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!