A Winter Recap (Green Valley, AZ)

 

 
Well hello out there.  If anyone is still paying attention, the last time you heard from us was 6 months ago and we were gushing about the beet harvest.  The time for us to get back on the road is rapidly approaching so I'm going to have to get back into the blogging groove.  Aren't you lucky.  The past
6 months have been wonderfully busy.  I'll make a supreme effort to briefly summarize our activities then maybe we'll get into a routine of posting on a regular basis.

Home October 26 and the following Friday we fly to Ohio.  I was born and raised in Ohio and still have some family there.  They were celebrating my aunt's 90th birthday and we don't get there often enough so off we go.  We had a great time, wonderful to see family and carry on about how fast the children are growing. 

Flew home Monday.  The next Saturday we drive to Las Vegas for a week. We did a time share gig.  The accommodations were two full size one bedroom adjoining apartments.  Bill and Rena went with us.  We had a busy week.  Bill and Rena had spent little time there in the past so we tried to show them some of the highlights.



Eiffel Tower Replica

Bellagio Fountains

 

 

 

Bellagio Conservatory Fall Display

 

 

 

 



Sunset at the top of the Stratosphere





Flamingo Hotel

 

 

 

  

Fremont Street Experience (Bill did the Zipline.  But he "zipped" so fast we couldn't get a picture.)
 



Arrested?????  No but we did visit the Mob Museum.  Fun and interesting.

We also hiked two different days in Red Rock Canyon 20 miles west of Las Vegas and visited a Wildlife Refuge in the area.



Red Canyon Visitors Center

Complete with rainbow

 

 

 

 

 

 



We don't recall seeing any wildlife, but it was a pretty place.

Very unique and clever informational signs

 

  

 

 

 

And we ate very well.



Rena made these!

Yum, just as good as Cinnabon

 

 

On the way home we took some time to stop and gawk at Hoover Dam from the recently built bridge.

View from the bridge

So we got home Saturday night and settled in for Thanksgiving.  Full-timing friends Tim and Lynn with their dog Abbie stayed with us over Thanksgiving.  We, Bill and Rena and they all met in Spearfish, SD while volunteering.  So very nice to have these friends kind of all over the country.   December was full of Christmas hoopla.  We went to a couple Christmas musical events, toured a neighborhood dedicated to Christmas lights, saw a parade, socialized with lots of delightful people and ATE!

I hit the ground running and my routine includes a steady dose of hiking, biking, swimming and going to the fitness center.  Debbie has become the dancing fool.  Starting in December and only just now ending, she has been taking clogging classes, dancercize  and another dance class that ranges from Pop to Show tunes.  Debbie's son Ryan stayed with us for a week or so in mid December and we wrapped up the month attending an orientation in preparation for becoming volunteers at the local no kill animal center.  Since then we both have been volunteering two half days a week.  I walks dogs on both days and Debbie walks dogs one day and works in their thrift store another day. We're hard core dog people and we love the organization, we love the people and lord knows we LOVE THE DOGS!  Very Satisfying.

So the new year begins.  Debbie adds a canasta club to her activities, I volunteer for a little invasive plant removal and we join the Quail Creek RV Club.  Full-timing friends Steve and Pat Fells (that's a delightful couple!)  who we also volunteered with in Spearfish, visited us and we're into February.

My father and his wife Marge visited us for a few days in February. My brother Dan and his much better half Lorraine came to see us in early March.

Hi Danny and Lorraine!!

We enjoy showing off all we love about Green Valley and the Tucson area to our company, and we always look forward to taking everyone to the Desert Museum.  We never tire of the scenery, animals and birds.

The dancing, fitness, dogs, socializing and EATING continue and  we go to Palm Desert, CA  for 6 days with the Quail Creek RV club.  While there we check out the Indian Canyons with our friends Tom and Fannie. Check out the size of these palm trees.

 

The biggest Palm Trees we've ever seen.  See Tom at bottom of the tree?

And we spend a day at Joshua Tree National Park.

We love the large Cholla garden

And we socialize and EAT.  A highlight of the trip was a visit with our good full-timing  friends Lee and Belinda. Yes, we met them in Spearfish too.  They spend several months each winter at the Fountain of Youth campground in the Salton Sea area.  They look VERY good!

Lee is a hiking stick carver extraordinaire.  His sticks are wonderfully unique and nothing short of a work of art!  He gave me one and it hangs on our wall as art should.  Thank you Lee, you're a good man!

This period of time included some alarm.  Debbie's dermatologist found a melanoma growth on her shoulder in January and she had it removed in February. All's good now.  We currently buy our sun screen at the Sherwin Williams paint store!

The pace continues in March.  My daughter visited us for a few days and the community socializing is in high gear.

April begins with another visit with Lee and Belinda.  They're in town for a few days.  We break some bread,  play some miniature golf and Bill, Lee and I ride our bikes in the desert.  Lots of hugs and a great time.

 A unique winter activity is rattlesnake  aversion training for Bo and Laska.  They passed. 

14 April Debbie and I boarded a plane headed for the Virgin Islands.  And now we're up to date.  We're going to get this thing posted then I'll put together a summary of our trip to the islands.

I don't think I succeeded at being brief.

Thank you for listening.

Duane