Friday, March 1, through Saturday, March 30, 2013: A Month (almost) in Casa Grande, Arizona:

The 197-mile trip to Casa Grande was easy and uneventful---Interstate 10 almost all the way.  We are staying at the Fiesta Grande RV Resort, at which we stayed for five nights last October/November.

It’s a nice place, right on the main drag of the city, and near all of the reliable chain stores and restaurants.  There are a lot of snowbirds here, and they are very friendly.  They put us in a nice pull-thru site very near the park entrance but just under a half-mile from the dog run. 

That means I‘ll get a lot more exercise walking Ramsey during the 30 days we will be here.  (We were about 100 feet from the dog run the last time we were here.)

The first order of business for Becky was lining up a pickleball venue.  It turned out there is a small group of regulars who play at a city park ten minutes away, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Friday night we went into our stash of DVDs and resurrected Tin Men.  We have always enjoyed it, and this time was no exception.

One highlight of the 1987 film is the music by a then-new British group named Fine Young Cannibals.  Its signature song “Good Thing” was a major hit.  After the first time we saw Tin Men, we attended (and thoroughly enjoyed) a Fine Young Cannibals concert at the Universal Amphitheater.  The group, which was formed in 1984, broke up in 1992.

Saturday, we had sushi for lunch at the Lucky Chinese & Japanese Restaurant.  (Delicious!),  That night we watched The Grey from the Redbox, with Liam Neeson leading a small group of airplane crash survivors to safety in the wilds of Alaska.  Fascinating movie.

Becky played pickleball on Monday and had a lot of fun.  Tuesday was the first day of a major pickleball tournament at the nearby Palm Creek Resort, a  huge RV park development. 

We rode our bikes there (seven miles round trip, including going out of our way just for fun) to watch a little of the tournament.  Palm Creek has 24 courts, and each was in use.  Very impressive setup, and some very good players.

Becky dragged me to the pickleball courts on Wednesday.  I actually played fairly well (for me) and enjoyed it.  We celebrated at Eva’s Mexican Restaurant, where we had a nice lunch.  (The service was quite slow, though. I think the kitchen was having a problem.)

Because of predicted bad weather for Friday, the group reassembled on Thursday.  Again, I played fairly well.  It felt good.

The bad weather arrived on Friday.  It rained all day and much of the night.  We even had a little hail and some nasty thunder.  Ramsey was a bit spooked by the thunder, of course.

Saturday was overcast and cold all day, but no rain.  Saturday night, we watched The Intouchables, a thoroughly charming (subtitled) French film from the Redbox.

Sunday started out clear, so we headed for the pickleball courts for some one-on-one.  I actually won one game against Becky.  I am playing better; I guess practice helps. 

That night we broke open our DVD package containing the first season of Homeland.  We had never seen the show, since we are not Showtime subscribers, but we had heard some great things about it.  We watched the first five shows, and were very impressed.  It's very engaging.  One of the stars, Mandy Patinkin, is a favorite of ours---

having played "Che" in Evita and Inigo Montoya in Princess Bride, two of my favorite theatrical characters.  We also enjoyed a  one-man show of his at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion many years ago.     

On Monday, the pickleball group staged a tournament.  There were 24 entrants.  I was not one of them.  (Becky quite properly told them I was not ready for prime time.)  Becky and her partner, Harold, won the tournament, beating the local favorites.  Hooray!!! 

Afterwards, there was a potluck lunch.  Becky's brownies were a big hit.



Becky went back to the pickleball court on Wednesday and Friday (and the following Monday.)  I went on Wednesday and played so badly I was too embarrassed to go back on Friday or Monday.   Instead, I got a nice massage on Monday.  Becky went to the Podiatrist on Tuesday, and to the Optometrist on Thursday.

On Friday, we rented The Sessions at the Redbox. It is the film for which Helen Hunt received an Oscar nomination.  Interesting movie, if you ignore the extreme nudity.

Saturday, we met Peter Shapiro and Kathy Sage at Feli’s Cuban Kitchen for lunch.  Becky met Kathy more than twelve years ago through the Organization of Women Executives.  Feli’s (named for Felicitas Martinez, the owner and principal chef, who came to the USA 20 years ago) is less than a block away from our RV park.  Becky heard that Peter and Kathy would pass nearby on their way from their home in San Diego for a weekend getaway in Scottsdale, so she arranged the meeting.  It was fun seeing them.

We have a lot of mutual acquaintances.  I had Ropa Vieja, a long-time favorite of mine.  Delicious.  Becky had flounder with mango and pineapple salsa that she enjoyed immensely.

Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day, there was a potluck block party---right across the street---attended by a number of nearby guests here at the RV park.  It was fun celebrating with the neighbors.  Becky’s brownies were a big hit, as usual.

Monday morning, we confirmed that the sale of our lot in Springdale, Utah, had closed the previous Friday.  We bought the lot eight years ago, thinking we would build our eventual home there. 

Three years ago, we decided we didn’t want to undertake that kind of project, and put the property up for sale.  Not great timing, given the current real estate market.  We finally received an offer out of the blue a month ago.  We took it---and we actually made a profit!  Monday afternoon, we celebrated the closing by visiting the Francisco Grande Hotel & Golf Resort in Casa Grande.

It’s an interesting place, built in 1961 by Horace Stoneham, the owner of the Giants baseball team, as a spring training site after the team moved west from New York. (They now train in Scottsdale, Arizona.)  He built the place as a luxury resort so it could be used year-round.  It has some interesting features, such as a swimming pool in the shape of a baseball bat

and the main hotel building with outside stairways reminiscent of stadium-level walkways.  We had lunch at Duke’s, a bar/grill named for John Wayne, who was a frequent guest.  I had a delicious Caesar salad.  Becky had a wonderful seared Ahi salad.  That evening, we broke out a bottle of champagne.

On Tuesday, we took the 118-mile (roundtrip) trek to Tucson to visit Barbara and Clark Gates.  (Clark worked with Becky at Union Bank.)  We last saw Barbara and Clark in Denver two years ago.  They have since moved from Denver to Tucson.  (They still have their summer home on Cape Cod.)  Fun people.  We had lunch at the Tucson National Golf Club.  Cobb salads for all. Very good.

Wednesday was another pickleball day.  I played better, but faded badly in the last game.  I guess I was tired.  Afterward, we visited the local dog pound, looking for a possible "sister" for Ramsey.

On Thursday, we ventured to the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. 

It's what gave this city its name, even though it's located in Coolidge, 20 miles away.  The monument is interesting.  The man attraction is what's left of a four-story building erected about 700 years ago by some of the "Ancestral People of the Sonoran Desert" (in this case, the Huhugham Indians) and the foundations of a number of outbuildings and of the wall encircling the compound.

We picked up some food from the Casa Palomino, a Mexican restaurant in Coolidge.  The place was highly recommended.  It's a hole-in-the-wall, but the food was excellent.  We both took home taco salads for lunch.

Friday was another pickleball morning.  Then Becky spent the rest of the day preparing for a small high school reunion taking place in Indio, California, this weekend.  We had Panda Express for dinner.  Always delicious.

Becky left early Saturday morning for the four-hour-plus drive to Indio.  Ramsey and I managed to survive.  I made Rotini, with a spicy Marinara sauce and Costco meat balls, for dinner.  Yummy.  Ramsey woke me for the first of his two morning walks at 5:30 on Sunday.  That's about par for him.

Becky's San Marino High School reunion was attended by about 60 people.  The venue was the Corona Yacht Club---near Indio. 

It originally was a desert-plant nursery, but was converted to a center for parties, weddings, and other social events.  In attendance were several San Marino friends from Becky's old neighborhood---Drake Blize, Bev Blize, and Gary Stevens.

Becky returned from her reunion Sunday afternoon, and that evening we returned to Feli's Cuban Kitchen for what was called an Italian Wine Country Dinner Diversion.  It was a five-course, five-wine extravaganza, the entree of which was coq au vin.  The meal lasted four hours.  Truly delicious.  A very nice presentation.  They even had a four-piece combo playing '50s jazz.  Great. 

When we arrived, we were told there were only tables for four available and we would, therefore, be sharing a table.  We opted for a table in the middle of the room at which a middle-aged couple was already seated.  It turned out to be a great choice.  Duane and Hope Wallace have been residents of Casa Grande for a zillion years.  He is president of a bank; she is a travel agent.  We had a lot of common interests.  The four hours went very quickly. 

Monday, Clark and Barbara Gates came up from Tucson to see our home-on-wheels for the first time.  (We've talked about it with them for years.) 

We returned to the Francisco Grande Hotel & Golf Resort for lunch.  This time I had their Classic Club sandwich. Yummy.

Tuesday involved a trek of 200+ miles (roundtrip) to Flagstaff for a long-overdue visit with my doctor there.  (I hadn't seen him for almost four years.)  We followed that up with lunch at our favorite Flagstaff restaurant, Pato Thai on San Francisco Street.  Not being one to break with tradition, I had Cashew Chicken.  As always, it was wonderful.

On Wednesday, Becky played pickleball while I read.  (I finally finished an old Scott Turow book I've had for weeks, Pleading Guilty.  Not bad.)  Later, Becky took Ramsey to the vet for his preventive rattlesnake-bite shot.  Ramsey needs that annual vaccination when we board him at 2nd Home Boarding in Acton.

I also finished up the first installment of a family history I am preparing for my granddaughter Meghan.  She requested it for her 20th birthday, which is April 8. 

It has been quite an exercise recalling a number of things that have contributed to who I am and, indirectly, who she is.  The more I wrote, the more I remembered.  Quite fun.     

Thursday morning, we went to the park to play some more one-on-one.  It got so hot (in the 90s) we quit after only two games.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing and ducking the heat.

Friday, Becky went back to her pickleball games while I ran some errands, started to get the rig ready for travel on Sunday, and read.  We had lunch at a local favorite, BeDillon's. 

Tha place started in 1917 as an adobe home.  It was converted to a restaurant in 1989.  It's an odd place, with funky decorations and a cactus garden to beat all.  But the food was good (I had fish & chips) and the place deserved its good reputation.       

 
Saturday, we took a 7.6 mile bike ride through the old downtown section of Casa Grande.  There are some pretty bleak residential neighborhoods nearby, and the commercial area does not appear to be booming.  Then we returned to Lucky for another sushi fix.  (We don't know if our next destination has a sushi restaurant, after all.)  Saturday night I finished a John Grisham novel, The Broker.  Very good.   That ended our activities in Casa Grande.