Time flies when the visitors arrive

A field full of Sand Hill Cranes (some in the sky as well)

What a whirlwind week. We always discover that when we have guests, our weeks speed by at warp speed.

On Sunday, we headed to church already knowing that Elin was well on her way to Tucson. We were tracking her flights before church and she was on final approach as we left church. With our close proximity to the airport we always tell our guests to call when the plane touches down and then again when they have their luggage. The first call lets us know that it’s time to head to the airport and the second call lets us know it is time to leave the cellphone lot and pick them up at baggage claim.

Our resort is just about 15 minutes from the airport so it is very convenient.

Elin made the requested two calls and by 12:15 p.m. we were on our way out of the airport and on to our first adventure. Anytime we have guests I use that as an excuse to head to the Mission San Xavier del Bac which is a centuries old structure south of town.

Meet Me at Maynard's

The main reason I love to go there now is that the Tohono O’odham Indians make and sell fry bread there. Fry bread, which is exactly what it says, is made by rolling a ball of dough into a small pizza like circle and then tossing it into a boiling pot of oil. It is my hope that the boiling oil kills anything that the lack of sanitation might encourage. Once the fry bread is out of the pot it is sprinkled with a choice of honey, cinnamon or sugar. My personal choice is sugar. Joan and Elin chose honey and they soon found that they were hosts to a number of bees.

The mission is still an active Roman Catholic church so we had to wait for services to end to take a peek inside. It is a beautifully restored structure that traces its construction to the early 1700s. After that we headed to the Kino Sports complex for the first of several shopping trips around the annual Gem and Mineral show here in Tucson.

We spent a couple hours looking at rocks and fossils before returning to the trailer for dinner. The Gem and Mineral show is a misnomer. It is really a large number of shows scattered all over Tucson and despite our visits here we have only scratched the surface of the many venues.

Elin picked up a couple souvenirs and pronounced the gem show a good thing.

More Meet Me at Maynard's

On Monday, the ladies got up and went to aquacise together while I got in a quick work out and then a shower. After Elin and Joan returned from the pool we headed to Whitewater Draw to make our annual pilgrimage to see the Sand Hill cranes who winter there. We arrived about 12:30 p.m. just in time to see the afternoon fly in of thousands of noisy but graceful cranes.

We ate a nice picnic lunch and then started the 90-minute trip home to the trailer to get cleaned up for Meet Me at Maynard’s.

We did the two-mile hike around Tucson at MMM and then headed for dinner to Diablo Burgers where we all enjoyed the tasty burgers made with locally grown beef. Once home we crashed from a very busy but enjoyable day.

Tuesday was a get up early day as we were going to spend the entire day at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. We arrived just after it opened at 8:30 a.m. and began the tour of the museum. As Elin noted, it is really misnamed as the museum is more a zoo/botanical garden/aviary than a museum.

Our timing let us see both the 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. “Raptor Free Flight” shows and the 12:15 p.m. “Live and (sort of ) on the Loose” show in the auditorium. Elin fell for an owl that flew at the 10 a.m. show and now calls it her “Spirit Animal.” The owl, which is completely free during the demonstration, confounded her trainers by remaining at various perches long after she was supposed to be flying to her next station.

A Harris Hawk at the Desert Museum

We spent the rest of our time there visiting the javelinas, coyotes, bears, mountain lions, deer and other desert creatures. hummingbirds We also spent a little time looking at rattlesnakes and large spiders.

We left the museum a little after 3 p.m. and then headed home to attend the Tuesday night potluck where Elin was a big hit with the old folks. The food was tasty and Joan brought her famous “tuna surprise.”

An early wake up on Wednesday saw us visiting the opening hour of “Market Days” here at the Voyager where Elin found a very nice opal ring made by a man who I know. Many of the crafters who exhibit at the Market Days are also residents here at the resort.

A little after 10 a.m. we left the resort heading for the Arts Festival in Tubac which is about an hour south of here and about 20 miles north of the Mexican border. Joan had purchased a ring for Elin at the show a couple years ago and Elin was hoping that jeweler would be back so she could sample some of his other wares. Unfortunately, we never found him at the festival but spent a long day visiting dozens of great artisans.

A trip to Tubac

Elin did find a leather purse that seemed to call her name and we bought a few other smaller souvenirs for family and friends. The weather all week has been above average and unseasonably warm with temperatures in the 80s every day.

Elin did purchase a towel that was supposed to have cat ears on it, but when she got home and took it out of the bag it more resembled some kind of gargoyle or other creature.

We ate outside and had a crock pot pork dinner which we ate outside the trailer on our picnic table. The weather was perfect for an outside dinner.

I attended my usual men’s Bible study on Thursday morning and then we headed up to Sabino Canyon so Elin could ride the shuttle up to the end of the canyon and see the incredible beauty of that area. We arrived home in time to eat lunch and attend the weekly Thursday lecture, which was offered by a University of Arizona professor and retired U.S. Ambassador to Oman and a former deputy ambassador to Egypt who talked on “Making sense of the Middle East.”  Even Ambassador Dunford admitted that a one hour talk would never approach making sense of the Middle East, but his talk was very informative and thought provoking. Bottom line: There is no easy solution and no quick solution, but then you all knew that. But his reflections and insights were very good.

Joan (bonnet) and Elin wine tasting at Tubac

When the lecture ended we headed back downtown where we visited the 22^nd Street Gem Show, which is a personal favorite of ours. The 22^nd Street show is in a huge tent and takes up a full block. They have dozens of gem merchants, but also fossil brokers. Every wanted to buy a Tyrannosaurus Rex, this is where you can do that if you have the extreme amount of money to do so. A pair of Alaskan Mammoth tusks could be had for the low, low price of $125,000.

After the gem show redo we headed home for a steak dinner done on our outdoor grill. After dinner, Elin and Joan headed to the bar and grill for karaoke night and I went to my Thursday night Bible study. I did meet up with them at the bar and grill after 8 p.m. and hear Elin sing a Carol King song, “It’s Too Late.”

Earlier she sang, “Midnight Train to Georgia” by Gladys Knight and the Pips, and “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac. She was a popular performer that night and a number of folks kept imploring her to sing more songs.

Eating outside the trailer

With everyone exhausted we returned home about 9 p.m. and turned in for the night. Friday was a quiet day with Elin and Joan heading to the pool for some sun and fun time while I went into town to get the car washed and fueled. In the afternoon we sat out on the resort courtyard and then Elin challenged me to a game of pool and we went to the billiards room where we split a couple of games of 8-ball. (She’s pretty good at pool and I have lost most of the little skill I had some 30 years ago).

After our pool shark adventure we went back to the trailer got fixed up and headed to “Cushing Street Bar and Restaurant” for a final dinner with Elin before she returned home Michigan on Saturday. 

There was a very nice smooth jazz singer at the restaurant and it was a fitting close to a great week.

Dinner at Cushing Street

We had lots of laughs, one especially raucous discussion over Joan’s pronunciation of the term “du jour.” Elin nearly lost her breath laughing because her mother pronounced the term “dee jur.”

I provided some levity because Elin tried to teach us how to use our new phones and she thought it was pretty ridiculous that I don’t know my passwords for any of my accounts and so I carry all of them on a piece of paper in my wallet.

I guess the humorous part (for her) is that I have separate passwords for all my accounts, but that I keep them written on one single piece of paper in my wallet.  Apparently that is some kind of serious breach of security. Works for me.

At my age I can’t remember what I had for breakfast, which is the same every day, so how can I possibly be expected to remember a series of passwords.