Nov 1: we arrived at our home away from home at about noon after a 100 mile, 1 new year bird trip from Sierra Vista.
Barid Sparrow
our home for the next 5 months!
So far we like the house, although I thought the pictures showed a recliner but NO... oh well.. We bought a collapsable ottoman from Walmart! who knew there was such a thing??
Of course we had to do a bit of grocery shopping and unpacking.
2 more year birds showed up in our yard.
Nov 2: we walked the neighborhood in the morning before our Walmart shopping excursion. We signed up at the Green Valley Recreation, so that we could enjoy their pools etc. We do have a pool in our neighborhood that is not part of GVR but the pool does not open until 7 am. Eric likes to go swim laps at 5:30 am..
Nov 3: Eric went to our old pool for his morning laps while I worked on pictures for the blog!!
the pool in our hood
Nov 4 we went to Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson for a fun morning.
yard birds
Gamble's Quail
great night for a fire!
Mon Nov 6: up to Mt Lemon, it started out a bit cool but quickly warmed up, I changed into my shorts by 10:00. We found a few birds we were looking for, good hiking and not too many people on a Monday. Such beautiful vistas, we ended up going to 9000 ft, its about 25 miles up the mountain from the bottom.
Yellow Eyed Junco
Wed Nov 8: sunrise
Down to Patagonia State Park and Paton's Home. another beautiful day of clear skies and warm weather. Cool front coming in tonight, ending our high 80 to mid 90 degree weather.
Nov 9:
we found this Wind Phone on our walk today. We had been seeing it being built over the last year or so.
Friday Nov 10: We found a new restaurant at a golf course. Dominicks of Green Valley. We got there early enough to get a table without reservations. The service and food was really good. next time we will make reservations!
Monday Nov 13: We have been visiting some of our favorite hiking places. There are so many here in the Green Valley area. the De Anza Trail goes for miles and miles.
pool time!
Butterfly? Moth?
Nov 16: off to Phoenix to catch our flight to St Paul tomorrow. Good day birding on our way to Phoenix, 4 new year birds! maybe we will get a few in MN??
a stop at Sweetwater in Tucson
Nov 17: up early for our journey to MN. We awoke at 4:25, got to our gate at 5:25! We dropped the car off at the airport then was able to walk to ticketing. A bit crazy going through security, but no taking off shoes, or pulling computer or liquids out of bag. Whatever...
The flight was right on time, we both had Blueberry French toast that was very good. watched a movie and landed 2.5 hours later! After we collected our luggage and picked up the rental car we went for a much needed walk by the river. The weather was a bit cool (45) sunny with a little wind. Our room was available by noon, we headed to the hotel to unpack and meet up with brother Ray for lunch. we went right by our hotel to Burgers and Bottles for a delightful hamburger and fresh cut fries.
We left the hotel at 3:20 to go to the funeral home. The nieces had set the room up very nicely. Sad time but nice to see friends and family we have not seen in quite awhile. Ray, Eric and I went to Lone Oak Grill for a pizza afterwards, again within walking distance or our hotel.
Nov 18: Oh boy it's pretty cold outside. At least the sun is shining! We headed out of the hotel early, first stop was to look for the trees the neighborhood friends planted a few weeks ago in Jenny's honor. We found the flags but not sure if the trees were alive or just dormant. We did see a Cardinal flying and chatting away at us, could it have been Jenny?
next stop was to look for the Sage Thrasher in Battle Creek Park. We spent about 2.5 hours walking around looking for it, no luck. we did find a big buck!
A quick drive to Portillos for a wonderful hot dog before going back to the hotel for a nap and shower.
We left the hotel at 2:15 for the church service.
dinner at the Buca Di Beppo in St Paul. We lucked out and got the Pope's table!
Sunday we hung around St Paul, went for a nice hike then to MOA. We have not been to MOA in years! it has changed a bit and since we got there early it was not crowded.
Dinner with Ray at Axel's, another place we have not been to in years! Wonderful dinner but too much food.
Monday Mov 20: up early and off to the airport. It took us less than 30 minutes from the time we left the hotel to get through security! no lines dropping off the car, checking our bag nor at security! We walked the airport for about an hour. Our plane left on time, I had the cheese plate, Eric had the breakfast sandwich. We landed early, meaning our gate was not available. We only waited about 5 minutes before parking. We got to luggage but our luggage alone with a few others took a long time to show up. must have been a flat tire on our shuttle! Oh well. The airport was so crowded, we needed to take the escalators to get to our car, its the same escalators to go through security! what a mess. we finally asked how to get there via the elevators. From the time we landed until we got to our car was about 1.5 hours! hmm...
We arrived in Wickenburg at about 2:00 and was able to take a walk then check in. A walk around town and a good dinner. Cute little town.
Tues: off to Las Vegas. Welcome to Nevada and the Hoover Dam
The best is the full wall projector!
it even has a washer/dryer in the bathroom! Oh yes, we need to wash a few items
Since they are still taking all the stands etc down, a lot is done at night, a bit of noise from the street could be heard on the 28th floor.
Wed: Sunrise from the 28th floor
We picked up John Castro for lunch at Sam's Town. Great seeing him after a year. We sat and talked for a few hours.
Eric and I had tickets for The Sphere
the show was phenomenal! the first hour is walking around looking at various AI robots, holograms etc. $19 for a beer! they have food too. the show began promptly at 5:30, ending at 6:20. the seats shook, wind almost blew Eric's hat off. It was well worth the money and time. We had been watching them build this venue for a few years. so glad we were able to come back this year.
Thursday Happy Thanksgiving!
After our morning walk at Corn Creek, where we got 3 more year birds! We headed back to town. Met up with John at 2:00 for a delightful turkey dinner at his hotel. Oh so good, we sat for about 1.5 hours eating and talking. what a wonderful afternoon.
Friday Nov 24: time to head back to Green Valley. First stop is the Henderson Bird Viewing preserve. We were not able to make it here yet and it is one of our favorite places to hang. We are heading to Surprise AZ for the night. Not too much traffic on the roads.
great journey to Surprise. Dinner at Fuzzy's, wonderful Corned Beef Ruben and a delicious BLT.
Saturday: time to go home! it seems like it was a long 2 weeks, so many emotions in so short a time. We stopped for a few birds but they did not cooperate! A quick stop at the grocery store, then time to unpack etc... and relax.
Oh my gosh we were greeted with not one but two rainbows! how often does that happen in the desert?
looks like the mountains in the back have snow on them!! maybe just clouds...
It's great to be back home and back to our routine. We went looking for the Rufus Capped Warbler on Sunday. With about 20 other people. Eric had to walk way up the mountain but managed to get a quick glimpse, I waited below, hoping the birds would come down the mountain! I will try again another day.
Thurs Nov 30: Back up to the mountain to look for the Rufus Capped Warbler. We hiked up a ways before going to the "dam" to look for them. They have been showing up between 10:30-1:30 every day. We got there at 10:00. the birds showed up at 10:45.
Lifer # 669 for ABA (USA) and #925 for World
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