Glenda spent another long afternoon with us showing properties from Ventana to the Gallery (communities an hour apart). She witnessed first hand how different Mike and I view properties. What Mike thought was perfect made me want to hurl (imagine the Madonna Inn, small scale, for my CA followers). What I thought was perfect Mike voided because the club wasn't exactly what he wants. Our quest for ideal may mean living in 40 feet of living space for far longer than I may be able to stand. Glenda showed saint-like patience. Afterward we tried to treat her to a drink at a bar near her office, but she was the one generously treating us. The closest bar to the Accenture Event, we ran into Lee Westwood licking his wounds after his match play loss.
He is the one on the left and the others--I have no idea but I didn't want to be rude and ask them to step aside for the photo. Lee was very kind and self deprecating. He said he'd better turn his name badge around so folks could see it and would know who he is. As I told my Facebook friends, his ears don't stick out nearly as much as they appear to on TV.
Let's see...what else can I tell you? Oh, I'm learning about the Saquaro cacti. Did you know that if you want to buy one for your yard, a five footer without any arms will set you back about $1,000. At five feet they are typically about 50 years old and don't begin to grow limbs until they are 60 or so. How old would you guess this one to be?
Last evening we enjoyed the waning hours of warmth before another cold front is ushered into the area.
Don't worry family and friends. Mike isn't sporting a mullet...that's just some tree branches coincidentally behind his cap.
Today we were invited to play the other El Conquistador course, Canada. We braved high winds, cool temps, and having to leave the motor home at the crack of 6:45am, something us lazy and retired folks don't do too often.
Mike liked the course and the fact that folks can drive their own carts. He likes the two 18 holes courses. He especially likes how active the membership is with 5 men's days a week and 18 hole couples tournaments held weekly. I like that part and before we left I was invited to play again with the ladies on Tuesday. We'll be playing the same course that we played today because Ishikawa, a 17 year old PGA Tour player, is doing a photo shoot on the other course that day. Hmmmm.
As for the Canada course (imagine the squiggly line over the "n" on Canada), it was tight from the tees, but scenic with the surrounding mountain ranges.
According to John and Roy, two members who took us in today for our round, those mountains catch fire in brilliant colors at sunset. The local saying is, "if the mountains are pink, it's time to drink.". Good guys!
The Bermuda greens with the recent reseeding were in nice condition but had wicked breaks. They ran well but lacked the speed and the grain influence that we had at The Gallery.
Although the greens were more challenging the lay out played tougher than the Gallery, which was more open and more scoreable, if that's a word.
Snow is expected by morning in the valley. 70 degrees expected the day after. Weird. We seem to bring these odd weather patterns wherever we go. Our friends Lee and Mavis have extended a sight seeing and dinner invitation for tomorrow once the roads are shoveled (ha!). They have been so kind to us while we've been in the area. Last week they had us over for a "light supper" though Mike tried googling what that meant before we darkened their doorstep. He finally reached my daughter who explained, "it means you may need to stop for something to eat afterward." Actually we had plenty to eat and had a lot of fun and laughs together.
No real decisions yet as we are still in the due diligence process. I promise to keep you updated. We appreciate you caring about our final decision!
Mikey Mullet!
At first I thought the guy second from the right was Westwood's manager, Chubby Chandler but I'm not sure.
You sure are hanging with a different caliber of people than the rabble you hung out with in Michigan. Not cooler, not better, just different and a LOT richer.
Keep moving up but don't forget us riff-raff.
Good luck and abundant patience with the house hunting.
Posted by: Andrew | 03/02/2011 at 06:56 PM
Neither of us lean toward patience and my desire to move up and out of a trailer park is testing mine. Don't worry, we're still riff raff on wheels so we will always love our fellow riff raff in Michigan and everywhere!!! hahahaha
Posted by: Juanita | 03/03/2011 at 11:12 AM