March 20, 2008
Peoria, AZ
We wrapped up a very nice visit with Rick and Annette yesterday morning, and now it’s back to more mundane activities.
As planned (at least the revised plan), Monday was a relaxing day while we let the weather get back to normal after a cold front went through. We took a leisurely trip to “Old Town Scottsdale”, which is a bit of a misnomer. Sure, it’s geographically correct – it’s where the center of town was a hundred years ago. Other than some of the tourists, nothing’s really that “old” any more. It’s half touristy kitsch and half artsy-fartsy these days, but it was nice to poke around. Geri and Annette both found some jewelry that caught their eye, and a couple of t-shirts were purchased. We found a couple of metal sculptures that’ll go well on the front of the house for $7 each, which saves us a trip to the flea market. The weather cleared and it warmed up to the low 70s. All in all, a productive day.
Geri chickened out (no pun intended) on serving fish and root vegetable salad (Rick’s not a fish person and neither he nor Annette seemed thrilled about beets and turnip in a salad), so we ended up having some chili that was in the freezer. Chili is definitely one of those dishes that benefits from a bit of age, and this one, served with Mexican rice and margaritas, was great. Our neighbor, Mary Ann, joined us for dinner.
Tuesday was a long day. We started with a trip to the dentist (Geri had the stitches from the implants removed) and then breakfast at the local Cracker Barrel. Once properly fueled up, we headed for Sedona, north up I-17 almost to Flagstaff. Once there, we made several stops for pictures of the Red Rocks and spent some time trolling through the shops along the main drag in town. It was another cloudless Arizona day, and temperatures up there (Sedona is around 5,000 feet up) rose into the mid-60s. Once we had enough of that, we decided to head back via Prescott, which took us on a completely different route. We climbed up the mountains past Cottonwood through the old mining town of Jerome. As we continued to climb out of Jerome, we made it up to the snow level above 6,000 feet; the snow was from the storms that passed to the north of us while we were watching baseball on Sunday. Past Prescott, we glided down the long grade (probably about 4,000 feet) to Congress and Wickenberg, then home via US-60.
We stopped at the Safeway before we got home, and decided on simple steak frittes for dinner. Once home, the deep fryer and grill were quickly started and we were eating in no time. Coupled with a 1998 Nuits St. George Red Burgundy and a 2001 Stag’s Leap “Fay” Cabernet Sauvignon, the filets were quite good (even if I overcooked Geri’s – a cardinal sin). After determining that Rick and Annette have not yet developed a palate for Limoncella, Patron Café, or Puerto Rican Rum, we all turned in early.
Yesterday (Wednesday) was a bit of a blur. We were all up early for a 6:45 AM departure. We had Rick and Annette to the airport around 7:20, in plenty of time for their 9-something flight. Rick had done the online check-in the nigh before and they were “A-something” (I don’t pretend t understand Southwest Airline’s boarding process), which I guess is a good thing. Then we were off to another of Geri’s dentist appointments (Are you sick of hearing about them? We are.); she had a permanent post installed in preparation for a permanent crown. Then we went home, made coffee, and chilled for a bit. In the afternoon, we gave the pups a “tubbie”, which they really needed. We were going to have leftover chili for dinner, but a pitcher of margaritas and a plate of nachos were quite enough, thank you. Well, maybe a bit of cookie dough frozen custard filled in the cracks. And, Rick and Annette made it home OK, albeit a bit later than they'd expected.
Today was another beautiful day in Paradise, with sunny skies and temperatures in the low 80s. We slept late and caught up on email. Geri made an appointment at the vet for next month, and I took care of a few errands, starting to prepare for our summer departure. We’ve set April 19th as our start date, and now I need to do some additional planning to get ready for that. We’ll start tomorrow, as we’ll make it a “coach day”.
It’s still quite nice out tonight. It’s after 10:00 PM MST and I’m still out on the patio with the PC updating the blog and downloading pictures from the cameras. I’ll post some Sedona pictures tomorrow. The Scottsdale photos will have to wait for a few days, since I decided to bring the F6 and shoot film for a change…
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