San Diego, Day 1

We headed out at 6am because it is a six hour drive to San Diego.  We had no traffic problems.  

Along the way, driving HWY 8, there are sand dunes to the right and the left of the car.  It's a bit hard to tell with this photo, but there were lots of ATV/dune buggy type vehicles driving around

We walked all over the downtown area known as Gaslamp where many of the buildings are over 100 years old.  In one of the fancy hotels there were lots of these rabbits, decorated by artists.  This one was covered in Ghirardelli chocolate wrappers.

We went to tour the USS Midway aircraft carrier.  This carrier changed the course of events during WW2, so I got to learn a lot about it as we explored all the decks.  Dave spent some time in the brig.

It was really windy on the water.  Here is Dave walking on the top of the aircraft carrier, even though it looks like a streets, it's really a landing strip for the planes on the ship.  This is a very popular attraction in San Diego and there were tons of people all over.

Finally, Javelina!

On Friday night we played Pickleball at the "ranch" - the sister property of Saddlebrooke.  When we finished a herd of 11 javelina were walking around, munching on acorns.  This was the only javelina that I was able to photo.

Trivia Success!

For the last three years we've been participating in the Trivia on Tuesday nights here at the "compound".  It's fun, but stale.  All questions are from 30 year old editions of Trivial Pursuit.  So I found a fun trivia in Oro Valley.

We met some friends at ZPizza where they have trivia on Wednesday nights.  The sponsoring trivia company is called Geeks who Drink.  It was so much fun.  We only came in 7th place (out of 10 teams) but, I won two bonus question rounds and here are my prizes.  The beer glass also was full of beer!

This trivia was so much livelier than at Saddlebrooke.  Plus there were very current questions and audio clips (which we suck at when it comes to music).  We'll go again in a few weeks.

The Countertop is in!

The installers came at 9am and were done by 2:30!  Much faster than I expected, considering they removed all the old tile countertops first.

The sink is part of the countertop.  It's called an Integral Sink.  Tomorrow the plumber will come back and install the faucet and turn all the water things back on.  This sink will be so easy to clean compared to the previous stainless steel sink that sat on top of the counter with calking.

I went pretty neutral, but also kept everything light and airy.  I may add some tin tile backsplash to the walls you see here.  I've got to live with it a few days before deciding.

So far I love it just because there is no grout!! Just a smooth, clean surface that will be easy to work on and easy to clean.

And they made a cutting board out of the sink cutout space and gave that to us (which I think all Corian manufacturers do).

Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures

Quite a mouthful, but it's a real place.  This is in central Tucson, about 45 minutes from our house and it was a very nice museum.  Of tiny things.  Mainly "dollhouses" and decked out with furniture, rugs, paintings, and food.  But plenty of other miniature displays too.

This was the front door to the museum.  Notice the tiny miniature front door right next to it.  The little door didn't open.  I tried.

My favorite display was this tiny pottery studio!

These carvings are on the tips of pencils.  There were three of these artists that do this kind of work and this was a temporary exhibit, but fascinating.  We had magnifying glasses to really see the carving in detail.

This hand holding a hammer was on the head of a contractor's flat pencil, so wider graphite for carving.

Another great owl sighting

We went to go find "our Great Horned Owls" last night.  After hearing some hooting we found them in a tree they don't usually visit.  The pair was in this tree and we were able to get pretty close.  I had to run back to my house to get my good camera.  By the time I came back, one had flown off.  This one was still pretty active when I got this shot.  Soon he flew away, too.

28 Mile Biking

I can't say enough about this bike trail!  There is absolutely no worries because it is designed for everything but cars.  We park in a shopping mall not too far from our home, then "hit the trail".  The first 14 miles were a breeze because it's a bit downhill, though only a degree or two.

Here is a shot of one place where you do have to cross a real road.  But we had no trouble and there weren't many cars out, then back on the bike trail.  As we got further into the trail we actually paralleled the freeway.  That was kind of neat.  And then we were riding in a not so attractive industrial area.  But, we did see 4 coyotes, a bunch of hummingbirds, a road runner, a hawk, and a ground squirrel.  So there is plenty of wildlife along the way.

We took a break here at this memorial park.  Already plants are in bloom due to our continued warm weather.  These yellow plants are called Brittle Bush.

Cactus Cell Tower

So all around Tucson these "cactus" are being installed.  There are at least three in Saddlebrooke.  From a distance you'd think they were real, but actually they are cell towers.  Kind of fun to watch them being installed.

Citrus

We are back into the citrus season!  Here are the different fruits we have right now (all from neighbors' homes).

From left to right they are:  Mexican Lime, Lemon, Meyer Lemon, Orange, Ruby Red Grapefruit.

Now I'm about to juice these oranges.  The juice is extra sweet, but makes really nice Screwdrivers!

Hoarding in Arizona

I've known my stepfather has always had a problem with "stuff".  He buys all the time and won't get rid of anything.  He is swimming in stuff.  Not surprisingly, his 88 year old sister is also drowning in a houseful of stuff.

Then there's my aunt and uncle's home.  Also drowning.

This is her bedroom/yard shop.  Seeing this makes me want to stop buying things and get organized!

Just some funny stuff

These trucks have been working at one neighbor's house for over a week now.  What I find funny is the "Crime Scene Cleanup" words on the truck.  Makes me wonder what happened in that house in our calm neighborhood.

Here is a quick photo of Rick, who is helping us get going on our countertop replacement.  A little unusual, but nice guy.  I hope to have the "after" photos in a few weeks.  The workmen will do the tear out of the tile.  There is no way we wanted to that difficult job.