December 26, 2007

Today we had the pleasure of meeting Kathy's lovely parents, Mary and Lou from New Mexico. They were on their way home from visiting 5 of their 7 children over the Christmas Season. Three in California, one in Phoenix and then Kathy here. They were looking forward to getting back home after a month on the road. After meeting them, there is little wonder why Kathy is such a delight. A great couple and it was our very great pleasure to meet them. We are over at Kathy's daughter, Alise and her hubby Nathan's gorgeous home for a lovely spagetti supper and in this photo, we catch Alise opening a belated baby shower gift from her Grammy.

Alise's baby shower.(Nov. 24) Nathan & Alise's baby girl, Rylie, is expected February 6.

Merry Christmas!

Our first Christmas in Arizona was, without doubt, a memorable occasion. Our American family welcomed us, once again, with open arms. Lovely decorations, and an abundance of food and good fellowship. Mystery Santa was enjoyed by all, and again we ended the Holiday with copious amounts of Rolaids. Many thanks again to Darcy and Kathy and their wonderful friends and family. Exchanging Christmas Greetings with Family back in Canada made this Holiday perfect!

Of course, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a lovely Nativity.

The Altar at church gaily decorated for Jesus' Birthday...oh yes, and mine too.

4th Sunday in Advent

Wanted to share a photo of the beautiful Church we are Blessed to attend while we are here at our second home in Tucson.

St Francis de Sales Parish

We had Carolers come by last night on a lit up wagon with residents singing their hearts out. (Of course, the photo I took didn't come out properly. Just a bunch of blurred lights.) Grrrr

Two days until Christmas!

Our Christmas Gift to Each Other

OUR NEUVA CASITA! (new little house)

We purchased this Park Model in early December, and are thrilled with it. The big Blue MoHo is in storage, lonesome, and waiting for us to return home in April. Now we have our own Casita to come back to each winter. It was such a good deal that we couldn't pass it up. And we love it!

View of the Santa Catalina Mountains from our deck

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

The scenery was wonderful on the way to the museum.

So the presents are wrapped the decorations are up...all ready for Christmas, soooo, why not spend some time site-seeing. There are so many things to see in Tucson...it's time to get started. The temps are going to 70F today; a perfect day to visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a world-renowned zoo, natural history museum and botanical garden, all in one place! Exhibits re-create the natural landscape of the Sonoran Desert Region so realistically you find yourself eye-to-eye with mountain lions, prairie dogs, Gila monsters, and more. Within the Museum grounds, you will see more than 300 animal species and 1,200 kinds of plants. There are almost 2 miles of paths traversing 21 acres of beautiful desert.

Cactus Garden

Mountain Lions

And walk we did. It was very enjoyable seeing all the cacti and other plant life, along with animals in a natural desert setting. Our feet were kinda sore when we got home, but it was worth it.

Gray Wolf

Ocelot...this fella was beautiful.

Javelina...a wild Boar that lives in the desert

Happy Anniversary!

Fountain in the Courtyard

Had Darcy and Kathy over for a BBQ on Wednesday night and celebrated their 9th Wedding Anniversary. Time sure flies!

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Even though the temperatures are in the 70's, the Resort is springing up with Christmas decor all over the place. Actually, the decorations started going up before Thanksgiving (Nov. 22) but it's getting hot and heavy now. Gosh, I haven't even unwrapped my trinkets yet...sigh Here are some shots of our neighbors' homes.

We've been busy acquainting ourselves with Tucson and all it has to offer.

About Tucson
Tuscan is Arizona's Second Largest city; a growing metropolis of 1,000,000 that keeps getting better and better. The city's geography is a postcard image of cactus forests, rolling hills and awe-inspiring mountains. Five mountain ranges surround Tucson. The Santa Catalina Mtns to the North and Northeast, Rincon Mtns to the east, Santa Rita Mtns to the South and South West, and then the Tortolita Mtns closing the ring on the northwest.
Tucson lies in the borderland, a region that blends the cultures of the United States and Mexico, and has a long history of settlement by ancient Native American peoples, Spanish explorers and Anglo frontiersmen.The weather is mild nearly all the time, just right for all kinds of fun activities.

Here is shot of Ray and his son, Darcy who is a Corrections Officer here in Tucson.

So Happy To Be Here

A friend from our home Park in Greenwood, BC, sent the photo below of our lot at Fort Greenwood. Yikes! They received 4 inches of snow yesterday. Thanks for sharing, Ardy. :)

Oink, Oink..

Oh my, what a feast! Fitness room...here I come!

Thanksgiving Dinner was fanatastic! So much food...turkey, pork, ham, deep fried chicken, gravy, a Yam dish that was to die for, lobster bisque, cornbread bisquits, did I mention gravy? Pies, apple, pecan, pumpkin...didn't even make it there. Such a nice bunch of people. Met Kathy's lovely sister and hubby, her two sons and their spouses, Alise, Kathy's very pregnant daughter and her spouse. and of course, grandkids. How exciting it was to hear we will still be here to see Alise's new baby girl, expected in early February. Several neighbors, one of whom is a Master Chef here in Tucson. Everyone contributed to the meal. All were so welcoming and friendly. The kids had a Piniata after dinner. Had a wonderful time. Had to have a antacid when we got home. Whew!!

Darcy and Kathy's new home is just lovely. It was just a very Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Gonna take in "Black Friday" today. The American version of Boxing Day Sales. That should wear off a couple pounds!

We're Home!

Well, for the next 5 months anyway. The new address is:

#365
Rincon Country East RV Resort
8989 E Escalante Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85730

We love it! It's so nice to be settled in finally. Met some really nice people so far, many of them are Canadians. The couple next to us are from Abbotsford, BC. Small World!
The entrance gate. Need a key card to get in. We are secure!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in America, and it's the biggest holiday of the year. We are going for Dinner at Darcy and Kathy's and it'll be the first time we've seen them since we arrived. It'll be great to see them again and meet a few of Kathy's family members too. Gosh, after eating two Thanksgiving Dinners in 6 weeks, I had better start those exercise classes and water aerobics tout de suite!

A little cooler today, temps only reached 27 C (80F). A few clouds have moved in. Still lovely though.

As mentioned earlier, I took a few more photos so thought I'd share.

This is the roadway from the gate to the Clubhouse and other facilities.

Love this pool, I'll get a shot of the Spa Pool later

This is the picnic table I mentioned last message. I want one at home!

Rincon Country RV Resort

I am so excited! We have found our perfect place for the next 5 months. Woo Hoo! It wasn't without trials and tribulations, mind you. We left Casa Grande at 7:00 am this morning to drive in to Tucson to search RV Resorts. Took us all day! Had a list drawn up and methodically visited each one. They were either too crummy or too far away, or just plain too expensive. (Some go for a whooping $1000+ a month.) Finally...the last place we found, and it's just perfect. The main thing we wanted was to be in close proximity to Darcy and Kathy. This resort is only 10 miles or so away from where they live. Rincon Country RV Resort has all the whistles and bells such as:

Heated Swimming Pool (a beauty)
Indoor/Outdoor Spas
Private Locked Mail Boxes
Lounge
Library
3 Laundry Rooms (we have our own)
Card Rooms
Auditorium
Putting Green
Propane Delivery
Sites are 35' x 50'!

Exercise Facilities

Shuffleboard
Lapidary and Silversmithing
Exercise Classes
Quilting
Dancing
Bingo
Woodworking
Square and Round Dancing
Planned Activities
Pottery and Ceramics
Woodcarving
Basketball
Bridge
Putting Green
Art Classes
Tennis
Sewing and Needlecraft
Line Dancing
Water Aerobics

Billiards
Croquet
Computer Club
Horseshoes
Golf Net

I love the sites. Spacious and pristine. Our section just had concrete picnic tables with mural painted porcelin tops installed. I'll take some photos of our site when we get set up. Leaving tomorrw. Tucson, here we come!

Casa Grande, AZ

We have finally arrived in Casa Grande, which is situated centrally between Phoenix and Tucson and about one and a quarter hour north of Mexico.

We are staying at a very nice resort called Foothills West in a nice size space although it faces South, so pretty hot. We would like to stay in the Sun Valley area for the rest of the winter, so are looking in the surrounding area for just the right spot that could be our return point each year. Weather remains hot with temps reaching 86 F again today. Not complaining though... That's what we came for afterall. ;)

Isn't this a cool church?

Los Algodones, Mexico

Today, with our friends, Jude and Stan, we visited Los Algodones, Mexico. What a happy festive place. We had a ball! The friendly community of Los Algodones is located in Baja California, Mexico at the California – Arizona border. It is seven miles from Yuma. Access to the community is very easy. You may park on the USA side and walk less then 1 block Most businesses are located less then 4 blocks from the border and the currency of choice is the American dollar. Los Algodones offers a wide variety of curio shops (and lots of them), pharmacies, open air cafes, medical doctors, health professionals, optical dispensaries and a large number of dentists most of whom have been educated in the US, providing quality services and specialized treatments at a cost savings that makes your trip worth while. It certainly was for us. We had our Optical prescriptions updated and Ray got some new frames. All for a fraction of the cost back home. Dr. Myer was great and so friendly and funny. We were really impressed with the results. All services were performed in less than 3 hours.

Had lunch in a wonderful Mexican restaurant with a live band. Food was excellent. We loaded up with pottery treasures and other goodies. A great time was had by all and many thanks to Stan and Jude for their excellence as tour guides.

Yuma Territorial Prison State Park

This was a great museum, well worth the $4.oo admission fee. Could have spent longer than the couple hours we did wandering through this old turn of the century history prison. Exploring the actual adobe and rock cells that housed the inmates gives you a bit of a creepy feeling but it was soooo interesting. Each section was well documented from the "dark cell" (solitary) to the guard houses and the watch towers.

Brief History...On July 1, 1876, the first seven inmates entered the Territorial Prison at Yuma, and were locked into the new cells they had built themselves.
A total of 3,069 prisoners, including 29 women, lived within these walls during the prison's thirty-three years of operation. Their crimes ranged from murder to polygamy, with grand larceny being the most common. A majority served only portions of their sentences due to the ease with which paroles and pardons were obtained. One hundred eleven persons died while serving their sentences, most from tuberculosis, which was common throughout the territory. Of the many prisoners who attempted escape, twenty-six were successful, but only two were from within the prison confines. By 1907, the prison was severely overcrowded, and there was no room on Prison Hill for expansion. The convicts constructed a new facility in Florence, Arizona. The last prisoner left Yuma on September 15, 1909.

Today we are gonna take it easy and spend some time at the pool. Gonna be a hot one, so it'll be nice to take a cool lap or two between chapters. ;)

Yuma, Arizona

Here we are in Yuma. Staying at the Desert Paradise RV Resort. Beautiful ficus and palm trees surround this lovely park with all the amenities you could ask for. It is one of dozens, and dozens of RV Resort Parks in the area. Have seen lots of Canadian License plates on the vehicles here, and the season is just beginning.
Some friends from Fort Greenwood, Stan & Jude, who reside here during the winter months each year while feeding their golf habit, showed us around yesterday. We had lunch and then went to a terrific outdoor market. So big, we didn't see even half of it during our afternoon visit. Got some pottery treasures I was looking for at very very reasonable prices, along with a few other goodies. We are going to Algodones, Mexico with them on Wednesday. Today, Ray and I thought we'd tour a little bit and take in the Territorial Prison State Park and Old Yuma. We'll see how it goes. Weather continues to be gorgeous, in the high twenties with clear blue skies. Love it, love it, love it!

Black Rock RV Village, Quartzsite, AZ

Cactus, cactus, everywhere! As you drive the surrounding area, the desert is full of the Saguara Cactus; like fir trees in Canada. Quite a site to see. The Black Rock RV Village is a lovely resort. Very pristine, and spacious with super friendly people. Weather continues to be awesome. 32C today with a lovely breeze.

Quartzsite "The Gathering Place". I'll say.

I'ts a garage saler's Paradise! Swap meets everywhere, selling anything. A mecca for Rock, Gem and Jewelry enthusiasts. May have to come back in January-February for the big RV Show.

We are here until Friday and then take off for Yuma on Saturday.

Isn't this a pretty cactus?

Purple Prickly Pear