I just checked, and our last blog was July 18. A blog a month seems a bit lazy, but I’d prefer to think of it as time spent living rather than writing. Anyhoo, we’re checking in now and hoping this finds you well and enjoying your August.
Bob and I have had an interesting month with some time apart, visits with family, and more southern AZ adventures.
During the last week in July, Bob flew to Des Moines to take a national cheese certification test as well as participate in all things cheese for a couple of days before heading to Plattesmouth, NE for a family reunion. Much thanks to his nephews for housing and transportation in Des Moines as well as transportation to and from Nebraska.
My (Beth’s) solo time was primarily consumed with dealing with car issues. I can’t tell you how much I am not a car fan. Where are the jet packs? Luckily, once the car was in the shop for the 2nd time in three days, I got a rental car to pick up my sister at the Tucson airport for some awesome girl time in AZ.
Once reunited in early August, Bob and I headed out for some new adventures. One Sunday, we drove the two hours to Phoenix to watch a baseball game between 2 cellar-dwellers — the AZ Diamondbacks and the Milwaukee Brewers. The game was fun, and we enjoyed walking around the stadium (roof closed for coolness!) prior to the game.
With our homeowners’ permission and help from the neighbor in watching the dogs and house, we did an overnight trip to Tombstone and Bisbee. In Tombstone (which had a lot of foreign visitors filling up on Wild West Americana), we saw a staged performance of the shoot-out at the OK Corral (actually pretty fun) and then walked along the main drag to the old newspaper office of the Tombstone Epitaph (cuz every Tombstone needs an epitaph) for our copy of the newspaper edition of the shoot-out, and then saw a really hokey, multimedia diorama presentation on the history of Tombstone. The later was primarily taken over by crying babies and young children having to be taken out by parents.
We had visited Bisbee before and really wanted to return. We had a lovely walk around town following our arrival (We had just missed a hail storm.) and then a great dinner out that night. The highlight (for Beth anyway) was walking the course for the Bisbee 1000 Great Stair Climb race that is held every fall. We did this the following morning. The course takes you up (you always go up the stairs) 9 flight of stairs (most at least 100 steps) around town, as the city is built on a mountainside, which allows for great views of the town and surrounding area.
We have also done a common activity for southern Arizonans –going to Nogales, Mexico for dental care. We just had a teeth cleaning, but it was fun being in a border city again. Super easy to walk across in both directions — even with a wall. Nogales, AZ, is very hilly and much less desert-like in appearance than the border cities that we’ve been in Texas.
We are loving summer in the desert! Much cooler here than in Austin with early ams being especially lovely for running and walking the dogs (around 76-78 degrees!). The summer also brings out the elusive cactus flowers that we are always trying to capture before they close up again. We haven’t had a lot of the monsoons that we were warned of (except for when my sister was here), although we have heard the thunder and seen the lightening of storms that have occurred around us.
We head out of Green Valley in a little over a week to start our European adventures which will include stops in Portugal, France, Belgium, and maybe Italy.
Peckish Travels 