Today Jim, a long time resident of Tucson and Far Horizons took us four wheeling into the Santa Rita Mountains.  Because there were 5 of us, we took our trusty pick-up so we could all fit in.    He knows so much about the area and we drove into places we would never have found, let alone attempted if he hadn’t been our guide.   We went to two different areas, the first into a canyon to check out the area that Tin Cup and the Posse was filmed.  We drove up a narrow (I mean narrow) dirt road, winding up the side of a mountain so we could look over the valley.  There were no signs of any movie sets as once a movie is finished the film company has to return to it’s natural habitat, and the return trip down the mountain was just as interesting and the trip up.  We stopped at a small town, Sonoita and had a picnic lunch before going into a different part of the mountains.  Jim wanted us to see a Spanish settlement/building that has been in the area since the 1600’s and can only be reached by 4 wheel drives.  Again another interesting drive accross a creek, up some narrow, bumpy, rocky roads that seem to hang on the side of the mountain.  Unfortunately, our truck was too big to get far enough back to the site, and as the road narrowed Jim didn’t want us to scratch up it’s side so we had to stop a ways away from it.  We went for a walk down the road a bit, but it was a bit too far walk to the site, and we didn’t want to leave the truck alone for too long.  A lot of illegal immigrants come through that area trying to reach Tucson, and we didn’t want them to think our truck was a drop vehicle.   Jim said that when we came back next year he would take us again but we would take his Jeep so could get farther back  into the mountains on narrower and bumpier roads, it’s hard to imagine anything worse than we were on today.  We arrived back home, tired and dusty, but glad we had a chance to see so much more of the desert and mountains.  After freshening up, our day ended, you guessed it, with supper at Pinnacle Peak Steak House with Dennis, Anne and Cathy joining us.  Our guys all wore ties, as the house rule of this establishment is no ties, and the penalty if found wearing one is having it cut off.  What a great way to end to day.

Now that a lot of the snowbirds are migrating north our numbers are dwindling.  There were only 4 of us, Wally, Wendy, Bryan and Carol who decided to head downtown to the 4th Avenue shopping area to check it out.  It is about 5 blocks long and there are small shops and restaurants lining both sides of the avenue.  The avenue hosts unique garbage containers (made from spare bicycle parts) and one of the original trolley cars in Tucson.  It didn’t take us too long to wander up and down both sides of the avenue, checking out the shops before we were hungry.  We stopped and had a light lunch at one of the small restaurants nearby, and decided afterwards to head towards the barrio to see the colorful housing that we had heard about.  We drove up and down the streets in the barrio looking at houses painted pink, blue, lavender, green, yellow, peach, orange, and more with the trims even more colorful than the actual houses,  taking care not to go too deep into the wrong area, which was wise on our part.  The drive then took a different direction out of the city and we headed up to check out Starr Pass resort and golf course a couple of miles out of the city and were rewarded with some beautiful views of Tucson and the golf course.  As we headed back toward town, we turned up “A” Mountain (called that because of the huge University of Arizona “A” on the top side of the mountain facing Tucson) and found a group of people flying remote gliders near the top.  We watched the gliders for a while and talked to some of the pilots who have been doing this for quite a while.  Some of the gliders had over $2,000.00 in electronics in them not including the remote control, it can be an expensive hobby especially if your glider hits the side of a mountain which does happen.  The day was spontaneous except for our planned tour of 4th Avenue and we ended up having supper at El Corral to see if they did have the best bar-b-cue ribs in town, not quite, we still like the Texas Roadhouse better but they came close.

Another beautiful week in Tucson and again not a lot of action from the Albertans (meaning us).  We did however go on an interesting tour of the Biosphere 2, with seven of us piling into Keith’s truck and Wally’s Mini Cooper for the hour drive north of Tucson.  The Biosphere 2 is a 3 1/2 acre glassed in area and contains a tropical rain forest, a desert, a savannah, an ocean and more, cost 150 million dollars.  From September 26, 1991 to September 26, 1993 an 8 person research crew lived in the Biosphere 2 without leaving and did not have any outside intervention, they raised and harvested their food, living on a 2200 calorie per day diet.  They researched how changes made to the temperature (simulating atmospheric changes in outside world) impacted the different plant life in the different areas, trying to find out how global warming would impact the world.   It was extremely interesting and of course our day wouldn’t be complete without eating so we stopped for a Mexican meal at Lupe’s Mexican Restaurant on the way back.  On Thursday night we had a farewell Happy Hour as our numbers are starting to dwindle.  Jack & Jackie, Ken & Marylee and Keith & Barb are leaving and heading for different parts of the country.  Friday morning Bryan and Carol got up really early to see Keith and Barb off and to prove to everyone that we really can get up before 9:00 in the morning.  YAWN, Friday seemed to go on forever before bedtime.   The park is starting to empty out as it gets closer to the middle of March and we are noticing a lot more flowers and plants starting to bud as we take Cody for her walks.  The orange trees are starting to bloom and the air is filled with the sweet smell of the blossoms.

Hi again, it’s amazing how busy one can be doing absolutely nothing.  Our days are filled but when we reflect back at the end of the day on what has been done we cannot come up with much of anything.  Mostly our days have a sameness about them, the best way to describe it is we sleep til we’re hungry and eat til we’re tired and we walk Cody in between.  We did manage to go out earlier in the week to take a tour of an open pit Copper Mine a few miles south of here, to find out when we arrived that their tour bus was having mechanical problems and their driver was having a licensing problem so no tours were available for a few days.  After wandering around their gift shop and grounds we headed toward the Titan Missile Museum to tour the site and go down into the silo.  This missile is bigger with a larger war head than the Minute Man Missile we toured over a year ago in South Dakota (has it been that long, wow!!!) and is the only publicly accessible Titan II missile site in the US.  The Titan II weapon system was first activated in 1962 and as a result of nuclear reduction treaties with Russia, the Titan II weapon system was deactivated in the mid 80’s and all but two of the Titan II sites have been dismantled.  The missile was designed to destroy strategic targets accurately and had a 5500 mile range.  We went down into the silo and were amazed at how wide, deep and large the missile silo and complex was.  If anyone is interested in reading more about the Titan II missiles check out this website  www.strategic-air-command.com/missiles/Titan/Titan_II_missile_complex.htm

We are so excited, we got the chance to go to the Accenture Golf Championships Match Play practice round and see a lot of the PGA Pros in action.  We had a wonderful day with the temperature hovering around +28 Celsius and not too many clouds in the sky.  It took us about a 35 minute drive to get to the parking area, then we hopped on a large Greyhound like bus and took an approximately 15 to 20 minute ride to reach the course.  By the time we actually set foot on the course Tiger had finished his practice round (9:45 am approx).  We wandered around and watched the golfers on the driving range, chipping range and putting green.  We then followed Mike Weir and Steve Stricker as they headed out for their practice round.  I made it as far as the 1st green but Bryan followed them through 9 holes.  I stayed at the 1st green for a while and watched Miclelson, Cink, Brendan Jones, Baddeley and a few more play through.  As Bryan was following Weir, I headed back to the practice area, I have to admit it was because it was hotter than heck just standing around and was looking for shade.  As I got closer to the practice area I noticed a huge crowd surrounding the putting green and guess who was practicing his putting.  Yup, Tiger himself.  I was able to get a few pictures of him, but didn’t get close enough to pinch his butt or get his autograph.  These players are incredible, how far they drive their balls and how accurate they are on the putting surface.  Some of them were at the driving range when we got there, then they practiced hitting out of the sand, chipping then putting, spending 3 or more hours practicing before they headed out to the course.  No wonder they are so good. 

Yikes, another week has gone by.  We can’t believe how fast time flies when there isn’t much happening.  We still want to get everyone caught up on some of the things we have done this past week.  On the 15th the rv park held Canadian Days, a potluck dinner with red and white decorations throughout the room, a Canadian Flag prominently displayed on the stage and about 36 Canadians with 5 provinces represented.  Not as many as last year but still a respectable attendance.  Of course the evening ended with a 36 voice choir (that’s us) singing Oh Canada.  After Canadian Days wrapped up we went to a going away party for Jane and Doug, a couple from New York who are leaving us to head to California.  We will miss them and their Lemontini parites.  Later in the week we went to Tom and Sherry’s place, friends of Keith and Barb, for a wiener roast and the guys had a few games of Horse Shoes before dark.  Tom and Sherry have a beautiful place on the outskirts of Tucson and as we sat around talking, we saw a coyote, quail, and numerous birds.  When the sun sets in the desert it gets quite cool so the fire was welcome warmth.   An interesting fact we discovered this week is when a bottle of alcohol is purchased it is advisable to have the black security cap removed at the store, otherwise it takes 3 guys, a screwdriver, vise grip and hacksaw  and about 1/2 hour before any drinking can commence.  That seems to be all the excitement that we can write about other than we are still walking and biking a fair bit, Bryan more than Carol, and the weather, though not as warm as last year, not bad enough to complain about.

We had a busy day today and it felt good.  The morning was quiet and we didn’t do too much except take Cody for her walk.  This afternoon we went to the Gaslight Theater and was entertained with a musical melodrama called Two Gun McGraw.  What a riot, we laughed, we booed the bad guy, cheered the good guy and went “awe” when the sweet young thing came onto stage.  The actors were great and after the performance they had a Grand Old Opry/Hee Haw performance.  The actors and actresses in the melodrama changed their roles and became Minni Pearl, Johnny Cash, June Carter, Merle Haggert and a lot of the Hee Haw cast to end our afternoon with more laughter.  After the performance we went back to Cathy and Bill’s for supper, and what a spread it was.  Thank you for inviting us.   After supper the eight of us continued the evening with a hilarious game of cards.  While we were gone our friends, Barb and Keith took Cody for her walks. 

A lot of people have been wondering when Bryan will be going back to Cuba.  Today we have our answer.  He has become a casualty of the economic downturn and his job has unfortunately been eliminated.  He has no regrets, as he did have the opportunity and experience of working in Cuba for six weeks and meeting so many nice people while he was there.  We are still planning on staying south of the border for a while yet and will be returning to Edmonton around the 15th of April as planned.

Today Myron (Carol’s cousin) and his wife Dianne drove down from Scottsdale for a visit.  They are holidaying in Scottsdale for a few days.  The weather is cool and windy so we didn’t plan much until they arrived.  We had a quick coffee here to catch up on all the family news  then headed out for lunch.  After lunch we went for a drive and took them past the airplane boneyard, they were amazed to see so many military planes just sitting in one area.  We then headed to Sabino Canyon to check it out.  The canyon hosts a 4 mile tram ride and all of us being hardy Albertans, we took the tram into the canyon.  Though it was cold and windy, the view was beautiful.  On a warmer day Bryan and Carol will go back and get some pictures to post.  After leaving the canyon we headed to Marie Calendar’s for pie and coffee before we had to say goodbye.  This evening we went to see Ben Crane perform.  He is singer, musician, artist and cartoonist from Eckville, Alberta.  A lot of his cartoons can be seen in the Western Horseman magazine and his cartoon art is also on Leaning Tree greeting cards you will find in a lot of western wear stores.  It was a great evening of laughter and music.  If you ever get a chance to see him we would recommend his shows highly.  Below is a picture of Ben Crane and a couple of his cartoons. 

Last week Carol went outside to have her coffee and read in the sun, when she sat in her chair, the stitching in the chair gave away.  Bryan thought that was extremely funny and made a comment, something about weight.  No big deal, we still had two chairs left.  Saturday, guess what happened to Bryan, Yup, his butt went through another chair and Carol was there to witness it, needless to say a couple of comments headed his way.  I think we are even now.   Today we got up and with the comments fresh in our minds, neither one of us wanted to take the chance to sit on the remaining chair, so off to Camping World we went to buy two new chairs similar to the ones that broke.  We’ll save that remaining chair for company (anyone one want to come down and visit, we have a chair for you, snicker, snicker).