News from the visit of the in-laws and one bad outlaw (a Dillinger reference)

Jeff looking up at the B-29 tail gunner's spot

If we have learned anything from our trips to Arizona is that the clock spins much faster when we have company. At our age, time is speeded up anyway, but when we have friends or family here it seems like the clock is spinning out of control.

We sister Pam and my brother-in-law Jeff flew in on Tuesday, March 17^th for a week’s stay with us. Hard to believe but yesterday they flew home after an 8-day stay in Arizona that flew by at NASCAR speed.

Because we have done many of the tourist things already we don’t do much touring in between the visits of friends and relatives so our activity level increases considerably when we have company. It helps that we have some of the best friends and family on the planet.

After picking Pam and Jeff up at the airport we headed back to the resort to check them into their rental Casita. Unfortunately there was a mix up on the reservation and the Casita Pam and Jeff had rented, which happens to be directly across the street from our space was not available.

A Tucson sunset in the park

They were moved to a Casita a block away, but after my sister worked her magic at the front desk with the manager she scored a $350 savings to make up for the inconvenience created by the resort’s error. The huge savings left my sister and brother-in-law with a good feeling.

We did a little walking tour of the resort and then we all went to the Tuesday potluck with a couple pies put together by Joan in advance. My sister and brother-in-law are friendly people are folks warmed up to them right away with another couple who had lived in West Virginia previously sitting with us and talking everything “West “by God” Virginia.”

During our walking resort tour, Jeff spotted three javelinas playing in the water hazard at the little golf course here at the resort. I’ve heard of javelinas in the park, but this is the first time I witnessed it with my own eyes. Jeff witnessed it again later and took photos.

Javelinas in the park (Jeff photo)

On Wednesday, Joan and Pam went to Aquacise and then we headed up to Sabino Canyon for lunch and a walk. The weather was warm, but we had some drizzly rain, which is good for Arizona but not nice for someone who has come a long way to get out of bad weather. The rain didn’t dampen our day or restrict us in any way. One special moment was when the driver of the tour dram spotted a gila monster crossing the road in front of our tram and we got to see it crawling across the road.

Gila monsters are incredible vicious when approached (which we didn’t) and have a nasty, venomous bite. This is the first time we have seen one in the wild.

Jeff and Pam in Sabino Canyon

After Sabino Canyon we went to Trader Joe’s to pick up supplies for Pam and Jeff’s Casita and returned to a dinner of Pawley’s Island Shrimp in the trailer. After that we went to the “Salute to Sun Records” concert in the ballroom. The show was a sell out and we had a rockin’ good time.

Thursday brought more cloudy skies, but the rain held out long enough for us to make a trip to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, after my morning Bible class, where we caught the animal show in the auditorium and the free raptor flight show outdoors. The cooler temperatures brought out the coyotes, javelinas, and other critters we often don’t see at the museum.

We did dodge a pretty good rainstorm which hit just after we left the park about 4 p.m.  Some of the photos that Jeff and Pam took with the storm in the background are spectacular. I will post some of them in a separate post below this one in the coming days.

After arriving back at the resort we attended the resort’s end of the year luau and barely got there in time to get what little food was left for sale in the ballroom. We were waiting in the pulled pork sandwich line when that offering ran out, we moved to the hamburger line and barely got one of those.

A raptor with a desert storm in the distance

We enjoyed a root beer float and then an evening of dancing to the music of “Two’s Company” a local couple who play instruments and provide good dance music. I got to dance with my sister for only the second time in our lives (the first was at her wedding 16 years ago).

Friday morning broke bright and early and Jeff and I headed to the Pima Air and Space Museum while the ladies when to the Aquacise class in the pool. Jeff made an amazing discovery about his father’s aircraft while we were there, but I’m letting him share the surprise with others before I recount the blessing here. Jeff’s father was a tail gunner on a B-29 out of Guam at the end of World War II and was on the very last bombing mission over Japan when the Japanese surrender was announced.

Jeff is about to get buzzed by a Harris hawk

Jeff brought his Dad’s log book with him to the museum and captivated a couple docents with his father’s entries, including the last one which said “The War is Over.” After our trip to the museum we returned to the resort, picked up the ladies and headed to the Fourth Avenue Craft Fair in downtown Tucson.

Joan and I eat our diet cookies for breakfast and lunch, but Pam and Jeff took advantage of some of the roach coaches that were on hand for the fair and had some of the local fair. Some of those botulism wagons cook up some pretty good food.

After lunch Joan and Pam spotted an “adult” store and while Jeff and I sheepishly remained outside the two of them went inside to check it out. Fortunately, the didn’t buy anything inside the store.

Not going in there

We walked around the fair for a few hours and then returned back to the resort where we had a delicious crock pot chicken dinner. We watched a beautiful sunset and turned in early as Saturday was planned as an early start.

Pam’s friend Becky lives in the Tucson area and had invited us down for breakfast in Bisbee and to a local street fair there. This is the first year of the Americana street fair in Lowell, which is next door to Bisbee and Becky and her husband, Pete, live near there in Sierra Vista.

After a great breakfast (we were also joined by friends of Becky and Pete’s) a retired Army colonel and his wife and son who is undergoing Army officer training at Fort Huachuca.

The Bisbee bunch in downtown Lowell

We walked up and down the street looking at the old cars and then headed back to Bisbee where Pete gave us the grand tour of the town. Pete lived in Bisbee during his formative school years and knows the ins and outs of this historic old copper mining town which is just about 15 minutes north of the Mexican border.

After returning to the resort we enjoyed a wonderful prime rib dinner at the Bar and Grill.  After dinner we went to the free Pickleball dance in the ballroom Saturday night. My sister got to dance with her husband twice during her visit here.

On Sunday we attended the resort worship services with Pam and Jeff and then while they sat around the pool for a couple hours Joan and I watched Michigan State finish off a big win against Virginia in the NCAA basketball tournament and then watch the Detroit Red Wings defeat the St. Louis Blues in overtime in the nationally televised hockey game. Now that’s a good start for a day.

The Bisbee bunch in Bisbee

After that we went to the Mexican league baseball game and Pam and Jeff can now confirm that the only English word we could understand was “Budweiser.”  It was a fun afternoon with great weather. On the way home we stopped at Costco (Pam and Jeff are members) and purchased four thick, juicy steaks and brought them home and grilled them outdoors for dinner. We watched another beautiful sunset and visited on our patio.

Joan and Pam went to aquacise on Monday morning and then we headed to Catalina State Park in the afternoon for a hike. We did a one-mile birding trail and then a .75-mile ruins trail on a pretty warm afternoon. We spotted a horned toad, some quail and I briefly spotted a long snake moving across the trail in front of us. That is the first snake I have seen in Arizona in the wild since I’ve been hiking here.

A friendly horned toad on the ruins trail

The ruins of the Hohokam tribe were interesting. That was a first for all of us.

After touring we returned to the resort had dinner in the Bar and Grill again and then took in the “Broadway Magic” show in the ballroom. The resort women’s choir and men’s chorus did a number of tunes from Broadway plays and the bell choir entertained just before and just after intermission.

The evening ended with all of the crowd singing “76 Trombones” and we ended the evening by walking home to our residences from the concert. It is very convenient to live in a place where you can walk to everything.

A ceremony for Mike was here

Jeff and Pam spent Tuesday morning at the pool soaking up as much sunshine and pool time as they could before heading home to the chilly temperatures of West Virginia. In the afternoon we headed up towards Mt. Lemmon and at a beautiful spot we had a short ceremony for my late brother. We spread some ashes and I will always have a spot to remember him here in Tucson.

After our short ceremony we headed to the hotel where Pam and Jeff were staying near the airport and then went to the Tucson Botanical Gardens where we toured the gardens for about two hours before heading to dinner at Hotel Congress in downtown Tucson.

Hotel Congress is famous because the infamous gangster John Dillinger stayed there one weekend while on the run from the law. We had a wonderful dinner at Cup Café, which was a new experience for all of us. That one brief visit by Dillinger has turned into a cottage industry and an annual weekend festival for the City of Tucson. So far our visits here have not created anything like that buzz.

After dinner, and not quite ready to say good bye, we headed to a Dairy Queen where we enjoyed a tasty cold treat before heading back to the hotel where we said our farewells and left Pam and Jeff so they could get a good night’s sleep before their flight back to civilization.

That is a tall cactus

I watched Wednesday morning as Pam and Jeff’s flight flew by the resort on its way to Dallas and the connecting flight to Baltimore and felt let down that our company was gone. I waved at the plane, but I later learned they didn’t see me.  I got in a workout, we went to the last Market Days of the season and then later that evening we went to “American Made,” another Lonely Street Production. This show was a tribute to the Statler Brothers and the Oakridge Boys and included some great gospel singing as well.

The arc of our trip is increasingly bending towards departure and we both have much to do before that time comes in a couple weeks.

In thinking about Pam and Jeff’s visit we are thankful that we have both friends and relatives who are so easy to entertain and be with. They say you can’t pick your relatives, but we decided even if we had to pick we would be very happy choosing the relatives that we have.

On Thursday, I attended both the Men’s Bible Study in the morning and then the coed Bible Study that night. I have made some very good friends through these studies. The weather has turned hot here and the 94 on Friday nearly set an all-time high mark for the city. More hot weather is on tap, but things cool rapidly in the evening and we went to a dance Friday night with Albert Galli – the last dance of the season.

Hotel Congress - where Dillinger stayed

As much as we enjoy our time here we are starting to feel the gravitational pull of Michigan. This will likely be the last post until we start home on April 9, but that could change. If you scroll down from this post over the next couple days I will add some photos that Pam and Jeff forwarded to me. They are much better photogs than I am so you may appreciate those. I’ll put one photo in there right now to hold a space so I can add the rest after I resize them so I can download them.

Peace all and Go State!

More photos from Pam and Jeff's visit

If only Elin had been here

Harris hawks flying over our head

On the birding trail

My sister on the hike

Flowers in Sabino Canyon

Jeff, Pam and Joan at the Mexican League game

A hummingbird on a nest at the Sonora Desert Museum

Someone in Bisbee really wants Hillary to be President

A Tucson Dillinger t-shirt

Our hike brought us to the Hohokam ruins in Catalina State Park

Dinner at the resort bar & grill

The bar at the Hotel Congress

Take me out to the "Beisbol" game

These homeless "coffins" will no longer be downtown

The arc of winter is slowly, but inevitably moving towards the time we return to Michigan. It is with mixed feelings that we come to the end of another Tucson winter. We have made so many good friends down here that is hard to say good bye, but on the other hand we look forward to seeing our very good friends back home again.

I’ve already made reservations to have the trailer winterized in Flagstaff and our storage space is waiting for us there as well.

There is news from the downtown Tucson homeless battle. A local judge ruled that the "homeless pods," I call them "coffins" can be removed by the city and the homeless must move elsewhere so they are not blocking the sidewalk and creating a health nuisance. Did I mention the park has become a open air potty for the homeless? So as of last Friday the pods have been removed and they are seeking some open land for the homeless to live in.

Play ball!

But there is still plenty of time and fun on tap for us here in Tucson before we make the trip home. On Wednesday we attended our latest concert – The Luck of The Irish – which is a Lonely Street Production and they kept up the record of very good musical offerings.

There was “Danny Boy,” of course, but a lot of traditional Irish music and a young woman who did a fine job of Irish dancing along with many of the tunes. A good time was had by all.

Earlier in the day we attended “Market Days,” which is the second to the last of that event before we leave. The last one is March 25 and usually there are some pretty good prices as the vendors know we won’t be back for nine months.

We also got our allergy shots at the Voyager health clinic and we rebooked for next year at our same spot, so it looks like Tucson Winter Escape 2016 is a done deal.

"Booo" is the same in Spanish as English

On Thursday we attended the last 2015 lecture which was on the Mirror Lab. The Mirror Lab is one of our favorite tourist destinations and the speaker gave us some information that we missed on our previous two tours.

Following the lecture we packed up and headed for a “free” night at the Casino Del Sol where Joan had earned us another free night’s stay. We also had a coupon for a buy-one, get-one-free buffet at the casino. Since it was seafood night it was fun just watching people stack up piles of crab legs and shrimp.

I’ll have to admit that I took advantage of the shrimp table, putting a pretty good dent in the fresh cooked shrimp.

On Friday we returned home to the resort and then headed to the Hiker-Biker potluck party on the patio about 5 p.m. This is the season ending event for both the hikers and bikers here at the park and the food was good and plentiful. No “all-you-can-eat crab legs” but good nonetheless.

"Jose" can you see the dawn's....

Saturday brought more good weather and we made a mid-course correction late in the morning and decided to go catch the first game of a day-night doubleheader at the Kino Memorial Sports Stadium. In town are several Mexican professional baseball teams from a league south of the border who are holding spring training here in Tucson.

These are minor league teams with some connections to the American baseball teams. The day was beautiful and the “beisbol” wasn’t bad either. All the announcing was done in Spanish so the only word I could consistently identify was “Budweiser.”

If I  was a drinking person I could have taken advantage of the Tequila bar, but instead I bought a bag of peanuts in the shell and made a big mess in Section 117 just behind the third base dugout.

They spelled "Tigers" wrong

Although most of the players were of Hispanic origin there was the occasional Edwin Wilson and C.J. Retherford on the roster which indicates that perhaps an American player found his way onto the team.

Just to be complete the Toros de Tijuana (Tijuana Bulls) defeated the Piratas de Campeche (Campeche Pirates) by a 7-1 score. We cheered for both teams so the fans around us probably wondered what was wrong with us.

We looked at some uniforms shirts, but instead of Mexican prices they were pretty much priced like sports shirts at any American stadium, so we left empty-handed.

Once home we finished up some leftovers and settled in for an evening of TV.

Church started us out on Sunday (after I returned from my fitness center workout) and then we came home and watched the Red Wings plaster the stinkin’ Pittsburgh Penguins and then watched the Michigan State Spartans throw away a pretty good effort in the Big Ten Championship game.

The Red Wings game almost made up for the pathetic effort of a week prior.

Joan also did our laundry as we have guests coming on Tuesday. My sister Pam and my brother-in-law Jeff arrive here Tuesday afternoon for an 8-day stay so there probably won’t be much posting here until they leave for home.

On Monday, a former work colleague and photographer – Jane – and her husband are meeting us at the Voyager for dinner and a tour. They are here on family business, but when I saw her post on Facebook indicating she was in town we hooked up by phone and made arrangements for tonight’s dinner.

I’ll post a photo here later as I am posting this before they arrive for dinner.

More fun in the desert southwest: Wine and music

A Sonoran sunset

Once again I have been lax in keeping you all up-to-date on our doings. So instead of starting at where we left off, let’s start at today and work backwards for a change.

On Tuesday (March 10) I headed off for another great hike, this time in the Catalina Mountains. The Bug Springs hike is always an adventure as the first part of the hike is nearly straight up gaining about 800 feet in less than a mile. The steps are large and the air thin up in the Catalinas. This is the same hike I took two years ago where snow and ice made the steps extremely treacherous. Not so this year.

The hike is really two hikes. The first part (the up part) transits some beautiful pine forests and the second half is a trek through the hot side of the mountain and a part that was badly scarred by fire several years ago.

Catalina hike vistas

On Monday (March 9) I went on the easy hike which was a return to Empire Ranch, a hike I have done twice before. This is an extremely easy hike but is interesting because it takes place on a ranch where John Wayne shot at least two movies and where he stayed during the filming. The ranch house is rugged but has a lot of history.

After I returned from the hike Joan had done some more laundry and then we got cleaned up and headed to the Monday night “Meet Me at Maynard’s.”  They have a drawing each week and I won a $25 gift certificate to Hotel Congress or Maynard’s Restaurant. When she called my name I could barely believe it as I never win anything.

We are going to save the gift certificate, instead we went to a place called “Fried Pie” which specializes in individual pizzas. Because of my affinity for anchovies an individual pizza is perfect as few people enjoy sharing the taste of anchovies with me.

The homeless are taking over downtown Tucson

The big controversy in Tucson right now is the take over of downtown Tucson by the homeless. Advocates have brought in these wooden "pods," I call them "coffins" for the homeless to sleep in at night. There are shelters in Tucson and a couple organizations that help the homeless but these folks prefer to live on the sidewalk which is causing great consternation here.

A judge recent allowed the city to remove the pods from the sidewalk after several of the advocates were arrested for dealing drugs to the homeless. Stay tuned.

After church this morning (March 8) we returned to our trailer with hopes of watching the last part of the Detroit Red Wings nationally televised game against the Boston Red Sox. The one downside of being in Tucson is that I can’t watch my favorite team on a regular basis. So when they are on I enjoy watching them.

A tree on the Monday hike

Church was great this morning and included a special performance by The Presidio Saxophone Quartet. This is a group of four local music educators who play a variety of saxophones and were incredibly good.

Unfortunately by the time we returned from church the Red Wings were losing the game 4-1 and ended up losing the game by a 5-3 margin. Despite the loss it was fun to see the team in action for the first time since New Year’s Eve.

After the game we went shopping and stocked up on food for the week.

A Direct TV blimp flew over our resort

On Saturday (March 7) we did very little. I worked out in the fitness center and returned home and played mule for Joan to the laundromat which was packed with folks as time is drawing short for many folks here most of us like to travel with clean clothes.

We spent the afternoon sitting on our patio reading and then Joan broke out some leftover pork and noodles for dinner. After dinner we went to the Renaissance Dance where we joined some couples from church and Bible study for the evening. Great fun.

Last year we met a nice couple from Idaho – Barry and Darcel. Both were professors at Washington State University and they have a beautiful home in the resort in The Cove development. They have been here for 18 years and until last year had never gone wine tasting in southern Arizona. We introduced them to the wine country and when we first saw them this year in January they put in a bid to repeat the trip this year.

Darcel, Joan and Barry at Lightning Ridge Winery

As a testimony to how busy it gets here, we have been trying to find a common date for the wine tasting for two months and things fell together for the trip on Friday (March 6). Last year we went on a Tuesday or Wednesday when a number of the wineries are closed, but this year we were able to tour any of the wineries as they are all open on Friday.

We ended up visiting five wineries and only one was a repeat from last year. As a non-drinker I end up as the designated driver and somewhere along the line Darcel befriended another couple from Washington and they followed us in their truck to the last two wineries. We also talked up Voyager RV Resort and they are going to check it out for a possible stay here next year.

Hiking Ventana Canyon

After Joan, Barry and Darcel drank their way across southern Arizona we returned home in time for Joan and I to head to the resort theater company’s production of “Guys and Dolls.”  We have some very talented folks in the park and we really enjoyed the hard work put in by the cast.

Thursday (March 5) started with the fitness center, the Bible study and then Joan and I attended a 1 p.m. lecture on The Amerind Museum in Dragoon, Arizona. The Amerind is a center for Native American crafts and is a destination that we may have to try someday when we are looking for something different to do. I will be leading the Bible study in James next Thursday.

After the lecture we drove to one of those “Great Clips” places and took advantage of a 2-for-1 $10 haircut special. There were several little boys getting haircuts so I just got me a little boy’s haircut.

We returned home and had breakfast for dinner.

Wood carvings at the show

Wednesday (March 4) was an exciting day for me because I had my first wood carving entered in the “Show and Tell” show in the ballroom. There were lots of beautiful projects from around the park, including lapidary, wood working, wood carving, silversmith, quilts, stained glass, jewelry, scrapbooking and Joan made arrangements to take a class next year on Swedish weaving. There are many more activities here, but you get the idea.

I would put a photo of my project here, but it is a surprise present for a relative and I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Sorry for the tease.

That night the ballroom was transformed into a show theater again and we attended “Blue, Blues and Boogie Woogie.”  Once again we were not disappointed by another quality show here at the resort and I’m going to put a couple links here to recordings by the keyboardist, singer and harmonica player so you can get a hint at how good they were.

Stainglass class offerings at "Show and Tell"

It is really fun to attend a concert every week and simply walk three minutes home afterwards.

Tuesday (March 3) broke early and cool with a wonderful hike in Ventana Canyon. This is a hike I have done twice before, but this year there was more water than ever before owing to the recent rains. Our lunch spot at the pools was very enjoyable as the pools were full.

Once I arrived home I cleaned up and we headed off to the weekly potluck. Joan cooked up a great beef stew and returned with an empty pot.

The previous three days were fairly quiet, except for attending the Albert Galli dance and dancing the night away, if you can call dancing until 10 p.m. “dancing the night away.” Somewhere in there we went shopping, but mostly we just rested from our wonderful and fun-filled days with Pam and Gloria.

We did attend the "Do Dah" Parade and also "Voyager Night at the Races" on Friday afternoon and evening. Voyager Night at the Races is just Pinewood Derby for seniors. Many of the car designs are very unique and you can see photos from the parade and races in the post below along with a few other miscellaneous photos.

More photos from March

Lunch on the rocks in the Catalinas

Ventana Canyon

A Doo Dah canine parade entry

Great horned owl at the Desert Museum

Voyager "Night at the Races" track

Some of the "race" cars

Lunch at Maiden pools

Do Dah Parade entry in the Voyager

Ventana Canyon hike