A Trip to Arizona

Early in the morning on February 28 I flew to Arizona. This time I flew with Sun Country. The experience was interesting in that the gate agent upgraded me to sit in row one, seat one. I had thought this would be a cushy, first class seat with a meal being served, but I was wrong. Sun Country has downgraded their service and one has to pay a fee for each seat they chose. The only "privilege" for sitting in row one was being offered an alcoholic beverage (I gave mine to the man sitting in the aisle seat) and a Dutch cookie: Stroopwafel.

I left Minnesota in minus 5 degree weather and landed in Phoenix where it was already 56 degrees—above zero. Later in the day it would warm up to the mid 70's and even low 80's. Walking through Pat and Pudge's golf condo to their back yard, I witnessed my first green grass of the season—the 7th fairway of their golf course.

I took the opportunity to walk down past other condos and witnessed blooming flowers. There were geraniums, petunias, hibiscus and others. What a treat for the eyes.

In the afternoon their association sponsored a classic car show. We had fun riding in Pat and Pudge's golf cart to witness the beautiful, restored cars. This 1972 Super Volkswagen Beetle was my favorite. Steve and I had one in 1972 in this exact color. It was fun for me to see the inside.

Restored 1972 Super Beetle

A couple of restored vehicles

Friday night I went out with some former class mates of mine from Austin. The live in the same association. Dick and I started kindergarten together. I treated them to dinner at a steak house (They treated me the last time I was in Arizona.)

Dick, his wife, Kaaren, and yours truly

Saturday was the big day for Pat and her dancing troupe, the Sunsationals. Janet and I attended the matinee and also the evening performance. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of her or the other dancers during the shows. I did get a couple of her fixing the fruit on her hat prior to the dance in which she is playing Carmen Miranda and then a photo of her next to Elvis.

Our friend, Sonja, was planning on going to the shows with us, but wasn't feeling well. She complained of having a tummy ache. We also heard that a couple of our other friends—friends from our childhood who either live in Arizona or winter there—were dealing with shingles and prepping for prostrate cancer surgery on Monday. Therefore our planned meeting to attend church on Sunday and then to be followed by brunch, got canceled. They felt bad about it, but it was definitely out of their control. Sunday night we got a message from Sonja letting us know she could not take us to Sedona on Monday because she was on the way to the hospital to have her appendix removed. Wow! Thankfully this whole thing happened before we had gone to Sedona. What if we had driven up there and she had gotten really sick Where would we have taken her? God took care of this for us. Monday we went to the hospital to see her.

In bed: Sonja; L to R: yours truly, Pat, Janet, Esther

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While there we went to the grocery store a couple of times. Walking down one of the aisles I noticed unusual glass pop bottles. They had hobnails, and one of the flavors was in a cobalt blue bottle. I decided to buy one of the blue ones and give it a try. I also bought a bottle of California Raspberry Coca-Cola and Georgia Peach Coca-Cola.

The blue bottle was very pretty, and I considered keeping the empty to use as a vase, but then changed my mind and recycled it. The flavor was Guarana, which I found rather tasteless. Google says this about itl: Guarana. ... As a dietary supplement or herb, guarana seed is an effective stimulant: it contains about twice the concentration of caffeine found in coffee seeds (about 2–4.5% caffeine in guarana seeds, compared to 1–2% for coffee seeds). The additive has gained notoriety for being used in energy drinks. The  Georgia Peach Coca-Cola to me tasted like regular Coca-Cola, but the California Raspberry ticked all the boxes for me. [Today I bought a four pack in my local grocery store.]

Sunday was a nice day for a drive. Pudge drove us out to the desert to see if we could find any wild horses. We had no luck seeing any, but loved the drive where we saw many interesting sights, including the Mexican poppies.

Sunday night Pat and I went over to the community center and played many rounds of Bingo. Neither one of us won anything, but I thought it was a lot of fun. We met some nice ladies, too.

We enjoyed beautiful weather, gorgeous sunsets, and joyous times sitting around the table eating and visiting. The time went by so fast, and soon it was time to go home. This next photo is what welcomed me home.