March in Tucson

On Friday, March 1st, I drove down to Green Valley to meet up with my cousin Lanny Eason, whose sons and grandsons I saw in November in Boca Raton, Fl, for a round of golf. We played at San Ignacio Golf Course, which is very close to where he spends his winters and a course I hadn't played yet. The course itself wasn't in the best of shape, but had nice views of the mountains and the observatory at the top of them. 

It is the first course I have played that had instructions on how the players are to communicate with the beverage cart driver. 

We had quite a bit to catch up on as I hadn't seen him in around 30 years. After the round his wife Kay joined us in the clubhouse for refreshments. 

Monday March 4th John and I went to Oro Valley for me to play a practice round on the course the Golf Tracks group would be playing the following Monday. Driving in, I though the course was completely over-seeded, but it turned out that only the holes near the sales office were. The rest were only over-seeded at the tees, fairways and greens (typical of most Arizona courses.) 

More nice views of the Mountains.

I quite liked the course. It turned out that I won the event, beating the course member who was in my group. The course is quite a ways from Tucson, so I arranged to car pool with my friend Julie Walters. On the way back we stopped at Bottago Michaelangelo for drinks and snacks. They had quite an amazing happy hour menu.  I'd like to go back, but it's a bit out of the way for me. 

Thursday March 14th was the first of three rounds of the Randolph Ladies League Club Championship, in which I was runner up in last year. On the range prior to the round Judy Miller the 13 time defending champion injured her right hand when someone else practicing caught the rope in the front of the hitting area and it struck Judy's hand. Both Julie and I were also there, but were not hurt. Her hand was somewhat scratched and bruised, which effected her ability to play well. After round one, I was the only player with a round in the 70's, shooting 79. I had a three shot lead over Linda Maynard, a new member this year who had a similarly low handicap. 

John took an extra day off, so that on Tuesday March 19th we were finally able to go to Tubac Golf Course and Spa, something I had been trying to do last winter. Tubac is where some of the movie Tin Cup was shot. I ended up being rather disappointed. The course was not in very good condition. The bar stools were interesting though, saddles on a stand. Being a resort the food and drinks were expensive. 

Par 3 Island green adjacent to patio area.

Horse saddle bar stools.

We didn't allow enough time to see the town of Tubac, which I've been told has lots of nice little shops. I guess I'll have to go back there on my own to browse around. 

Wednesday March 20th was Purim, kind of like Jewish Halloween. The rabbi dressed up like a Leprechaun. Very cute. 

Thursday March 21st was the second round of the Randolph Club Championship. I had another good round, shooting 77. Again the only player in the 70's. Linda shot 86. Beth Wrigley shot 83 following her opening round of 84 to take over 2nd place. I held an 11 stroke lead over her. 

That evening I attended my first event at the McKale Memorial Center, U of A's arena for basketball. I've been told it is impossible to get tickets to the men's games, so this was an opportunity to see the Women in the playoffs. I had a good look around the venue before the game started. There is somewhat of a museum there. There was a nice story about Fred Enke one of their former coaches, who had my favorite of the city golf courses named after him: 

There is also a list of their players who have made it to the NBA. The Women won the game with a small crowd in attendance. 

The pep bank is very peppy!

Saturday March 21st after synagogue I went downtown to check out a street festival. It featured retail vendors and food vendors. 

High Mark-up on Apples!

It was very well attended. 

Large crowds.

Sunday March 22nd there was a big free airshow at the military base. John didn't want to go, so we went golfing instead. The show was a bit of a distraction as the planes were performing seemingly over top of us, leaving their vapor trails in the sky. 

Thursday March 28th was the final round of the club championship. I was in a good group with the top players: 

Beth, Me, Julie & Judy.

Beth started out on fire with a few birdies on the opening holes and I wasn't playing all that well, but in the end I managed another round of 77 and despite Beth's low round of the tournament, a 75, I still managed to win by 9! Beth was 2nd, Julie was 3rd with a final round of 80 and Judy was tied for 4th after shooting 87, 80, 82. Everyone else from the club who played that day was waiting on the back of the 18th green watching us come in. I was told that they hadn't done that in quite some time.

My name will soon be on this plaque, following Judy's 13 consecutive wins. 

That evening I went to the next playoff round of the Women's basketball. The crowd was a little bigger and they won again!
Saturday night March 30th after John finished work we went out for a nice dinner at Claim Jumper, a restaurant across the road from the 7th & 8th holes at Randolph. I had seen it many times and had always wanted to go there, but it is primarily a steak restaurant and John prefers the Silver Saddle Steakhouse, which we have been to a couple of times. He had won a gift card for Claim Jumper at the company Christmas party, so we finally got to use it! The decor is sort of rustic. 

Natural wood and stone.

Multiple antler chandelier. 

The food and service was pretty good. It's sort of like The Keg in Canada.

Sunday March 31st John and I went golfing with his younger daughter Angelica and her boyfriend Tiggy. For the record, the girls beat the boys! 

Tiggy, John and Angelica. 9th tee at El Rio.

What a great final full month of my Arizona winter season I had!

Tucson January & February

Along with the usual weekly activities the following are some highlights of my stay in Tucson.

I signed up again for the Senior Olympics conducted by Tucson Parks and Recreation. Before signing up for Golf and Horseshoes I checked to see if there were any other competitors registered, which there weren't in my age group so I didn't do those, but did go for Euchre and Cribbage. I attended the opening ceremonies on January 11th, which included very good Hispanic entertainment:

Mariachi Band

Folk Dancers

A trade show of senior related services and some door prizes. For the effort that goes into staging it, it would be nice if more competitors attended. I didn't place in the medals in my events, but it was still fun to take part. 

Tuesday the 11th I had a meeting with the Rabbi at his request. He had suggested we get together so we could get to know each other a bit better. We had a nice conversation about our pasts for about an hour in his office. At the conclusion he suggested we get together again in the not to distant future. That evening I treated myself to a nice dinner at a restaurant that was new to me. It is called Kingfisher and they specialize in fish and seafood, items John has little interest in. I thoroughly enjoyed my three course dinner comprised of char grilled oysters, sea bass and creme brulee. 

Saturday January 26th was a busy day as the gang in the park were organizing a surprise afternoon birthday party for Bernie who was turning 75. Some of his family members and his girlfriend from up north were coming in for it. They floored him. 

 

A good time was had by all! 

In the early evening I was meeting up with 19 RVers who are members of a web based club called RVillage. They were planning meet ups in a good number of locations all on the same day. The Tucson on was held at Black Bear Diner, a restaurant I had passed by many times but never eaten at. It was nice to meet all the folks and to try a new restaurant, which specializes in home style cooking. 

At the beginning of February I went up to Scottsdale to volunteer at the Waste Management tournament for the third time. I got to see the eventual winner, Rickey Fowler up close on the 5th hole on Friday. 

It was also an opportunity to see my friend Johnny Andrew, a PGA Tour scoring official who will be retiring at the end of the year. 

He got me access into the scoring room, which at this tournament was in the club house and provided me with some food and beverages. We had a nice visit. 

Tuesday February 5th I played Rolling Hills Golf Course for the first time. It is an executive course that is quite close to Tucson Meadows. Some of the folks from the park play there on a weekly basis. It was in pretty good shape, with some tricky holes and interesting rules: 

Nice View at Rolling HIlls

Friday February 8th I was invited to join three of John's sisters and two of his nieces for lunch at Mi Nidito Restaurant, a place Bill Clinton eat at once. I enjoyed the company, but the food and service wasn't very good in my opinion. 

Chris, Georgia, Evelyn

Melissa, Gina, Sarah-Anne
Daughters are sitting below their respective mothers.

Saturday February 9th my friend Judy Miller and I played in the Arizona State Ladies Four Ball Season Opener. I was surprised no one else had asked Judy to be their partner. I was expecting her to carry the team, which isn't quite what happened, but somehow we ended up winning the Gross portion of the event! 

The tournament was held nearby at Omni Tucson National, which hosts the Cologuard Classic tournament on the PGA's Champions Tour. We had a great day on a nice course. 

Friday night February 15th I decided to try another restaurant I had driven by many times but never gone into called Little Anthony's Diner. I was happy to learn that they had gluten free pizza crust available and they offer unlimited toppings on their pizza's!  They also have some impersonators there to entertain the diners: 

Elvis

Marilyn

Sunday the 17th I played a Mah Jongg tournament at the apply named Skyline Country Club. 

View from the terrace at Skyline

After the Mah Jongg was done, I was able to play a twilight round at the private club. It is an example of housing and golf done wrong. The houses are too close to the course and all the dog legs (of which there are several) have signs reminding you that you are responsible for any damage your golf ball does to the residences. There were also people walking their dogs on the course before the prescribed allowed time. 

Friday the 22nd we go some significant snow in Tucson:

Trees across from John's apartment.

Cacti with little white hats.

The mountains still white the following day!

The snow didn't stop me from attending my weekly Mah Jongg game after which we attended a live concert at El Rio Golf Club featuring the George Howard Band, the leader of which John played golf with regularly several years ago. They had a nice reunion. 

John, George and Sarah-Anne

Sunday the 24th John and I hosted his kids and grand-kids at my place for the first time. It was the most people I have ever had in the trailer at once. John prepared a wonderful breakfast, which everyone enjoyed. 

Miguel, Ariela, Anthony, John, Brianna, Angelica & Tiggy.

Tucson, Arizona - December 2018

I arrived in Tucson as originally scheduled on Wednesday, December 5th, in the afternoon. I was able to get an emergency appointment at an RV service place I had used previously. It turned out that there was a fault in the main electrical cord I use to connect the trailer to the park power supply. Somewhat surprisingly its replacement was covered by my extended warranty, less the $100 deductible, saving me around $275.00. I was happy to have this resolved before I arrived at Tucson Meadows, the park I had stayed in the previous two winters and was scheduled into the following day for a stay of about 4 1/2 months. 

That night I parked outside of John's place and stayed with him in his apartment. I did this because part of the reason I arrived when I did was the following morning there was a seminar about the new rules of golf prior to regular Thursday Ladies' league play. I was interested in attending because I had heard and read about the major rules overhaul and wanted to be as well informed and up to date as possible prior to the rules going into effect on January 1st. I was able to park the trailer in the golf course parking lot while I attended the seminar and played the round. Following that I was able to check into the park and get settled on my site. Everyone I encountered at the park were happy to see me back. It is a great community.

On the first Saturday and Sunday I was in Tucson, I had committed to playing in the Tucson City Women's Amateur Golf Championship, which was being held at the same time as the Tucson Senior Men's Championship (John wasn't willing to take time off work to play in it.) We were to play 18 holes each day. One day on each of the two courses at Randolph Park. I wasn't sure I was really ready to play in the event because I hadn't played for a while and only had a few chances to practice in the last month or so, but it only happens once a year, so I figured I'd do it and not worry too much about the outcome. The women's field was not very big. Partially because the ladies I usually play with on Thursdays and those that play at the other course on Tuesdays weren't interested. I think it may be partially because the Quihuis families two daughters have won it the last few years. The older one has turned pro so only the younger one, Alexandra, a high school senior was playing. There were a few other ladies in the field. Despite my rustiness, I finished 2nd in Gross and 1st in Net! 

Official Hand Written Scoreboard

I won a gift card that was greater in value than my entry fee, so I was very happy. I though the results would have been written up in the local newspaper, but they weren't. 

The following Saturday I attended synagogue in the morning and at night was the Christmas Party for John's work. Unfortunately the restaurant was not well prepared for hosting a couple of large parties they had booked well in advance on the same night. They ran out of several menu items, which would have been previously frozen, so why couldn't they have ordered more? The orders weren't coming out of the kitchen in the correct sequence, ie. entrees before appetizers. All they were pretty good at was taking drink orders and bringing them. We tried to have a good time, but it was kind of hard and disappointing. I heard afterwards that they removed all the food from our bill, which is some consolation. Then when we were trying to do our white elephant gift exchange a band started playing rather loudly in the same room we were in, which made it hard to follow what was going on with our game. Once the game was done, some of us actually enjoyed the band and did some dancing!

John dancing with his boss Cindy McGuire.

For John's birthday on December 20th we got together with his daughters and grand-kids at Old Chicago for dinner. The staff took good care of us as we are somewhat regulars there. We would have gone back to the same place we went for John's birthday last year because it is closer to his work, but it had closed.

I pretty seamlessly slipped into my regular Tucson schedule, which I developed the previous winters;
Saturday: Drive John to work, go to Synagogue, do something for a few hours, pick John up from work, his weekend begins. Stay over at my place. 
Sunday: Spend time with John and his friends and family including a round of golf most Sundays. Stay over at my place. 
Monday: Spend time with John including a round of golf most Mondays, except one a month when I play in the Tucson City women's golf league. Sometimes play Euchre at the park in the evening.
Tuesday: Laundry and other chores. Maybe play golf or go for a bike ride. Sometimes play Mah Jongg at the library in the afternoon. Sometimes play Bingo at the park in the evening.
Wednesday: Pitch Horseshoes in the morning and play Mah Jongg at the Catholic Church in the afternoon, pick up John from work and stay at his place. 
Thursday: Play in Randolph Ladies league in the morning. 
Friday:Pitch Horseshoes in the morning and have lunch and play Mah Jongg at Risky Business in the afternoon, pick up John from work, stay over at my place.  
Repeat!

I love being somewhere I can golf on Christmas Day! Who needs a white Christmas? I prefer green. John and I played at Randolph. 

Friday December 28th we ran into our friends and occasional golf partners Lisa and Victor Aguilar at The Wooden Nickle. (Every time I say the name of this place I think of my father who would warn me about accepting any wooden nickles.)

Victor, John, me, Lisa.

     
For New Years Eve we attended the party in the park. It's bring your own drinks and some snacks to share pot luck style. Unfortunately, the band wasn't as good as the previous year and they added several silly impersonator karaoke numbers by selected residents, who weren't chosen for their singing voices. We went home early and rang in the New Year on our own. 

New Years day I watched the Rose Bowl Parade on television and then we went to play golf. 
          

Heading West From Florida to Arizona

Heading west on I10, I can't help but stop and spend a couple of days in New Orleans 

Famous New Orleans Landmark: Mercedes Super-dome

after living there for the better part of two years a few years ago. I was particularly hoping to see one of the female golf team members, Daria Delfino, who visited Loyola the spring of my last year there and was going to graduate this spring. I had been in touch with her throughout her college years. We had a bit of a special connection because she is also Jewish. Unfortunately she was too busy studying during my time there to see me, but on Friday I did get to visit with some of my former professors, 

Sarah Allison with her newest book.

some staff members, including some in the cafeteria who remembered me quite well. I also visited the synagogue I used to go to and some of my favorite restaurants during my three night stay.  

I stayed at the Bayou Segnette State Park Campground, which had vary reasonable rates and had free laundry, which I took advantage of immediately upon my arrival, seeing as I hadn't been able to do it in Punta Gorda. The campground offers good sized sites in a pretty natural bayou setting with lots of trees and grass.  

While I was away from the trailer on Friday I believe an electrical storm went though and did some damage to my main electrical feed. The park handy man and I tried to trouble shoot the problem and were basically unsuccessful as the problem was intermittent. It will be resolved further down the road. 

On Saturday I drove to the Algiers ferry dock and took the ferry across the Mississippi to the French Quarter and had a good walk about. 

While in The Quarter I came across this marijuana van: 

I'm wondering how long it will be until we see something similar in Ontario, now that pot has been legalized. 

I also came across my favorite zydeco band leader Waylon Thibodeaux playing an afternoon set.

The Maroon, Loyola's student run newspaper, which I wrote for both years I was there, was celebrating it's birthday and I was rightfully invited to the party, which was held at a restaurant in the quarter, not far from the ferry dock, which was convenient for my trip back. I didn't stay out too late. 

Sunday December 2nd I headed out from New Orleans on a b-line to Tucson. Unfortunately, there were a lot of Asian Lady Beatles in the campground and though I tried to keep them out several managed to get in and will be carried along on my travels. The first night I stayed at the Cracker Barrel in Houston Texas. The following afternoon I visited the Caverns of Sonora in Sonora Texas:

There were quite a few deer on the property at twilight.

Butterfly wing shaped formation.

Colorful ribbon formation.

and spent the night at their campground. It wasn't too busy there so I was able to get a private guided tour of the caves. 

Because I was such a well behaved tourist I was able to get the whole tour and because I handled the terrain well I got to see some bonus areas. That evening I had a nice visit with a couple in a Class A motor home parked next to me. We had a good chat about our respective travels. 

My last night on the road prior to reaching Tucson was at the Cracker Barrel in Las Cruces New Mexico. 

Western Florida

From Boca I was headed to Punta Gorda, Fl, where I spent parts of several winters a few years back. I was going to stay there for a couple of nights so that I could meet up with some friends from the area and play with the group of guys I used to play with on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. 

Alligator Park in Punta Gorda was the reason I bought the Passport America membership. I had actually visited it the last time I was in the area thinking I might want to stay there in the future. I is a well established 55+ park with lots of amenities and activities. I played euchre with them on Monday night. My only complaint there was that I was hoping to do laundry, but the room was closed much earlier than the posted hours. 

The golf game I though I had arranged with some ladies on Monday fell through, which gave me time to visit the Vietnam War Memorial that was in the planning stages when I was previously in Punta Gorda. The memorial is a scale replica of the wall in Washington DC, which I was in the mid 1980's.

Flags of various branches of the armed services.

Donors stones. I contributed to the Islemen's one.
The one to the left is from the fellow who organzies the Islemen.

It was good to see the fellows at Twin Isles on Tuesday morning. I was aware a couple of the guys had passed away in the three years since I was last there, but there were still enough that made the visit worthwhile. The golf pro was the same. I also got to see these plaques in person for the first time:

Course record from the Red Tees during a ladies day game.
Somewhat contentious, because they felt it should only recognize full members of the club and I was seasonal, but Will Johnson stood up for me at the golf committee.

Hole in One on #16 achieved during an Islemen's game.

Both are on display in the corridor outside the locker rooms, on the way to the pro shop. 

After golf and lunch I headed north to Clearwater to have dinner with my friend George from Loyola. I had last seen him in Chicago a couple of years ago, but he had since moved back closer to his birthplace in Ormond Beach Florida for work. I parked my trailer at the Cracker Barrel restaurant near his office. He picked me up after work and drove us downtown in his new Jeep. We enjoyed some Mexican food and a nice visit. He is doing very well. After dinner he dropped me back at Cracker Barrel, where I spent the night and had breakfast before carrying on. 

My last night in Florida on this trip was at another Passport America campground, this time River's Edge RV Campground in Holt. It was a bit dated, but fine for a one night stay. There were some strange noises in the morning. I spoke with a longer term resident on my way out of the park in the morning, apparently there is a bombing and riffle range nearby on Eglin Airforce base and they practice certain days of the week, including Wednesdays. The fellow was insistent on giving me one of his just out to the oven pineapple/carrot muffins. I enjoyed it a few miles down the road, he is a good baker.