Category Archives: Back to Arizona

Tomorrow we leave Tucson and start our journey toward Oakland where we will be waiting for the birth of Becky and Paola’s second son.  Tonight we will have dinner with Josh and his family and Amy.  For dinner we’re stopping by Tuscon Tamale Company to pick up the best tamales in Tucson (and that’s really saying something in the US city with THE best Mexican food!). Once again it will be hard to say goodbye, especially to our granddaughter Sarah.  So we will be working out a FaceTime schedule to talk with her and little Sawyer.

It’s been a great visit here.  We got to see our family and friends and that’s good since we think we might not get back here for about a year.  Our favorite event was Sawyer’s first birthday party.  We are so happy that we got to help a little with food and decorations – all in a rainbow theme and then watch Sawyer have a great time.  He loved the balloons and decorations and enjoyed the watermelon cake his Mommy made just for him.  He and Sarah are lucky to have Liz’s wonderful family around to celebrate all the special times!

We enjoyed our stay at Voyager RV Resort.  We met friendly people here and went to a few lectures, craft and other events.  At yesterday’s Market Daze we bumped into Marla whom I worked with at the Oro Valley Library and haven’t seen since.  While working together we one day discovered that Marla’s husband Tom is my brother Danny’s wife Lisa’s first cousin.  Small world!  Considering that we met in Oro Valley not Illinois, we were stunned by the coincidence.  So it was fitting to see her again.  I also met a woman here who enters Button Competitions.  I donated some of my mother-in-law’s buttons to her and she shared some of her winning entries with us.   Sarah spent a night with us and helped me the next day with laundry before spending a few hours in the pools here.  It was great for us to have that really special time with Sarah.

Tomorrow night we will be back at Black Rock Resort in Quartzsite.  And then we will stay near Palmdale in order to spend a day with an RV driving instructor.  We will both be learning safety and behind-the-wheel tips.  Doug has already had some road experience and after that day so will I.  Then we have about a week to travel towards the Petaluma RV resort where we stay for about a month to be near enough to be at the birth and help with Benjo.

We now have an efficient process to pack the motorhome for traveling.  So we will be off early in the morning.  Good-bye Tucson!  Thanks for the lovely weather!  We look forward to our next visit here!

A few days ago we celebrated our one month anniversary in our motorhome.  It became home right away with no adjustment time at all.  We credit that to the really comfortable, roomy and cozy floor plan.  At the RV Shows we heard that  many people stop full-timing after certain milestones – 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years.  I think we will pass the 2 month test as easily as we got through the first 2 weeks.  Life here in this motorhome is just wonderful and every day it just gets better.

I thought I would have to adjust to cooking in a motorhome.  It turns out that it was easy too.  In fact I’m loving it!  Yes, there is limited space but it turns out it isn’t too small at all – it’s just more efficient.  And yes, there is no dishwasher but since it’s just the 2 of us, the hand washing of the dishes, pots, pans, etc. takes less than 5 minutes total including drying and putting them away. I’ve even gotten creative, trying new recipes and even baking.  I’m planning on making tons of biscotti and new bread recipes!  I never gave much thought or put much effort into every days meals, but now I search through magazines and the Internet for new recipes.  Doug is pretty happy about this.

On Friday we moved into The Voyager RV Resort on the Far East side of Tucson.  This is a beautiful place to stay with lots to do and friendly, helpful people.  We even had a visit from the Welcome Wagon Greeter today who came with lots of information and even a really nice goody bag.  We’re here for a month so we will definitely take advantage of the activities available.  I’m looking forward to using the sewing room, maybe taking a ceramics class, and working on my craft projects with other like-minded folk.  The weather has been beautiful with higher than average temperatures during the day – in the 80’s, but cool at night.  Our long walk around the resort before dinner was lovely.

And, of course the best part of being back in Tucson is spending time with family and friends.  I went to the Gem and Mineral Show Saturday with my friend and was astonished by how much bigger the Kino site was since just 2 years ago.  It was amazing but also exhausting.  Doug and I had lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant with Amy yesterday and we’re planning on checking out some Thai places soon.  One of the more exciting events will be helping with our grandson’s first birthday party.  So we’re happy to be in Tucson now.  Soon we’ll start planning our next trip – which eventually will lead us to our stay near Oakland where we will eagerly await the birth of our next grandson.

We are camping in one of our favorite places – Picacho Peak State Park.  We decided to spend some time in the Tucson area during the winter months.  We are thawing our bones after the cold wet weather in Portland.  We also wanted to spend time with our family here since we don’t know when we’ll be back here.  Yesterday we played with our sweet Sawyer who is almost 11 months old.  He’s happily scooting from one toy to another and will be walking soon.  We caught up with Josh and Liz and we’re planning some times together while we are here.  Amy and her little dog Selena will come to visit us today and that makes them the first official guests in our RV home.  Next weekend Amy, Selena and our granddaughter Sarah will spend the weekend.

It’s great to be at Picacho Peak.  This is where we have spent 17 out of 18 Thanksgivings since we moved here.  This park is a beautiful desert with sharp peaked mountains to look at.  As the sun starts to set the shadows on the closest small mountain look like owl eyes and so, our first year here we named it Owl Eye Mountain.  It is really just a small outcropping of volcanic rock.  Amy and Julie and the friends they met here would climb it.  One year a man we named George had a bad fall and had to be helicoptered out which made for a very exciting Thanksgiving dinner.  Our dinners here were always cooked over the fire pit.  I prepared the food at home, wrapped it in foil and laid it in and around the fire to cook.  The pies I baked at home but everything else came off the fire.  Doug was always the fire master and he perfected the art of the perfect temperature fire.  Most years we had a second dinner on Friday for more family.  Some years it was so warm during the day that Doug really got hot tending the fire.  Other years we appreciated that nice hot source to warm our hands and bodies.  We took our pop-up every year and often also took a tent or two.  A few years back we purchased a canopy which solved the problem of bees joining our dinner parties.  The best part of this place is watching the sun set, reflecting its light on the peaks and turning the sky brilliant shades of pink and orange.  My favorite time is when most of the light is gone and the sky turns shades of navy blue.  It just serene to see the black mountain shapes and the beautiful saguaros against the paler parts of the sky.  Then when all is black, the stars come out and all the constellations are there.  Throw in a soft  desert breeze and the occasional train whistle and you have the perfect place to camp.

The State Park limit on reservations is 2 weeks and it was hard to get a site this time of year so we’ll be moving to the Voyager RV Resort after this.  There is lots to do in Tucson now- the largest gem and mineral show in the world, the rodeo, and craft shows in every shopping center.  So we’ll keep busy here with family fun adventures.