Catching Up

Last Thursday late morning we regrettably left Justin's Diamond J RV Park in Tucson,  we made a number of new friends and thouroughly enjoyed our time there and there are still numerous things we want to do there. We had fantastic neighbors whom we hope to see again one day, they were gracious in sharing their beloved Dover, whom once harnessed is Ellie's therapy dog off harness though he is a beloved part of their family who bonded with Dave. Don't know who was sadder when we left Dave or Dover, thank you Ellie and Lin for your wonderful company, see you next time we are in town. Lin is an avid rose gardener, by the time we left he had given Dave a mint plant to enhance the Snapple tea Dave drinks everyday.

Ellie, Lin & Dover

Another uneventful 2.5 hour ride and we were at Phoenix Destiny Resort, while it is a nice place and convenient to our son's home I'm not sure about the resort part. There are asphalt roads, pull throughs and back in sites, the sites are a bit close than we would like and have pea gravel instead of grass, there is a concrete slab outside the door with a picnic table and grill for barbecuing, with the weather changing for the worse we haven't checked out the pool or hot tub. It will do for our stay here since our focus is really on family time rather than where we are living.

Thursday evening David and Laura came over for dinner, Dave had set out the frozen catfish from Elephant Butte Lake that he had been saving for the occasion. David was anxious for us to meet Laura and to see our new home. What a wonderful young lady he has married and we wish them all the best, I've never seen David looks as happy and good as he does now, marriage to Laura obviously is agreeing with him.

Friday and Saturday were rainy days here in Phoenix so we spent them helping the kids, David had purchased a refrigerator from a friend and took advantage of having access to a truck to move it home.

Sunday we got the opportunity to tour David's work facility, he works at Atlas Material Testing Solutions where he is a solar engineer. The company tests the effects of solar for numerous companies, we saw solar panels, cars, car parts, windows, roofing material and more being subjected to the effect of sun. Some experiments are done in real time and some are subjected to accelerated time, very cool stuff and we were glad to get a look at what David has been up to for the last few years. They don't allow photos but what a cool place it was

Monday was grocery shopping and oil change day for our Honda Ridgeline, there was a blood drive sponsored by the park which Dave participated in. We spent time walking the resort and talking with lots of folks, one thing about this place is the very friendly people we've met. We ended our day with dinner with the kids but for the most part we were homebodies.

Tuesday both kids had to work so we headed for the Superstition Mountains, we stopped at Lost Dutchman State Park for a hike and a look around.

 Afterwards we headed down the Apache Trail, we had lunch in Tortilla Flats and then decided to continue on the Apache Trail, we knew it would be a long ride on the dirt road but were willing to venture on, we did fine until we heard about the landslide blocking the road further on down. What a gorgeous ride it was.

While in Tortilla Flats we ran into a few couples we've been conversing with here at the park, then we ran into them at one of the viewing areas along the road. So nice to actually run into people we know, that isn't happening much these days.














The one thing I have missed from the house is our hot tub so we ended Tuesday with a soak in the hot tub where we talked with some more friendly folks. What a great lifestyle we've stumbled into. For the first time in many years we will not be making Thanksgiving dinner, we are headed to our son's home for dinner. Our contribution will be a pecan pie, pumpkin pie and the stuffing recipe what a treat this will be. Tonight though we've been invited over for a pulled pork dinner, our son's best friend from VT arrived on Tuesday, it will seem almost like old times.

Until next time...