Hello Sunshine

Heading for the Phoenix Arizona Area, 

(seeing friends)

December 13, 2016 - December 18, 2016

Wow - I'm really behind on this blog.  We've been in the Tucson area for 9 weeks now and the time has flown by.  But I digress.  Before we headed for Tucson we drove from Salt Lake City to Phoenix, stopping overnight in Leeds, UT and Wickenburg, AZ before we made it to Sun City West where our friend Dolores and her mom Wanda live.  We visited them last back in May as we were heading north to get out of the heat.  This time we were looking for some sun and heat to warm us after our chilly stay in Salt Lake City.

On a side note - we traveled down I15 through St. George, UT and the most northwestern corner of Arizona as we headed to Las Vegas.   It's the first time we'd been on that stretch of highway and I was astounded how rugged the mountains were in that area and again marveled at the skill of the folks who build our roads. Talk about hard work!

Back to Sun City West and Delores.  We had a wonderful Thai lunch with her and got caught up on all the latest news. We all worked together back in the early 80's (oh so long ago!) at Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone.  She and her mom do the snowbird thing between Juanita, WA and Sun City West - really a nice way to enjoy wonderful weather.

From there we headed across Phoenix to Apache Junction to see our friends Joni and Nell.  Although they live in beautiful Sedona, AZ, they spend a good deal of time in Apache Junction (AJ).  We were able to camp very close to their rig and we spent 2 nights there.  They took us out to Tortilla Flats in the Superstition mountains just west of AJ. It's quite a place and fun to visit.  The drive alone is worth it.

Tortilla Flats consists of just a few wooden buildings -
a restaurant, ice cream parlor and a small historical "museum."

Nice example of the innards of a saguaro cactus on the boardwalk.

Womens rest room in the restaurant! Lots of picture opportunities here!
We laughed ourselves silly taking them.

This is the best picture we took.
Joni's head - perfectly aligned with the painting on the cubicle door.

This one is pretty good as well although Laura's head seems a bit small for the body.

The doors on some of the cubicles are quite low.  Too bad
I wasn't wearing something black so my shoulders wouldn't show!
You can see from my face that the corset is too tight!

Either the door is too high or Nell is too short?

Every square inch of the walls and ceiling of the restaurant were covered with dollar bills.

John Wayne guards the place so no one is tempted to steal the money.

Panorama of Canyon Lake in the Superstition Mountains.

Joni and Laura taking a "selfie" at the rest stop.

The next day we headed back across Phoenix to Tempe where Laura's friend Marianne and her husband Marc live.  They've known each other since 1976!!!!  They had lunch together and Laura got updated on M&M's kids and grand kids.  No doubt about it, they are loving the role of grandparents!

Marianne