Happy New Year, 2013

We shifted our location last Wednesday and are now settled into Palm Creek RV Resort in Casa Grande, AZ.  This park is much larger than Country Roads in Yuma, with more activities, including lawn bowling.  Paddy made it over to the lawn bowling rinks this afternoon; I haven’t gone yet but intend to go tomorrow to get in some practice before trying to play actual games again.  I’ve picked up where I left off with water aerobics and wood carving.

One reason we have taken so long to get to the lawn bowling is that we had a wonderful visit over the weekend from Elaine and her husband Jean-Marie.  They took a train from Houston to Tucson, then rented a car and drove to Casa Grande, arriving Friday afternoon.  Their train trip took about 32 hours, which was much longer than they expected, due to numerous delays along the way.  Passenger trains do not have top priority – that goes to freight, where the money is. 

Saturday, Paddy and “the kids” went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson.  It is a wonderful desert nature park.  Paddy and I had been there before, so I stayed home with Minnie as dogs are not allowed.  They seemed to enjoy the day and took many pictures. 

Sunday we all, even Minnie, went to the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, which is near here in Coolidge, AZ. The ruins are what is left of a village which was built by native Americans in the desert in the 1300s. A very interesting place. When we first got there we didn’t think there was much to it, but then we listened to a presentation on how the people lived and how they built their multistory buildings with few tools (they hadn’t even discovered the wheel) and we decided the site was well worth the visit. Here are a couple of pictures. The roof over the large structure was added to protect it from the elements; they have also put a coating of adobe-like stuff over some of the buildings, trying to make them last longer.

 

While Elaine and Jean-Marie were here, we went out to eat nearly every meal.  Breakfast at Cracker Barrel, complete with grits.  Dinners at Macayos Mexican Grill and Chili’s and a Chinese place called Big Wu.  Lots of leftovers. 

Thursday we will be celebrating my 70^th birthday.  So far, for me, getting older hasn’t been all that bad.  Happy New Year!