On Wednesday, Feb. 22, we spent the afternoon with Stacey walking around a few of Tempe's city parks chatting about anything that came to mind. It was very nice to simply catch up with Stacey's and Eddie's lives and aspirations.

(view across Tempe Town Lake at the Arizona State

football stadium and the Vale of Tempe, the namesake

of the City of Tempe)

We went out for dinner with Stacey, Eddie, Elise, and Eddie's parents at a wonderful Italian restaurant, VinciTorio's. The owner, Mario, is a friend of the Eddies so he came out and visited for a while; and one of the cooks also joined us. He played football for Boise State and his parents live in Twin Falls - small world (or maybe Idaho really is the center of the universe).

We really enjoyed getting to know Eddie's parents - they are gracious people and we chatted mostly about the challenges and rewards of retirement. Before we said goodnight and goodbye we picked a dozen pink grapefruits from a tree in Stacey's and Eddie's backyard (the tree is visible in the center of the picture of their backyard and pool on the previous blog entry). The grapefruit are sweet and delicious and we will enjoy them for several days to come. We both want to thank all the Goitia's for their generous hospitality and exposing us to some scrumptious food - Thank You all! 

Stacey invited us back next year to go to their villa at Rocky Point on the coast of the Gulf of California, State of Sonora, Mexico. Their villa is right on the beach on a point outside of the port area, and it has 4 bedrooms and 4 bedrooms and sleeps at least 14. Anybody want to join us next winter?????

On Thursday, Feb 23, we left Tempe and drove about 150 miles south to Benson, Arizona, where we checked in to the Butterfield RV Resort & Observatory. This park is a lot more spacious than our Tempe digs probably because we are way out in the desert where land is obviously much cheaper.

Lots of cacti everywhere!

The RV park has a large telescope and they host evening programs gazing at the sky, weather permitting. We were too tired last night to participate but we may tonight. Traveling is tiring and Abby gets pooped too (amazing that she can take up our entire queen sized bed).

Today is laundry day for us - all the RV parks that we have visited thus far have very nice laundries for their guests but we have put it off until we were short of clean underwear (the most critical clothing item for everyone involved). Therefore, while waiting for washers and driers to do their job we have hung around the park and chatted with some of the guests. So far on our adventure we have met some very nice people - what seems to initiate a conversation most of the time is Abby. As soon as they see her and and her pleasant, outgoing disposition, they approach and tell us about all the Goldens they have known and/or owned. Something that we have learned from these interactions is that both of us feel very young and mobile compared to most all other snowbirds. We don't know if we really are that much younger than others but it appears that way to us (or maybe we are delusional). Sure makes us feel spry and energetic.

And by the way - just to rub it in for those of you still in snow country it is 3:30 in the afternoon and it is 69 degrees and sunny in Benson. Absolutely perfect weather! And one more item - a large older motorhome just pulled into a slot near us. It looks like all the original decals and decoration has weathered off or been removed and a new one added. It says "just dicken around." Sounds like they are in the same state of mind as we are.