February - New job

Tuesday, Feb. 4  -   We are off to Las Vegas today.  Flying direct from Tucson this morning, because we have a new job!   We have been chosen (through interviews over the past month) to be part of a national sales team for a new social networking product for RVr's, RV parks and companies that cater to RVr's!  For RVr's, it provides a way to connect online with other people in the RV parks they stay in and be able to keep in touch after they part, for the RV parks, a way to communicate with the people staying in their parks and for businesses, a cheaper way to advertise to all, locally and to anyone looking at coming to the area. (More specific info as we launch!!)

So beginning Tuesday, late afternoon, we all gathered in Las Vegas for two and a half days for training.  It was a great experience and we met a lot of wonderful people we will enjoy working with. The company is brand new, so we are waiting for the official start later this month, but will do prelim work now in the days before.

We will still travel and complete our Oregon job this summer, and we can work this new job wherever we travel in the months and years ahead.  A great opportunity for us - an answer to our prayers for our future that allows us to continue to travel as we dreamed.

We did not have much time to experience Las Vegas, all though we did donate some money to the machines as we passed through the casinos.  We walked through the Venetian Hotel and saw the gondolas in the water on the second floor of the casino.  Our group had a reception on one of the upper floors of the Mirage Hotel, the night view of Vegas looking out from the walls of windows in the suite was gorgeous.  Thursday; day and evening, were cool, cloudy and they did get some rain there.  We flew back to Tucson Thursday night.

Gondola on 2nd floor of the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas

Friday - Slept in.  I managed to pick up a throat crud bug somewhere during the trip, so I was coughing a lot and could not talk easily.  I ran to Walmart to get meds and groceries, then was back home for an afternoon nap.  Gary worked on the computer and outside later in the day.

Saturday - Another beautiful day in paradise.  We slept in again and then worked on laundry and cleaning.  Sat outside and absorbed as much vitamin C & D as I could and my meds helped me stop from coughing all the time. I walked around our park for some exercise as we sat a lot the last week. Saturday night we were invited to Dan & Connie's for supper, Connie's brother and sister-in-law had arrived from Wisconsin.  We had met them several times before when we were here and they were part of the wedding party in October.  As always, Dan & Connie cooked a delicious meal and we all enjoyed visiting.

Sunday -  10:00 Mass at St. Helen's - a different priest again this week.  Home for lunch and then a nap for me.  Gary rode his bike north on Oracle Road, he did about ten miles.  Then we sat outside and enjoyed the sun.  Later I went to Saddlebrooke and did a long walk in Dan & Connie's neighborhood.

Monday -  Gary had an online meeting in the morning, I did laundry and caught up on paperwork. Late afternoon we went to Catalina to mail packages and letters and then stopped at the hardware store there to pick up a lightbulb for the shower light and I also picked up a birdseed bell.  Since our neighbors moved and took their bird feeder, we have really missed seeing the cardinals every day, so we will feed them now.  There is a very red male, a young male that is partially red and a Mrs. that is brown with the cardinal crown. 
By the time we were done, we knew Deb & Joe would be home from her softball game, so we stopped by there and had refreshments with them on their patio.  Then back home, Gary had a webinar this evening for his RV Inspection business.

Mr. Red

He is so Red!

Tuesday - this morning we worked on laundry and chores, then Gary had his dental cleaning appointment.  I went along to Saddlebrooke and walked for the hour that he was at the dentist office. We picked up groceries and went home. Tonight we are invited to the Smith home for smoked ribs and hot tubbing.  Doris told us to come early so we could all enjoy the hot tub before the other guests came.  It was a beautiful evening and the tub felt great!   The rest of the family and friends arrived and we had a great meal and visit.  The ribs were delicious.

January Ends

Wednesday -  Today I went on a long walk with Deb in the Saddlebrooke neighborhoods.  We put in about five miles.  Good for both of us, but wore us out. Gary was home working on fixing our Sleep Number bed - he had ordered a new pump because one side has not been working correctly since before we left SD. Today he also fixed up a brace for the bottom of the bed - we have a foam insert we put in by the headboard to give us more length in the bed when we are sleeping.  We have a short queen size bed, so the insert really helps.
He picked Deb and I up after our walk and we went in town on some errands.  He needed to stop at the hardware store for supplies for the bed brace.  We also went to Sprouts to get our favorite dessert - dark chocolate covered espresso beans.  And then a stop at Total Wine to get all the beverages needed for the Super Bowl party and company coming to town. We always get thirsty shopping (imagine that!!) and had not had lunch, so we stopped at the San Carlos Grill for margaritas and quesadillas.  Then home for the day.

Thursday - Cleaning day!  I took all the rugs to our park laundry room and got them washed.  Then hung them out on the community clothes line.  It did not take much time for them to get dry in the sun and breeze.  Gary finished putting together our tax information for the accountant.  I vacuumed and then did some mending with my sewing machine.  We sat outside in the afternoon - a very productive day.

Friday - today we get company from the north.  Our dear friends, Jean and Jerry are flying in to spend five days here and escape winter there.  We packed up our overnight bag, we will stay in Deb & Joe's neighbors' casita for the next two nights, and then headed to the Mesa/Allegiant airport to pick them up.  It takes about one and a half hours for us to drive up.  They came in right on time and we headed back to Saddlebrooke. Unfortunately, today was cloudy and cooler than it has been and a little more breezy - not very good welcome weather for those from the north.  They will stay with Deb & Joe while they are here - they know them very well also.  Joe grilled burgers for us and we had a great time catching up that evening.

Saturday -  Today the sun was peeking out most of the day.  We took Jerry & Jean sightseeing, Jerry had never been to Arizona before.  We went first to the Saguaro National Park.  Another very educational center about the saguaro cactus - did you know they will not start growing one arm until they are at least 75 years old?  We hiked one of the trails there, Signal Hill, where we were able to see the petroglyphs.  After leaving the park, we drove to Old Tucson and went into the gift shop there.  We did not take time to see the park today, but enjoyed the art work and read some of the history of the area.  Then back to town for a late lunch, at our favorite place, San Carlos Grill.
Back home, we rested and cleaned up to go out for supper.  Tonight we are doing Italian at Nonna Maria's in Oracle.  Deb & Joe came home from Mass and we went to the restaurant.  Great food and a good time together.

Petroglyphs at Saguaro National Park

Jean & Jerry love the desert

Kissing the saguaro

Eating Italian together

Sunday -  10:00 Mass at St. Helen's in Oracle.  There was one pew remaining that we could all sit in. Today the visiting priest led the entrance and processional hymns.  A pianist played other music during offertory and communion.  The church was full - we enjoy the small mission friendliness and devotion there.  We took Jean and Jerry back and they left with our car to drive to Casa Grande to visit a friend from Phoenix.  Gary and I borrowed Deb & Joe's car and moved our things back home and changed for the Super Bowl party that would be at Deb & Joe's that night.  We got back and helped Deb get everything ready for the festivities.  Everyone was bringing a dish to share so there was plenty of good food.  We had a great time, although the game and commercials were not anything great this year.  The wrong team won too!
Jean and Jerry returned from their visit and got to meet all of Deb, Joe, Dan & Connie's friends here in Saddlebrooke.  They fit right in - we had a great time and a lot of laughs.

Monday -  Happy Birthday Jerry!  He said he had never traveled on his birthday and now we are even going to golf on his birthday - another first for him, with a February birthday.  We stopped at Walmart on the way and bought golf gloves to use, Joe was able to get everyone golf clubs to use today at his course, El Conquistador.  It was cooler and cloudy today, we all dressed in long sleeves, pants and jackets.  Doris and Leo Smith golfed with us too. The plan was to golf 18 holes, but by the eighth hole the wind came up and it even started spitting moisture, so we all agreed to be done after nine.  By then it was mid afternoon, so we headed to Mi Tierra's for a late lunch/early supper. The waitress heard it was Jerry's birthday, so he got the full treatment of wearing the sombero and the birthday dessert, a huge serving of fried ice cream. Enough to share with everyone.
We went back to Deb & Joe's and enjoyed visiting and ended the evening playing a spirited game of Farkle.

Great friends 

AZ - Week 3

Sorry for the big delay in updating - we are busy having a lot of fun!

Wednesday, Jan. 22 -  after our long hike on Monday, we decided it would be good for me to have a hydration pack to carry more water.  We drove in to Tucson to the REI store and found a Camelbak hydration pack and some hiking boots.  The store personnel were very helpful and not pushy.  Then a stop at Sam's Club, Trader Joe's and lunch at the Metropolitan Grill.  A great meal, we will go back sometime. We took all our purchases home and sat outside for the sunset.

Thursday - another hike - today it was the Pima Canyon trail.  A little further drive to get to the trailhead, we drove in toward Tucson and turned on Magee Street - we started the hike about 10:00. This trail is very rocky to begin and not as well marked.  We went up around the side of the mountain and then down into the canyon through the mountain pass. There was more shade and we hiked through grassy, treed areas. Eventually we were hiking up the side of the next mountain, again more rocks and bigger steps.  There were several hikers that passed us going up, we did not see any of them returning until we had hiked two hours.  We were stopped for a power bar break when the one man came back.  He told us the dam we were headed for was (at "our pace, he said" (we weren't offended!)) probably about thirty more minutes.  He was hustling back down the trail, said he had to get back to go to work.  We had decided we would hike until noon, so when he said thirty more minutes, we knew we should head back.  We descended faster than we hiked up, it was really a great day to be out and an easier hike than the trail on Monday.
After we got home, Gary fixed some of the outside latches on the motorhome and then cleaned up. I took him to Dan's house, they went to the Arizona/Colorado basketball game that night.  Arizona was rated number one in the nation, they had a good time at the game and Arizona won.
I stayed home, put away the Christmas decorations we still had out and cleaned up the motorhome. I watched two movies - ones that Gary does not enjoy watching as much as I do.

Pima Canyon

Trail through the pass

Bottom of Pima Canyon

Hiked through brush and grass through the pass

Friday - today Deb picked me up and we went to the Golden Goose, the local consignment shop that raises money for schools and needy families in the areas.  Gary stayed home to work on projects, he has an ongoing list of things he wants to do on the motorhome.
Lisa, one of our Saddlebrooke friends that is the manager on Friday's, had found the small ironing board that I was looking for and was holding it for me.  We looked around the shop and found some good buys.  I found a pair of Merrell hiking boots, just like the ones I had bought on Wednesday - but they were not my size.  But they fit Deb perfectly!  We also found a hiking fanny pack for Deb that holds two bottles of water, I found a jump rope like I planned to buy at Wal-mart, and then I found a patio lounge chair.  I knew it was too bulky for us to transport in the motorhome, but since we are going to be here for two more months and we have such a nice patio while we are here, I decided I could spend the $10 to enjoy lounging while we are here.  Besides, it was for a good cause and we will just donate it back in a couple of months before we leave AZ!
After shopping at the Goose, we decided that I would cook supper for us and friends on this Friday evening, so we went to Walmart and bought the groceries we needed for the meal.  We took the groceries back to Deb's, then she took me home.  Gary was a little wary when he came out and saw the trunk open - but likes the lounge chair.  Deb said she would adopt it when we leave here if we don't donate it back.
We cleaned up and then went to Deb & Joe's to enjoy the late afternoon sun and then made supper for the friends.  Another fun evening together.

Saturday - another new adventure! - Market on the Move at the church this morning.  I got to Deb's at 7:20 AM and we went and picked up Krista, Connie and Lisa.  Market on the Move happens at the church on the 4th Saturday of every month.  This group procures excess produce from companies and sells it for money to donate to the less fortunate.  For $10 at the Market, you can buy up to 60 pounds of whatever produce they have available.  Today they had eggplant, grapefruit, yellow peppers, zucchini, Mexican zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, grape tomatoes, yellow grape tomatoes and a green pepper (bigger than jalapenos, not quite as spicy).  Deb, Lisa and I split the 60 pounds for $10 - Gary and I just do not have room for much.  We took some things for Deb to share with her neighbors too.  Afterward, we went to Lisa's house for coffee and then took everyone home.
After I got home, I cleaned the car out, vacuuming, washing windows and surfaces inside.  Tonight we are driving to take everyone in to Tucson to visit a winery shop and have supper.  We picked up Deb, Joe, Connie & Dan and had supper at the El Cisne Restaurant.  We had a great meal and time visiting together.

Sunday - today we went to Mass at St. Helen's Parish in Oracle.  This is a small mission parish in Oracle, a small town about ten miles from us.  The wood pews have tall backs, but they have kneelers.  The regular pastor is on sabbatical, a Monsignor was filling in today.  There were families  and older people present, ( about 40-50 people total) we had two young boys sitting with us, the rest of their family sat in another pew.  The music was an electronic keyboard, with a skilled pianist.  The choir was four of the parishoners.  A very meaningful liturgy.
Afterward we drove around Oracle, went by the State Park there and down some of the side streets. We stopped at the little market to pick up the supplies I needed to make our fresh salsa with the tomatoes from the market.  When we went up to pay, the lady checking us out was holding a little girl about nine months old.  She had her hands full, so Gary asked if he could hold the baby.  She handed her to Gary and the little one was not afraid.  Then he let me hold the little one, she snuggled her head into my neck, what a great feeling.  She was very happy and really lit up when her Grandpa walked in.  What a treat to hold a little one again!
Back home, we changed and then went to Deb & Joe's for lunch.  Deb had made homemade soup, we had a nice lunch on their patio.  We also had taken our patio mat with us, and used Joe's pressure washer on it on their driveway, getting the red New Mexico and white Kansas dirt off.  It dried while Gary and I took a walk around the neighborhood. Home again, we relaxed and read on the beautiful Sunday afternoon. That evening, we went to Brian and Krista's to play Farkle.  We had fun relearning the game together and visiting.

Monday - we woke up to a cloudy, cooler morning.  We are hiking today, this time at Oracle State Park.  We dressed a little warmer and headed there.  Pulled up to the park entrance, only to find a sign that said they were closed today!  We drove up the road further looking for other hiking options and ended up driving to San Manuel, not far away.  The terrain changes as we head this northeast direction, there are little to no saguaro cactus here, mostly high desert and mining areas. Gary filled up with gas in San Manuel and we headed back toward Oracle.  In the meantime, I had been on my phone and found there was another entrance to the hiking trails for the park.  We pulled in there, paid our day fee and set out. These trails do go up and down, but through more brushy areas than rocky.  It was good that we were wearing pants today, as we were brushing by vegetation all the time.  We hiked for about two hours, the hardest part was the sandy wash part of the trail at the end.
Tonight we were invited to Joe & Deb's for supper, Joe's daughter Natalie and her friend, Kadie, had arrived from Mitchell for a visit.  They really enjoyed soaking up the sun on the patio as supper was prepared.  Joe fixed his famous marinated roast on the grill, yum!  Tonight from the patio, we saw the coyotes crossing the fairway again.

Oracle State Park trail

The trail

A young palm tree

Joe and Natalie

Tuesday - we picked up Joe, Deb, Natalie and Kadie and went to visit the Desert Museum. This is a wonderful place to learn about anything in the Arizona-Sonoran desert.  The plants, the cactus, the birds, the animals, anything that happens in the desert.  The girls were in awe of the scenery views on our drive there and we all enjoyed our day at the museum.  It was warm, sunny and perfect for being outside. This month, they have a raptor exhibition - Deb & Joe had seen it before.  They had numerous birds of prey flying around, taking bait from some of the trainers.  Where we were standing, the trainer had a Harris Hawk fly to her.  The hawk flew right over Natalie, Kadie and Deb, they felt the wind from its wings as it went by.  Of special interest to the girls, were the javelinas, the wild rodent/pigs that are seen often in Saddlebrooke and the desert.
We drove through the Old Tucson parking lot on our way back, did not have time to stop because we were to have supper at Dan & Connie's.  Dropped the girls off at their hotel and went to help get supper ready.  Dan's famous ribs and chicken, another great meal and visiting.

View before reaching Desert Museum

Cactus variety

State bird - Cactus Wren

Coyote

Harris Hawk

Kadie by the Harris Hawk

The mountains were pink looking from Dan & Connie's home

The Sun keeps shining - AZ

Wednesday -  Today we hiked at Catalina State Park, which is about 10 miles from where we live. This park has numerous hiking trails and a campground.  We picked up Deb and Krista and went to the park.  After paying the day use fee and parking, we started at the trailhead and hiked the Canyon Loop Trail, with a short walk also to the Montrose Pools.  About 2.8 miles total.  It was a beautiful day, Gary had the camera and took a lot of pictures for us.  Afterward, we were all thirsty and hungry, so we stopped at the San Carlos Grill, conveniently located in the shopping area directly across the highway from the park entrance.  Margaritas and lunch were enjoyed before we headed home for naps and showers.  Then we all met at the Saddlebrooke Clubhouse for a wine tasting event.  It was a great time trying the wines and visiting.

Krista, Deb and myself - Hiking friends

Catalina State Park landscape

Yes, there is water in the desert

Thursday - we stayed home all day, catching up on laundry and Gary worked on our income taxes.  I sorted through all my clothes and put together another bag of things to donate to the thrift store. We sat outside on the patio in the afternoon and enjoyed the sun and mountain view.

(Gary here: The weather has been simply fantastic!  Pretty much sunny every day and temps mostly hi-60's, lo-70's......now I sometimes feel guilty for enjoying this so much when our friends in South Dakota are slogging thru a very cold winter.......so I won't say anything more about it, but you are welcome to visit us in Sunny Tucson, AZ anytime this winter!!!! OK, I will have a margarita and not feel SO guilty!!!!  Cheers!)


Friday -  Gary, Dan and Joe golfed today, so I went and had a massage to relieve my very tight back muscles.  Then I returned some items from catalog orders and did some shopping.  I picked up groceries on the way home and went to Deb's house.  We had a great visit before the boys came home from golf.  We stayed for supper, Joe grilled burgers for us and Jeff & Lisa came over for the evening.

Saturday -  we went in to Best Buy and I upgraded my phone.  (We now both have smartphones!! welcome to the new age!!) Then we explored World Market and picked up groceries.  We were cooking supper tonight for the friend group, Gary made a big batch of Peppers and Shells.  We dropped the groceries off at Joe & Deb's, went for a walk with Deb, then went home.  I made the dessert for supper, Death by Chocolate. Yum! We went to Mass at 4:00, then back to Deb & Joe's to prepare supper for the group.  The chef got started browning the Italian sausage and cutting up the peppers.  I helped prepare the vegetables and made sure the garlic bread was ready on time. Connie brought delicious guacamole and salsa for munchies until things were ready.  Peppers & Shells and Death by Chocolate - everyone loved it.

Sunday -  today we went to Nogales, Mexico with Dan & Connie.   They have wanted to get some decorative clay pots for their outside patios, so we drove down in the morning to see what we could find.  We parked in a public lot on the US side in Nogales and walked across the border.  We walked through a number of shops, some are open air stores in alleys, others are in store buildings. There were hardly any other shoppers that morning.  Of course that meant the shop owners were all over us, begging us to buy from them.  Gary and I were looking for a roadrunner for our patio, we saw several but they were not the right size for transporting when we travel. Connie found a shop that had pots that she liked.
We had not been across the border shopping since 2003.  It was interesting to see that many of the shops were closed up, but many of them were now pharmacy stores and dental offices.  We looked in a few more shops, then stopped for lunch.  Afterward, we went to the shop Connie liked and she bought three pots for their home.  We carried the pots back toward the border, then stopped at one of the first shops to look at the roadrunners again.  Gary and I ended up buying, we found a roadrunner we liked and the shop owner painted it while we waited.  Dan & Connie found some metal cactus plants to buy while they were waiting for us.  Connie did very well bargaining with the shop owners.  We carried everything back across the border and loaded it in the car. After getting back to Tucson, Connie directed us to the Old Pueblo Grill, a former hacienda that was turned into a restaurant.  It had outside courtyards for dining, we enjoyed sitting outside for our delicious meal there.  A great day, when we got back to their home, we watched the second half of the playoff game.  The 49'rs lost, unfortunately.
Gary comments: This was a fun and easy trip to make, the border crossing was super simple (need passports, of course to re-enter the USA), and it was not crowded.  We stopped for a light lunch and refreshments.  Highly recommended!)

Our little roadrunner

Monday - we went hiking again today.  Gary decided we would go back to Catalina State Park and hike the longer trail to the Romero Pools.  I should have looked at the website before we left - I would have taken more water along and probably would have protested more.  This trail starts where we had gone the week before, but then goes up and around the sides of many of the Catalina Mountains there.  Very rocky, I certainly got my workout today!  Every time we hiked around one of the hills, we thought we would be there, but no.  At that point, Gary asked someone hiking down how much farther we had to go before the pools and they told us 25 more minutes, but it was worth it.  Wow - that is not what I wanted to hear!  But we kept going and we made it. Once there, we found the pools and the small waterfall.  I took off my shoes and socks and took advantage of the cold water on my feet.  This was Martin Luther King Day, so school was out, there were a lot of students hiking that day.  They, of course, passed us going up and many of them hiked back before we did.  All total we hiked about 5.8 miles that day.

One of many narrow spots on the trail

The trail below us

Saguaro soldiers on the mountains

Hiking leader (boot camp Sarge!)

The high school group is below by the Romero pools

Fantastic views

Watching our steps going down this trail

Tuesday - we were home today.   Cleaned house and laundry.  I had a dentist appointment for my six month cleaning (the one I missed in Sioux Falls in December). A nice place in Saddlebrooke, Dan had recommended it to us.  After my appointment, I stopped by Dan's then went to watch the end of Joe's softball game.  A grocery run and then home.