Historic Wickenburg

We spent most of the day in the frontier town of Wickenburg, AZ, 54 miles northwest of Surprise. Lloyd and I had stayed overnight here on one of our drives down but arrived too late and left too early the next day to really see the sights. I determined then and there that we needed to go back and do the tourist thing. It's a very interesting town - close enough for a lovely day trip. We didn't stay long enough to tour the ghost town and gold mine - we'll save that for another day.


This is Randy and Wendy outside the western museum. The name of this sculpture is "Thank you for the rain".


We have a northerner's fascination with cacti. There are so many different varieties and they're such interesting plants to learn about. The giant saguaro which are so prevalent here don't get their first 'arms' until they're between 50 - 100 years old! It takes them a long time to reach this impressive height. That's Wendy and Randy standing in front of one of them.


These beautiful specimens were just begging to be photographed.


Looks real doesn't he? Sculptures like this one of the burrow and prospector are common in the downtown part of Wickenburg. Beside each one there's a button to push to hear the story of the sculpture - very entertaining.


That beavertail cactus (or maybe it's prickly pear) is growing out of the trunk of the palm tree - very unusual.


Oops! the rain prayer statue again, this time with three beauties sitting in front. In case you don't recognize us, it's Mickey, me and Wendy.


Another thing that scares the bejeebers out of unwary tourists are things like gila monsters, rattle snakes, road runners and giant spiders on the sidewalks - all made of metal and secured in place of course. You should have seen Wendy jump when I pointed out the black widow spider a couple of inches away from her feet!!!


In the early days of Wickenburg they didn't have a jail. Instead, when someone needed incarceration, he was handcuffed and chained to the jail tree, where he sat until he was satisfactorily dealt with.

So that's just a taste of our day. I'm going to go post the rest of my pictures on Facebook.

Oh yes, and for those of you who asked, this is how the back of my hair looks now.

Scrapping

Today was Wendy and Randy's first day here. Lloyd had to leave for Edmonton this afternoon, coming back on Thursday, so he had booked an early tee-time for himself and Randy. Golf is a major event with them and Randy plans to check out some new courses while Lloyd is away. While they were out golfing, Wendy, Mickey and I went to Arrowhead Mall to shop. The first thing I did while there was get my hair cut - it had been bugging me ever since we got here.

When we got home just after 3:30, Lloyd and Randy were already in the pool, so we joined them for half an hour until Lloyd had to get ready to leave. While Randy was taking him to the airport, Wendy read while Mickey and I finally started working with the new scrapbook stuff we bought in Mesa the other day...a nice relaxing time.


It was challenging working without all of our tools and stash here but we managed to improvise and make do with what we had. I'll post our finished products tomorrow...maybe. We finished the day off sitting at the kitchen table playing games while Mickey worked on her album beside us.

It was a very exciting day here in Arizona. The underdog Cardinals (football team) won their semi-final game and are now going to the Super Bowl. Football is huge here and everyone was talking about the game. At the restaurant where we had lunch the piped in music was interrupted to give the patrons updates on the game. We've adopted the Arizona teams as our second-favorite, next to the Alberta ones of course. I love being down here.

Sun City Revisited

Well, Emily and Allan checked out early this afternoon and sadly boarded a plane for the north country. We sure enjoyed having them here - Allan's technical expertise and Emily's culinary adventures were enjoyed by all. I wish they could have stayed longer.

On our way home from the airport, we drove through Sun City so Mickey could pick an orange or two from Catherine's and Clyde's tree. That's always fun. Mickey also took pictures of some of the large and beautiful cacti that abounds in Sun city.


These are the oranges we picked. I love this picture - something about the colors and subject really appeals to me.


This beautiful bush is growing in all it's glory at the side of Clyde's house. The picture doesn't begin to do it justice.

Tonight we made another trip to the airport to pick up my sister, Wendy, and BIL Randy. They'll be here for the next two weeks. We'll plan lots of fun and relaxing things to do with them. Never a dull moment around here.

Until tomorrow....

Mickey's First Day

Mickey's full day with us started with Emily and Allan cooking breakfast for us. Doesn't Em look cute in the new apron she bought yesterday???

Allan looks remarkably like my brother Ken in this picture.

Our first priority, planned for months, was to go to Scrapbooks Etc in Mesa. We had heard so much about this huge scrapbook store, and we weren't disappointed. I won't say how much we spent there but we're having our pictures printed at WalMart and will pick them up tomorrow morning and start scrapping!!!!




After a hot morning of shopping we got home to 76F temperature and 80F water temperature and dove right in. It is such a lovely way to spend the afternoon. We soaked up the sun on the deck and I ended up with a sunburned neck, but I'm not complaining!

Sheer bliss!!

Mickey and I relaxing on the 'secret bench'.

Then when Lloyd and Allan got home from the electronics store, we went out to On The Border for Mexican food. This is what Mickey got - the appetizer sampler. The food was delicious. I ended up bringing half of my fajita home for lunch tomorrow.


This huge cactus was standing in front of the restaurant. Mickey couldn't believe it was real! So of course we had to take pictures of it for our scrapbooks.

And now we're resting before heading off to bed. Tomorrow will be another busy day...

Random Thoughts

Since I don't have any pictures to post tonight I thought I'd copy Kath from Haf Doz'n Reasons and just post random thoughts.

• I've been missing Charlie, Max and Elly today. They arrived safely home last night. Charlie called me today around noon and asked me what I was having for lunch. I told her we were probably going to McDonalds (we were out and about all morning). She said they'd go to McDonalds too and could I call her when we get there and tell her what I was having. She's been identifying closely with me lately - she'd knock on my bedroom door while she was here and ask what color shirt I was going to wear that day so she could do the same. One night she asked me if I was wearing short sleeves or long sleeves to bed! So sweet.

• My friend Mickey arrived tonight. She'll be here for a week for a much needed round of R&R. We plan to go to Scrapbooking Etc. in Mesa tomorrow or Friday. And we'll rest by the pool and maybe go on an easy hike (as long as there are no snakes!) over the next week. We've been told that its much too cold for the snakes to be out. It was 76F today (about 24C).

• Emily cooked us another wonderful meal tonight - that girl has a way with food! She and Allan are enjoying themselves exploring the Phoenix area on their own.

• Lloyd and I think of Tania often and feel so bad for her. Losing her son has been such a devastating blow for her. Thankfully two of her other Aunties are there to offer comfort and help.

• Although we have a television here in Surprise, we haven't turned it on since we've been here. We've watched a few movies via dvd on the projector/screen we've set up in the loft.

• In the evenings there's always at least two of us in the loft sitting with our laptops, working on blogs or emails or whatever. Tonight it's Mickey and me.

• Estate sales are fun.

• WalMarts are the same in the US as they are in Canada, except you can get different 'stuff'. For example, we wanted Gravol for Elly before she flew home. They had never heard of it at the WalMart pharmacy. They had dramamine but only for kids 2 and over, and Elly is only 13 months. And (you won't believe this!) they had never heard of Robaxisol or Robaxiset for back pain. Poor Lloyd had to get something we had never heard of.

• I don't play golf and Lloyd doesn't scrapbook. I will, however, pose for pictures with a club in my hand, beside a golf cart. And once a year or so I'll play a round of 'best ball' with Lloyd and another couple (Allan and Emily this week), but my ball seldom gets used. It's fun being out for 4 hrs with Lloyd though. Do you think he'll ever spend an evening scrapbooking with me???

• I love Arizona.
  

Starlight Swimming

We had the best time the other night. The water temperature was warmer than the air temperature in the evening and we decided we HAD to go for a swim in the starlight. It was awesome. The pool has a light system that changes colors as programmed so that made it even more beautiful.

Me and Charlie

The kids never get in the pool without their life jackets on and Charlie always needs her ring floatation device as well. Tonight, for some reason, Max and Charlie were more brave than usual. It started with Allan trying to encourage Max to try to swim. Then, after much coaxing, Charlie gave up her floatie and agreed to try to swim with her life jacket on too.

At the end of our pool time, Charlie finally was able to swim...in an upright position...doing a treading water motion, but using her arms to propel herself through the water.


Halfway through the swimming lesson, Max, obeying the first rule of the pool (no peeing in the pool) ran into the house to go to the bathroom. Of course, wet bathing suits are very difficult to get on, so his mother told him that he could just go skinny dipping. He thought it was great.


Once he got the hang of moving freely through the water under his own steam, Max was in his glory. In the picture above, he's swimming to 'the perfect light' at the deep end of the pool...totally fearless. We got such a kick out of him. His little legs were pumping a mile a minute..it was like he was running a marathon in the water.

Charlie, not so brave, didn't venture very far from an adult, but she eventually got the hang of it and didn't want to go in when we were finished.


Sara was so proud of her kids. So were Grammie and Papa, and Allan and Emily.


Max figured he could chase the adults around now and it was hard for us to excape his fast pumping little legs.

Max and Sara

Charlie and Sara

It was a great fun night.

Still Having Fun

Today Lloyd and I, Emily and Allan went golfing - 18 holes - 4.5 hours. It's January 12 and today I got a bit of a sunburn on my arms! I'm not in Edmonton any more Toto! We played best ball so the game moved right along. We even used my ball and Emily's a few times and both Emily and I sunk the final ball on a few holes. It was a beautiful desert course with mountains in the background.

Lloyd preparing to tee off.

The swing of an expert player.

Lloyd and Allan

Me and Emily

Allan and Emily

Occasionally we ended up in the bunker. They weren't too hard to get out of though.

Allan and Emily

Me and Lloyd.