I have been remiss in keeping up on the blog! Now I'm behind over a month. May have to break this into two entries....

We have had no further mishaps (praise God!), and enjoyed our final month in Green Valley. One day we took a drive in a loop south to Nogales, then East and North up to Patagonia Lake. I just liked the name and wanted to see what a 'lake' looks like around here, as the rivers are all dry!

On our way, we stopped in an artsy town called Tubac and wandered around before having lunch. Nothing quite caught our fancy, so we resumed our trek. 

Interestingly, the landscape on the east side of the mountains we look at every day is entirely different from our side! The west side is desert with typical desert plants, but the east side is more like a plain, only hilly! It had an abundance of grasses and looked much like E. Central Oregon with fir trees and fewer cacti. Patagonia State Park was a couple of miles off the highway, but a lovely drive. We were rewarded with views of water! It is likely a dammed river, but there was actually WATER in it! 

Patagonia Lake

We stopped in a parking area and took a brief nap before resuming the loop back toward home.

About a week later, we made plans once again to go to Tombstone with our friends, Bill and Virginia, but Fritz and I both came down with a mild case of the flu and our plans had to be canceled. We figured there's a reason we weren't supposed to go to Tombstone this trip, so it remains on our bucket list.

We were playing cards with another couple, Paul and Amelia, when Amelia exclaimed that 11 was her lucky number. I asked why? It's her birthdate! I asked what month, and she replied "October"! We were all surprised to find she and Fritz share a birth date. Just out of curiosity, I asked Paul when his birthday is. "September" was his reply. I asked what date. He answered, "the 16th"! MY birthdate! Thereafter, we referred to one another as our 'twins'! How unlikely is that??

One of our final events at Green Valley was a ladies luncheon and fashion show. Amelia coerced me into signing up as a model. You pick your own clothes from the sponsoring store, and because I hadn't felt well that week, I missed going with the rest of the 'models', so struck out on my own. I decided to get something I would 'never' wear. However, I was so strongly encouraged to buy the outfit, I did! (Any ideas on where I'd wear this???) It was great fun!

 On our way to Yuma, we stopped in Maricopa and drove to Sun City West to see our friends, Carolyn and Burton Todd. They are such a delightful and generous couple and we enjoyed a wonderful home-cooked meal. Afterwards, they loaded us up with five bags of citrus from their little orchard. Lemons and oranges and tangelos and grapefruit. Yum! Here is just a sampling of the bounty! We plan to stop again on our way home, and they have promised to load us up again. Chewelah folks, we plan to share!

It rained on and off that day, and the desert mountains were beautiful with the dark sky and occasional rainbow in the distance! I was driving while Fritz napped, so was unable to capture the beauty.

We arrived in Yuma March 1st, and I will pick up our tales from here another day. I'll just leave with the teaser that Yuma is NOT what we expected! Til next time on down the road.....