A Hummingbird Guest and a Serious Hike

Wednesday 2/2

COLD here this AM, 25 degrees. Still, it’s sunny and a whole lot better weather than at home (or in a lot of the rest of the country!).

We have a hummingbird feeder hanging outside our back window and it gets a lot of attention - both from hummingbirds and woodpeckers! The feeder is hanging on a rod extended from our ladder and this morning a hummingbird is sitting on the rod in the sun. We think he is getting warmth reflected off of our back window as well as from the sun.

High today was 37 and our little hummingbird friend stuck around all day! He was still there at dusk and filling up from the feeder - hope he makes it through the cold night!

Thursday 2/3

11 Degrees this morning! We were up fairly early and off to Tucson Yoga for our weekly class. Left water running at a trickle all night the last two nights (gray tanks are open) and it kept us from freezing up. Did not know that would work, but the campground suggested it. Normally we would have disconnected our fresh water hose and worked off our fresh water tank, but the spigots here are on pipes above the ground and if we just shut the water off they would freeze.

I mentioned in an earlier post that we had decided to subscribe to Sirius radio in order to get NPR and some news stations while we are in remote areas like here in Arizona. We are unable to pick up either Public Radio station in Tucson due to the shadow of the Tucson mountains immediately East of us.

Well, let me tell you, if you decide to try Sirius do not try to order it on line! I experienced the worst ordering process and the worst follow-up customer service I have ever run into. As briefly as possible: After researching and determining what I wanted, I attempted to order on-line. Deep into the order process it did not want to accept our home address! Finally I got a message that said, “Your order MAY have been placed, please contact customer service”. OK, so I called, 45 minutes later my call was answered and I was told that the order was not in process because of the address, so I went through the whole order process again on the telephone.

The website said orders are shipped by the 2nd or 3rd business day, so I waited until the 5th business day to check on what was happening. This time they answered fairly quickly and I was told that the order was “on hold for inspection”. The first rep put me hold when I asked for a supervisor, after 30 minutes (yes, I can be stubborn!) I was kicked back to the new call queue, the second rep got me to a supervisor reasonably quickly and he said the order was on hold to verify the address!!!! After I went balistic he said they had approval from the credit card company and he was releasing the order. “The release will take 24 to 48 hours (this was on a Friday) and shipping will take 3 to 5 business days”!! What happened to 2 or 3 days? “Oh, the website is wrong, 3 to d working days is the standard shipping time.” Is there anything you can do to speed it up? “No”.

So...I waited another four business days and called to check “I show that order on hold for inspection.” What the??!!!!

At that point I cancelled the order and went to Radio Shack and bought the radio and installation kit I wanted, brought it home and hooked it up that evening. To bad there is no other company offering satellite radio (Sirius owns XM), I would go there in a heartbeat. Sorry for the screed, had to blow off steam.

While we were in the Tucson Mall picking up the radio Nancy stopped in the Verizon store and ended up getting a new cell phone. We were able to switch around our plan so that she will get unlimited data and internet access for about $10 a month more than we were paying before.

Anyhoo... the high today was 42 and we were back below 32 by the time we went to bed.

Friday 2/4

Low last night was 24 and it got up to 59 today so things are improving. Trust me, we are not complaining, we will take bright, sunny, cool days over the nasty weather a lot of the country is seeing - life is good.

Still a cold breeze, so other than going to get a propane tank refilled and doing some grocery shopping we stayed in all day. Got a few things done a round the trailer, cleaning and a couple of minor repairs. Dennis also finished running the wiring for the Sirius radio and the antenna.

Saturday 2/5

Still a bit of a cool breeze today. We went into Tucson to the old Presidio to see their monthly living history reenactment. It was quite interesting in a low key way. We watched a blacksmith make a link for a large chain by hand. We were able to stand right next to him, feeling the heat from the coal fire he was heating the iron in, while he described the process. There were also Spanish soldier re-enactors who were demonstrating firing of flintlock rifles and a brass cannon, along with displays of traditional foods and grains.

Since we were only a couple of blocks away, we just had to stop at El Charro for lunch.

Sunday 2/6

Finally took serious hike today. Headed out about 10 AM, drove up to the trailhead of the King Canyon Trail in the Saguaro National Forest, just past the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. We headed up the trail about twenty after ten, three miles out and three miles back, along with a 1,700 foot climb to the top of Wasson Peak! Whew, it was about all we had in us, but the views were just fantastic, both west into the Avra Valley (where our RV is) and east across the city to the Santa Catalina mountains. Overall it took us almost five hours. The trail up started on an old mining road of large crushed rock, which was tough going on the way up and really brutal on the way out when we were exhausted.

These pictures were taken on the saddle where the King Canyon trail and Sweetwater trail meet. We were sitting side by side on a rock and just passed the camera between pictures, so you get an idea of the views in both directions. Behind Dennis is the Rincon Valley and the Santa Catalinas

Behind Nancy is the Avra Valley with Kitt Peak way in the distance.
On the way back down we finally spotted an example of the iconic Arizona cactus, a Saguaro with two arms like you always see in drawings and very rarely see in the desert!

It really was a really beautiful day, about 70 degrees with thin, high clouds and a light breeze. As we got toward the top we needed a light jacket. A really enjoyable day, although the last couple of miles coming back were really tough!

Made it back home in time to watch the Packers win the Super Bowl while we ate pizza. BTW, we have found that WalMart has some pretty good rising crust frozen pizzas. Combined with the pizza stones that Joan gave us for our RV oven we can make pretty good pizza.

Monday 2/7

Monday morning meeting at the campground was cancelled this morning. We headed in to the city to do some grocery shopping, then decided to go up to the Northeast side to check out the hiking maps available at Summit Hut. Spent some time browsing as it is a very nice hiking/climbing/camping store.

Since we were already in the area (do I detect a pattern here?) we stopped at Beyond Bread for a couple of their excellent sandwiches for lunch - and dinner since we brought half of both our sandwiches home!

In the same shopping center was Annabelle’s Closet, a resale and antique shop that we had heard about. We spent the better part of an hour browsing an eclectic collection of “stuff”. Actually very nicely displayed and a lot of interesting items, although we did not end up buying anything. Found a couple of rugs that looked interesting, but the prices on the ones we liked were a bit high.

After that we stopped in Bookman’s, a nice large used book store in the same shopping center. We were getting a bit worn out by that point, but we may have to stop back here sometime - of course we have two boxes of books in one of our storage compartments on the trailer that are awaiting our attention! We’re not going to run out of reading material any time soon!

Tuesday 2/8

Dog sitting today for Nancy's friend Karen. Her dog Margo is a 9 month old Labrador. We went and took her for a walk around 11 AM and she was wound up tighter than a drum! Running all over the place. After the walk Nancy took her to the dog run where she ran herself out of energy with several other dogs, including our neighbor's Australian Kelpy herding dog. Of course that then required a bath at the dog wash before we could take her home!

Nancy did laundry and we puttered around home the rest of the afternoon.

Turning Cooler, Pics of Ceramics

Friday 1/28

Out for a morning walk in the desert today and then we went over to the SE side to pick up the Volvo where we had some minor body work done at Family Auto Body. It looks really nice with a freshly repainted front bumper!

On the way home we stopped at BK Sonoran Hot Dogs, which, as Nancy says “is just an excuse to drink Coke with real sugar!” They bring the Cokes in from Mexico in real glass Coke bottles made with cane sugar, and they taste like Coke used to taste.

Friday evening Pericles, the owner of Desert Trails stopped by with his aunt from England. He had asked earlier if he could bring her by as she had never seen large American RVs as compared to “caravans” in England.

Saturday 1/29

Getting back into our routine of hiking in the desert every day.

Sunday 1/30

Relaxing morning watching the Sunday AM shows. Another nice day, in the 70’s. Supposed to cool off next week and maybe even rain! Official rainfall YTD is 0.00”!

Had lunch at Coyote Pause.

Monday 1/31

A cloudy day! A real rarity here. Later in the morning we actually had some rain and in some areas it was proceeded by hail! Cloudy off and on, with scattered showers most of the day.

After the morning campground meeting we drove into the University where Nancy had found that the Aveda spas have a school on the campus where manicures, pedicures, facial, etc. are available at really low prices so she made an appointment for a manicure to check it out. Turned out to be a great deal!

While she was doing that Dennis went over to Antigone Books and browsed for a while.

Checked out Beyond Bread for lunch, excellent sandwiches and bread. To bad they are all on the NE side of the city.

Still cool drizzly and cloudy in the afternoon. When we stopped at the office to pay our February rent we asked if we get a refund for rainy days - this is the first one since the first of December!

Tuesday 2/1

A bit cool here today, but nothing like what is going on in much of the country! Supposed to have a hard freeze here the next three nights with daily highs in the forties, still bright and sunny though.

Nancy went to the quilting class today to finish up here “table topper”. Dennis went across to the east side and picked up the ceramic pieces that we all painted last week at Color Me Mine. They all came out pretty nice:

Here is Nancy’s bowl,

Nancy’s expresso cup and saucer,

Joan’s spoon rests,

Dennis’ teapot,

and our garden gnome - Elfbert! All three of us worked on this one.

A Sunset Hike and Nancy's Sister Visits

Sunday 1/16

Saturday evening we went to Coyote Pause for dinner. Sunday was a quiet morning at home. Watched the Sunday AM shows and most of the Bears game. In the afternoon we went over to Saguaro National Forest for a sunset hike that we had signed up for in December. It was a beautiful afternoon, shirtsleeve weather on the way up to the ridge to watch the sunset. We meet two volunteer rangers, Dick and Dick, at the trail head, about three miles down a really rough dirt road. There were about ten of us in the group and Lead Dick stopped at several places along the way and told us about the geology and features if the desert in the area.

The first part of the hike we went about 3/4 of a mile on sandy gravel with a mild uphill grade, climbing about 300 feet. The second half was a steeper climb for a total of about 750 feet to the top of the ridge. There we had spectacular views both to the north

and the southwest. We sat and relaxed for about half an hour and were treated to a spectacular sunset.

Like the hat?

On the way back we were down off the steeper part of the climb in the twilight, with the last pat of the hike in the desert by the light of the full moon. Overall about four hours and a very enjoyable hike. As advised we had packed light jackets, which we needed on the way back down.

Back home we had a pizza for dinner.

Monday 1/17

We are both feeling a bit punk this morning, so we slept in and skipped the Monday morning meeting at the campground. We did get out for lunch and tried Todd’s at the little airport just to the west of us - a very good lunch. Otherwise we just relaxed and watched the new Masterpiece Theatre, Downton Abby, that we had taped Sunday evening.

Tuesday 1/18

Still taking it easy and trying to recover from our colds. We had lunch at Coyote Pause and then checked out a health food store near by that another camper had told us about. Then just relaxed. Today was an absolutely beautiful day in the mid-70’s without a cloud in the sky - we are really growing to love Arizona!

Wednesday 1/19

Made a quick trip back to South 12th Ave and hit BK Sonoran Hot Dogs for lunch. This time Nancy had a quesadea. Otherwise a quiet day.

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Thursday 1/20

Didn’t make it to yoga this morning as we are still both a bit under the weather, Nancy had a hot rock massage on her neck in the morning. We did manage to get out for a nice hike in the desert in the afternoon, it was warm, but there was a nice breeze so it was very pleasant.

Friday 1/21

Nancy was really under the weather this AM, so we took it easy and hit Todd’s again for lunch. Just at dusk we heard one of the owls that lives in the campground and he sounded really close. We went out and looked and he was about 20 feet up in the palm tree behind out trailer! A Great Horned Owl, he was hooting and another owl on the other side of the park was answering. Really cool!

Did some research on Sirius radio today. The FM radio reception here is about as bad as the TV reception - as in “non-existant”. There are a number of NPR programs that we like to listen to and we like to get NPR news in the morning. Sirius looks like the best bet and Dennis ordered a receiver that can be used both in the trailer and the truck. Also looked at a Best Buy for a tuner to drive the speakers in the trailer without much luck.

Saturday 1/22

Nancy’s sister Joan arrived in town today for a short vacation. After she arrived and got settled in at Starr Pass Golf Suites we headed in to El Charro (Joan's favorite restaurant), but it turned out there was an hour wait! So instead we ended up at Perfecto’s - not as much atmosphere, but good food.

Sunday 1/23

We got together with Joan for lunch at Coyote Pause and then went over to Color Me Mine in a mall on the east side to look at the greenware available for us to choose. Nancy picked up a couple of coupons from Groupon and we are planning on going there on Tuesday.

Nancy stopped at a Clair’s Boutique in the mall and picked up a pair of expensive (not) pearl earrings to replace some that she had lost.

Dennis wanted to check out the Best Buy across the street and, as expected, this one had better stock than the one on the south side - more of an upscale neighborhood. We have ordered a Sirius radio system to use in the trailer and we needed a tuner to drive our surround sound speakers. Tuners that are “Sirius ready” hard to come by and expensive, but we found a fairly reasonably priced one.

From there we came back into the city and had dinner at El Charro.

Monday 1/24

This morning Joan was scheduled for a hot stone massage here at Desert Trails. Dennis got the new tuner hooked up this morning and it is just what we needed. In addition to the Sirius connection capability it will also connect with and control our I-Pod (where all our music is). If we wanted to it could also control a Blue Ray player, CD, DVR, and TV (we needed a Volkswagen and bought a Ferrari!). It works great and for the first time we have all of our surround sound speakers working! For those who don’t know the story, our Newmar was a repo when we bought it and all of the electronics had been stripped out, wires just cut. Dennis had reconstructed the video portion and we have been using a cheap stereo for a radio, which was less than satisfactory. Here in Tucson we are unable to get the NPR stations, so we are going to put in the Sirius radio so we can listen to our favorite NPR shows wherever we are.

After Joan’s massage we went up to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and had lunch in the cafeteria and then took one of the afternoon tours. While Nancy and Joan finished the tour, Dennis dropped out and went back to the gift shop - and of course bought a new book on Arizona history.

After leaving the museum we stopped at the visitors center in the Saguaro National Forest so Joan could pick up her America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass – Senior Pass. Dennis got his a couple of years ago and it is a great deal - admission to National parks and monuments for free for the rest of your life! If you are over 62 it is too good a deal to pass up, go get one.

For dinner we tried Daisy Mae’s Steakhouse. A really good reputation for steaks and the food was as advertised. The atmosphere was also as advertised - not much. A couple of problems for us though, when we are paying $25 for a steak we expect utensils that don’t bend when you try to cut your steak and something a little more upscale than plastic plates and cheap paper napkins! But hey, you don’t know if you don’t try and that was a really good rib eye!

Tuesday 1/25

This morning we went to Color Me Mine over on the east side of Tucson. This is one of those places where you paint unfired pottery and then they bake it for you. Nancy had picked up coupons from Groupon so the three of us spent about four hours painting greenware. It was a lot of fun and we are anxious to see how our pieces come out. Joan did a couple of spoon rests, Nancy did a bowl and an expresso cup and saucer, Dennis did a teapot, and together we all, worked on a garden gnome (to put outside our trailer). We cannot pick up the finished pieces until Sunday afternoon. We’ll post some pictures if they turn out OK.

Had lunch at an In ‘N Out Burger in mid-afternoon, stopped and did some grocery shopping and then went back to Joan’s hotel. Had a pizza delivered and watched the State of the Union address.

Just about dusk Joan looked out on the patio and said “There’s a javelina!” It had just walked by, so Joan and Nancy ran out to get a look at it (there had been one on the patio early in the morning a couple of days earlier) and while they were looking left for the javelina that had walked by another one poked it’s head around the corner behind them! You never saw two people move as fast as those two trying to get back in the door! They looked like those cartoon characters whose feet are moving so fast they look like spinning wheels! Joan said “Feet’s don’ fail me now!!”

Unfortunately we did not have a camera with us, since two of the javelinas walked around on the patio looking for a hand-out. We watched for them Wednesday evening camera in hand, but never saw any.

Wednesday 1/26

We met Joan at Coyote Pause for breakfast, then up to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum again. We spent an hour walking around looking at the exhibits, then while Dennis went back to our trailer Joan and Nancy took a docents tour. We met up there again at lunchtime and ate in the cafeteria at the museum. Getting memberships to the museum this year has turned out to be a great idea as this is probably our fifth visit this winter and Joan used two guest passes while she was here.

In the afternoon we went back to the hotel and Nancy and Joan went swimming while Dennis relaxed. After waiting to see if the javelinas would make a return appearance (they did not) we went to El Charro for dinner.

Thursday 1/27

Went to our regular Thursday morning yoga class at Tucson Yoga. Good to get back in the swing as we missed last week. Afterwards we met Joan at a Waffle House near the expressway for brunch. She is headed up to Phoenix to visit a friend for a couple of days before heading back to Chicago (Brrrr!). We are perfectly happy to stay right here where it is warm.

Did a few chores around the trailer in the afternoon and just relaxed.

Not a Lot Going On

Wow, I did not realize it had been so long since I posted. Here's the latest update:

Thursday 1/6

Off to our weekly yoga class at Tucson Yoga this morning. Even when we don’t really feel like getting out and going, it always feels better after we do! A quick stop for some groceries and back home again where Dennis found a message on the Escapees forum from one of the HDT guys asking where we were in Tucson as they are at Justin’s Diamond J RV Park. Well, that park is right next door to where we are! The two parks butt right up against each other. So we took a walk over to say hello to Larry (“Still Working”). He was preparing to head to Kitt Peak for the evening program, so we just had a brief chat.

Went back to Perfecto’s for dinner and had an excellent meal. The place is not much to look at, but the service is friendly and the food is really good.

Back home and watched a couple of movies.

Friday 1/7

Slow start this morning, Dennis is getting over a cold so we are taking it easy today.

Saturday 1/8

Dennis is really under the weather today, so we are just vegging. Spent a good part of the day watching local TV coverage of the terrible shootings here in Tucson. We are on the other side of the Tucson Mountains from where the shootings occurred.

Took a walk around the campground in the afternoon and that was about it.

Sunday 1/9

Dennis is feeling better today, but we still just relaxed, watched the Sun AM news shows and the football game. Another walk around the campground today and tonight we are listening to the Blackhawks game on-line.

Monday 1/10

So now both of us are a bit under the weather. Dennis’ cold seems to have morphed into a sinus infection and Nancy is trying to fight off the cold.

As a result our activities have beed limited to short walks around the campground.

Tuesday 1/11

Those of you up north can take solace in the fact that we can confirm the sun is headed back north again. Ever since we arrived here in December we have been puzzled by the sun shining into the trailer. Our large back window faces south and as a result we have had to keep the blinds closed all day, we were opening them partially in the morning to get the warmth of the sun, but by mid-day it was making it hot in the trailer. We remember from last year that we could have the blinds open for a good part of the day. Well, mystery solved - the sun has now moved north far enough that it is no longer shining directly into our window from mid-afternoon on. Last year we did not arrive until the first of January, so after the first week we no longer had the afternoon sun shining in. DUH - live and learn.

Nancy participated in a an all day quilting class here at the campground today and Dennis went and did the grocery shopping.

Wednesday 1/12

Both feeling a bit better day by day. We even managed a brief walk in the desert on Tuesday afternoon. This morning we drove into Tucson to check out the Wednesday morning farmers market. Quite a disappointment as it consisted of one stall selling produce, one selling spices, and three or four craft booths. Oh well, they can’t all be winners.

Stopped at the Food Conspiracy and stocked up, then went to El Charro for lunch. Once again a delicious meal.

Nancy went to the evening Mah Jong game again tonight while Dennis stayed home and listened to the Blackhawks game.

Thursday 1/13

After our morning yoga class at Tucson Yoga we returned to Desert Trails and each of us had hot stone massages. Angel is a lady here in the campground that does great massages with both hot and cold stones. Sounds a little strange, but it is really wonderful. We first experienced these last year and have been waiting for her to get here this year.

Relaxed the rest of the afternoon.

Friday 1/14

Finally out for an early morning walk in the desert this morning. The weather is warming up slowly, supposed to be in the 70’s all next week.

Went and did some shopping this morning, Nancy was looking for a few short sleeve tops since she did not bring enough with her. After hitting a few places without much luck she found a couple at Target. Since we were in the area we went down to South 12th Ave since Nancy wanted to try the Sonoran Hot Dogs at BK Carne Asada Hot Dogs. The Sonoran hot dogs lived up to their billing and Dennis had an excellent hamburger as well. To top it off the Coke they sell is bottled in Mexico, using cane sugar. Tastes like the Coke we used to have when we were kids.

After a quiet afternoon we drove over to Coyote Pause for dinner.

Saturday 1/15

Drove into South Tucson this AM to check out another farmers market. Much like the one on Wednesday it was disappointing - very small. As long as we were in the area we went on East to Camping World and picked up a couple of items that we need and spent some time browsing to what we wanted that we really did not need.

By then it was almost lunch time so we backtracked to South 12th Ave (do I detect a pattern here?) and hit Perfecto’s for another delicious lunch. Stopped at La Estrella Bakery and picked up some doughnuts and cookies.

Back home Nancy did some laundry and then we took a walk in the desert and relaxed the rest of the afternoon.

Back in Tucson

Saturday 1/1/11

Well, it was warmer in Chicago on Friday that it was in Tucson! We came back anyway, and by Saturday the 42 degrees when we arrived here was better than the 25 we left in Chicago.

Definitely a cold snap here in Tucson, we had to disconnect our water hose the first three nights back as it was dropping below freezing. Good thing we keep at least a half tank of fresh water on board for back up.

Uneventful flight and we arrived back at Desert Trails about 3:30 Saturday afternoon.

Sunday 1/2

A bit too chilly for a desert walk this morning - 25 degrees! - so we relaxed and watched the Sunday AM news shows and just took a walk around the campground later in the day. Had to make a run to the grocery store of course to get stocked back up. The trailer survived the 18 days just fine with no issues. Apparently it has been chilly and windy while we were gone.

Monday 1/3

Monday morning meeting at the campground and then got our walk in before we made a run over to the Food Conspiracy to pick up some additional items not available in the regular stores. Then just relaxed the rest of the afternoon.

Tuesday 1/4

We needed to take the truck in for an estimate on some work so we were over on the SE side of the city late in the morning. A little too early for lunch at the In ‘N Out Burger so we took a short ride around the east side of Davis Monthan Air Force base. There are an incredible number of Air Force planes mothballed and being scrapped. Row after row of planes, they cover acres and acres around the east side of the base.

Wednesday 1/5

Decided to go up to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum this morning. We wanted to get there in time for a tour at 9 AM so we had to leave by 8:30, no problem except I had to scrape ice off the windshield of the smart - Oh the horror!!

Then it turned out that there are no morning tours the first Wednesday of the month! So we spent some time in the hummingbird exhibit, which was neat as there were very few people there and if you just remained stationary you started to see a lot of activity from the birds. This alos gave us a chance to see the 10 AM free flying raptor show which we had not seen before and that was well worth the visit.

Back home by lunchtime and just vegetated in the afternoon since Dennis is fighting a mild cold.

Nancy is going to check out the Mah Jong group this evening. We’ll see how that goes.

Back in the COLD!

Friday 12/10

We keep looking at the weather forecasts for Chicago and become less and less enthusiastic about returning home on Monday! Fortunately we have our winter jackets, etc. with us, so we may look foolish leaving here Monday morning, but at least we won’t freeze when we get there!

Regular walk in the desert this morning, and then we went into Tucson to the 4th Ave Winter Street Fair. Articles in the paper have called this the nation’s largest street fair and it sure looked like they were correct! The fair booths are set up in the middle of the street in a double row facing each curb. Good layout as the foot traffic goes around each side and the merchants on the street are included in the festival. It covers six long blocks and had a wide variety of arts and crafts. We spent a good part of the day there and walked the whole thing.

Apparently parking is a real issue, it was crowded on Friday - can’t imagine how it looked on Saturday and Sunday! Anyway, with the smart car parking was no issue, we were able to find a free space at the curb just a couple of blocks away. Too small for most cars to get into!

We also had a chance to take a test drive of the new Nissan Leaf fully electric car. They had a display set up at the street fair, first a description of the concept, a cutaway of the battery pack, etc., then we each got to drive a Leaf for a mile or so around city streets. They are very nice, comfortable, roomy, with good acceleration and drive like any other car - boringly normal in fact.

After the street fair we came home and relaxed for a while and then went to Coyote Pause for dinner before joining the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Assc. for a star gazing event at a picnic area in the Tucson Mountain Park. Unfortunately it started to cloud over just about dusk, which made for a spectacular sunset, but put a bit of a crimp in the star gazing. They had several telescopes set up with good views of the moon, Jupiter and it’s moons and a few other things, but naked eye star gazing was not real good.

Saturday 12/11

Lazy morning after our dawn walk in the desert. We took the truck for a spin to loosen it up and keep the batteries charged. Then we stopped for lunch at Perfecto’s, a cute little family restaurant on South 12th Ave in a area with a lot of Mexican eateries and groceries. Excellent food, we will be back here after the first of the year as there were several dishes we want to try.

Back home we started getting things together for the trip back to Chicago on Monday and took a short walk around the campground.

Sunday 12/12

Early morning walk in the desert. It is amazing how the desert keeps changing in the changing light. Dawn is usually spectacular, the cholla seem to glow as they catch the first light of the sun, the cactus wrens perch on the tallest saguaro and sing. It is breathtaking some mornings.

Finished packing and setting things up for an extended absence, last thing I did Monday morning was to disconnect the water.

Monday 12/13

Well we’re back in Chicago and it is colder than a well diggers you know what! Yeah, I know, most of you don't feel sorry for us at all. Flying was the usual hassle, a bit easier since Tucson is a small airport. I have decided to start carrying some kind of purse when I am flying - maybe a “man bag”? It is a real pain to dig everything out of all my pockets and dump all that stuff in a bin.

We lucked out with the rental car. We had an “intermediate” reserved to get the best price, a Ford Focus. When we got to the car it was filthy, inside and out. The Enterprise guy looked at it and said “this is unacceptable”, he looked around and there was a black Buick parked next to it (shiny clean), “Would a Buick Lucerne be OK” Are you kidding, a three level upgrade for the same price? So we drove out in a nice, full size Buick. However, after two weeks driving the smart this thing is a boat! It feels bigger than the Volvo! It is nice though. On the plus side, it has seat heaters!

So we’re back home for three weeks. I’ll resume the blog when we get back to Tucson on January 1st.

Getting Settled in and ready to leave.

Thursday 12/2

Went to Tiny’s Saloon down the road for dinner Wednesday evening. No great shakes for atmosphere, but good hamburgers. Thursday we took our first morning walk in the desert, as always the plants are beautiful in the dawn light. Then we spent most of the day getting settled, putting things into their proper places, etc.

Friday 12/3

After our morning desert walk we did some grocery shopping and then drove up to the Desert Museum to purchase a membership. For the cost of two visits during out time here we can become members with unlimited access and three visitor passes - a great deal!

Otherwise we just relaxed and continued settling in. Watched the Blackhawks lose to Vancouver. A bit of a hiccup with out TV reception. I changed our service address with Dish Network to Tucson so we could get local stations. Seemed like a good solution until I noticed that in doing so we lost Chicago Sports Net, which carries most of the Blackhawk games. Oh well, we can catch the ones on the NHL network and listen to the rest on the radio - I can pick up WGN in Chicago on my iPod.

Saturday 12/4

Nice long walk in the desert and then we spent a lazy day just getting into winter vacation mode. Had dinner at Coyote Pause, a small local restaurant nearby with very good food.

Sunday 12/5

After our morning walk and the Sunday AM news programs we went into Tucson and browsed around Old Town Artisians, then had lunch at El Charro (our favorite Mexican Restaurant in the area) and made a stop at Food Conspiracy for some supplies. Came back home across Gates Pass and through the Saguaro National Forest. The Blackhawks game was on NHL network tonight so we managed to watch one more.

Monday 12/6

We have faithfully managed to get in a walk in the desert every morning so far. Weather is beautiful, highs around 80 and lows around fifty! A little cloudy yesterday and today, but still really nice. We are spoiled! Looks like it is going to be cold the week we go back to Chicago!

Monday morning meeting at the campground and then we went into Tucson and did a bit of Christmas shopping and lunch at an In n’ Out Burger. Nice relaxing afternoon not doing much of anything.

Tuesday 12/7

Off to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum first thing in the morning so we could catch the 9 AM tour. Turned out to be an excellent, two hour plus tour. Every tour we have taken there has been excellent and all of them are different, depending on the docent. Had lunch in the snack bar and then did some Christmas shopping in the gift shop. We also bought a couple of books for ourselves. Already we have been to the Museum twice, and that along with the member discount in the snack bar and the new member discount in the gift shop has offset the cost of our membership.

Wednesday 12/8

Nancy went to a sewing group in the morning where they are making Christmas baby buntings for the local hospital.

Early in the afternoon we took our daily walk in the desert, but it turned out it was really too hot, we need to do our walks in the morning before the heat of the day until the weather cools off. They are predicting record high temps here through the weekend - supposed to be 84 on Monday! Unfortunately we will be back in Chicago on Monday where the forecast calls for a high of 10 degrees! Good thing we have our winter jackets with us.

Thursday 12/9

Back to Tucson Yoga this morning. Our yoga leader, Ann, is leaving for a three year retreat in a cabin in the mountains. She is seriously into yoga and meditation, she is even giving away all of her possessions! Hard for us to imagine even thinking of doing something like that. We will miss her excellent skills when we come back in January, but expect that her replacement will do just as well. We enjoy the “gentle” yoga classes here. We will be back to our regular classes at home for the next three weeks.

After yoga we swung by the airport to scope out parking and get an estimate as to how long it will take us to get there Monday morning.

They had an excellent bicycling presentation at the activities center here this afternoon. Focused primarily on mountain biking (we are more road bikers), but there was a lot of good information on determining proper fit for your bike and a lot of other tips. Well worth the time.