On
Thursday, January 2, 2014, on our way back from Colorado, we
stopped and spent the night at Sam & MaryAnn's in Surprise.
The next day,
Friday, January 3rd, we had breakfast with cousins Gale & Barb and Larry & Vicki and afterwards we checked out Happy Trails again. It was Vendor Days so we checked that out, too. Then it was back home to Rincon Country West. Nice to be back in warm weather again!
Sunday, January 5th found me taking photographs of the motorhome to prove to the committee at Happy Trails in Surprise that we are good-looking enough to stay at their park! Then we headed over to Tohono Chul Park. Love this place!
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| Copper ore with azurite & malichite - gorgeous colors! |
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| Blanket flower puffballs |
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| Ragleaf bahia (I think!) |
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| Anyone know what this is? |
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| Front view of Ragleaf bahia |
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| Desert Honeysuckle |
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| Agua! |
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| Jumping cholla - watch out for this one! |
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| California poppy |
Wednesday, January 8th - took motorhome and car to B&C RV & Marine and finally got Stealth issues all corrected (the "Stealth" is our supplemental braking system for our tow car). They uninstalled the old unit and installed the new, revised one that Brake Buddy had sent us. Dave, one of their technicians, turned out to be some kind of electrical wizard and he discovered that some of the wiring in the car had been done incorrectly. Thanks again, Dakota RV in Rapid City, SD - NOT! B&C RV & Marine in Tucson, on the other hand, we would recommend!
On
Friday, January 10th, we toured Old Tucson. This tourist attraction is great fun! There's old western stuff for history buffs...
...and several re-enactment type skits with lots of action for everyone including an impromptu street ballgame.
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| See the moon? |
On
Tuesday, January 14, we drove down to Kartchner Caverns to do the tour and did a hike afterwards. Note to self: don't trust park rangers when they say it's an "easy" hike. Whew!
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| Prickly Pear cactus |
Saturday, January 18th, we drove up to Mt. Lemmon. Beautiful day and amazing views of Tucson from up there!
Thursday, January 23rd: time for a road trip! We packed up and pointed the car toward San Diego. Stopped on the way for an overnight in Quartzsite. Enjoyed a lunch with RV friends at the Main Street Eatery and spent the night camped out on Ron & Linda's motorhome floor. Fun to see everyone again!
Friday, January 24th we drove on to San Diego to see my cousin Deann and her good friend, George. We had a great time there! Deann & George were wonderful hosts! Thanks!! On
Saturday, January 25th, the four of us went sightseeing to Coronado Island and Balboa Park.
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| George & my cousin, Deann |
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| Saturday sightseeing |
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| Be sure to click on the photo to see the detail in this sandcastle. |
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The "Del" was built in 1887 and is one
of our country's largest wooden buildings. |
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This Dragon Tree is native to the Canary Islands and was featured
in Marilyn Monroe's movie "Some Like It Hot" filmed here in 1958. |
And, of course, there are wonderful flowers everywhere here!
After seeing Coronado Island we headed to Balboa Park. Gonna' have to come back here someday to look around more - this place is awesome! Free admission, 1200 acres, theatres and something like 16 museums!!
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| Casa Del Prado Theatre |
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| Love the architecture here! |
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| People watching is pretty fascinating also... |
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| I think it's a flower.... |
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| Lots of gardens here, too! |
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| Museum of Man |
Sunday, January 26th and we're off to the San Diego Zoo. Fun!!
Here's a few pics...
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| Felt sorry for this poor polar bear in the warm climate... |
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| Mom & baby |
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| Ain't he cool? |
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| Andean Cock-of-the-Rock |
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| Blue-breasted Kingfisher |
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| Wait'll you see him yawn! |
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| He does need to see a dentist, though.... |
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| Pronghorn |
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| Secretary Bird from Africa |
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| Nice kitty.... |
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| Southern Gerenuks from Africa |
Monday, January 27th, time to head home. Laguna Mts. east of San Diego are very cool! John had been sleeping when we came out here and he enjoyed seeing these unusual mountains.
Wednesday, February 5th - Friends from Alaska, Jean & Duane, were in the area visiting so we headed north to the Biosphere 2 near Oracle AZ. As you recall, the Biosphere 2 became famous during the initial experiment in the early 1990s when 8 people lived inside the sealed "bubble" for two years. They grew their own food and conducted various scientific experiments. There were, of course, various problems and controversies. For more historical information, including a second mission, check out
Wikipedia. The Biosphere is now run by the University of Arizona and contains several large and small scientific experiments. We enjoyed the tour immensely.
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| Duane & Jean |
On
Friday, February 7th we took a nice drive with our long-time Iowa friends, Jack & Donna. They showed us one of their favoriate places, Peppersauce Campground.
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| Jack, John & Donna |
Wednesday, February 12th found me
working on my photo slide show for the Rincon Country West photo club contest and, in the late afternoon, we headed over to Iowa friends Steve & Ev to visit with them and cousins of mine from our hometown, Terry & Janet. We all enjoyed a yummy dinner at El Corral Steakhouse and then went over to Trail Dust Town in northeast Tucson for the evening. Fun time!
On
Sunday, February 16th, we headed up to friend Shelley's (Jack & Donna's daughter) and hiked the wash behind her house with her and some of her friends. It's a magical place - lots of petroglyphs and there is no public access which helps make it special.
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| Shel, John & friends |
Tuesday, February 18th - Decided to go see a movie today. Since the theatre is in a mall near us, we decided to ride our bikes over through the wash. After the movie, we each stopped to use the restrooms and John went outside before I did. He was surprised to find only his bike at the bike stand. The lock had been cut and mine was gone! We notified mall security after calling 911 and waited for nearly two hours for an officer to show up. Fortunately, the mall security guy, Robert, was not busy and we had a nice visit with him. And, yes, we walked home... Much too old to ride on handlebars anymore!
Wednesday, February 19th - I ordered my new Dahon folding bicycle from Amazon.
Thursday, February 20th - guess what John found on Craig's List today? Yup - my bike! It was advertised as a 2014 model (we bought it new in 2008...) and was priced at $300. We drove by the address, but didn't find anyone around, so we headed over to Carl's Jr. for lunch and phoned the contact number indicating that we were interested in buying the bike. After numerous calls, texts, etc. the guy finally said he'd have his friend bring it over to the restaurant for us to see. A 6' tall, scruffy reddish haired guy finally showed riding my bike. We looked it over, confirmed that it was mine and said we were interested, but needed to have him produce a bill of sale from the owner and would he accept a check. He took off to find out and we immediately called the cops. When the first cop arrived, I shooed him around to the other side of the building, so the guy wouldn't see his cruiser from the bike path and spook. Then another rookie cop showed and they "hid out" on the other side of the building. Dude shows up again and the cops come up and tap him on the shoulder for a little chat. Long story short: he wasn't charged with anything because he claimed he didn't know it was stolen. Rookie cop & I texted "owner" to try to get him to come over but he didn't fall for it. Methinks he's been in this little business for awhile! So, I got my bike back and that was the end of that. They had put a "new" serial number sticker on it but the last 2 digits of the engraved one showed, so that was my proof. I totally understand that the police have bigger fish to fry, but it kind of fries me that these guys just keep getting away with these thefts...
Friday, February 21st: shopping for new bike locks. Those buggers aren't going to get this one!! And, our neighbor wants to buy my "old" bike, so I still get a new one!
Saturday, February 22nd - I have become a member of the photo club here at Rincon Country West and they have a photo contest every year. I entered, of course, and actually won a couple ribbons: one Honorable Mention in the Flower category and a First Place in the Video Montage. I do believe John was ready to slide under the table when my slideshow was playing in front of a couple hundred people! He was in many of the photos as he's usually my only available model:)
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| Honorable Mention |
Tuesday, February 25th - Spent some time today at Redburn Tire getting new motorhome tires. We had the old ones shipped back to the farm for our nephews to use on their tractor trailers. Still lots of life left in them, we hope.
Sunsets here are amazing and tonight's was no exception.
Sunday, March 2nd and we were off to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum with Craig & Mitzi - good friends we knew in Iowa way back when. This is an amazing place: part garden, part aquarium and part zoo so lots of fun photo opportunities!
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| Polly, want a cracker? |
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| Some type of mallow? |
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| Hellooo.... |
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| Wish we could have seen more of him - beautiful mountain lion! |
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| Great desert views from here, too. |
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| Hummer enjoying a penstemon bloom |
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| All kinds of desert critters here |
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| Western Tanager |
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| Unusual cactus! |
On
Saturday, March 8th we went to visit Ryan & Louise and their two daughters. Ryan lived near us in Anchorage and spent quite a bit of time hanging out with our boys. Love this family and their girls are adorable!
We enjoyed our time in Tucson - especially the gang at RCW that we hung out with. And, it was nice to visit with the various friends who live there. But, time to move on....
