Annndddd... We're Back!

   It's been a few days since my last installment so I figured I should get you all up to date. It's warmed up here in the Arizona desert and temperatures are now in the low 30's, heading to 35 by the time we leave Wednesday morning. Yes, it's almost time to leave!

  One thing Penny and I have both noticed is how dry it is here. I'm not a big drinker of water (wine, beer, tequila, scotch, but not water) so it's been very surprising how much we've been drinking. Yesterday, while refilling our water bottles, we decided we're both drinking about 2 litres a day... of water. It's so dry that you never notice yourself sweat but you do notice how dry you feel if you don't drink regularly. Craziness.

  Ok, so what have we been doing the past few days? Well, some sitting on our asses as we've spent a lot of time criss-crossing south-central Arizona and it's tiring! Also, the neck and shoulder thing required me to eat copious amounts of Advil and wait for relief, which finally arrived Wednesday.

  Thursday we headed up to Sedona to look around the town and play some golf. The dad and son we played with two weeks ago told us about a par 3 course we absolutely must see, that it was both scenic and fun to play. Well, it didn't disappoint:

... you'll notice the perfect follow-through position...

... and some views from around Sedona on the drive up.

And what kind of day would it have been without a decent Mexican restaurant for lunch, with guacamole and margaritas reminiscent of El Gordo's in Clearwater all those years ago. A great day all around.

  Saturday was the best of times and the worst of times (sorry Charles). It started with our usual hour in the bush with the dogs, which went as expected until Spike decided to go walkabout. After searching the trail and the surrounding neighbourhood for two hours I gave up, figuring he'd eventually find his way home or someone would find him and call Emily's number on his collar. Sure enough, after three hours she let us know he'd been found and we could stop worrying that we'd lost her dog.

  We celebrated by heading out to the annual Prescott Bluegrass Festival, held in the park surrounding the courthouse downtown. With lots of shade from all the trees, a cool breeze and our newly purchased comfy chairs it was a wonderful, relaxing time in a peaceful setting listening to some old timey bluegrass.

  Today, we intended to do some geocaching but our first two attempts were unsuccessful. We did get to climb to the top of the nearby hill/mountain so that was a bonus. Penny managed to snag a pic of this weird formation:

  That was about it for this week's adventures. We have two more days here before we exit stage left so I'm not sure we'll engage in anything interesting, although we might give geocaching another go. It's been a nice time here at Emily's house, except for the furniture, and we've had a terrific time exploring this part of the continent. We both agreed that, should the opportunity present itself, we would do this again.

  Starting Wednesday, we hit the road on the way to San Francisco. We've planned a shitload of fun and games and we hope you'll follow along as we head to the Left Coast. In the meantime, dos cervesas por favore!