End of the road

Yes today is the last Monday in October and it is the end of the road for us as our holiday winds down. I am not looking forward to the long drive home but at least we know the way!

I am doing some chores this morning, drinking coffee and just looking forward to three more carefree days in the sun.

Speaking of coffee.....I will do some complaining here.  I miss my Keurig!  Honestly I wish we had bought a single serve machine to bring with us.  A couple summers ago we bought another machine to use in the trailer but it would be too big to lug around in the trunk of the car with all the other stuff we brought. I have yet to make a decent pot of coffee and I can hardly wait to set my taste buds loose on a good cup of single serve coffee!  Okay I'm done.

We went to Mesa Swap Meet and Marketplace on Friday of last week. I had heard about this place and I convinced Bernie we should check it out. We dropped the dogs off at Gilbert Dogs for the day and headed out. Wow.  It was crazy and interesting. There must have been a thousand or more vendors and live entertainment. We walked and walked and walked and got mixed up and turned around as well. We purchased a hand painted pot, had lunch and left (after we walked about a mile trying to find the right exit!).  It was very hot and we were not going to wander around a 100 degree plus parking lot so we stayed under cover and finally found our way out.

There was a mall right next to the market so we drove around there for a while. It is kind of hard to get used to the difference in the malls here and at home. Here they are a whole bunch of stores and restaurants that stand alone as opposed to being connected like they are at home. Thus, you pretty much have to drive from store to store.....if you can even find what you want.  We did manage to find a Target and a Sports Authority.  I wanted to find an NFL approved plastic tote bag to take to the game on Sunday. They didn't have any in stock.

We picked the dogs up and headed back to the condo in time for me to watch Dr. Phil.

Saturday morning we decided to take a drive out to Apache Junction and go on the Apache Trail at least as far as Tortilla Flats. It turned out to be a really great and relaxing day.  The road is windy and narrow up to Tortilla Flats but no different than driving in the mountains at home.  The scenery was fabulous.

I am having all sorts of problems with iCloud and photo sharing and such.  I am happy to say that at least I was able to share some of the photos we took with our iPhones and this is one of them.  This is a photo of Canyon Lake and it shows mountains and desert as well as water.....the whole meal deal.  

When I get home I will get this laptop under control and see if my photo sharing improves.  I have only myself to blame as far as the "real" camera goes since I left the photo card in the computer and grabbed the camera to take.....This camera must have a built in memory since I took at least 20 pictures before it said the card was full.  Laugh out loud.  Now to figure out how to get the pictures off of the built in memory.  Oh sometimes I long for the good old days of film, developing pictures and simplicity.  Sometimes the digital age hurts my brain.

We had a completely relaxing day driving up the side of a mountain and down again.  Well at least it was relaxing for me since we weren't battling freeways and traffic and impatient drivers.  

The Apache Trail is America's oldest highway.  The portion up to Tortilla Flats is paved and after that it is just a dirt road which winds all the way up to the Roosevelt Dam.  We chose not to do the unpaved part and I am glad, more glad for Bernie because it isn't much fun and you don't see much of anything except the road ahead.  It was a very hot day, I think the temp. got up to 96 degrees F.  We took the dogs out for walks along the way but it was too hot for them and I think they were happy to be in the air conditioned car.  They drank more water than I did and we had ice cream, they didn't.

Sunday we were up bright and early since we had to get the dogs to daycare and then go to Glendale to an NFL game.  I had packed my plastic zip lock bag the night before.....oh brother.  The Arizona Cardinals were playing the Philadelphia Eagles and game time was 1:00 p.m.  We made our way there without much trouble and got parked about a mile away in the "brown" lot which is by a High School.  Then we walked clear across the parking lot to the shuttle buses which shuttle people from the lots to the stadium.  We managed to do that just fine and take in the sights of the tail gate parties as well.  We had to go through security before we could get on the bus.  They were checking to make sure we didn't have anything other than plastic....no purses, no totes, no nothing that isn't NFL approved.

We got to the University of Phoenix Stadium which is home to the Arizona Cardinals in plenty of time.  There were all kinds of food trucks set up so we had a burger before going into the stadium.  Of course before entry the security people check you over.  Bernie empties his pockets and of course he has his Red Man tobacco with him.....oops......not allowed in - NFL rules you know.  So.......we didn't go in just yet and he put a load of tobacco in his cheek and ditched the package before we went through again.  This time we got through and I gave him another plastic bag to put his excess chew tobacco in before he choked on it and overdosed from too much nicotine.  Honestly I didn't feel too sorry for him, but a habit is a habit.  I am amused.

We sat waaaaaay up high and it took two escalators to get us to our seats.  The game was fine, in fact it was exciting.  Philadelphia was ahead 20-17 and with one minute left in the game Arizona scored a touchdown to go ahead.  They ended up winning the game so that was a real crowd pleaser.  There were a whole load of Philadelphia fans behind us and they were sure whooping it up - reminded me of Rider fans with their green and white and painted faces, etc.!  

They did not have the roof open for the game so it was quite cool in there.  Once we got outside after the game it was like going into a sauna, a very hot sauna.  We took the long drive over to Gilbert to get the dogs and were finally home around 6:30.  Three hours later and my ears were still ringing, the noise in there was unbelievable.  However, it was an experience and now we can say that we have been to a game in Phoenix.

Today is very lazy, just doing a whole lot of nothing.