December 13, 2019
Dear Everyone:
“Jeannie”, “Marshall” and I spent “Thanksgiving” at “Richard and Marge’s” place in Tucson, Arizona last weekend. We opted to go the week after the formal Thanksgiving holiday to avoid all the crowds and associated travel horrors. Example: Two days before Thanksgiving Oakland International Airport experienced a total blackout for several hours. Wouldn’t that have been a fun thing in which to participate?
“Marshall” flew from Fresno to some intermediate airport then on to
Tucson, where he waited several hours until “Jeannie” and I arrived
aboard a non-stop flight from San Francisco.
Once we assembled, we walked a short distance to the rental car
terminal.
I had reserved a car. This
turned out to be fortunate because the rental agency was apparently
experiencing something of a shortage at the time.
As long as we were all there, I had the agent add “Jeannie” and
“Marshall” to the agreement; that way any one of us could hop in the car
and run to the store, or to the hotel that “Richard” had recommended for
us.
As it happens, “Marshall” (a thousand blessings be upon him) did all the
driving. The rental car did
not happen to include a navigation system; but “Marshall” had his iPhone
with him. He was even
equipped to plug the smartphone into a USB port in the car to link it up
with the phone.
This meant that a voice came from the sound system to give us
turn-by-turn instructions to get from the airport to “Richard and
Marge’s” place in Oro Valley, a suburb of Tucson.
And from there to the hotel and back and so on and so on…
The navigation system used the typical female voice to give directions.
I’m guessing that extensive research indicated that some people
object to accepting driving directions from a man, but will accept them
from a woman. On the other
hand, I’m fairly certain that I heard brother “Richard” refer to it as
“The bitch in the box”, which suggests that not everyone is on
completely board with the concept.
On the other hand, using a female voice may just have been
cheaper for the company that supplied the app.
In any case, “she” helped us to get around without getting lost; and
that’s a plus in my book.
“Richard” arranged a number of activities for us.
One day we visited an outdoor Desert Museum, which involved a lot
of walking along directed paths and seeing many flora and fauna native
to the greater Southwest region.
I took around five dozen photos, one or two of which might
actually be useable on my website.
At one point, we all congregated at a specific location while specially
trained rangers enticed local birds of prey to fly nearby.
One of the birds actually decided to land on the ranger’s head,
which didn’t look too comfortable for either of them, but which made for
a spectacular shot.
Before anyone thinks I was tramping along on foot, “Richard” had
arranged for me to use an electric scooter furnished by the park.
This made going from one site to the next much easier on me.
I became rather proficient at zipping along the hairpin turns
leading up and down and only lost the entire group once.
I tried calling one or more of them, only realizing later that my
cell phone was still on “airplane mode”, resulting in leaving messages
that would probably never be heard.
Nevertheless, we had a great time.
Another day, we took a tram up into one of the mountain ranges that surround Tucson on three sides. The city, by the way, is nestled on an alluvial plain at the base of all those mountains. The name, “Tucson”, is actually a Spanish derivation of a phrase in the local Native American language, which means “at the base of the black hill” (more or less). What this means in geologic terms is, whenever it rains in the mountains, all the water comes crashing down on Tucson.
We also attended a free concert in one of the many parks to which
“Richard” is a now a card-carrying member.
“Richard” and “Marge” have a lovely home, built in the modern desert
style, with high ceilings and lots and lots of windows overlooking their
swimming pool and the surrounding area replete with desert plants.
They live in one of many, many gated communities occupied by
people of the retired disposition.
Still lots and lots of building going on in the area.
The homes are far less expensive than in the Bay Area, which is good if
you like living in the desert, which they do.
Of course, we visited in the “dead” of winter, with highs in the
low 60s. I’m sure it’s quite
different in July.
All in all, we had a great time and look forward to visiting again when
they’re ready to play host to us.
Or any other family members eager to experience the desert in
comfort.
Love, as always,
Pete
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