Good morning from sunny Tucson!

What a gorgeous morning and what a fabulous spot! It's been a busy couple of days but I think things will chill out a bit now.
My apologies for the delay for those regular readers, and you know who you are! We are three hours different here so by the time we got here yesterday, got groceries, etc it was 10:00 pm here and 1:00 am to our bodies. But now we've had a good nights sleep and are ready to go. I also don't have wireless internet in our unit so must use the clubhouse or the pool area to access it.
Friday was pretty good - I got all my flights, after Brenda kindly dropped me off at the airport. I'd taken the dog to the kennel and dropped him off earlier. It was very strange coming back to an empty house. Even though most of the time he's either outside, or upstairs sleeping, I know he's there. I now know what Grace Balnar meant when she said the house felt empty.

Anyway, I got to Ottawa and got off the plane and walked to the next gate just as they were loading so no waiting what so ever. Lloyd was there to pick me up in Toronto and we headed to Guelph. We were picking up Tristen and Meghan at the ball park as James was playing and Greg was coaching and Patti was off to the airport. We met Fran and Walt, Pat and Janet (visiting form Vancouver) at the restaurant in Rockwood and had a great meal of fish and chips. Then back to the ball park to watch the finish of the game. After Greg and the kids left, Lloyd and I went over to Shakespeare Arms, his local pub, for a beer. Then finally back to get some sleep. Saturday morning we got up early, went for breakfast with the guys from the airport, then just drove around. I stopped and picked up a gift bag for the present I brought for our friends Martin and Lan's new baby. On the way by one of Balnar's buildings the manager was outside doing something so we stopped to say hello. I'd always liked Zorica and we ended up staying for an espresso coffee and Brandy, some cheese and a taste of their spicy homemade sausage. It was wonderful. So Lloyd has asked them to call him the next time they make it so he can watch.
Then we went to a new sushi place for lunch and it was awesome. After lunch Lloyd dropped me off at the office to meet up with Jana as we were going to meet her mom for a drink. Eventually the three of us landed at Casey's on the patio and then we were joined by Scott. We had a lovely visit before Jana dropped me off at Patti's where Lloyd met me to have supper with them. After several rounds of air hockey (which I'm really bad at) and several chorus' of Queen's rockstar game - kind of a video karaoke (which I also suck at ) and a delicious dinner, it was time to leave.

Patti and the kids picked us up at 645 in the morning and drove us to the airport where we found out the time of the flight was slightly changed from what we had on our information. It was approximately a half earlier so we literally got to the gate just as they were starting to load. Once again, a smooth, no waiting experience. We got on our plane for our 4 hour flight to Phoenix. Upon landing, it was great to feel the warm sun on your skin, not to mention the sight of palm trees. I love the sight of palm trees - it's a sure sign I'm in for nice weather!

Here's where the vacation truly starts - and only in America!
Just outside of Phoenix is a place called Chandler that houses a restaurant the someone sent the info to Lloyd about and of course he had to check it out. It's called the Heart Attack Gill and I can understand why. It's a themed place that I'm sure locals don't go to but what a hoot!
The very young, pretty, tiny waitresses are all dressed in short, tight nurses uniforms. The whole place is sort of set up like a clinic and guests are given a wrist band upon arrival and put into a hospital gown before being seated. They only sell burgers and fries. The fries are actually delicious and the burgers come in 4 sizes. The single bypass burger is 8 ounces of meat, the double bypass is 2 - 8 ounce patties, the triple bypass is 3 and of course the quadruple bypass burger contains 4 patties, making it a total of 2 pounds of meat. It's massive. Of course you know I ordered the single and Lloyd had to order the quadruple. Scary as it is, he finished the whole thing, but was very full after. If you order the quadruple, and finish it, they wheel you out of the restaurant in a wheel chair. Too much food but also too much fun!

Then we headed out to Tucson, a two hour drive down the interstate. It actually turned into about 4 hours as there was an fatal accident (we heard that later) and the highway was closed for quite some time and of course there was no where to go, as you are in the middle of the desert.

As we drove, several places were experiencing white outs but it was blowing sand. There is vegetation along the way but very small.

We finally arrived at the resort and it's quite lovely. It's surrounded by every imaginable cactus but especially the sequoia cactus, those big ones you always see in wild west movies. Our unit is very comfortable, with a table and four chairs, in the living area and a peninsula with two stools in the kitchen area, equipped with a gas stove, full size fridge, dishwasher, garbage disposal, ice maker, blender, toaster, etc. The bathroom has a tub and a separate shower so we're both happy! The unit is on a hill and the front is at street level but the back is on a hill with a balcony off the living area (the one with the TV, DVD player, fireplace) and there's a table and two chairs on it. It was quite beautiful to sit out this morning and drink our coffee on the balcony.

It's going to be very warm today, high 80's then the rest of the week is supposed to be in the high 90's but no humidity, so I think it will be fine.
Today we plan to drive into Tucson and poke around in the old city that was apparently first settled in 1775. There's lots to see a do, so check back tomorrow. I'm going to try to do my blog each night so you get it in the morning. I don't want to mess up anyone's schedule too badly. Brenda, how did your first day on the job go? Can't wait to hear about it.

In case anyone needs to get in touch with us in the event of an emergency we can be reached at:

Starr Pass Golf Suites
520-6700-0500. This is guest services and we are in unit 79A. They can contact us if needed.