Friends and Family

I had been looking forward to Monday all weekend because that was the day we would get to see our daughter Sharon again.  She and her fiance, Rod, were visiting friends down near Goodyear, AZ for the weekend, and we had planned to have either brunch, or lunch with them before they left for home on Monday.  Ultimately it was decided to meet for lunch in Surprise around 1 pm......initially we chose a place called Irish Wolfhound Pub thinking it wouldn't get too busy (St. Patrick's Day) until late afternoon, but I get ahead of myself.

The first order of business Monday, after finishing my blog entry for the day, was to dump the black tank before it got too full.  It appeared to be about 3/4's full so it was time.  The portable macerator pump did its job; all went smoothly without any untoward occurrences, and everything was put away within 20 minutes.

We were getting ready to leave for Surprise about 12:30 when our friend, Jim Ellis, from Cochrane, Alberta, Canada drove up to visit.  He and his wife, Gail, have been traveling in the southwest since they left Canada back in October to escape the coming winter.  You will recall we first met them this past July when we were traveling in Alberta.  Jim has been a member of our Newell Gurus forum for a long time and had invited us, along with Tom & Darlene, and Forest and Cindy to visit them in Cochrane this past summer, which, of course, we did.  Unfortunately, we were expecting Jim much later in the afternoon, so we left he and Tom talking and headed into Surprise for lunch.

Just before we arrived at the Irish Wolfhound Sharon called saying the place was already a madhouse.  They had tents set up in the parking lot with a band playing, and it would be too noisy to have a conversation, which was really the point of meeting for lunch, so we adjourned next door to Rio Mirage Cafe and Cantina.  What a pleasant surprise this Mexican restaurant was!  As it turns out Yelp gives them a solid 4 stars on 35 reviews.......I would give them a solid 5 stars.  We had excellent service.....the waiter kept chips and salsa coming without us ever having to ask, and the food was obviously fresh.  We had a nice, relaxed time talking, and looking at a bunch of pictures their friend had taken of them in downtown Phoenix.

The happily engaged couple

About 2:30 it was time for the engaged couple to bid us adieu and begin their 4.5 hour drive home to Rancho Cucamonga.  We so enjoyed our time with Sharon and Rod, and look forward to seeing them this summer at Lake Tahoe.....YAY!!!

We said our "until next times" in the parking lot and then headed home with big smiles of contentment on our faces.  We did make a quick stop on TJ's (Trader Joe's) for some sourdough bread, and cheese, then continued on home arriving just after 3 pm.  Jim was still there helping Tom troubleshoot an electrical issue with some downstairs outlets that are not working, so it was good to be able to see him and talk for a while.

At lunch and on our way home TLE and I kind of set out our travel plan for the next month, or so......when we leave Wittmann we will head north on I-17 to explore Sedona, then Flagstaff and environs, then north to Page and Lake Powell where we will have access to the Grand Canyon.....that's as far as we have projected, but we are getting excited to see some places we haven't seen before.

Dinner at the McCloud's was about 6 pm......TLE and Darlene prepared spaghetti, garlic bread and a salad our our dining pleasure.  I passed on the spaghetti as I had consumed more than my share of chips and salsa at lunch, and just had the salad with a couple of pieces of garlic bread.  We then watched three of our favorite TV shows with Tom and Darlene.......Bones, Castle and Intelligence, and then called it an evening around 10:30.

Thanks for stopping by!