Arrived in Arvada

This photo was from the Tucson Botanical Garden. I love shooting photos overhead. :) Jack and I had a good day with his Mom on Mother's Day in Tucson. We went to her church, took her to Claim Jumper, and then went shopping at Dillards. We enjoyed the service, good food, and lots of laughs. What a blessing it's been, to have her back in our lives!

Monday we'd planned to leave Tucson, and we worked all day with me getting my cottage ready for the summer, Jack getting his cottage ready, and us each getting our respective things set to go into the RV. We got it all loaded up at my place, and then hooked the car on and got over to Jack's. And the hour got later and later, till we finally decided that it was just too late to go. So we just parked in a site at Far Horizons, spent the night in the RV, and then headed out early Tuesday morning.

We drove as far as Albuquerque, spending the night at American RV Park, across from Camping World. We enjoyed unhooking the car and then taking it out for a romp in the city. We went to Camping World for some tire valve extenders, and then went to find food.

Furr's in Las Cruces, NM was soooo fabulous that, when we saw a Furr's, we drove right in. Well... here's a truth you can write down to pass on to future generations:

The only thing that's worse than bad food is "all you can eat" bad food.

Furr's in Albuquerque is BAD. The food selection was limited, the food was either dried out, tasteless, cold, or all of the above, the service was not good, and the restaurant, while a pretty building, was loud. Urgh.

We did enjoy our night at the campground, and we were off early on Wednesday. We drove, drove, drove, through wind, warm, cool, cooler, and then a bit of rain, and a bit of *snow*, till we arrived last evening at Arvada, Colorado.

We're going to be here for at least a week, working on building a deck for our friends John and MaryAnn. Today Jack is working on measuring and planning. We are having a great time so far! The weather is cool today, but it's not raining or snowing now. It's supposed to get warm and lovely later in the week!

Chilly inside

... but hot outside! I guess I could turn my AC down a bit. I'm such a brat!
Today I tried Wii Fitness Coach, and I like it. I think that I'll have some sore muscles to show for it tomorrow. A bit later, I'll do some DDR. Have I said yet today how much I LOVE DDR? (That's a Wii thing -- the one the kid was doing on the YouTube video I posted a couple of days ago.)

Jack came over and I cleaned and dressed his surgical wound. It's looking great, and so is HE. Then we were off to get Mary, and she took us out to lunch. Then we were off for the real goal of the day -- the Mini-Time Machine Museum. You cannot tell from this site how cool this place was! Our friends Bob and Claire had turned us on to this, and they KNOW cool places. Anyway, we had a great time, exploring all of the miniature houses, furnished in various styles, collections of ... all things miniature. It's a really neat experience.

Afterwards, we drove her to run a couple of errands and then I dropped Jack off so that he could have a nap!

Pink Flower

Hot day today in Tucson -- in the 90's. I'm starting to think that the rest of the world may be getting ready for us, and Jack and I are planning to leave here... soon! :) (You know how I hate to post *plans*, don't you?

Today was consumed with legal matters... again. I got a fistful of papers from the attorney in Bloomington -- stuff that I had to print and sign, and some of which I had to have notarized. This will all go to the court there, to prove that a) Michael did die; b) He did want me to be his heir; and c) I am that person whom Michael directed to take over for him when he died. Woop-de-doo, I guess, but this has to go before a judge and I have to get papers to attest to all of this.

So I printed off the papers, filled things in, signed in the blanks, and then got the appropriate ones notarized. Off to the post office and overnighted them back to Bloomington, where they will be opened tomorrow and the wheels will turn a bit more.

Next, I called the Honda dealer here to find out where my papers were for my registration for my new car. They do things a bit differently in AZ than they do in IN, where I've bought all my new cars before. Here, you have to get the license plate from the dealer, paying the appropriate fees, of course. Then, if you have a personalized plate (me!) you have to go to the license branch, apply for a refund on the personalized plate, and then they cancel the one you got from the dealer and .. you get to use the personalized one on your new car. This is, of course, after paying more fees! So I did it and that's done!

And, of course, I rocked the world on DDR this morning! :D

The Chollas are about to bloom!

Here's a cholla (pronounced CHAU-ya) which is about to bloom. These cacti are interesting to me, because they seem unpredictable in the colors of their blooms. This one's going to be blooming soon in a striking burgundy red!

Ok, you asked for it; you get it! Here's a photo of the desert in bloom. I was looking up a hill, I think on the Ventana Canyon hike.

Today was a great day. I started it, as usual, exercising on my Wii! Then I went and picked up Jack, and we went for a hike! This was an unconventional hike for us -- rather a stroll -- in downtown Tucson. There is a "trail" that's been laid out with turquoise paint across many blocks of the town, walking us past many familiar landmarks and historical spots. It was a fun walk!

And, as we walked, we looked up toward "A" Mountain, our western landmark. So... let's drive UP the mountain -- something neither of us had done! We walked all the way up to the A, which is HUGE. 160 feet tall, and 70 feet wide! From city level, the A looks like just something that's carved into the mountain, but.. not even close. It was built by U of A students in 1916, and every year it gets a new coating of paint!

I shot this photo from the base of the A:

Here I am standing by the A:

Next, we did another Tucson must-do, which I'd never done. We walked through the Snake Bridge! I took a few photos, but none as good as these:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x7092446

Desert Blooms

I've been busy! I've been working on getting the last of Jack's things out moved into his new place. This, of course, leaves behind empty spaces which need to be cleaned, so I'm doing that, too. He worked yesterday morning on getting his shelves built in his shed, so that his tools and supplies are all nicely organized. He's rightfully very proud of his new digs. :)

This morning, I cleaned out under my storage bed. I'd been collecting things that need to go back to Michigan, and I dug all these out. I packed away my keyboard for the summer, and got out Jack's mat-cutting equipment. Now my back hurts a bit.

We went to the westside to see his dermatologist ydy and enjoyed a bit of shopping at La Encantada. We always love Crate and Barrel, and had a great lunch at AJ's.

I've really been having fun with my Wii Dance Dance Revolution. I just now did 45 more minutes, and this morning did an hour. Anyone who wants to see what this looks like in real life will NOT see it in this video. LOL this is a kid who has likely spent more time doing this than I have. I'm not even close to this level. But it sort of gives you an idea of what this is.

May Day!

Although I know that the critics will say "harsh lighting," I say that I did my best to capture the beauty of these irises on a very brightly sunny day. So there! I hope you like them: Today I opted to sleep in, rather than to do my morning Wii Fit routine. 7:30 saw me up, though, showering, and readying myself for a busy day. Jack, Harold, Kathy, and I went to the Folk Festival downtown. We'd driven in 2 cars, so that we could do our own things. We listened to some music, saw some booths where people were selling stuff, and heard more music.

And then I saw the booth where the guy was selling Native American flutes. Ok.. I've always wanted one of these. And Rick's tongue was silvery and the flutes that he'd made were just wonderful. I fell very much in love with a lovely one of walnut and it's here beside me now on the lovely matching walnut stand that I got for it. It's a 6-hole flute and I will be able to play anything on it.

We left the festival pretty early, because I'd gotten wind of a special promotional party at Rancho Del Lago -- that housing development that we'd happened upon a few weeks ago. This was a margarita party, and they had free cheeseburgers, chips, drinks, margaritas, and cake! There were hula dancers, fire dancers, and we got to go through the model homes again.

This was such a pretty day that we decided to take a drive through Saguaro National Park East. So many of the cacti and flowers were blooming; the desert is a beautiful palette of greens, yellows, blues of the mountains and sky, and red of the ocatillo.

And this evening, I did an hour of DDR on the Wii. So fun!

Beautiful Tucson

The first is from the Reid Park Rose Garden, shot yesterday. And the second is a flower I captured at Tucson Botanical Garden.

I got the car suited up to be towed! Yay! I'd had this done twice before, to the silver Honda CRV and then to the Mohave Mist Honda CRV. But Michael had handled the whole thing, and I had no idea what he paid, or what was involved. Well.. wow! I'd gotten 2 estimates for doing it and I was really amazed at all that was involved, timewise, and costwise. I won't say what I paid, because I really do NOT want people to tell me I got ripped off, ok, but I will just say.. it's an expensive proposition.

We got back from towing the car back here, and then took off to lay in some travel supplies from Costco. When I got back here, I had some supper, and then had a glance at the calendar. What? We'd forgotten the pizza/bocce ball party at Udall, put on by some of our friends from church! So I called Jack, picked him up, and we headed over there, arriving just in time to finish the last game of Bocce Ball.

Next, we went over to Eclectic Pizza, and, after my dinner, LOL, I did have a piece of pizza and a cookie! Yum! Great food, and really fun people.

Then I did DDR on my Wii! My knee is doing much better after a week of rest and Aleve 2x a day, and I danced on the thing for well over an hour, with no pain at all. I did sweat, however!

Flowers in the Desert?

A green desert? Yes, the Sonoran Desert is one of the greener deserts, well-known for its wide variety of native plants and animals. The other factor which contributes to the green here is that Tucson is a city. We have people. And where there are people, we tend to grow things, water the ground to make things grow which might not grow naturally. This is why we have such wonderful roses, I think. The enchanting thing about the roses here is that they bloom sporadically year-round.

Here's one of the rose photos that I shot at the Reid Park Rose Garden: This is one that I took at the Tucson Botanical Gardens:

I didn't get the car picked up today. Jack and I rented a carpet cleaner, cleaned mine, cleaned his, and cleaned his Mom's carpets. We went to lunch and then went back to vacuum her carpets. By the time we were done with all of this, the service department was about to close, so I rescheduled our pickup for tomorrow morning.

Harold and Kathy were hosting a happy hour, which we were happy to attend. The munchies were good, and the people, of course, were genial! :)

When I came back here, I did 45 minutes on the Wii, Dance-Dance Revolution. That is so much fun and the time just slides by, as I dance my way into a sweat.

Tiny White Flowers

More from the Tucson Botanical Garden:
I have not missed a day of Wii in over 2 weeks! And the days that I've missed since 1/1 I've walked or hiked or done something. Today's Wii Fit Plus activities included Advanced Step, Kung Fu, and Rhythm Boxing. If I'd known how fun and beneficial this exercising could be, I'd have been so all over this as soon as Wii was invented. Better late than never, though!

Yesterday was hiking, and we did the Ventana Canyon hike. We went to the Maiden Pools and saw the frogs! These adorable little gray frogs blend to match the rocks they sun upon. The hike is challenging, with a bunch of up during the last mile. When I got home, I was just *tired.*

But not too tired to go out for a great evening with John and Peggy! We went to Macaroni Grill and had a fine dinner of pasta and lots of laughs.

This afternoon, we took the car to LaMesa to get her ready to be towed. They have to weld a plate onto the car and wire it all up and it'll be ready tomorrow afternoon!

On the way back to our side of town, we took a small detour and visited the Rose Garden at Reid Park. Oh WOW! You may remember that we took the Foto Fun club there for a photo shoot early in the season and got a few photos. Welllll... the roses are OUT now, and baby, are they gorgeous! I do so hope that some of my photos turned out well.

Hot day in Tucson

Aren't these purty? Today's a hot day in Tucson -- the sort of day when you can't even think about cleaning. I did do laundry this morning, before it got too hot. Ran a few errands and then caught up on email and Facebook.

This evening, I drove over toward the U of A and met my friend Becky, with whom I had taught at Bloomington South. She's living in Tucson now, and on the faculty of U of A. It was very cool to find her on Facebook, and even cooler to get together in person and to get caught up! Claim Jumper served us up fine fare for dinner.

Now it's off to bed with me!