Monday, June 1, 2015

Arizona 2015

Road Runner picked us up for our ride to the airport on May 6. We made it in plenty of time and had lunch at the airport. Flight actually left early! We had a 3 hour layover in Miami that turned into a 7 hour layover. First they told us it was mechanical and the plane was in the hangar getting fixed and it would be an hour later, same story an hour later, same story an hour later, then the plane was fixed but they didn’t have a tow vehicle to get it to the gate. Then, about 5 minutes before the 4th hour of waiting they had us change gates and finally we were on our way. So, instead of getting in at a decent hour, we arrived at the hotel around 2:30 in the morning. (23 hours without sleep, except for a few winks on the plane.)

My doctor appointment was at 11:00 in the morning and the doctor was very nice. My friend Mary recommended him and it was a good choice. I did have to have his office resend one of the scripts since Express Scripts said they didn’t receive it. Then again, Express Scripts wanted it written differently, despite having it written as we were told, so I had to ask the nurse to do it yet again.
Many phone calls later and an email to corporate finally put us in contact with someone in the Expat desk for Express Scripts. First we had ever been told there was one. He said we always expedite expat orders and made sure things were done properly. So, they fixed a ton of errors made by their regular people including the pharmacist who despite having the script written for 180, he dispensed 90. So, the second half was expedited and we got them in time, but 8 were broken and some just pulverized from shipping. They are going to add the extra ones to the next 180 sent in a couple of months.
So, that evening Scott and Sonya brought everything we ordered online to the hotel. They had been at the hospital most of the day and night waiting for their second grandchild to be born. Congratulations J.J. and Breanna! Hunter is the sweetest most well behaved baby. Thanks to Scott and Sonya for dealing with receiving all of our packages. We were too tired after the long flight out the night before and waited until the next day to try everything on. We were lucky that our gloves and hats fit. We each ordered walking shoes and I sent 2 back and kept 1 and Greg kept his. All three pairs of waterproof pants were huge. They were ordered from REI so we exchanged them at the store for ones that fit. I found 1 pair of fleece pants that fit and sent all the rest back. I couldn’t find any locally so ordered a second pair of the same style in a different color. All of the base layers (long underwear) fit. So, hopefully we will stay warm in Antarctica!
The biggest issue was my new camera. The cable that came with it would not charge the battery in the camera. We contacted the seller (who didn’t work weekends) through Amazon and when he answered on Monday he said if we could find a cable that worked locally he would knock a few dollars off the camera or we could send the camera back. No cable locally was made for that camera so we decided to send it back. Ordered another one from someone else on Amazon and despite saying they had one, it came back that it was sold out. We had been at Best Buy earlier and I had looked at a 30X travel zoom and the only reason I didn’t want one was I had tried Greg’s cameras and I couldn’t hold it still enough. This zoom had really good stabilization so I researched those and decided to just switch to that type of camera. So, we returned the camera, several batteries and the battery charger (all to different sellers) and ordered the new camera, batteries and charger. I ended up with a Panasonic Lumix DMC DS50. I LOVE this camera! Lots to learn before our next trip, but honestly the point and shoot takes really good pictures. So, I guess it was meant to be to get that camera instead of my other choice.
So, the rest of our time was spent stocking up on other things we can’t get here or are cheaper in the States. We had a list of our favorite restaurants and split time between Scott & family and my BFF Mary. Scott and Sonya made a wonderful Nueve de Mayo (we arrived too late for Cinco de Mayo….lol) feast. Carne Asada, beans, tamales, fresh salsa and guacamole and more! Seriously good food! The grandkids came and we played a bit of shuffle board in Scott’s “Man Cave” and Anthony and Erika sang some karaoke. Erika has a really great voice! Not sure who she got that from. (No one wants to hear either of us sing)
 Scott manning the grill

 Scott & Sonya's house

 the Man Cave


 Bearded Dragon
 Belle
 Scott & Sonya
 
Sunday, Scott met us for lunch at Five Guys and he brought me a beautiful Mother’s Day card. Anthony and Erika met us at the Mini Golf place and we had a nice afternoon with them.
 Scott retrieving a ball that landed on top of the net
 Anthony


 Erika

Scott & kids
Monday we went to Mary’s and picked her up for some lunch and shopping. Then, out to dinner and back to her place for hanging out. Wednesday and Friday we picked Mary up for lunch and one day was for shopping and the other for just hanging out.
 Mary


 
Thursday Scott and Sonya invited us for dinner so we could taste their Carrabba’s Pollo Rosa Maria knock off and it was fantastic! Chicken stuffed with prosciutto and fontina cheese topped with mushrooms. She had a nice salad, mashed potatoes and asparagus and texas toast. We hung out and played a few games of shuffleboard. (I suck)
 Sonya

 Yum!

 
Scott photo-bombed us
J.J. & Breanna & Hunter
 
Scott had one day off and after lunch at Los Dos we headed to Bass Pro Shop for some shopping and then off to look at RV’s. Scott took us to a great place that had quite a few to compare. We found one that pretty much ticked all of the boxes, but of course we won’t be in the market for one until mid 2017.


 
Then, the group gathered and we took everyone out for dinner at Red Lobster. I can’t believe how quiet Hunter is, he barely whimpered once. Food and company was great!



 
So, we managed to eat a ton of food. We ate at Los Dos Molinos (our favorite Mexican food place) twice, Five Guys twice, The Cheesecake Factory twice, Panera twice, Carlos O’brian’s Mexican with Mary, Panda Express twice, Pei Wei, Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s, Joe’s Crab Shack, Season’s 52, Jack and the Box and Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion. There is a fantastic Gelato place called Frost that is truly the best gelato we have found not counting in Italy. We had some almost every night. Now the diet begins! Our Mexican waiter at Carlos O’Brian’s wasn’t sure we actually spoke Spanish and repeated everything back in English just to make sure. They were easy things that most people would know, so at the end he hit us with a long speech in Spanish about hoping we enjoyed our dinner and hoped to see us again soon. I answered in English “no time soon” and he said “you understood me!” We explained in Spanish that we live in Panama.
I am very proud of my son and family. He has turned into a fine man, a great father and husband. My daughter in law is the sweetest and she and Scott seem made for each other. The grandkids are fine young adults as well.
My Dad was missing as he was not feeling up to the trip. We tried to call him often. We all had hoped he would be able to come. We really missed him being there.
We did go to a couple of parks for some walks and birding. Here are a few of the photos.
 sunset at the park












 
 Gila Woodpecker
 Curved-billed Thrasher on nest
 Mourning Dove on nest


 Desert Rat

 Cotton-tail


 young Mockingbird?
 House Finch


 Eurasian Collared Dove



 Black-necked Stilt

 Black-necked Stilt on nest

American Avocet
 
 Killdeer
 mother & baby ducks
 Great Egret


 Red-winged Blackbird
 Verdin
 paths in the park


 Inca Dove
 Gambel's Quail
 Ring-necked Duck
Rosy-faced Lovebird
There were many of these Lovebirds in the park, people had them as pets and let them go and they now thrive in the wild


 Verdin
 lake in the park


 
We also took a short drive to Lake Pleasant:







Verdin
All too soon it was time to come back home. Since we flew on points we were routed from PHX to ATL where we spent the night. (ok, 4 hours of sleep) then up early for our flight to MIA. It was at least an hour late taking off. So, we had a shorter layover in MIA. Our luggage was checked straight through to PTY so we worried they might get lost since we spent the night in ATL. So, in PTY, we were excited to see our first few bags on the luggage carousel. Then, we waited and waited and waited….one bag was missing. We were told it was still in ATL and they would send it and then deliver it to us here in Coronado.
Road Runner was there to pick us up and we arrived home around 5:00. Our friend Dave was the driver that day. We pretty much went straight to Picasso and grabbed some dinner and chatted with friends for a short while before coming back home to relax.
Mary best brownies ever! One of the things I really miss is fresh berries and we stopped at the grocery store and bought a huge thing of raspberries and ate them with her brownies. YUM!
Lost luggage…..it was still in Atlanta….was supposed to be delivered the next day by 11:00 pm, but there was a thunderstorm so they waited another day. We got the lost one around 7:30 on Friday night. Phew, everything was in there!
I have added the Arizona 2015 photo album to Picasa. I will add the May one in a couple of days.

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