February 2011 week-end in Arizona

My partner Greta and I spent four days in Arizona last week-end visiting her daughter Tammi and son-in-law Stephen.

Tammi and Stephen purchased a home a year and a half ago in Gold Canyon, which is located 40 miles east of Phoenix just off Highway 60. Stephen, a retired Marine Sergeant-Major, is nearing completion of his studies in the Executive MBA program at Arizona State University. He is also employed full-time in the Human Resources Department at Freeport-McMoran, one of only three copper smelters left in the USA, in the city of Miami, 48 miles further east from their home.

On Saturday, while working on a jewelry store case study for his master’s degree program, Stephen got to hold in his hand a 76 carat, $50,000,000 pure diamond.

While expecting little more than a visit with family, Greta and I found the four days filled with surprises and learning experiences.

On Friday, Tammi, who is studying to become a Pinal County master gardener--a designation that requires 50 hours of volunteer work in community garden projects and attending class once a week for a semester--sponsored by the University of Arizona, escorted us on a tour of the W. Boyce Thompson Arboretum, a State Park, near Superior, Arizona.

This has to be one of the best kept secrets in Arizona. Of the entire 300 acres, the park is 80 acres. Greta and I were stunned by the beauty and diversity of the vegetation that was imported by Boyce Thompson when the park began in 1923. The saguaro cactus plants and the cactus garden are worth a visit by themselves. If you love plants, make this a must-see visit. The website provides the details: http://ag.arizona.edu/bta/

A friend of Tammi and Stephen offered us tickets for the opening spring training baseball game between the Angels and Dodgers. We were seated six rows behind home plate and got to photograph former Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda and Angels owner Arte Moreno from a close distance.

We had dinner with Greta’s friends and former Orange County residents, Pam and Jim, who live in Port Townsend, Washington, but who vacation in Phoenix during the winter, as so many people from colder climates do. When they stay in Phoenix, they don’t even need a car; they take public transportation everywhere. It is reasonable and gets them to every location they want to go.

On Saturday night, it rained hard. The view from Tammi and Stephen’s living room is of Superstition Mountain.

On Sunday morning, the mountain was dusted with snow, a fairly rare occurrence, which I was able to photograph.

The same morning, another rare occurrence took place when we watched a pair of pig-like javelina munch on a prickly pear plant just outside the breakfast nook. They are named javelinas because of their razor-shark tusks. I briefly caught them on video.

On Monday, we stopped to see our friends Gary and Irene, formerly of Orange County, who moved to Goodyear, Arizona, in late 2010. Goodyear is about 20 miles west of Phoenix, just off Highway 10.

Gary and Irene built a new home on a golf course in the retirement community called Pebble Creek. The home is spectacular. But what impressed Greta and me most, were all of the activities available to the people living there from golf, tennis, swimming, pickle ball, bridge, arts and crafts, and a myriad of other activities.

Gary and Irene rave about living there. They have a separate garage for their golf cart. Gary plays softball and pickle ball. They love their neighbors. Greta and I noticed that everyone you see is friendly. Gary says, “My only regret, I didn’t retire 10 years earlier.”

One thing about living in Phoenix. The heat from mid-May until mid-September can be brutal, over 100 degrees more often than not. Many residents head for cooler weather during those months.

The week-end was filled with wonderful surprises. We learned a lot. Will we come back to our home in San Clemente, California, along the Pacific Ocean, and start planning a move to Arizona? Probably not, but we sure plan to visit more often.