October 24 2023: Sonoran Desert: Flying to Tucson, Gully Washers, Old Friends

 We spent the night at a Hilton property on the grounds of the Columbus Airport.  This facilitated us catching an early morning flight to Tucson and also gave us a place to leave our car until we return.  

The flight to Tucson was pleasant enough despite a 15 minute plane change in Houston (the gates were just 4 minutes apart).  We certainly did not feel like we were wasting any time as we simply walked directly onto our connecting flight and sat in our new seats barely slowing down as we walked through boarding gate.  And, in what I consider a minor miracle, our checked luggage made the same connection.  This was a good sign.

We picked up our rental car, and headed to the Sabino Canyon area in the Northeast quadrant of Tucson.  We are staying in the Condominium of friends we have in Tucson.  They travel back and forth between their home Salt Lake City and their condo here in Tucson.  They have recently purchased a new, and larger, condo, but to our good fortune they have kept the old one.  It is in that old one that we are staying as their guests.  How gracious!

About two months ago, acting on our friend's invitation, we began dreaming of our late October visit to Tucson.  We knew the weather would be dry, the temperature comfortably warm and nothing but clear skies.  Those were our Sonoran Desert Dreams.  Now, driving though hail that has piled up like snow on the ground and rivers of water rushing down the street that reached above the undercarriage of the car, we began believing that our Desert dreams might have been a little misplaced.

Sandy has known Bev since her first week in college in 1969.  We have maintained her friendship all these years.  Jim, Bev’s husband, whose only fault is that he is from Oregon, has been with her for over 20 years.  They traveled with us in Central America and have proven to be interesting (and often funny) travel partners.  We are looking forward to our time with them here in their own stomping grounds.  

Jim drove us around the area a bit (including through the monsoon) and we ended up at the Three Canyon Beer and Wine Garden.  This is the perfect neighborhood restaurant in very easy walking distance of the condos.  Jim and Bev come here often and are on a first name basis with the  owner.  And, after just this one visit I am on a first name basis with the barkeeper, and at this point feel somewhat responsible for him. I hope to give him a few more tips (gratuities) before we leave.  

I had a Sonoran Dog which is a hot dog with a pile of stuff on it that included bacon, chili sauce, sour cream, pinto beans, onions, avocados and who knows what else.  Sandy went with a chicken taco salad.  We both enjoyed our meals, the restaura and our friends.  We can easily recommend others to try this restaurant. 

We went back to the condo and spent the evening trying to make up for lack of sleep due to travel and adjusting to the three hour time zone change.