Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Today our friends, Jim and Ellie, drove down from Mesa, AZ to visit for the day. After a quick lunch at home, we decided to go to the Florence, Museum. It had lots of interesting items. I just picked a few to show below.
All this furniture is made from saguaro cactus.
On the left you can see some beautiful straw & grass baskets and trays. In the middle is an old band saw. The woven Indian rug is beautiful also.
Look at this great old sewing machine.
This dental equipment includes a foot pedal drill. OUCH!
There were lots of other old stuff. I just chose those above as highlights.
Another section had some local prison stuff.
These cases display the nooses used to hang the people shown inside the noose. Strange display. In another place they showed the last meal requests.
After leaving the museum we headed to THE hardware store. It has much more than just hardware.
These hats are at the hardware store. Aren't Ellie and I beautiful belles?
Jim and Ellie. We've only actually spent time together maybe a week total and yet we feel like we are best buddies! They are a precious couple and very special to us!
Look at that 10 gallon hat Tic has on. My hat fell forward and I could not see. We all had fun playing in the hats!
After the hardware store we went to an outdoor yard art place. We liked the face on the tree.
This totem pole was there also. Aren't the pots pretty?
We cooked dinner at home and ate outside in the very pleasant temperatures. Of course we forgot to take pictures of dinner. After dinner we walked through the desert surrounding the park.
The sunset was almost over before we got started.
Another gorgeous sunset here at Desert Gardens.
I like this sunset through the tree. We are feeling great about our decision to make this our winter home.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
It is Valentine's Day. There is nothing more special than getting to spend a leisurely day with your sweetheart. After sleeping in a little, I fixed breakfast for us. We visited with some of our new neighbors. After a delicious home-cooked steak and potato dinner we decided to take a walk through the desert.
This jet looks like it is coming close to the moon.
The sun was starting to set. The colors in the sky are constantly changing. So beautiful!
As were headed to the edge of the park into the desert, these people were gathered. Look at the size of this parrot. We later learned this lady is called the "Bird Lady". We have yet to visit with her and her parrot.
The clouds in the sky are making creative patterns.
This picture is of the same area as above but not zoomed in.
It is amazing how fast the sunset changes. Tonight the orange colors in the sky are exceptionally bright.
Looking up, Tic got this closeup of the moon. He's an amazing photographer.
This is looking back eastward. It is amazing to me how light and pink the sky looks this direction when it looks so orange in the westward direction.
This is our final sunset picture for tonight.
On our way home, we visited with a group of people we had not met before. Everyone here is so VERY friendly! We think we are going to truly enjoy our new winter home.
Monday, February 15, 2016
We walk in the evenings most every night. Most nights have absolutely gorgeous sunsets. Monday was no exception.
just going to post the pictures from this evening. Enjoy!
We so enjoy God's artwork here in the desert!
The pictures from this evening were taken within a 15 minute period. Magnificent!
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Today we went Jeeping with a group from this park.
We lined up near the park office. There were a total of 11 Jeeps. Some were modified and some were stock like our is.
While we were waiting for the last people to arrive, we saw a large group of parachuters in the sky.
We drove down the road about 30 minutes before we pulled off to start our 4-wheeling.
We have gathered here. Some people wanted to let air out of their tires before we start. We chose not to let any air out. I, Dusty, am driving today. It is my first true 4-wheeling adventure where I do all the driving.
We passed some other people getting ready to head out on their 4-wheel side-by-sides.
There was lots of saguaro. And to our surprise there were even water puddles in places. It has not rained in days???
We stopped about every hour. At this stop we discovered we had lost one Jeep. See the black jeep just coming along? They figured out where they made a wrong turn. Glad they found us. We were told from this point on that each Jeep was to keep the Jeep in front and the Jeep behind in sight at all times. We did not lose anyone again.
Can you see the 2 Jeeps in the middle of the picture? They are waiting for the rest of the group to catch up.
From this angle you cannot tell this was a steep curve. I made it with Tic's encouragement. The yellow Jeep did not make it and rolled backwards. It almost rolled. The white Jeep used a tow strap to pull the yellow Jeep. We are all safe!
This is where we stopped for lunch. We are at 5220 ft elevation at this point.
The road below is where we are headed. It has been a beautiful drive!
This is an abandoned granite mine. The water was very turquoise. This picture does not show the vivid color.
These 3 balanced boulders could be seen from the same point where we stopped at the abandoned mine.
Tic took this short video near the end of our ride today. We all had to go down then up a hill. It was fun!!!
Once we got back to the main road, we suddenly came upon a tunnel. Surprise!!!
We were surprised at the many mud puddles we drove through. The Jeep was pretty muddy, so we stopped and got it washed.
We had another gorgeous sunset tonight. Below are 2 more sunset pictures.
What a beautiful way to end this fun day!!!
Thursday, February, 11, 2015
Today we needed to make a quick trip to Tucson to take care of some errands. It is only about an hour away. Tic did not take pictures while we were running around town. It is just a big city.
The following 4 pictures are of the Catalina Mountains on the north side of town as we were headed home.
Look at the houses going right up the foot hills.
We were told about a steakhouse that had very reasonable prices and was on our route home.
It is in the middle of the desert. It is the only building in view. Kind of cute, but really plain from the outside.
We arrived right at 5pm. There really were a few other people there, but not busy at all. Of course, we were so hungry when we got our food that we forgot to take a picture. The steak was good.
Nice way to end the day.
