Spring is in the Air

Spring is in the air and the ladies are ready to shop for the latest fashions from Paris.

Arizona Adventure - Days 11 & 12

I learned something new again today. It was such a mystery why there are so many organges on the trees and no one seems in a hurry to pick them. I thought maybe it was a Zucchini thing, where everyone has so much and the neighbors don't want it either. Today I asked a lady about it and learned that the orange trees with split trunks are for decoration only. The fruit is only good for whiskey sours and marmalade. The single trunk trees are the real deal. Also, everyone paints their tree trunks white - that's for decoration also.

We spent the last two days in Phoenix. Visited with Bernie and JoAnne (friends of Gary's); went to rummage sales in Sun City and visited a doll house shop. Tonight we packed the car. We're leaving on the dreaded long drive home tomorrow at 7:00am.

I like Arizona - I'll come back again. The weather is wonderful. I don't know if I could ever become a desert rat, though. I keep looking for green grass.

See you all in a few days.

Arizona Adventure - Day 10

We spent the night in Tucson and went to Tombstone on Tuesday. The only part of the original town left is the court house and the Bird Cage brothel. Still - it didn't feel as commercialized as the rest of Arizona.

From Tombstone we drove to Bisbee, AZ. Another neat mountain town with an unusual campground. All the rental units were vintage campers, a hippy bus and a yacht.

Arizona Adventure - Day 9

Monday finds us heading to Tucson to visit Gary's friends, Stan and Lucy. They took us out to lunch and then suggested a "short drive" for dessert. An hour later we're at the top of Mt. Lemmon (8,000 ft) eating pie ($8.95 for a slice of pie). The community of Mt. Lemmon was ravaged by a fire so most of the homes are new. You can see for yourself what the residents think of their insurance agent!

We also went to a military airplane bone yard, with thousands of old planes. Some are salvaged for parts, others have been fixed up and are in hibernations.

Arizona Adventure - Day 8

Carol and Roy came from Yuma to spend the day with us. We toured the Mystery Castle. Quite an interesting story. A Seattle business man named Boyce Gulley abandoned his wife and daughter in 1930 after learning that he had tuberculosis. 15 years later his wife and daughter were notified that he had died and left them a castle in Phoenix. He had built the place out of whatever he could find in the desert and whatever other people threw away. He just kept building and building. His daughter is now in her late 70's and still lives in the castle and greets everyone that comes through. My pictures don't do it justice, but I'll post them just the same. I enjoyed this day very much.

Arizona Adventure - Day 7

Today found us traveling north on I-17. We toured Montezuma's Castle (cliff dwellings) and Well. Very interesting. We then took Highway 89A towards Sedona. The drive had lots of switch-back turns in the road and reminded me of the Black Hills. We stopped at an overlook and took pictures of the snow.

Sedona is one art gallery after overpriced art gallery. Very commercialized. We couldn't find a parking spot and didn't bother looking for one. We saw some nice desert scenery though.

Jerome, AZ is a boom and bust copper mining town built on the side of a mountain. Main Street is on 4 different levels. We stopped and went in a few shops, but again, commercialized. Store owners weren't friendly - most didn't even bother to look up, much less speak. I thought the town was strange, Gary thought it was creepy. In all, Sedona and Jerome aren't worth the time or gas.

Arizona Adventure - Day 6

We finally made it to Phoenix and our home-for-a-week. We're very pleased with the place. Nice, clean and fully equipped. Each occupant seems to leave useful things behind for the next tenant - things like laundry soap and coffee. We did make a food run, but mostly for munchies. Someone left a small charcoal grill, so we bought meat and other food for the dinner party we're hosting on Sunday night. We have overnight guests coming to spend Sunday and Monday with us. The place has a laundry room and a dishwasher, Dish TV and wireless internet - what more could we need. I couldn't resist the pictures of the lemons!! We have to come up with some story about being poor midwesterner who are sadly lacking in vitamin C - maybe theneighbors will take pity on us and give us some of their oranges and lemons!

Tomorrow we head to Flagstaff and Sedona. Stay tuned......

Arizona Adventure - Day 5

Day 5 finds us going to the biggest flea market I've ever seen. 8 buildings each about 3 football fields long. We made it through 4 of them before we ran out of time.

After the flea market, we went to Algodones, Mexico. Crazy shopping - lots of people.

We also watched a lettuce harvest in Yuma. They pick, wash and pack the food as the machinery moves down the field. Yuma has hundreds of canals with water from the Colorado river to irrigate the fields.

Arizona Adventure - Day 4

Between Gary's GPS and mine, we made it - we FINALLY made it to Arizona. The GPS's occasionally argued, and more than once we told both of 'em to shut up. Lesson learned - next time fly!! I never realized how much nothingness there is between South Dakota and Arizona. We drove 12 hours yesterday and made it past Tucson. We're in Yuma visiting Carol and Roy.

This afternoon we toured the Yuma Territorial Prison. Very interesting. We also crossed a bridge over the Colorado river into California, just to say we did it. Tomorrow we're going to the flea markets and then into Mexico. Friday we motor to Phoenix.

Arizona Adventure - Day 2

Did I mention that we needed to cover more ground? We did. We are currently in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Again, not a lot to see in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, except for miles and miles of miles and miles. Sage brush, scrub pines, and not much else. We did see some massive feedlots in Texas. Not much traffic either. We watered the horses some, but not for long. Gary made me smoke the same cigarette through three states. Beside the Photo Op Stops, we just drove. We like Tucumcari. The motel is great and dinner was wonderful. We're going to get as close to Yuma as we can tomorrow, so we can finally stop driving and start touring.

Arizona Adventure - Day 1

Not much to see on Day 1 except miles and miles of Nebraska Sandhills. The day ended in a snow storm in North Platte, Nebraska. As soon as we settled into a motel, the storm ended. We decided we need to pick up the pace on day two. Mr. B needs to water the horses about as often as I need to smoke, so we're getting along just fine.

Flea Market

This is my latest miniature project. Also my first attempt to upload pictures.

Hello World

First attempt at blogging!