What Was She Thinking????

After getting up early on Sunday to watch Canada win the Gold Medal hockey title again (yahoo), we spent the rest of the day at the final day of the Tucson Rodeo, the 89th edition of La Fiesta de los Vaqueros. We had good seats to watch the action and fortunately for us it was a cloudy day since it was incredibly hot when the sun poked through the clouds. The young cowboys and cowgirls were fun to watch at the beginning and then the pro's took over for some entertaining action. The Bull Riding, always the final event, didn't take as long as we had hoped though. The bulls were in an ornery mood and none of the 11 finalists were able to hold on for the 8 second minimum ride so the qualifying leader took home the major prize money. They didn't give the audience a chance to cowboy-up which was probably a good thing.

The next day we left Tucson and my navigator suggested we stop in Florence for a few days on our way to Phoenix. She said it was a nice historical town, which it was, and we had never been there before. We toured the nearby Casa Grande Ruins (built in 1350) and on the day that we chose to do the historical walk to see the late 1800's buildings still in operation, she claimed to have a minor illness, so I did the self-guided walk around town while she rested in the camper van. There were many interesting buildings, lots of bars, including the Tunnel Saloon which had an underground bar for the really hot days (and probably prohibition later). They ran out of money building the Courthouse in 1912 when silver prices dropped in this former mining town so the Clock Tower has 11:44 painted on it instead of installing a real clock. On our way out of town the next day I noticed several seriously protected prisons and decided to do my own internet research today. It turns out that Florence is also know as Prison City, hosting 9 prisons (county, state, federal, private). As a result others have made claims that it has the world's largest collection of razor wire, which is believable since some of the prisons I saw had 3 or 4 fences making an escape a fairly arduous task. I also read a quote that claimed "officially, men outnumber women 5-1 but it is not the place to go looking for Mr. Wonderful with more than half the population (16K out of 25K) behind bars". So was she really ill, or did she send me out walking around land mines?

Somehow I survived and today we drove to Apache Junction, a place my parents called their winter home for many of their healthy retirement years. We stopped by their former home to find out there had been several owners since they gave it up more than 15 years ago. It brought back some good memories though and we took several pictures to take back home for them.

Tucson Rodeo - Saddle Bronc Riding

Bull Riding - the bulls won all 11 contests even with several world ranked riders

Casa Grande Ruins - the 'big house' built in 1350 by the Hohokam desert tribe

Florence Courthouse - I realized it wasn't 11:44 when I walked by but didn't realize the time was a painted on the Clock Tower until later.

Our Bar Will Open Up Tomorrow At 5 am

I read the on-line version of the Calgary Herald today and was surprised to learn that the Alberta Government had made a quick change to the provincial drinking law, allowing bars and licensed establishments to serve alcohol tomorrow (Sunday) starting at 5 am. Apparently, it wouldn't be proper to watch the Gold Medal hockey game without adult beverages being served to the thirsty puck nation. The Arizona bars are not as forward thinking so we have decided to open our own camper van bar at 5 am in the morning. Feel free to drop by for a sunrise cocktail if you are in the neighbourhood.

We had a nice finish to our Puerto Penasco stay. Brent and Barb hosted us for a lovely Valentine's Day evening, a BBQ and fire on their patio. Then Brent serenaded us with his guitar including two really good songs that he personally wrote. The next day we went to the Taste of Penasco with them and sampled some tasty food and drink in a downtown park. On our final day we relaxed by the beach.

We had an uneventful border crossing back into the U.S. and spent a couple of hours in Organ Pipe Cactus National Park before continuing on to Tucson where we have been for the last 5 days. Our RV Park (Far Horizons) is very clean and has excellent amenities including a large selection of cable TV channels allowing us to watch the Winter Olympics (finally) on several channels. During our time in Tucson we have played golf twice at two different courses, had some minor van repairs completed, and spent a full day at the World Golf Match Play tournament (small crowds so very easy to follow whomever we wanted on Day 2). Today we drove south to Tubac (an artsy community that we had briefly visited in 2009). We had a delicious lunch there and wandered around the many shops in the village. We also took a tour of the Tumacacori Mission National Heritage Park (preserved Spanish mission dating back to the 1700's) and before that we spent time at the restored San Xavier Mission (where a local baby was being baptized). Tomorrow, after the early morning hockey game, we will be attending the final day of the Tucson Rodeo (89th edition of the La Fiesta de los Vaqueros) where 200,000 people turned out earlier in the week for the world's largest non-motorized parade.

GO CANADA GO!

Valentine's Evening dinner on the patio

Taste of Penasco

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument - a Jumping Cholla bearing early season fruit

Organ Pipe and Saguaro cactus' plus many more species in the park

San Xavier del Bac Mission - just south of Tucson

A local baby was about to be baptized when we visited the restored church

Shooter Bingo.........the way the game should be played

Following an extended beach walk on Wednesday morning we were prepared for a lazy afternoon. At about the same time Pocahontas declared she was going to have a short nap, I overheard a couple of male neighbours talking about going over to play Shooter Bingo, so shortly after I ventured over to the park clubhouse to check it out. When I arrived the room was packed with close to 100 people, all seemingly having a good time and the games hadn't even started yet. I paid my $6 entry fee which entitled me to 6 bingo sheets with 3 games on each card. As soon as I sat down at a table with an open seat my "new" friends started pouring me a large glass of beer. As it turned out, there was draught beer (Corona) for sale for $2 a jug on an honour system and everyone at the table took their turn purchasing a jug for the table to share. Whenever a "B" number was called (1-15) then everyone was supposed to take a drink of Beer. When "Bingo" was eventually called and the cash prize confirmed, they called one more number and if it was on one of your 3 game cards then you were entitled to a shot of tequila. On 5 of the 6 different games I had the "winning" shooter number. At least 50% of the players seemed to get up after every game......with 15 bottles of tequila on the table and nobody checking cards it was basically self-serve. When I returned to the camper van a couple of hours later my dear wife (in her refreshed body) took advantage of my altered state and whipped me at several games of Lost Cities.

We have been having a great time here in Puerto Penasco. Our friends Brent & Barb have been doing a wonderful job including us in their circle of friends here. We went to their regular Friday night Pizza Party where friends and neighbours drop in with 1-2 pizza toppings and their own beverages. Barb makes the dough and keeps turning out differently dressed pizza's all night until everyone has had their fill, at which time she makes two more pizza's that Brent delivers to the security guards that work the gates into their neighbourhood. Another day we were invited to a Mini-putt pot luck party at a nearby condo resort. I also went fishing with Brent and two other friends. Within 5 minutes of tossing our lines in, about 8 miles out from port, a grey whale surfaced less than 100 metres from our boat. I caught enough sea bass for a healthy dinner that evening. We have also played 5 games of golf down here on three nice courses (2 are Jack Nicklaus designs) for less than $50 a round. On another day we had a scenic lunch up by the hilltop lighthouse and then did a couple of geocaches, bumping into an interesting man  (Waldo if you can believe it) claiming to be from London, Ontario. He said he was a millionaire but looked like a street person who hadn't slept in days. His many bizarre stories kept us entertained while we awaited the driving directions that we initially asked him for.

The weather has continued to be better than normal for February, sunny and 25C every day. With no clouds we are experiencing perfect sunsets every night. The only disappointment is in seeing so many incomplete buildings, a direct result of the 2008 recession when work in this popular resort town came to a sudden halt. A good thing perhaps for the people who have places down here and are not anxious for the lovely town and beaches to become crowded but sad for the Mexican people who rely on tourism to make a decent wage. A new pier, 1 km long, is currently being built in an effort to attract cruise ships but the jury is out on how successful that venture will be. In any event we are glad that we came here and will enjoy our last 3 days in this friendly seaside town.

Brent and Barb on the patio of their lovely winter home

The boys fishing and whale watching trip

The Puerto Penasco Old Town (Melancon) from the lighthouse restaurant deck

This is why rounds of golf sometimes take more than 4 hours

Not enough people on the beautiful beach to make this a viable enterprise

Another Happy Hour sunset

On The Road Again

Just catching up, we have been on the road for a while. We started this trip in mid-January with a family get-together in Whistler at my sister Lynn and her husband Doug's beautiful chalet. My dad (92) had asked me last fall to arrange a gathering of the family, before he and mom started to forget who we all were. It was a wonderful time with my brother (Bob) and sister (Yvonne) from Ontario flying in, and my two B.C. sisters (Lynn and Karen) joining in for a week of games, movies, photo sharing, laughs and way too much good food and drink. We even managed to get in 3 days of skiing / boarding (they could use some Alberta snow) during the 10 days that we were there, two of them with Caity who flew in for 4 days to visit with her grandparents. All in all, a great time together and hopefully not the last.

From Whistler we drove south down the I5, hurrying along to take advantage of the snowless roads and seeking warmer temperatures where we could start utilizing our camper van. We made a brief overnight stop in Eugene, Oregon and another in Corning, California where we spent our first night in the van and made a return trip to the Olive Pit where we loaded up with a case of olives to enjoy during our travels. We encountered some light rain as we passed through Washington and Oregon, and their scenic mountain passes but it dried up quickly in drought-stricken California when we drove through the Central Valley (their 3rd dry year in a row). The Olive and Pistachio orchards were followed by vineyards and fruit farms as we got further south. They were still being worked but there were many protest signs put up by the farmers concerned that their diminished water supply from the state.......an ongoing battle with the government between water protection for fish and wildlife vs. farmer's needs. Another reason why Canada is better prepared / resourced for the future. It was a nice drive down the I5 but not as scenic as the coastal #101 route that we have previously done, but with a winterized van, speed was a priority.

We left the I5 just before Bakersfield, approximately 100 km's from Los Angeles, to head south-east towards Palm Springs. We spent a day there, hiking for a few hours in the Whitewater Preserve (Canyon View Trail) to get the blood flowing in our legs again, and having a lovely dinner and drinks with some Cottonwood friends (JD and Susan). The next morning we drove to Phoenix where we 'settled down' for a couple of days. Along the way we passed through Quartzsite, 30 km's east of the Colorado River (state line), a rock hound paradise where hundreds of thousands of visitors stop by during the winter months to boondock in the desert (free, dry camping for up to 14 days). Once there they either search their section of the desert for precious stones or they use the quiet solitude to escape from society for a little while. Since we still enjoy being with people, we continued on so that we could spend a full day at the Phoenix Open golf tournament the following day. It was a good decision if you like being around people because the day we went the attendance soared to 190,000, a new tournament record. Apparently we were not the main attraction........the par 3 16th hole has been developed into a stadium holding 20,000 people with long line-ups to get in, so we got there early and spent several hours being entertained by the crowd (cheering / jeering the shots, singing, chugging beers), the players (amping up the crowd, tossing swag) and the caddies (no longer allowed to race to the green but still some fast-walking challenges to the delight of the fans who still have side-bets on the outcome). There were no polite golf claps on this hole! We spent the rest of the day walking several holes following our Canadian favourite, Graham Delaet, who was playing very well (ended up tied for second) and settling down at the 18th green to watch the rest of the players all finish their rounds. During that time we somehow crossed paths with our former lake neighbours, Dave and Susan, who we had planned to visit in Scottsdale next month......quite a coincidence in such a large space and crowd. The next day we went over to our Calgary friend's (Janice and Brian) rental home to watch the final round and the Super Bowl where another couple from Bearspaw joined in on the party.

We are now in Puerto Penasco, Mexico (also known as Rocky Point) where we will be spending two weeks relaxing by the beach and playing some golf. Our RV park is right beside the Sea of Cortez and so far we have had two perfect sunsets and some tasty seafood meals with many more to come. The pelicans and sea gulls have also been feasting, using fancy aerobatic maneuvers dive-bombing the water to feast on the billions of small feeder fish (much higher than normal volume) that have migrated to the area creating a feeding frenzy. Unfortunately (for me) I haven't found a place yet that specializes in serving small fish which I quite enjoy. Fortunately for us, we have Cottonwood friends (Brent and Barb) who spend their winters down here and they have been great tour guides showing us around this small town and pointing out the best places to purchase our food supplies and other needs.

More regular updates to come now that we have reached our southern most point and will gradually work our back north as the temperatures begin to heat up beyond the 20C that we are currently experiencing. Buenos dias.

The Patriarch consuming his energy drink before the big Marbles game.

One of our many feasts.

Hiking the Canyon View Trail in Whitewater Preserve, near Palm Springs.

A lunch stop at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, just north of the Mexico border.

Our beachside home for 2 weeks in Puerto Penasco. The hotels are mostly empty (seasonal) or incomplete (2008 victim).

A beautiful beach sunset. Most of the sea birds have returned to their nests following the feeding frenzy.