Thursday - Today is the famous Tucson Rodeo Parade and Rodeo (La Fiesta de los Vaqueros!). We went with Deb & Joe, although they drove separate because Deb's sister and brother-in-law were arriving sometime today. We watched the parade, the nation's largest non-motorized parade. All the exhibits were drawn by horses, mules or ponies. Over two hundred entries, so it lasted a couple hours. When it was done, about fifteen street sweepers followed, cleaning up the "deposits" from the day.
Deb left to go home and Joe, Gary and I went to the grandstand for the rodeo. We walked around the grounds, stopping at some of the booths to register to win wonderful things and bought t-shirts to commemorate our attendance this year. We enjoyed rodeo food, bacon wrapped sausages and grilled, marinated chicken on sticks. Once in the grandstand, we enjoyed watching the professional riders in the rodeo. (My first rodeo!) First class entertainment!
We headed home when it was over and got back to Deb & Joe's right after the Sioux Falls family members arrived. It was fun to see Marjean and Mike and they were glad to be here where it is warm. We stayed for supper and enjoyed catching up with them.
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| Fun ride |
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| Two cowboys |
Friday - I went out for an early morning walk - need to keep burning calories. Listened to our daily work call as we are getting closer to getting started and we are excited to share this with you soon! - the site should be live early March. Gary stayed home and I went to the "Goose", the local thrift shop, to find treasures. Not much luck today. Then picked up groceries and got home in time for my work call. Sat outside in the afternoon - yes again, and we were home that night.
Saturday - Today we are getting out of town. We packed and headed northwest to visit friends. We stopped in Florence for lunch, it's our anniversary today - 28 years. We ate at the Mount Athos Restaurant, a Greek, Italian, American food place. It was very busy, apparently a destination type of place on a nice day. We split a Gyros plate, plenty for the two of us, with a gyros sandwich, Greek salad and fries. A nice treat!
Then we headed on to Apache Junction. We were visiting Bob and LaRae Zwart at the Lost Dutchman Mobile Home Park there. Bob and LaRae come down every year for January and February and have their own park model they live in. Park models are small, very much like a motor home or camper for square footage, but they added on an "Arizona Room", so they have more living/entertaining space attached to the "house". With the walls and roof enclosed and the space heaters they have added, we spent the entire evening there, for supper and playing cards afterward. Two couples they spend time with came over and we had a very enjoyable and laugh-filled evening and a great meal. We stayed overnight, sleeping on their hideabed couch.
Sunday AM, they took us out for breakfast and then we went to Mass at St. George's Church in Apache Junction. A large church, they have three Sunday AM masses and ours was totally full. As we drove to and from church, we were amazed at the number of "snowbird" parks there in Apache Junction. But now that we have enjoyed the weather these months, we understand why they are all here!
We went back to Bob & LaRae's, changed in to our shorts again and then they took us on a fifteen mile drive northwest to Tortilla Flats. This is a small tourist destination up through the Superstition Mountain passes and was a stagecoach stop years ago. There were shops, a restaurant - famous for having dollar bills totally covering all the walls and partitions there, and an outside patio area with live country performers. Bob and Gary (of course) visited with people they knew from South Dakota that were there. After the drive back in to town, they took us to the Ranch Market, a store that sells discounted fruit, vegetables, candies, nuts, etc. Quite the bargains there. LaRae buys fruit and vegetables there cheap, freezes them and transports them back home to South Dakota in a small freezer in their van. Good thinking!
That night we drove back home, stopping at the Cadillac Chapparal to meet Deb, Joe, their guests and other friends from Saddlebrooke for supper. This way Mike and Marjean had a chance to meet all the friends Deb & Joe have here.
Monday - Back to work. Gary and I each have meetings to listen to and be part of. We spent the day working on business items. Wow the time goes fast when you are concentrating on learning again! By 4:00 I was done - ready to be outside. Gary and I went for a walk and then invited our neighbor, Jan, over for refreshments. Her husband, Wally, was working late today. Jan just finished three days of downsizing things in their motorhome and storage shed, to prepare for them hitting the road in May. We had a great visit, we certainly have been lucky to once again find good friends as we travel!
Tuesday - Laundry today, I washed the sheets and then hung them out on the clothes lines to dry. It did not take long. Morning meetings and work on the computer, the day flew by again. It was cloudy and cooler most of the day, so we weren't as tempted to be outside. The sun came out about 4:00 and we took advantage of it. Home in the evening, I sauteed the zuchinni, summer squash, peppers and onions Deb had got for me at the church "market on the move" on Saturday. Yuum!
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| Sundown shining on the mountains |
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| A strange sunset, but beautiful |
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