted help with.  We also both had our dental check up since our favorite dentist is in El Paso.  How exciting!



In early April we went home to Havasu, stopping in Tucson to visit one more time and see our friends’ new house. 

We no sooner arrived home when we got a message inquiring if we were home.  Our friends Mike and Julie were looking for a place to celebrate Mike’s birthday:

So, along with friends Liz and Randy, they came to hang out with us for a few days.  The weather wasn’t very pool friendly, but we still had a great time.


As usual, the kitchen was well used and we cooked several meals together.

Of course, there is always something going on in Havasu and this weekend was no exception. 

The boat show was about more than just boats- also on display were side by side ATVs- do I see one in our future??

  

There were also Jet ski races on the lake, which were actually fun to watch.

Come Monday, they all took off again, but there was no need for long good-byes. They were headed to nearby Vegas, and we followed them the next day.


More on Vegas later…..

Tucson (03-14-16)

After finishing our doctor appointments in Phoenix, we moved on to Tucson, for More doctor appointments.  But at least here we got to visit with friends, too. 

And what’s better than visiting with friends? Visiting with friends that have their own grapefruit tree!  Yummy!!! Thanks to Tom and Dianne I have all the grapefruit I can eat!





Although we only had a few days, we did manage to cram a lot in.

I have always wanted to do the scenic drive up nearby Mt. Lemmon, and when the weather forecast called for temps in the high 80s, we packed Mike and Julie into the truck and headed for the hills. (Thanks for the pic, Mike)

As we climbed to higher elevations (Mt. Lemmon stands at 5000 ft higher than Tucson) the weather got cooler and cooler, and the highest elevations had snow on the ground! 

There were lots of viewpoints where you could get out and admire the view, go for a hike…..














…or get your exercise by pushing some rocks around.

     Gee, can you tell which way the wind comes from??

We started getting hungry for lunch so we bypassed some of the turn outs and bee lined for the restaurants at the top of the mountain, in a small town appropriately named Summerhaven. 
There are only a few restaurants, so we chose the Cookie Cabin (no surprise there!) and had a reasonably good lunch before heading back down the hill into the warmth of Tucson.







Our other major outing was to the Marriott Starr Pass Resort.  It sits high on the mountain pass and has a nice view of the sunset.




We first came to this restaurant last year with Mike and Julie, and came away with a new favorite toast.  Most of our friends have heard it from us-  “Arriba, Abajo, Al Centro, Al Dentro” (Up…Down….Out…In ….)

Every day at 5:30,  after telling the story of Pancho Villa, a toast is made, using a complimentary shot of tequila served by the restaurant. The full story is quoted below, from the restaurant’s Facebook page.

This year we were joined by our friends Tom and DIanne, who are in Tucson, waiting to close on a new house!

After a short time enjoying the company of our friends, we continued our trek towards El Paso to see Paul’s mom.

The Legend of Arriba Abajo:

“the legend of Arriba, Abajo  goes back to a traditional Mexican custom where a prospective groom that wants to marry his beloved asks for her hand in marriage through her father.  Now, Pancho Villa, the great Mexican revolutionary, wanted to marry his dearest Juanita, and in ritual custom he asked for her hand in marriage through her father.  Her father, knowing whom Pancho Villa was, refused the offer, but…he offered a very interesting contest.  He said… if you can drink more tequila than me…than you can marry my daughter.  Pancho Villa scratched his head at that request, but he loved Juanita, accepted the offer, they sat down at the table and the tequila was brought out.  They started doing shots, but after a while Pancho Villa noticed that the father was doing one shot for every two of Pancho Villas.  Pancho Villa takes his shot glass, slams it on the table and says from now on we drink together.  He toasts Arriba, Abajo, Al Centro, Al Dentro.  A couple more shots are taken, a little bit more of the bottle goes by, and the father ends up face down, passed out on the table, and that’s how Pancho Villa won the hand of his dearest Juanita.”

Two Spots in Tucson (01-09-15)

We spent two weeks in Tucson-the first of which was spent at Justin’s RV park with Mike, Julie, Dave and Nancy.  It was a very relaxing week just hanging with everyone.

  Of course we got together for New Years Eve, and immediately decided that as soon the ball dropped in Times Square, that was close enough to midnight for us (10 pm).  It worked out quite well!


I haven’t been taking many pictures but I did get a few shots of the snow we got on New Years Eve.  Yup, it’s been that cold here in Tucson.

  Our main focus has been on hiking and walking whenever possible.

You may be thinking, looking at this picture, that apparently we had to drive all the way to Canada to get to a decent hiking trail, but no.

Back in the 1970s, when the US was making the attempt to switch to the metric system, this section of Rte 19 was the testing ground for kilometer highway markings.

Well, we all know how well the metric system worked out for us- but the highway signs here are still in kilometers.  In fact, its the only stretch of highway in the U.S. that is only marked in kilometers. A few years ago a move was made to switch the signs back to miles, but the businesses in the area lobbied to keep the metric.  Apparently its good for business because it makes the area unique.

This particular trail in the Santa Rita Mountains was one we were looking forward to hiking, but after driving an hour to get there, we were thwarted by the ice on the trail.  We did attempt it, but after passing over a dozen people coming back down who said they had only made it as far as the next corner, we gave it up and headed home.

One of the perks to Justin’s RV is that our site literally backs up to a wilderness with miles and miles of hiking trails- so if we didn't feel like driving to a trail, all we had to do is walk out our back door- which we did-on many occasions.  We got into an easy rhythm of texting the group when we were headed out back to hike, in case anyone wanted to come along.

When we did drive, we didn't usually have to go too far to find some decent trails. Brown Mountain Loop was just a 10 minute drive down the street and was a nice hike.

Whenever we hang out with our friends, we exchange ideas about everything from modifications to our rigs, to solutions we have discovered for XXX problem, etc. And of course, we show off things we have bought (since none of us buy much). 


Mike and Julie have a hummingbird feeder and Mike rigged it so it is attached to their large rear window.












   After watching all the hummingbirds, I decided we needed to keep up with the Joneses, so off to Home Depot we went.
















So we are now the proud owners of a hummingbird feeder.

We have already discovered that hummingbirds are not the only creatures interested in the feeder. It took this guy a few tries, but he did manage to hang on long enough to drink the nectar.

This particular creature has been trying to launch himself through the glass to get to his buddies, the birds.  He even calls to them in his version of “bird talk”.

Eventually he gave up, exhausted, and needed quite a long nap to recover from his attempts.

I have been practicing taking pictures of the birds and I have gotten a little better, but still have a long way to go…











And, now that I have managed to ramble on and on, about pretty much nothing, the rest of Tucson will have to wait until the next post.