Rancho Tia Rosa, Visit from an IL friend and bike ride

It's been colder than normal here in SW Arizona due to the El Nino effect but we've been making good use of our time. Recently, on a cool cloudy day we decided to go to the movies with our friends Ron and Patsy - Our Finest Hours. Great movie based on a true story of Coast Guard members rescuing crew members of a tanker that broke apart in the NE in the 1950's. I guess everyone else in the area decided to go too.

A bunch of old retired people - Ha-ha

After the movie we stopped at a nearby restaurant for some pizza. Nice thin crust that reminded us of Monical's Pizza, one of our favorite pizza places in IL. Good food and good friends.

Once it started warming up some last week, we got together with Ron and Patsy and took our bikes to a bike path near the Tempe Marketplace Mall. the path runs along the Salt River near ASU(Arizona State University) and near where their building the State Farm complex. There were a lot of folks running, biking and walking. We had a fun time.

The path lead us by a marina

Several Cormorants on the dock

There were several birds along a wall. Also several waterfall structures and sculptures too.

This was a really cool dragon boat

It was cool seeing the new State Farm buildings being built since I worked for the company in IL before retiring.

We love to eat at Portillo's Italian Beef restaurant when we're in Chicago visiting our daughter and it just so happened they have one in Tempe right next to the Tempe Marketplace Mall where we parked to ride our bikes. It was just as great here as it was back home.

It seems that our lives now revolve around hanging with friends, hiking, Pickleball, line dancing and EATING.

Recently our friends Ron and Patsy told us about a nice Mexican restaurant so, of course, we had to try it out and how happy we were. The food was excellent and the décor was very authentic.

Rancho De Tia Rosa is located in Gilbert, AZ not too far from our park.

I'm not a Margarita drinker but they have a Margarita that is $59. Billionaire Margarita  Your grand lux margarita made with Don Julio Real Tequila and 150th anniversary Grand Marnier. Hence the name.  This is a place we'll be coming back to before we leave the area.

I had a message from a dear friend from IL that we hadn't seen in more than 20 years. Her husband passed away about 17 years ago and she is remarried to a wonderful man. They were living in TX and decided to move back to IL to be closer to her daughter. Well Kent and Verma were going to be spending some time in Green Valley, AZ near Tucson and wanted to know if we would be around last week. They have friends in Apache Junction and would be in the area. Of course we invited them to stop by for a drink and catching up. It was great visiting and meeting her husband, Kent. The funny thing is I have a brother named Kent and Verma's husband has a brother named Kurt. I'm a C Curt and he's a K Kurt. Anyway, what a coincidence. Thank you for stopping by Verma and Kent.

Well that's about all for now. The weather is really starting to warm up again and I've been playing my Pickleball and we're planning some more bike riding and hiking soon.  We're less than 2 months now from leaving the park after our winter stay. Looking forward to new places and new faces but will miss our friends and fun here. We have our reservations in Parker, AZ and Twenty Nine Palms, CA for April then the plan is to head to Pahrump, NV in May and then fly home to see our granddaughter graduate high school. Just a teaser on where we'll be and when. Thanks for following along.