Wednesday, November 29, 2000
Deming, NM - Nov 29
We thoroughly enjoyed our last few days in Tucson. We cheered on the Women's Basketball and Volleyball teams with loud cries of "Go Cats!" (you know we are such "cat" fans anyway). A funny thing about the games here is that instead of one of those modern dance groups for entertainment, they still have baton twirlers. For us it's shades of the 60s. Actually, more entertaining though -- not so cheesecakey.
We spent a day at the Pima Air & Space Museum and that wasn't enough time to do it justice. Doug's friend from High School is operations manager there, so we got quite the deluxe tour. It is the third largest air museum in the US and the 10th largest in the world. We got to see their fascinating Restoration Facility, which is "off limits" for the average tour-goer. We spent a lot of time in one of three WWII hangars looking at the B-24, which Doug's dad flew in the war, and learning interesting things about the flyers. They also have a Challenger Learning Center which has programs that are like a mini space camp for sixth graders. The goal is to get kids interested early in a curriculum that would lead to an aerospace career.
We then moved on to an Escapee Co-op in Benson, AZ. We liked the people there and the location so much that we are on the wait list to be lease holders. It will take 4-5 years, so this is not an immediate thing. One of the regularly scheduled activities was bridge twice a week, so we enjoyed that and will look forward to it in the future. We learned another new game called Marbles & Jokers and played it several nights. There is a lot to do in that area, and we did not have time to do it justice. We did do some walking at the Holy Trinity Monastery's Bird Sanctuary and saw our first Ladder-backed Woodpecker. We also visited the town of Tombstone and saw lots of grown-up men "playing cowboy". They roam the streets in full regalia advertising the "shoot-em-up" shows that happen during the day. We had our fix of tourist shops for a good while! As you can see, there's no danger of boredom at these places!
We're now in Deming, NM, at another Escapee park (not a co-op). Here, too, there is a lot to see that will have to wait for a future visit. Yesterday we went to a Stitch & Chat group in the morning. We had been missing our stitching group from Boulder and enjoyed this a lot. Doug is starting to quilt on his wall hanging, and Willie is working on Christmas ornaments. In the afternoon, we went to a nearby state park and hiked around some interesting rock formations. We also saw our first Canyon Towhee.
Our first Thanksgiving at an Escapee park was enjoyable, though since we now don't eat any meat except for fish & seafood, it didn't seem like a "real" Thanksgiving. I'm sure that will pass with time and as we get used to having pasta for Thanksgiving. We were really happy to find that none of the side dishes that other people brought had meat in them, so we could eat everything. It was quite delicious.
Our cats still seem healthy & happy, although the onset of winter has caused an marked increase in hairball production. We took Rainbow out on a leash, and she enjoyed it so much that now she frequently sits by the door and looks up expectantly whenever we walk by.
We spent a day at the Pima Air & Space Museum and that wasn't enough time to do it justice. Doug's friend from High School is operations manager there, so we got quite the deluxe tour. It is the third largest air museum in the US and the 10th largest in the world. We got to see their fascinating Restoration Facility, which is "off limits" for the average tour-goer. We spent a lot of time in one of three WWII hangars looking at the B-24, which Doug's dad flew in the war, and learning interesting things about the flyers. They also have a Challenger Learning Center which has programs that are like a mini space camp for sixth graders. The goal is to get kids interested early in a curriculum that would lead to an aerospace career.
We then moved on to an Escapee Co-op in Benson, AZ. We liked the people there and the location so much that we are on the wait list to be lease holders. It will take 4-5 years, so this is not an immediate thing. One of the regularly scheduled activities was bridge twice a week, so we enjoyed that and will look forward to it in the future. We learned another new game called Marbles & Jokers and played it several nights. There is a lot to do in that area, and we did not have time to do it justice. We did do some walking at the Holy Trinity Monastery's Bird Sanctuary and saw our first Ladder-backed Woodpecker. We also visited the town of Tombstone and saw lots of grown-up men "playing cowboy". They roam the streets in full regalia advertising the "shoot-em-up" shows that happen during the day. We had our fix of tourist shops for a good while! As you can see, there's no danger of boredom at these places!
We're now in Deming, NM, at another Escapee park (not a co-op). Here, too, there is a lot to see that will have to wait for a future visit. Yesterday we went to a Stitch & Chat group in the morning. We had been missing our stitching group from Boulder and enjoyed this a lot. Doug is starting to quilt on his wall hanging, and Willie is working on Christmas ornaments. In the afternoon, we went to a nearby state park and hiked around some interesting rock formations. We also saw our first Canyon Towhee.
Our first Thanksgiving at an Escapee park was enjoyable, though since we now don't eat any meat except for fish & seafood, it didn't seem like a "real" Thanksgiving. I'm sure that will pass with time and as we get used to having pasta for Thanksgiving. We were really happy to find that none of the side dishes that other people brought had meat in them, so we could eat everything. It was quite delicious.
Our cats still seem healthy & happy, although the onset of winter has caused an marked increase in hairball production. We took Rainbow out on a leash, and she enjoyed it so much that now she frequently sits by the door and looks up expectantly whenever we walk by.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 8:29 AM 
