As I mentioned last week, we are in Arizona for some sun and some warmth. Well, we have the sun. The sky is blue without a cloud but when I went to walk this morning, it was below freezing. Having only packed shorts and short-sleeved shirts to walk in, that’s just too cold. If I was at home, no problem. Just put on some sweats and off I go.
So far though many parts of this trip have been superb. We are doing the first two segments of this three-city trip in AirBnBs. We started using those in 2017 and have had pretty good luck so far. Only one was just so-so (needed a good cleaning) but we have since done at least 10 and they are a super value and in many cases, better than hotels. The place in Phoenix where we spent the first two nights of this trip is a great example. You can see it by clicking here. We would highly recommend it for two-four people. It’s a really nice condo that is centrally located. The host was outstanding and super responsive. We would stay there again in an instant.
Our stay in Phoenix included meeting up with our best buddies from BC, and then visiting and having lunch with some old mutual cruising friends. After that we took in a nighttime Mariner’s spring training game which was so cold and windy we barely lasted three innings. Just sad. We originally were thrilled it was a night game because we had sweltered in the hot AZ sun at previous games but we were longing for some of that heat by the end of the second inning.
Yesterday we moved down to Tucson. Stopped on the way to have lunch with an old neighbor who had served on our condo board in Redmond with me in the past and then we checked into our Tucson AirBnB where I am sitting and typing this while we wait for the BC crowd to get down here from Phoenix so we can tootle off to Tombstone and Bisbee. This AirBnB is a very quaint bungalow with lots of really cool features. It’s older than the condo in Phoenix but so far, we really like it. You can see that one by clicking here.
After we had checked in (that means getting a key out of a lock box) and dropped our luggage we headed out to tour the Tucson Botanical Gardens. A very cool place with lots of cacti as well as a really nice butterfly house. Spent about an hour there and it almost warmed up while we were inside. Luckily the butterfly house is kept at a constant 88% humidity and about 85 degrees. So we warmed up for a few minutes.
After a quick return and a change of clothes we were out to dinner to meet my best friend from high school, Randy. She and I have known each other since sometime in elementary school and no matter how often I see her, it’s just like we are back in the old times. Kathleen did her best to not be bored while we talked about this person or that person that she had never heard of. Randy took us to El Charro Mexican Restaurant which is a Tucson landmark. Kind of the king of Mexican restaurants in a town full of great Mexican food. It was quite the place and the food was superb. My only problem was the noise level and hearing Kathleen or Randy half the time.
We are meeting Randy again on Saturday at her son’s pizza place where we had the world’s greatest Brussel’s sprouts the last time we were here. Can’t wait to have them again. Then we are heading to the Desert Museum (which we are told is so much more than a museum.) I’ll give you a report tomorrow.
PS: If you would like to see more pictures, check out my Flickr feed at right.