I finally found it!

Trying  for quite a while to re enter this blog...the computer club of Sun City Grand might have just saved the day!

Hiking Home

The West Fork was full and no hiking by 10 AM so we ventured on, and enjoyed th Walnut Canyon trails outside of Flagstaff.  I cannot believemthere were many communities there, living " on the  brink"... 250 +  stairs to,see the dwellings, feeling good after 10 weeks ofmdaily exercise!!!! Weather is good and we enjoyed walking around Flagstaff, dinner and seeing the stone buildings they have saved historically in this very college town

We are both ready to be home...Moab tomorrow!

🎶on the road again. 🎶

Out of WhitmoreLane at 10:30, having said goodbye to Lila & John, some nice goodbye emails. Did the " last " tennis and pickleball dropins and feel I have friends there! Felt a bit detached from golf...ready to pull it all together for opening day at Glenmoor It has been great and we were both ready to go home three days ago

I had ZERO knowledge of Sedona and it is amazing in its redrock formations and" vortexes"

We hiked Cathedral Rock...did not go to the vortex there 🙃And saw the lovely Chapel in the rocks across the road

Ate Amazing Mexican Food at Elotes

Tomorrow : Airport Overlook vortex, a nice hike in the morning.

Ready to Leave

In 48 hours we will drive north!  Down to the " last" tennis/pickleball/golf etc. for the "season". The courts restaurants and nail salons are less populated and the weather has turned CHILLY of all things.     We have looked at all the real estate we are going to look at and met as many new friends as we possibly could.
Played at LEAST 60 rounds of golf between us and the jury is out as to whether or not our games are any better 😬  We have certainly given it our best shot!!!!

Life as it has evolved has changed dramatically over the past 4 months...in some ways it is a little depressing, but we have so many things to feel thankful for that we simply have to try to understand the family turmoil and look at new beginnings.

Im a little sad today 😬  If it will just warm up a little, perhaps I'll be better...i cant believe how weather driven I have become !

One Week to Go!

Sunday took the time to drive to the Desert Botanical Gardens...45 minutes from SCG...as we drove to the parking lots there were unbelievable signs... " Botanical Gardens reservations SOLD OUT FOR TODAY....you kidding me!!!!!! Who needs reservations to visit gardens?!?!?!  Turns out you do if someone has lit up acres and acres with a light show.  When we actually found a parking spot I took it as a good sign and we went to see if we could plead with someone...😰 AND it worked .  This amazing kid let me buy the LAST single ticket and quietly passed me TWO stickers to walk the grounds... I am STILL excited for it!  Besides being a good deal, it was well worth the travel and $. Not really for the blooming of the desert, however, but rather the diversity of cacti!  The flowering cacti in our neighborhood far surpass any there, but the Gardens AND the lights were something to behold ( remind anyone you know going there that it is best to wear closed shoes. .. There was a lot of shaking the sand out of my sandals as we walked...could also use a small flashlite 😁)

The FLOWERS in the neighborhood FAR exceed my expectations .  They just BEG you to stop and photograph them...so I do.

We golfed and dined with a MN couple we met at the Wine Club, very nice folks. We hope to see them next season, maybe they might come through Denver before.

I am trudging on with pickleball in spite of the "gentleman" who scolded me last week for missing balls.  ( you should be in CLINICS, not at drop- in 🙄) I like both of my paddles and hope to get Chrissie/Sean/ kids out to try it with me.  A new friend we met at a birthday party yesterday told us he had lost 35 pounds since  he took it up! Made me feel better because I was wondering if I was winded because of my age or inexperience 🙃
I BELIEVE I have learned a lot more about golf, but I rattle easily and forget the " key" element often. I am planning to go out alone when we return to Denver and just think-not-talk with 4 balls for 9 holes.

I do hope we come back next year, buying renting, whichever works.  I will make more use of the classroom teaching

We arrived at Sun City Grand,  of course, at rush hour...not so bad!  We had driven surounded by snow in 20 degree climes until just PAST Sedona Arizona...did I mention I had PACKED gloves...thinking we we going south OUT of the cold?
Unpacking and groceries  got us to dinner at 9 ish and we were BEAT.  Woke to sunshine views of the golf course...lovely, but still shivering.
Setting up "technology" is an event not to be dismissed as small...and took most of the morning ( i remember the days when " they" said ..." Computers will make our lives so much simpler..." Right.
Visit to the Welcome desk,@ the Visitors center ( with a check) got us a CAM card allowing us entry to everything ... A few minutes of watching pickle ball, commented on by a devotee...didn't convince Tom's interest. He' s not in.

Now we are " short-timers". Two Weeks remaining!!!

 The most difficult thing here is to keep track of all the possibilities, tee time requests, classes you might want to take, drop in times for sports, plays we might attend, dances pretty often...all the while putting the word. Out that we need a rental for next season.

It seemed frantic for awhile and then it seemed to fall into place, enjoy the Muellers, the Coxs the Truttmans. We have been working out every day and i feel so good at that that i wonder why I don't do that in Denver...so I shall when we go back. We are cutting down on club membership so we will both be going to the Y instead of Monaco and I will do the Longmont  Tri on June 5...have begun swimming here

As if a switch was flipped, the air was awash with the scent of orange blossoms two weeks ago. Trees are leafing out, bouganvilla are intense colors and blossoms and even some cactus are flowering. Sunday we went to White Tank park for a pot luck picnic and a hike with the Minnesota Interest group, an easy hike, the first time tho that we have gone there.  I thought we would hike and bike more than we have, but we really have focused on GOLF...and my tennis with a little bit of pickleball thrown in with the dance classes 😊

This has shown me that we can continue to do many of these activities in Denver...it just won't be as simple to find and get to them all organized in a geographic zone.  It really has been good for us ( especially me) to be out of my comfort zone.  With Tom totally unscheduled for medecine it actually does make everything look so different. And with all the "kids" totally at odds with each other...THAT part of the world ALSO looks different.  God bless the little children, i am looking foreword to doing stuff with them!!!!!

This is the first time ( in FIVE WEEKS) that I have just sat down to be quiet and muse about all of this. The Muellers ore coming over to say goodby...circumstances changed and they need to go home early..." Things" change in a heartbeat in our age group 😬