Eating Out

When we're down here in Arizona we eat out a lot - not sure why, it just seems like the thing to do. Over the past two years since we've been coming here we've developed a few favorites. Here they are.

Macayos - great Mexican food, fun atmosphere.

Culvers - our newest discovery. Look what they advertise - ButterBurgers - they are absolutely delicious. Fast service, this restaurant also has great ice cream, hot dinners, fish and chips, chicken, etc. A great lunch stop.

Paradise Bakery and Cafe - my favorite lunch place - they have the most delicious sandwiches, salads and soup as well as freshly baked cookies. The salad I had yesterday was a mixture of lettuce, blueberries, strawberries, mandarins, pineapple and chicken with a poppy seed dressing. Delicious, and I had the half chicken walnut salad sandwich on rye.

Caramba! - shades of Bart Simpson - this is Lloyd's favorite Mexican diner. Their chicken enchiladas are awesome and the portions are very generous.

Old Country Buffet - besides the good food, the best thing about this buffet across the street from Arrowhead Mall is the music - great 60s and 70s music. I wonder why there's always a lot of seniors there :). We find it hard to do justice to a buffet so only go once in awhile, but this is our favorite.

Chipotle - this is my favorite Mexican diner. We have our own version of Chipotles in Edmonton now - Mucho Burrito and Burrito Libre. Burrito in a bowl - wonderful stuff.

As you can tell, our tastes are very unsophisticated. We've seen several places we want to try and over the next year or so I'm sure we'll get around to it. Bon appetit.

Stormy Evening

Late yesterday afternoon and evening we were treated to a stormy day, Arizona fashion. It was another really hot day (106F) and when we got home from our excursions I wanted to get in the pool. In spite of having been cleaned the day before, the surface was full of leaves and plant bits. Never mind...I went in anyway.



The temperature dropped rapidly to about 95F and the wind was really blowing a gale through the palms and other trees. I didn't stay in the pool for long.



Awhile later there was thunder and lightning and more wind. The sky was beautiful...so nice to see it dark and cloudy instead of unending blue. And....it was humid!....so much for dry heat!



This morning we went out and the pool was beautifully clean (it cleans itself automatically overnight), clear and pristine, the trees were still and the sky was beautiful. This picture is Lloyd's view looking up over the pool from the deck chair.


I really love Arizona.

Busy Day, Beautiful Sunset

Our busy day ended like this:

...the sun setting over the west mountains as we drove home.

...just about out of sight now....

...gone...with nothing left to show for the sun having been there except for the beautiful gold rimmed clouds above the west mountains.

It's amazing how fast the sun goes down here. From the time we noticed it to the last picture taken here, not more than 10 minutes elapsed...dark by 8:15.

Today was our designated 'mall day', but we didn't get there till after noon. Here's what we did today (I know you're just dying for all the details!)

- dyed my hair
- called exterminator to come and do inside of house
- spent a long time at the bank getting Lloyd added to my account. We love joint accounts!
- short stop at WalMart for special track light bulbs for kitchen
- to Arrowhead Mall in Glendale
- shopped (JC Penneys, Macy's, Dick's Sporting Goods, Sees Chocolates, etc)
- lunch at the food court
- eye exam for new glasses for both of us (a lot cheaper here than in Edmonton)
- waited for 2 hours for glasses to be ready
- more shopping (lots of sales) but we didn't go crazy with it
- dinner at Old Country Buffet
- Safeway on way home
- sunset pictures on way home
- home, safe and sound
- it's still hot out (97F) so we might have a swim before turning in.

Oh, and Lloyd got me out of bed around 1:30 this morning so I could see the scorpion running around in the bathtub! Exterminator is coming tomorrow!

Arizona - Day 1

Well, here we are...three days on the road travelling in a steady southward direction. When we arrived here in Surprise yesterday afternoon it was 110F (43-45C), bright and sunny. The water in the pool was too warm for a refreshing swim so we waited until after dark when it cooled down a bit and then spent an hour or so in our little bit of heaven on earth.

It's not often we travel down here by car - it's a long drive - but the scenery is absolutely stunning. From Montana down we're in the mountains - all types of mountains - from the craggy high stone ones we're used to in Alberta, to the lower, red-striped ones of the US south. If we had stopped to take pictures of everything I wanted to, it would have taken us a week to drive down here.

We drove 5 hours the first day - from our home in Edmonton to our retirement home in Lethbridge.

Day 2 was our hard day - 12 full hours - but we always want to put the dreaded Salt Lake Valley behind us before we stop for the night - that's the very worse part of the drive - the freeway through the valley has very dense traffic and always construction in parts - very stressful driving.

The drive through Idaho was lovely though. I think if I was a student I'd like to go to the Idaho State University in Pocatello - such a beautiful little city in a magnificent setting. So we bombed through the Salt Lake Valley and spent the night in a motel in Nephi, UT. Yesterday was just an 8 hr. drive through southern Utah and Arizona.

It's amazing how the geography of Arizona changes mile by mile. We entered AZ through Page and the Powell River Dam in the north






- all high desert with miles of red rock - flat as a board until...the HILL. What a scary drive. You descend from the high desert to the valley floor in about ten minutes on a very well maintained highway etched into the side of the red cliffs. There's a couple of scenic stops halfway down. We pulled over at one of them where we took a few pictures.





Then we drove through the Navajo Nation over by Tuba City and then started climbing a mountain again. In a matter of an hour or so we were at an altitude of 7000 ft, in pine woods and cooler temperatures - just like home. Then on through Flagstaff and down the mountain again until at 3000 ft it was low enough and hot enough for the saguaro cactus to grow.



And then down, down, down until we were in the Valley of the Sun, and Surprise. It's good to be here and with air conditioning in the house, cars, stores, banks, etc. we should be able to tolerate the excessive heat quite well. After all....it's a dry heat...:)

She's At It Again

Mickey, that is. I looked out the kitchen window and there was the beautiful grey cat playing with a half-grown little bird. This is about the 4th one she's caught this year. I ran out and got the bird. Poor little thing let me pick him up and hold him in my hand.

I couldn't tell how hurt he was. His head feathers were a bit wet and ruffled from Micky holding him around the neck. His tail feathers seemed a bit off kilter.

And one of his wings was a bit askew. I sat on the deck with him in my hand and he eventually flew about 10 meters away and landed in the rocks by the garage. I didn't want to leave him there in the bright sunlight so I picked him up again and put him in the cool grass by the deck.

I kept the cats in the house and after a couple hours when I went out to check on the bird, he was nowhere to be seen. Not knowing for sure what happened to him, I'm taking the optimistic route and assuming he gathered his strength and flew someplace safe where his parents and nest mates will nurse him back to health. Poor little thing.

Mickey is such a hunter. We can't fault her for doing what comes naturally, but we can rescue some of her prey. We let her keep the mouse she was tossing around in the back yard today.

Old Relics

It's a strange feeling when you realize that you are the 'old guys' at the family get-togethers now. Our generation has finally made it to the top of the heap! It's rather nice to have all the work and organizing for these semi-reunions done by our children's generation - we and our sisters and brothers and in-laws get to finally just sit in our lawn chairs and watch all the fun happening around us, cheering on the grandchildren in their races and games, and holding all the new babies. All we had to do was show up, bring sun screen, mosquito repellant, lawn chairs, and food for the potluck. It was great fun.

At one point in the afternoon Lloyd's brother-in-law, Duane, took us and daughter Jenny on a jeep tour of their acres of prairie. Now that was fun...bouncing across the acres of prairie land! I was just afraid we'd get stuck, or have a flat tire someplace in the lower 40 and have to hike back to the homestead. Luck was with us though, not to mention Duane's excellent maneuvering of the jeep through the fields.

We came across three or four 'old relics' out there among the prairie grass...a 1943 GMC truck (wow! it was at least 5 years older than us!!!), a 1954 GMC truck, and an ancient Fargo. There was also an old Ford there but I didn't take pictures of it. Here are some of my favorites.

Jenny and Duane checking out the Fargo

The unusual signal light

...and where it was placed on the truck

My very favorite 'old relic' - Lloyd

Fun times!

Lobster Anyone

One of my favorite treats is fresh lobster and there's no better place to get it than in Nova Scotia and/or Prince Edward Island. When we lived in NS and were visiting PEI we went to an all-you-can-eat lobster buffet and thought we died and went to heaven! Biscuits, seafood chowder, and heaping trays of fresh lobster were piled onto our table. When they were gone, more lobster was brought to us! It's one of my best memories of PEI!

When our daughter Mary and I went to visit Mum in NS three years ago, another lobster treat awaited us - and we drove 40 miles from where we were staying just to have it! Lobster rolls...McLobster... McDonalds best creation! Only available in the Maritime provinces and New England and only in the summer! To die for! Large chunks of real tail and claw meat, mixed with mayo, arranged in lettuce, on a hot dog bun...my mouth waters just thinking of it! It's reason enough to go back to Nova Scotia in the summer.

The golden arches present - McLobster!

Mary loved it!

I loved it!

Even Mum enjoyed it!

For our anniversary a couple years ago, our daughter Sara arranged via internet for a fresh lobster dinner to be sent to us from Nova Scotia. It arrived via air and contained two live lobsters, clam chowder, rolls, shrimp cocktail, even the butter to dip the lobster in. It was the first time I had to cook live lobster! Easy! It was delicious. A wonderful anniversary gift for two displaced Maritimers.

Ready for the pot.

Yummy!

That reminds me of a funny story. When we lived back east a visitor who had discovered the joys of fresh lobster had some live lobsters crated and sent home to his parents in the southwest USA. The parents received them all right but called to tell their son that they had to throw the lobster out because it was bad...it was green-brown instead of red! He should have told them before they got the lobster that they don't turn red till they're cooked. I wonder how many other people have done that!

I've got way off track here. The main reason for this post is to show you these very creative lobsters that we saw all around Halifax on our last visit. I wish I had taken pictures of more of them. They're great!

At the Dartmouth ferry terminal. The song the lobster is singing is "Farewell to Nova Scotia"

This one was at Historic Properties at the waterfront in Halifax.

On the Boardwalk, Halifax

And another one on the Historic Properties boardwalk

Now lets all meet at Red Lobster for dinner!!!