If we’re home watching hockey, it’s a good time to do laundry.  Chili is in the Crockpot for dinner.  The only thing we’re missing is a Netflix movie to watch tonight.  We’re between movies.  I hope that doesn’t mean we have to watch the Minnesota Wild hockey game tonight, the finale to Minnesota Hockey Day.

We haven’t been home watching hockey all day.  We did go downtown for Dillinger Days for a little while today.  John Dillinger and his gang were captured in Tucson when they came here to “lay low” for a while.  They were discovered because of a fire at the Hotel Congress, where they were staying.  The fireman, who helped them get out of the burning building and then went back and got their luggage, which contained, unbeknownst to him, tommy guns, the loot from a robbery and bullet-proof  vests, read an article about the gang in a detective magazine the next day and recognized one of the men he rescued.  The cab driver was able to tell them where he took the men, and it was all over for the gang, at least as far as Tucson was concerned.

Every year the rescue from the fire at the Hotel Congress and the apprehending of the gang is reenacted in the parking lot of the hotel with period costumes, lots of gunshots and vintage automobiles.  It’s a fun afternoon.  There are vintage automobiles on display, food vendors and crafts to take advantage of also.  It was great to see so many people enjoying the show.

I think we’re rested up from our weekend in San Diego.  We did have a great time.  We not only got to spend time with Beth and Dieter, but we also got to see my cousin Judy from Corona, CA and Jim’s high school classmate Jim Jaranson.  More than we planned on.

We drove over on Wednesday, freeway all the way.  This kind of driving is when auto pilot would be nice. Just point the car, put your foot on the gas and go.

When we got to Yuma, we reminisced about a Mexican restaurant we ate at a number of years ago when visiting a friend of Jim’s family’s.  It was an old restaurant, in a residential neighborhood, and we had great food.  Jim wanted to go there.  First we had to try to remember the name.  Can you believe, it finally came to us:  Chretin’s.  Jim found it on the restaurant listings on his GPS and we were on the way.  While we were driving there, I was looking for information on Yelp! on my phone to see if it was still as good as we remembered.  The address I found on Yelp! and the address on Jim’s GPS didn’t jibe.  It seems the family that owned Chretin’s sold it, it moved to a new location, and the food wasn’t at all as good as it used to be.  Such a disappointment.  But Jim wanted to drive past anyway, just to see the building.  Another disappointment.  The building is gone.  It’s a vacant lot on the corner.  The only indication it was once there was the painted sign on the block fence that said “Chretin’s Parking.”

Our other memory was watching a lettuce harvest.  And as we drove into Yuma, we drove past a field where they were harvesting head lettuce, just as we saw a number of years ago.  There are long machines that straddle many rows.  The machines have stations that workers stand at.  There are “fingers” coming off the machine that the workers stand in between.  In front of them is a heat sealer, rolls of plastic, and above that, boxes.  There are workers cutting the lettuce heads off the plant with a machete, cleaning off the outer leaves.  They place the heads on the “fingers”.  The worker on the machine takes the head, wraps it in plastic, heat seals the plastic, then reaches up and puts it in the box.  When the boxes are full, they are put on a trailer and taken away from the field.  And this all happens very quickly.  The workers with the machetes must go home with aching backs.  The workers doing the wrapping are wearing masks, we assume because of the fumes from the heated plastic.  Cauliflower is harvested in the same manner.  A job I wouldn’t be eager to work.

In this area, close to the Mexico border there are border patrol inspection sites on many of the freeways and highways.  We went through one of them west of Yuma.  For us “mature” caucasians with Minnesota plates on our cars, it’s not a problem.  The drug-sniffing dogs don’t detect a scent on our car.  So we’re waved through.  It is interesting, though, to see the encampment that exists at these sites.  There are vehicles and dogs and equipment that raises up in the air so you can see a distance, and lights and many personnel.  Drug running and illegal border crossings are very real here.

Interstate 8 runs parallel to and very close to the Mexican border.  In fact, we could see the “fence” from the freeway.  The black line in the distance is the fence.  No wonder there’s a border patrol stop here.

Mexico Border Fence

Next stop, El Centero, CA for gas.  So what would be your choice, the 3.99 per gallon on one corner or the 3.69 per gallon across the street?  Yes, we’re in California, where gas can be really expensive.

El Centero is in the Imperial Valley, which is a large farming area, irrigated with water from the Colorado River.  And it is below sea level.  There is a line painted on the ground-level water tank that says “sea level,” and that line is half-way up the very large water tank.  Jim had his hand-held GPS out, watching as we went from above to below sea level, then back up again.

With the exception of a small mountain pass east of Yuma, we drove in desert until we reached the mountain range east of San Diego.  It was a 72 degree day in the desert, but at the 4,100 foot Tecate Divide, the temperature was 57 degrees.  No snow to deal with today, although there can be.

The east side of these mountains was so interesting.  We went from flat desert to mountains that were covered totally by rock, big rock, from top to bottom.  I’m not sure this picture gives you an idea, but . . .

"Rocky Mountains"

Then into San Diego to the Pacific Beach area where we had reservations at the Pacific Shores Inn, right across the street from the condo building that Beth and Dieter were staying in and a block from the beach.  I called Beth to tell her we were almost there and she encouraged us to hurry so we could see the sunset from their ninth floor condo.  We checked in to our motel, carried our things into our room, and got ready to walk across the street for the sunset.  Jim commented that the bowl of fruit on the table was real.  I looked at the table and saw fresh flowers, a bowl of fresh fruit, a placemat with two ceramic coffee cups, and on the counter behind, napkins and muffins.  Hmmm, at $85 a night, all of this?  No, that would be Beth.  Obviously, the perfect hostess.  She found out what room we were in — tried to talk them into giving us one with a view — had them let her in, and brought us what we needed for breakfast the next morning.  Such thoughtfulness!

Then across the street for the sunset.  It turns out that in the three sunsets we saw from their condo, none were stellar.  But any sunset over the Pacific ocean for us is a wonder.  We loved them!

Sunset

Crystal Pier

Saturday, after our fruit and muffin breakfast, we were toured around San Diego by Beth and Dieter.  We wandered the Hotel del Coronado, walked through Balboa Park and had lunch, and saw San Diego and the Pacific Ocean from Point Loma.  What a great day!

Hotel del Coronado

It's Us!

Balboa Park Architecture

Point Loma Lighthouse

But the most incredible part of the day was seeing whale spouts off Point Loma.  We knew the whale migration was occurring, and Beth and Dieter had been to Point Loma the weekend before for the whale festival and watch, but we really didn’t expect to see the spouts off in the distance when we were there.  We saw a number of spouts, but we couldn’t see the whales because they were a long ways off the shore, but just seeing the spouts was enough for me.  Pretty spectacular!

Beth pointed out that we had quite a day, starting it with watching dolphins in the water outside their condo in the morning, and ending it with whale spouts.

There are also surfers everywhere.  Many of them were staying at our hotel.  The water along the shore of the beach by our hotel was packed with surfers.  I can’t say I saw one on a board, riding the wave, but they were in the water, sitting on their boards, waiting for the wave.

Friday, we drove up “the 101″ — have you noticed how, in California, it’s “the 5″ and “the 15″ and “the 101″? — to Oceanside, about a 40-mile drive one way along the coast.  On the way, I called my cousin Judy, one of the Hansen (Judy’s Hanson mother married a Hansen) cousins from Absaraka, ND, who all moved to California.  My cousin Butch, Judy’s older brother, died suddenly on Wednesday, January 11, so I had talked to Judy.  I didn’t realize that when we were in Oceanside, we weren’t that far from where she lived. Since she had taken the day off work because of Butch’s death, she decided to drive down to Oceanside and have lunch with us.  What a treat!  It had been a couple of years since I’d seen her, and before that time, a number of years.  And now that I’ve taken a good look at the map and figured out that I can be at Judy’s house or her sister Jan’s house in seven or eight hours, I will be making that trip to spend more time with them.  Can you believe we forgot to take a picture?

On the way back to our hotel, we experienced California freeway traffic.  And we think rush hour in the Twin Cities is miserable.  We definitely needed the GPS tonight!

Jim’s high school classmate Jim Jaranson lives in San Diego.  Jim called him to see if we could get together and Jim invited us to go to the San Diego Zoo on Saturday.  We had talked about going, but when Jim offered his member guest passes, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity.  So we met Jim and Jim’s cousin Cindy at Jim’s home and walked to the zoo.  Cindy and Jim went on their way after a while, and Jim and I stayed most of the day, seeing almost all there was to see.  It is a beautiful zoo.  The environment is incredible.  We really enjoyed it.  Thank you, Jim!

Hippo

Panda

Elephant

Gorilla

Jim

Well, you get the picture.

We raced back to the hotel and Beth’s and Dieter’s for one last sunset.  We almost didn’t make it . . .

Sunset and Sailboat

Then out to dinner at a great seafood restaurant.  Beth and Dieter prepared dinner on Wednesday and Thursday night.  Every bit as wonderful as the dinner we had out on Saturday night.

Sunday we had to leave for home, but not before we stopped for a walk along the Embarcadero.  We parked near the San Diego Maritime Museum, which is a collection of tall ships, submarines, etc., then walked along the shore to the aircraft carrier the Midway to take a look and take some pictures.  We just couldn’t resist, even though we had a seven-hour drive ahead of us, and bought the tour tickets.  We’re very glad we did.

We’ve all seen pictures of aircraft carriers, and certainly, the ships today are much, much bigger than the Midway is, but once on board, its size was overwhelming.

Hangar Deck

Flight Deck

I have no idea how those sailors found their way around the ship.  I was lost most of the time that we were below deck.  We saw most of the ship, but not all of it.  It could definitely be an all-day event.

On land, next to the ship was a great statue.  We didn’t walk around to see it from the front, but even from the back, you will recognize what it is:

The Famous Kiss

We left the ship at 2 p.m.  Walking down the sidewalk to the car, we wondered why there were so many people lining the street.  It was the Martin Luther King Day parade, on the street that we needed to access to get out of town.  It couldn’t be that long, right?  So we had lunch.  Then we watched the parade for a while.  Then we went looking for someone who could tell us how to get out of the parking lot so we could get home at a decent time.  We finally found a policeman who directed us to an exit, and we were on our way home.  Got here at 10:30, in a rain storm.

We have played golf on Tuesday with the Villa Capri group the last two weeks.  We hold the distinction of having the highest two scores in the group.  This week, I knocked 5 strokes off last week’s score, but Jim added 5 and we tied.  We still hold the highest score distinction.  And I didn’t lose any balls this week.  Oh, but I hit a house.  I think they expect it.  Their windows are covered with wrought-iron grillwork.

Cheryl and Dale from Pittsburgh arrived last week and we had dinner with them this week.  They aren’t staying at Riverside this year so we won’t see them at the pool, at the grill, or walking their dog Bella like we did last year.  We will do some hiking with them and maybe play some golf.  They will be here until the end of March like us.

The weather is improving down here, but we still haven’t been in the pool or in the hot tub.  We’re going to have a dip in temps the next couple of days.  Hopefully, by the time we get back from Minnesota, it will be on the upswing and stay there.  We are noticing that the days are getting longer.  That means there will be longer hikes and longer pool-sitting time.

Next Sunday, the 29th, we go home for Jim’s scan and oncologist appointment on the 31st.  We don’t plan to stay any longer than we have to so will be back here in Tucson the afternoon of February 1st.  We have our fingers crossed that the weather cooperates, both coming and going, and we are saying our prayers that Jim’s scan continues to show his cancer stable.  It would be wonderful if his doctor would give him another break from the drug, or maybe lower the dose, because the side effects of the drug are becoming a problem.  I’ll post the scan results and doctor visit notes on Jim’s CaringBridge site:  http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jimmaves

Have a great week, everyone!

More beautiful weather days.  We’ve gone from record low temps and rainfall to record-breaking high temps for the day.  It was 82 New Year’s Day when we left to hike Sabino Canyon.   Friday and Saturday were short-sleeve and shorts days as well.

Friday we got 18 holes in on a par 3 course.  Jim has a great short game, for someone who hasn’t golfed in years.  We both need to spend some time at the driving range.  This course is very compact.  I think the longest hole is 165 yards.  I don’t think we used more than four clubs all day.  There is one water hazard, the irrigation system pond, that has a steel bridge over it.  Jim tee’d off and sailed over the water.  I wasn’t too concerned about making it, but I did use a “water ball” just in case.  I hit the ball and it headed right for the bridge, just a couple of feet above the ground, sailed between the bridge sides, hit the steel deck on the far side of the bridge, and bounced up to the green.  One of my better shots of the day.  It was a good thing, though, that I was golfing with the pink balls my friend Lilly gave me.  I was in the rough, which at this course is the desert, three times, and if the ball hadn’t been bright pink, it would still be laying there — or if it was summer and the rattlers were out.  No balls lost by me on Friday.

Saturday was shooting day.  We went to the shooting range so Jim could waste some ammo.  I didn’t shoot this time; maybe next time.  Like golf, I need a lot of practice.  We washed the car before we went home and then spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool reading before we rang in the new year watching the ball drop in New York on the Slingbox from home.

Breakfast out at the Blue Willow on Sunday, New Year’s Day.  It just isn’t right that the Rose Bowl parade isn’t on on New Year’s Day.  Jim watched a little of the Vikings game and then we went to Sabino Canyon for a hike.  The place was packed!  We weren’t the only ones interested in a hike on a beautiful New Year’s Day.  We did a couple of the easier, lower trails, walked up the shuttle road a ways, took a few pictures, contemplated crossing the creek, but changed our minds, before going home.  Jim forgot his GPS so we’re not sure how far we went, but we were out for three hours so probably hiked/walked about 4 miles.

Sabino Canyon and Thimble Peak

Moon over Saguaros

Sabino Creek

Sabino Creek

When we got back to Riverside Suites, our Woodbury neighbors Carol and John had just arrived so we visited for a few minutes before they went out to get groceries and dinner.  It’s fun to see them.

We’re pretty much into a routine here.  Jim continues to do his stock monitoring during the day, then spends a couple of hours at the pool reading.  A couple of times a week we walk the riverwalk.  It’s pretty easy to maintain a one-bedroom apartment, but there are groceries to buy — thank goodness Trader Joe’s is right down the block — and laundry, bills to pay, but that’s about it for “work.”

We had dinner out with John and Carol this week at El Charro, one of the oldest restaurants in Tucson, and have plans to get together again before we leave for San Diego next week and they leave for home.

Friday, we hiked with our friend, Michael Downs, who was here visiting family.  We did a portion of the Arizona Trail, which runs from the Mexico border to the Utah border.  We started at the Gabe Zimmerman trailhead.  Gabe was Gabrielle Giffords’ assistant and was killed during the January 8, 2011 tragedy here in Tucson.

Trailhead Marker

It was an easy hike, but we lost the trail.  The trail is relatively new and is marked by cairns.  Being the relatively inexperienced hikers we are, we didn’t trust our instincts so turned around and went back to the trailhead, thinking we’d continue north along the trail for a ways.  But Jim was not feeling well so we didn’t go any further.  Michael has to go back to Baltimore, but we’ll go back and do the hike again, now that we know where it is we think we were supposed to go.

We encountered this “sculpture” along the trail.  There was a lot of discussion about how it got there, what happened to the engine, what kind of car is it, what was the original color, not one question that has an answer.

Desert Sculpture

By the way, Michael’s book, The Greatest Show, comes out in March.  Or you could read his book House of Good Hope.  Jim and I both liked it a great deal and we’re looking forward to reading the new one.

Jim’s to-do list today had “gun show” on it.  I remember last year we missed it and he was a little disappointed.  He was very willing to go alone today, knowing I would be bored to death, but I didn’t feel like vacuuming and sweeping and paying bills so I went with him.

We were both surprised by the number of people at this show.  They were streaming into the parking lot.  We also don’t understand how it is that someone can walk into one of these gun shows and with just the show of an Arizona ID, purchase a gun and walk out with it.  There were big guns and little guns and gun accessories and ammunition and cases and jewelry and politicians and first-aid supplies and antiques and clothing and books — and a lot of people.  Here are some of the book titles we spotted:

Book Titles

We spent the rest of the day watching the NDSU Bison win their football championship game, sitting by the pool reading, and enjoying dinner while watching the Minnesota Gophers lose their hockey game to Notre Dame.

Tomorrow we have been invited to a get-together hosted by two of Jim’s mom’s friends.  And Wednesday, if Jim is feeling all right, we will drive to San Diego to spend a couple of days with Beth and Dieter, who will be our neighbors here at Riverside Suites in February and March.

The weather is supposed to drop down to normal — mid 60s — starting tomorrow.  It will still be great walking weather and hiking weather and even golfing weather, but the pool sitting won’t go as late into the afternoon and we won’t be wearing shorts and T-shirts.  But we know the warmer temps will return eventually.

We are loving it here in Tucson!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  As I thought about it this morning, I realized that this is the first Christmas in the 36 Christmases we’ve spent together that we have been alone.  Two Christmases were spent in Woodbury, one with friends and one with neighbors, but the other 34 were spent with family in Grand Forks/East Grand Forks and Thief River Falls.  And it isn’t as if we weren’t with family.  We participated in the Hanson family gift opening at my sister’s via iChat on our Macs so we didn’t miss a thing.  My sister’s gifts had arrived earlier so we even participated in the age-based rotation in the gift opening.  No way to participate in the traditional Christmas dinner, however.

Christmas Day at my sister's

We started the day with brunch, a new recipe.  Early afternoon we went for a walk along the river.  And after dinner, Netflix provided our entertainment.  That will probably be the same entertainment we avail ourselves of on New Year’s Eve.

I love Fridays when the forwarded mail arrives — usually — and especially during Christmas when there are Christmas cards and letters to read and pictures to look at.  We got most of our cards done before Christmas, but will have to do some New Year’s letters for some.  Just couldn’t get it all done, even when we have not much to do.

The weather here is improving.  Last week started out miserable, with even more snow in the mountains — they are still skiing on Mount Lemmon — rain down here, wind, and gray skies.  I was beginning to wonder if I should go shopping for more warm clothing.  But today is in the low 70s, and it is going up from there to the mid 70s by the beginning of next week.  Perfect!

We have yet to spend any time at the pool.  First of all, too cold, but more recently, they have been resurfacing the patio surrounding the pool.  They finally put it all back together this morning, and as I came back from checking the mail, I saw the first pool sitters settling in.  In fact, I thought Jim would be over there this afternoon with one of his books, but he’s on the couch playing with his new iPad photo adapter, which will allow him to download from his camera directly to his iPad.  Next, he’ll have to figure out what editing app to download and then he’ll be able to edit and store photos on the go.

We also haven’t been out hitting any golf balls.  Maybe tomorrow or this weekend.  I’ve checked out two courses with driving ranges so we have no excuse for not knowing where to go.  And the weather will no longer be an excuse, at least not for the next few days.

We haven’t done any hikes since the Pima Canyon trail, but we have done a few walks along the river and into the surrounding neighborhoods.  I’m thinking I’m going to have to go to one of the malls and just do stairs to get a little leg workout.  The riverwalk and neighborhood streets are flat, unlike our neighborhood at home that allows for plenty of hill workouts.  No wonder I have trouble doing stairs at home when we get back there.

The Winterhaven neighborhood, which is just a little southeast of us here, decorates for Christmas every year.  Not every house is decorated, but my bet is there aren’t any more than ten that aren’t decorated.  Jim’s dad just loved to visit Winterhaven at Christmas.  We walked through one January day a few years ago and saw the vestiges of the decorating, but this was the year we were going to actually see it in all its glory.  There were only certain nights that you could drive through from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and the Tuesday before Christmas was the last night for driving.  It didn’t occur to us to walk through; you can cover so much more ground in the car we thought.

So a little after 6, we left here to begin our tour.  Actually what we began was the queue to get into the neighborhood.  We queued up eight-tenths of a mile east of the entrance, and three hours later, 45 minutes before it closed, they opened another entrance into the neighborhood and we were in.  Well, we were in, but we didn’t move very far or very quickly.  It was packed with cars going every which direction and even more people on foot.  We could not believe it.

So we drove down four or five streets before we decided to find the exit and chalk it up to experience.  As we left the neighborhood, the motorcycle cops were just mounting up, on their way into the neighborhood to close it down, while the queue that we had been in was still turning into the entrance.  I wonder how many cars and people were in there that night.  It occurred to me that an emergency in one of those homes would have been impossible to get to.  If we go next year, we’ll be much smarter about when and how we go.

Jim decided not to take his big camera, which was a good decision, so I was shooting out the window with the little camera as Jim was negotiating traffic and people.  I thank you if you think I’m such a great photographer that I was purposely using the bokeh technique here, but that is not the case.  This is a photographer who doesn’t know how to use her camera well enough to get great nighttime Christmas decorations shots while the car is lurching forward or braking quickly.  Another thing to learn before we do Winterhaven next year.

We did have a little bit of a worry crop up last week.  Jim had labs done per Pfizer’s protocol and three levels came back out of the normal range.  So two days later, Jim went in again for repeat labs.  We had all of our ducks in a row in case the numbers came back out of range again.  Jim’s health insurance company told us where to go for the next step, Pfizer told us what they wanted us to do next, we were armed with phone numbers that had to be called for medication approval, and we were holding our breath and saying our prayers.  The prayers worked.  The lab levels came back in range.  Not sure what sent them so far out of range or if we should insist on further testing when we get back to the U of M the end of January, but for now, we’re relieved we didn’t have to take the next steps.

We stopped last week at our favorite parking lot taco stand.  The owner, Manuel, wasn’t there so we didn’t get the special treatment we usually get, but the food was just as good.  With the exception of our favorite taqueria, Pico de Gallo, that we stopped at the day we arrived, we haven’t been out to any of our other favorites — El Charro, Mi Nidito, Poco Cosa, El Torero — but we will get there.  I’m so looking forward to the carne seca at El Charro, not to mention a good margarita.

Next week, neighbors of ours in Woodbury will be arriving for a two-week stay here at Riverside Suites.  It will be fun to see familiar faces.  And Michael, a friend of ours, who grew up here in Tucson, will be arriving for a family visit — wish you were coming too, Sheri — so we’re looking forward to having an enchilada and a margarita or two with him.  And then we’re taking a little trip to San Diego to visit Beth and Dieter, who live across from us here at Riverside Suites during February and March.  They are in San Diego visiting family and have invited us over to explore.  We’re planning to leave the 11th for a few days.  It should be a fun trip.

No special plans for New Year’s Eve.  Like I said, we’re hoping Netflix comes through with the next movies in our queue so we have something to entertain us.  We should be able to see the ball drop in New York City, since that will be 10 p.m. here.  We can honestly say we’ve rung in the new year, East Coast time, when we hop into bed at our usual 10 p.m. time

Happy New Year, Everyone!  We’ll visit with you again in 2012.

I’m betting it’s snowing in the mountains as we speak.  I just took the garbage out, and although there is sun peeking through, the mountains are socked in.  The skiers will be very happy.

Drought at home in Minnesota and record-setting rains here.  Monday and Tuesday were windy and rainy.  In fact, it poured.  There was actually water in the Rillito River, and not just a hint of dampness, but water running in the river.  We’ve rarely seen that in the years we’ve visited here.  You have to be careful driving on some of the streets and roads when it’s raining.  If it says “Do Not Enter When Water Is Present,” you’d better believe it.  Rain doesn’t sink in here like it does at home; it runs off through natural washes.  The streets don’t necessarily cross the washes on bridges, but just dip down through them.  A couple of days after the rain, the news reported which streets were still closed because the washes were still running.

But we had a couple of days of mid-60 temps Friday and Saturday and should have low 60s by Christmas after some 50s early in the week. Those temps aren’t much different than what Minnesota is seeing.  Crazy weather all over.

We had a rude awakening on Tuesday morning when my cell phone rang at 4 a.m.  I checked the number, an 800 number, and went back to bed, then heard the indicator that a voicemail message had been left.  I thought I recognized the 800 number and had just come to the conclusion that it was our security system company at home , when the phone rang again.  Yes, that’s who it was, and the alarm had gone off at our house.  The police were called and our neighbor Judy went through the house with them.  The same motion detector that tripped the alarm last winter .  So the technicians have been called and we’ll try to figure out what the problem is.  The good news is, there was no break-in.  We are so thankful Judy helped us out again.  She did the same last winter.  We are very lucky to have such great neighbors.

Dieter and Beth were here this week, on their way to San Diego.  Dieter and Beth are from Moorhead, and in February and March, live in the apartment right across from us here at Riverside Suites.  We had a great visit and dinner out at Guadalajara Grill.  They stopped by on Wednesday afternoon to loan us some things out of their storage facility to make our life here more comfortable.  They are sharing their clothes drying rack, two snack trays, which we can use as end tables, and another table for our printer and computer desk.  We’re looking forward to their arrival in February, but then we’re going to lose our extra furniture.  We might have to go shopping.

We took our first hike on Friday.  It was a beautiful day.  We got a late start so decided to do the lower part of the Pima Canyon Trail, which is rated easy.  We hiked a very short part of it a couple of years ago, but wanted to hike to the dam.  We were on the trail a little after noon.  It’s 3 miles to the dam and an increase in elevation of 900 feet.

The trail is very rocky and up and down, but not long steep inclines.  Jim thought it was more difficult than easy, but until just before getting to the dam, when we had the biggest rise in elevation, I didn’t think it was bad.  Once at the dam, where we stopped and had a snack, I was a little concerned about having the energy to get back down the 3 miles.  Thank goodness it was mostly down.

The Trail Through the Rocks and Greasewood

The Flat Rocks at the Dam

Grinding Holes

Every once in a while on hikes, we see holes like this in the rock.  These were made by the Indians who ground their grains on these rocks.  It must have taken a lot of grinding to create holes this deep in these rocks.

Taking a Break Before Starting Down

Can You Find the Trail?

This is where we had problems finding the trail on the way up the canyon.  It had to be there, but it took us twice to finally see where it went and know we were on the right trail.

Curious Tree

This is a cottonwood tree that fell and the branches are growing straight up out of it, as big as trees.  Where there is water in the bottom of the canyon, there are trees, but on the sides of the canyon, it is cactus and greasewood trees.

Part Way Down We Can See the Valley Floor in the Distance

There were a lot of people on the trail.  I was concerned about getting done before dark.  I sure didn’t want to be hiking unfamiliar trails in the dark.  So it was comforting to know there were people on the trail behind us.

It was 5:00 and the sun was down when we finished.  I didn’t dare stop at the end because I wasn’t sure I could get going again.  Six miles on our first hike was a bit more than we should have done.  Jim was tired out as well.  But we did it.  Another trail crossed off our list.

Sundown over the Tucson Mountains

We got home, took a shower, and Jim went to pick up a pizza.  No U of M hockey this weekend so we were left with TV programming.  Storage Wars and Pawn Stars:  two favorites of Jim’s.

Jim had another great class today he said.  His homework assignment for today was to choose and edit ten of the images from yesterday and bring them back to class on a jump drive.  When they critiqued the photos today, two of Jim’s were favorites.  Here is one of them.  Apparently, the instructor couldn’t get over how the background of the sign on the parking meter matched the door and window frame paint, and that Jim picked that out.  I think Jim has a great eye for photos.  I’m looking forward to seeing all of them that he took.

Parking Meter

Being home alone today also gave me rare control over the TV remote.  I started watching the Stephen King movie Bag of Bones, and once started, just had to finish.  It was mid afternoon when we decided to go out and get something to eat.  We were a little in between lunch and dinner.  Jim thought the cheapo taco shop down the street and I suggested the bread and sandwich place Beyond Bread.  That’s where we went.  Not only did we have a meal this afternoon, but we also have a meal for tomorrow.  The sandwiches are huge.

And now it is pouring rain.  It held off until dark.  I’m sure our side of the mountains will be snow-covered again tomorrow morning.  It’s good to be home where it’s warm and dry.

I can’t believe Christmas is just a week away.  I was out doing some shopping yesterday and it was very busy.  Lots of traffic, lots of shoppers.  We still haven’t driven through Winterhaven, the neighborhood near here that decorates their homes, and Tuesday is our last opportunity, unless we want to walk.  So that’s on the calendar for this week.  Other than that, we have no other plans.  We’ll come up with something, you can be sure.

We don’t have any plans for Christmas.  We will probably Skype with my sister’s home, where the Hanson family Christmas Day celebration will take place.  It will be almost like being there, but we won’t have the traditional Christmas dinner to enjoy with them.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

This Arizona stuff at Christmas is strange, to say the least.  There are homes decorated, but it’s palm trees that have lights, not evergreens.  Flowers and trees are in bloom rather than the branches of trees being bare.  There are Christmas tree vendors and Trader Joe’s is selling poinsettias and wreaths, and shopping for them can be done in a light jacket, not down.  Wearing flip-flops and a T-shirt while addressing Christmas cards sitting on the patio is just not normal.  Now, I’m not saying it’s wrong, it’s just out of my norm.  But I am getting used to it right quick.

I decorated our “Christmas tree” this week.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to do for a tree, although I knew I wanted to do something.  So I brought some lights from home, but that was about all we had room for.  Sunday, at the fiesta, I bought five crepe paper flowers, thinking I would put them in a vase for some color in an otherwise brown and gold room.  We were watching TV on Sunday night when the lightbulb went off for me and it occurred to me I could decorate the silk palm-type tree in the corner.  Not five minutes later, Jim voiced the same idea.  (We’ve been married too long.)  So the tree is decorated and the crepe paper flowers are a part of it.  Here’s what is lighting the corner of our living room.

Tucson Christmas Tree 2011

Jim took a long walk on Tuesday and did some geocaching along the way.  He also explored all of the retail spots along Campbell for a couple of miles south of us.  He checked out the hat store, a liquor store, a BBQ restaurant we’ve never gone to, a few empty storefronts and a bakery I’ve been wanting to go to.  And he came home with a freshly baked German-style pretzel from another bakery, which he sat down and promptly ate with mustard.  A good walk for Jim. Wednesday he did a shorter walk over to the outdoor activity store Summit Hut and picked up hiking and class information.  He is putting together our activity options.  And Thursday we walked 5 miles along the river.  Good exercise.

Friday, we got the putters out of our golf bags and worked on our short game at the putting green here at Riverside Suites.  Jim’s much better than I am at putting  and won the competition:  Who can put the ball in in the fewest strokes.  I’m going to have to work on it when he isn’t looking.

We were looking forward to our forwarded mail coming on Friday, but it didn’t.  Once or twice in the past it hasn’t arrived until Monday.  I hope that’s the case this time.  With all the postal changes, postal thefts in our neighborhood, the disgruntled mailman who delivers mail here, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a mix-up.  We’ll know more tomorrow.

Saturday was a great day.  We drove down to Tubac for the Barrio archeological walking tour. Tubac is considered the oldest European community in the U.S.  The presidio is Arizona’s first state park.  We went on a walking tour through an area in Tubac that was a part of the known settlement in the 1700s.  A number of  digs have taken place over the years and one of the women who worked on them was one of the tour guides.  It was very interesting to see some of the artifacts and foundations they found, learn how to identify where other foundations might be located, and understand the history of the Spanish occupation and the history of the area.  It is all very complex and interesting.

After lunch, we drove back to Tucson and went to the 4th Avenue Street Fair.  Seven blocks or more of artists and food booths and tons of people.  It was a beautiful afternoon in the mid-60s to 70 degrees.  We just wandered the street.  No purchases, however.  No room in the car to bring anything home and nothing we needed.

Friday night I went to a concert put on by the Southwest Women’s Chorus.  A friend, who lives in Jim’s mom’s mobile home park, sings in the chorus.  They had a very interesting repertoire of songs and it was a wonderful concert.  This was the weekend of our church Christmas concert at home so attending Joann’s concert made up for missing that.

Today was a lazy day.  We made a trip to Target to pick up a few things then did some Christmas shopping.  Again we didn’t buy.  We looked and figured out what to tell my sister to buy.  I did a lot of shopping online earlier this week, but there were a few things that can’t be shipped.  If we come to Arizona in December again next year, I’m going to have to be more organized when it comes to Christmas shopping.

Rain is scheduled for this week, and cooler temps, but I think we can handle 60s.  Jim has a photography class next weekend on Saturday and Sunday.  And the Winterhaven area just a few blocks from here is decorated for Christmas.  We’ll have to check that out.  Maybe it will seem a bit more like Christmas.  http://www.winterhavenfestival.org/pictures.htm

Have a great week.  Talk to you next week.

Saturday, after a lazy morning, we did the big grocery shopping then stopped at the gigantic wine/liquor store, Total Wine, for a few beverages.  We are now officially settled in.  Let the vacationing begin!

Of course Jim saw Friday and Saturday nights’ Gopher hockey games.  They swept Mankato.  I have a feeling Jim won’t be missing many hockey games.  Last year, they weren’t doing very well so he could miss a game here and there, but when they are winning, I don’t think he’ll want to be missing a game.  Go Gophers!

Sunday morning we went to the St. Philip’s Plaza farmers’ market.  We were surprised to see a number of new vendors.  There is goat cheese, vegetables, bakery items, roasted peppers, salmon, soup mixes, sauces and syrups, empanadas, honey, fresh roasted coffee, pico de gallo, olive oil, teas, hummus and more.  Of course we bought a few things.  The farmers’ market is an almost weekly thing for us.  Sometimes we don’t buy a thing, just wander through.  It’s one of our Tucson favorites.

Our friends Beth and Dieter from Moorhead, who will be arriving in February, told us about the Tumacacori Fiesta being held this weekend, so after taking our farmers’ market purchases home, we left for the Tumacacori National Historic Park (http://www.nps.gov/tuma/index.htm).  We were fortunate to get there in time for a tour of the grounds and mission church that was just starting before we went to the fiesta.

It’s too bad it was so cold today — a high of about 45 degrees — because there weren’t many people there.  But we saw Indian dancers –

Tumacacori Fiesta

– Jim roped a calf — well, sort of –

Roping

– listened to some mariachi music –

Mariachi

– saw cute kids –

Yum! Corn on the Cob

– and frying tortillas –

– all under the auspices of church and state.

Stars and Stripes, a Cross and the Moon

We shared a Sonoran hot dog, tamale, empanada and a carne asada taco.  The food was great.  All local people cooking and selling.  And we found out about a ranger-led archeological tour at the Tubac Presidio next Saturday.  You’ll be hearing about it.  We plan to attend.

It was a fun day.

Yesterday, we ran out of Car Talk podcasts to listen to so today we’ve started The Moth podcasts.  A few weeks ago, we attended a Moth taping in St. Paul.  The Moth is story telling without notes.  Each story is about 10 minutes in length.  Some are very sad, some funny, some not the least bit interesting.  But great to listen to while traveling.  (http://themoth.org/)

We started the trip in sunshine but it didn’t last.  We knew the rain was coming, and it did.  When we got to Tucson at 12:30, it was raining quite hard.  So rather than drive to Riverside Suites and unload in the rain, we went to our favorite taqueria, Pico de Gallo, for shrimp tacos.  I don’t think we’d ever seen so many people there.  We got the last table.  It’s good to be back in Tucson! (http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/1354/pico-de-gallo)

We got to Riverside Suites at 1:30, checked in, unloaded and unpacked.  We’re too tired to do the big grocery shopping trip so we went to Trader Joe’s for a few things to get us through dinner and breakfast.  The boxes that we shipped were waiting for us when we got here so we don’t have to worry about those.  The plants that Beth planted in our patio garden are looking good.  We’re settled in and ready to enjoy the next four months.

So now that we’re here, I won’t be posting every day.  After all, I don’t think reading about doing laundry, walking the River Walk and running errands is very interesting.  But at least once a week, I’ll try to bring you up to date on our activities.

1,775 total miles.

Jim was up early and ready to get going.  So we were on our way at 8 a.m.  It’s 37 degrees this morning.

First stop, the Santa Fe Photo Workshop.  Jim would love to take one of their workshops, but they are very expensive.  I think the closest he is going to get is a stop at their classroom and the latest class schedule.  It’s a beautiful site; part of a monastery.  You can stay in the retreat building and participate in their meal program, headed by a renowned chef.  I told Jim if he wants to take a workshop, I’d be happy to spend my days bumming around Santa Fe and hanging out at the retreat center.

Then a decision on where to eat breakfast.  In Santa Fe, eating any meal is a difficult decision to make.  There are too many excellent restaurants.  But the one that gets top billing is Harry’s Roadhouse.  We had dinner there two years ago.  We weren’t too far away so Harry’s it was, and we were not disappointed.  Interesting that they seated us at the same table we sat at two years ago.  Jim had the whole wheat waffle and I had the Greek omelet.  We made a good restaurant choice.

Breakfast at Harry's Roadhouse

We just had to spend some time in the plaza.  It was too early for stores to be open so we did some window shopping.  No buying, however.  Expensive stores!  There is affordable shopping in front of the Palace of the Governors where the local Indian artists display their wares.  We didn’t see anything we could do without so just did some picture-taking then got on the road.  Left Santa Fe at 10:30 and it was 50 degrees.

Palace of the Governors

As we drove south, on the way to Albuquerque, it was evident the predicted winds had arrived.  Albuquerque was experiencing 25 mph winds with gusts to 40.  Debris was blowing all over, travel trailers were staggering down the freeway.  South of Albuquerque there was a lot of dirt blowing and the visibility was poor for a ways.  Thank goodness the Santa Ana winds stayed north.  Conditions improved as we went south.  Two years ago we couldn’t see anything because of snow and the ice-covered roads were treacherous.  I’m not complaining about the wind and blowing dirt.

We had a high of 65 this afternoon.

Usually, we turn off I-25 at Hatch, famous for Hatch chiles, but today we exited west north of Hatch, on our way to Silver City.  Thank goodness we timed this route better than we did last night.  It was another two-lane mountain road, twisty-turny, beautiful scenery, top speed 30 miles an hour, 8,200 foot Emory Pass.

Just east of Silver City we were surprised to see a huge open-pit copper mine, once the largest in the world.  It has been mined since 1909.  We stopped at the observation area and watched the huge loaded trucks move slowly up the mountain.

El Chino or Santa Rita Copper Mine

Silver City is a working man’s town, but there are a couple of resorts with room rates more than we wanted to pay.  We checked out Trip Advisor and picked the Econolodge for the night.  It was a good choice.  Nice, clean, redecorated room.  Two out of three wasn’t bad.

The historic downtown area is where most of the restaurants are located so that’s where we went to find something to check out the businesses and find something to eat.  There was a yarn shop that we just had to stop at (http://www.yadayadayarn.com/yadayadayarn.com/HOME.html).  I just had to pick up a few skeins for my stash.  The shop owner was very helpful and knowledgeable.  If you’re in the vicinity and need some yarn, be sure to stop.

We had a number of restaurants to choose from from upscale award-winning dining to Mediterranean tapas, steakhouse and a white table cloth bistro.  We chose the bistro, Diane’s (http://www.dianesrestaurant.com/)  It was a good choice.

316 miles.

On the road at 8:30 a.m.  Sunny and 32.  Two years ago we drove some of this same route and didn’t see a thing because it was so foggy.  One thing that we couldn’t see were the fence posts.  Many of them are sandstone.  They look like tombstones, except there is fencing wire wound around them and they are running in a straight line.  We decided there must have been an excess of sandstone and very few trees.  Not all the fence posts were stone, but for quite a distance we saw them.  How much work was it to hew a stone fence post?

There were a couple of interesting things in northwestern Kansas that we had to get out the iPad and look up.  There was the Cathedral of the Plains http://www.kansastravel.org/cathedralofheplains.htm.  We didn’t stop for a closeup, but it’s a very large church and easy to see from the highway.  During a quick stop in Park, KS, I checked out the church there, another large Catholic church http://www.skyways.org/towns/Park/index.html.  And then it occurred to me that we should have looked for the cemeteries at these two churches.  My uncle Pete, who lives in Oregon, has an interest in the iron crosses that European immigrants, especially Germans, crafted.  This area of Kansas has a number of these iron crosses.  We missed the opportunity to check it out.  Next year.

We also missed seeing our friends Vicki and Tom, who live in Hays, Kansas.  Just not enough time to stop and visit when there are miles to drive.

From northwestern Kansas we drove southwest into Colorado.  There is a lot of nothing in that part of Colorado.

Western Colorado

We stopped in Kit Carson for lunch.  The only restaurant in town, that we could find, had bierocks as their special.  It turns out a bierock is like a runza.  I’ve never had a runza, but I know what they are.  We didn’t have a bierock, but a number of people were ordering the ground beef and cabbage filling wrapped in deep fried bread dough.

We needed gas in Kit Carson.  They have one self-serve pump next to an empty building.  Gas was $.40 a gallon higher than we’d been paying so we didn’t fill up.

We drove south from Kit Carson then southwest into Trinidad, where we got on the freeway and crossed into New Mexico at Raton Pass.  The last time we drove through this pass it was snowing so much that we could barely see the road in front of us.  It was nice to be able to see where we were going today.

We decided to get off the freeway and take a different route to Santa Fe, so we drove southwest to Taos on a two-lane mountain road south , then to Santa Fe from there.  We misjudged the route, the time it would take us to drive it, and the time of day, so most of the two-hour drive was in the dark.  Now we’re going to have to go back and do it again in the light because, from what we could see, it was a beautiful drive.  It was rather twisty-turny, but what mountain road isn’t?

GPS screen

Got to Santa Fe at 7:20.  I used a Web site that a friend told us about — roomsavers.com — to find a discounted room and was successful.  The problem was, the room was a few steps down from quality.  I knew Tuesday night’s room was going to ruin it for us.  The good thing was, the motel was just a couple of blocks away from the plaza so we didn’t have far to go to get a late dinner.

We were entertained on our drive today by Car Talk podcasts.  Thank goodness for Car Talk!  I had them downloaded from the beginning of July to mid-November.  Eleven hours of Click and Clack.

640 miles today.   Deer, turkey, antelope, lots of hawks and wind generators.  Miles and miles of construction cones and one-lane driving and no one working.

I think this is the first year we didn’t leave in snow.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  And we didn’t leave in the dark either.  We were on the road at 8 a.m.  We don’t check in to our unit at Riverside Suites until Friday so we have extra time this year and don’t have to get as many miles in as we can each day.

But we weren’t sure which route to take — west through Colorado or south and take a right at Oklahoma.  About the time we got to Owatonna, where we would turn west, Jim decided he wanted BBQ in Kansas City so we stayed on I-35 and headed south.

I’m not sure what we did differently this year, but the car is packed to its limit.  Except for our return trip last year, we have been able to see something out of the back of the car.  This year, not at all.  We either need a larger vehicle or I have to learn to pack less.

The view in the rearview mirror

It’s going to make it difficult if we find something in AZ that we can’t do without.  I have a feeling we will be shipping a box or two home the end of March.

We got to Kansas City at about 3.  A knitting friend, Louise, had told us what her son’s BBQ recommendations were — he lives in KC — so we decided to go to the Wood Yard.  If you watch Diners Drive-ins & Dives, you’ve probably seen a segment on the Wood Yard.  Jim had a brisket sandwich and I had a burnt ends sandwich and we shared chili topped with burnt ends.  It was great.  More food than we could finish.  http://www.woodyardbbq.com

Nick’s other recommendations were RJ’s and Oklahoma Joe’s.  We’ve eaten at Arthur Bryant’s and another one that we can’t remember.  I’m not sure you could go wrong at any Kansas City BBQ restaurant.

Wood Yard

Back on the road, destination Salina, KS.  We weren’t going to be eating dinner so we could drive a little later.  We had stayed in Salina on the trip down two years ago and remembered the Holiday Inn Express as a nice hotel so that was our go-to on the GPS.  We pulled off the freeway, went right and right and left into the hotel parking lot, only to discover it was now a LaQuinta.  I had made online reservations at the Holiday Inn Express so after figuring out where the hotel was now located, we checked in.  A brand new hotel, 10 days new.  Very nice.  Didn’t think once about the threat of bed bugs.

Our route is a compromise.  We went south to Kansas City, but now we’re going west through Colorado.  What we don’t know is, which route we’re taking into Colorado.  Plenty of time to figure that out in the morning.

Day 1, 616 miles.