Arizona desert

Here's a few of the pictures I took out in "Green Valley, Arizona" - as you can see, there's not much green there! I actually did not take very many pictures at all on this vacation, which is highly unusual for me - I realized the last day that I'd just been living it instead of capturing it on camera, which is not a bad thing!


This is a sample of what the houses all looked like out there - how foreign to us mid-westerners! But the weather was so beautiful - high 80's during the day (dry heat!) and cooling off into the 50's overnight, and this apparently efficient design of houses that the air conditioner never came on and we were completely comfortable - even me, hot flash woman. :)

More pictures in a minute, but first a word picture that hopefully will impact you as mightily as it did me - first let me set the stage: 79.7% of Green Valley residents are over the age of 72. Now, imagine the pool: Lots of "gaggles" of old ladies in one-piece (thank you) swimsuits in the water, all with hats on. Single scattered instances of REALLY old men, laying out in the sun, heads dutifully covered with hats, but otherwise wearing nothing but a SPEEDO!!!!!!! This should be illegal, I'm telling you - there was one guy right beside me one day that when he turned over from his back to his stomach I had to turn on my side away from him because my eyes kept being drawn like magnets to the wedgie. GROSS!!!!

Linda and Darah and I went for a walk every day, which was wonderful ... until the last day when Linda and I went without Darah, our navigator, and got so lost we actually had to call home for help. We were only three blocks from home. Pitiful. I know now where I got my "birth defect" of not being able to find my way out of a paper bag.


On Friday we went into Mexico - about a 30 minute drive - we parked and walked across the border. We had had several discussions about whether a passport was needed, and were reassured by Darah that a passport wasn't needed until next January (unless you're flying in), that a driver's license would be sufficient. So just as we're walking down the bridge, someone (B.J.?) said, "Now everyone has their driver's license, right?" Oops. I didn't bring my purse, and it never even crossed my mind. After some discussion it was decided we'd go in anyway, because they don't want your ID until you try to leave, and they were all sure I'd get back out. Worst case scenario, I'd spend a couple weeks in jail, right? :) Actually, worst case scenario was that they'd have to drive home for my driver's license, and in reality the guy let me through with only a question about where I was born and if I was an American citizen. By then I was so scared I must have looked pitiful because he actually laughed and waved me through. Whew. All in all it was an interesting experience - a couple hours of hearing "Hey rich American lady, you need to buy my stuff" was plenty for me.


I like this picture of B.J. and Greg ... but the lady in the picture on the wall sort of freaked me out. This was in the condo, which was REALLY nice - two bedrooms, big eat-in kitchen, dining room/living room (also Darah and B.J.'s sleeping quarters), a big screened porch and then a patio beyond that. Tons of space, and we were able to just hang out, cook and eat our meals there, and really relax with each other. It was wonderful.


OK this was the topic of much conversation while we were there - anyone know what it is? Every house had one in our neighborhood anyway. Give me some guesses!


Grapefruit trees - AMAZING! They were everywhere!


Did you know there are really and truly roadrunners in Arizona? Look closely at the picture above - see the two little birds? Linda and I were so excited that we got pictures of them - we had seen a bigger one the day before but didn't have a camera, and the guys had seen one the same day. Only one problem here - when Greg enlarged this picture and looked at them he informed me they were quail. Darn it.

Well that's enough for now - a long post, I know, but I figure I have some ground to make up for my lax blogging the past couple of months!