Spring Break 2022 - Day 4: Winding Down

Thursday, April 7, 2022

Very windy night. Woke up a few times overnight thinking I was hearing thunder but found out in the morning it was strong winds. Dianne, John, Dale, and I all reported not having slept well. Strong winds continued through the morning but it really calmed down by noon. 

Dale and I took a late morning drive to see all the housing developments going up near John and Dianne. After we got some coffee at Starbucks.

We had lunch at Brenda and Irv's new senior living place. Our server was a woman named Marnie. Brenda and Irv have both talked about her as being a very wonderful person and they were right. It was nice to meet her. 

I had time for a quick dip in the pool after lunch. 

Diane and Brenda drove us to the airport and had us there by about 5 pm. 

Our flight got in to MSP around midnight. Not at all happy to see it snowing a little bit upon our arrival. 

Spring Break 2022 - Day 3: Dinner

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

After returning from Lake Pleasant I had a pre-dinner cocktail in the pool. Slow cooked ribs for dinner. Again, it’s so nice to spend time with everyone.

Spring Break 2022 - Day 3: Lake Pleasant Part 3

Wednesday, April 7, 2022

What a beautiful afternoon on the Lake. Dale did quite a bit of driving the boat and did a great job. He seemed to be having quite a bit of fun too. Had a chance to do some bird watching. Lots of heron’s out and about but also visible in their nests. We also saw a bald eagle teaching its young to hunt. It was quite the spectacular sight. The eaglet looked like quite the goony bird as it hadn’t transformed into a beautiful and majestic  full grown bald eagle just yet. 

Spring Break 2022 - Day 3: Lake Pleasant Part 2

Wednesday, April 7, 2022

More video from our afternoon at Lake Pleasant. 

Spring Break 2022 - Day 3: Lake Pleasant Part 1

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Spent the afternoon at Lake Pleasant. After lunch John and Dianne rented a pontoon and took us all out for a boat ride. 

Spring Break 2022 - Day 2

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Beautiful sunny morning. I really love the plant life here in Arizona. All the pictures above are from Dianne and John's front yard. I'm hoping the cactus flower shown in the bottom picture blooms before we leave on Thursday. 

So good to be in sunny Arizona. 

Joined John in the hot tub early this morning and then got some pool time in after lunch. 

Dale and I drove to downtown Phoenix around 3:00 p.m. so we could hit our favorite dive bar, The Bikini Lounge. 

Back home we had a quiet dinner of pizza and were joined by Brenda and Irv. 

Spring Break 2022 - Day 1

Monday, April 4, 2022

Woke up to a light dusting of snow this morning. 

After boarding the plane I decided to watch a documentary on Julia Child. I read a fascinating biography of her almost 20 years ago. This film complimented it nicely and also brought up some new stuff I was unaware of. Very well done. 

Pre-take off.

Take off.

Above the clouds. Nice to see the sun after such a gloomy/rainy morning. 

I ordered a Bloody Mary. One of these days I'm gonna have to ask Delta what they use for Bloody Mary mix cuz it really is one of the best I've tasted. 

Delta is back to regular food service for it's flights after a couple of years of Covid restrictions, at least in first class. No more box lunches. This was really delicious. Black beans, carrots, snap peas, spinach, and chicken all topped off with a tangy sauce. 

Approaching PHX.

Dianne and Brenda picked us up at the airport and then we headed right to John and Dianne's place. Good to be here. 

We stopped at Brenda and Irv's new place.

Irv showed us his shooting medals. Harvey Ann wanted to see them too.

Irv always has some Bombay Sapphire on hand for me. He wanted me to bring it back to John and Dianne's for happy hour. He labeled it so everyone would know it's for me and only me. 

I had a little sip of the Bombay when we got back to John and Dianne's and then John made me his own modified version of a Mai Tai. It was quite good. You can see Irv in the background of the above picture. 

John made some grilled salmon and romaine for dinner and it was quite excellent. 

Again, like I said, it's good to be here and see everyone.