Man, talk about conversations with God! But let me not digress.
Though the foremost reason for her flying me out was to help move there were moments of leisure. After a day of packing we hit a local roadside vegetable stand that had me buying and sending home the largest most fragrant bunch of garlic I had ever encountered. Moving on to a farmers market where we bought fresh artisan bread, salad dressing and beets. I even picked up some Tequila flavored pistachios. We thought we would cook together more than we did. But moving is more frenzied and chaotic than you realize! Another day we went to Johns Incredible Pizza Company. One of my nephews favorite venues. A damn good buffet with several themed areas to enjoy the bounty. Then off to the arcade area. Granted, not a typical place you would find me but I jumped into the moment. Played a couple inter-active video games with the boy as well as games with the sister. Was slightly weirded out by a little girl that after complimenting my jewelry (made and gifted by the boy) seemed to be stalking me. Took a minute to realize she was looking for someone to fund her games or give her tickets! Then we spent a few following days running for boxes and packing. After another morning of packing I was treated to the Food Trucks. OMG, we feasted on so much food we could barely move! So fattening but also beyond delicious! Next came Bravo Farms. A very cool place you can visit for free. I started snapping pictures and making notes thinking I would submit a travel article. Haven't done that yet but haven't given up the idea either. On to another smaller place that had an interesting World War 11 monument. But let me not forget to also mention the photo booth with the clown on top we slid into for a photo op.
Moving day looms, sister stressed, we manage to get everything done. Moving day is a story for later!
Ah, sweet Arizona, a love like no other! We arrive after a full day of travel from California. Help unload the truck into storage units and the temporary apartment. The apartment is smelly but for me the pool and potential forays into the desert and mountains offset that. Alas my sister did have to house hunt. Looking at houses was okay for a bit. We found simple things to do in between. We went downtown one day to the theater to watch Maleficent. Awesome. Wandered the square, found her favorite used bookstore she thought had closed and then hit the dreaded grocery store. Did I forget to mention we had to go grocery shopping more often than either of us liked?? She and I did finally get our girls day out despite all the set backs that reared their ugly heads. Book stores, wandering downtown, a hole in the wall taco place that had the most delicious cuisine and the casino where she won a little and I lost (I still think gambling is stupid). Brother-in-law took us into the Gila Mountains to see the petroglyphs which was cool. We were almost back down when my foot slid on shale and I fell. Stove my right thumb, wrist and shoulder not to mention the nasty looking bruise on the upper right thigh. Guess that is the price you pay when you take a small petrified piece of cactus and stone from the mountain. A double ear infection in my left ear kept me in Yuma a week longer. Luckily I had documentation from the Emergency Room because people back home were not buying it! I wasn't hating the delay entirely, although the pool was closed due to some kind of misbehavior by others most of those days. We didn't ponder that information too closely!!
They found and bid on a house in the days just before I left and soon after arriving back home I received the news it was theirs. Cool, I know what their place looks like. Have a feel for it. My hope is I can travel there on a regular basis from here on out.