Snowbirds, flying south

 Normally, we come to our winter home in Gold Canyon Arizona, in September.  Nothing about this year has been normal.  The first major change was in April last year when we sold our Airstream trailer.  Then we adjusted to living in an apartment in Lone Tree.  Next, John was diagnosed with prostrate cancer. His radiation treatments began in mid-December. That meant he made a trip to the hospital for treatments 4 or 5 days a week, putting a crimp on any other plans for the day.   It also meant that we have spent our first winter in the Colorado cold since probably 2009.  

The treatments are complete and we wait for three months before blood tests will show the doctors if the radiation was a success.  We had planned to leave Denver Tuesday, January 31. However, a storm was predicted for northern Arizona that day so we waited until February 1 to drive south.  It was so good to get to the (relative) warmth of the Phoenix valley.  We think the temperatures are wonderful, but those who arrived in the fall describe this winter as cold.  Give us a while and I know we will agree.  But today we compare the predicted high in the Denver area of 30 with the predicted high here of 65 h ere and revel in being warm!

Our trip south was interesting.  The views were beautiful.  



From the snowy ridges in Colorado, we moved into the Arizona desert.  I always try to get a photo of the first saguaro we spot.  We have been coming here for so many years, we know right where to start looking for it,




The mountains in Arizona are so different from those in Colorado.  Each state has a beauty of its own.





As I said earlier, we sold our trailer last spring.  That means our refrigerator in Gold Canyon was empty.  This was our shopping trip once we settled in a little.  Just $276.00 of food to get started.  It may take another few trips before I am stocked up enough I won't have to go to the store every day.  The good news about that is here, we just have to walk across the highway to Bashas for groceries.  

 


John is enjoying working in his shop here.  He has turned 6 pens already.    And we are enjoying catching up with our neighbors here--and meeting the new ones.  There is a lot of turnover in a 55+ community. 

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