However, we have been making the most of the time we have left. Lots of Pickleball, Line Dancing and hiking with friends. In addition to that, Glenda and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary on Jan. 21, 2017. Nothing too special except for our anniversary dinner. Our SIL and daughter(Paul and Heather) gave us a very generous gift for taking care of our grandson, Aiden, while they spent some away tie in Mexico with friends. Anyway, Paul had been to the Phoenix area some time back and had eaten at an upscale restaurant in Scottsdale called Mastros City Hall Restaurant. He raved about the lobster mash potatoes so they got us a gift certificate there.
We made an early reservation and got dressed up. Well dressed up for us. I bought a new shirt. We got there on time and was seated quickly. The waiter was very attentive and took his time bringing out our meal courses. Crab Stuffed Mushrooms for appetizer, Glenda had the Chilean Sea Bass, I had the Bone in Ribeye, We shared the Lobster Mash Potatoes and Mashed Sweet Potatoes. We told the waiter it was our anniversary so he brought us a wonderful piece of chocolate cake for desert on them. This is a place you come to for special occasions. Remember I said it was UPSCALE. So were the prices but nothing is too good for my bride. :-) Fantastic food, great service and ambiance. It was so worth the hour drive to get there. The hostess even took our picture in the foyer as we left.
Would love to return again one day. Maybe for our 46th anniversary. We had plenty of leftovers to take home and enjoyed them as much the next day. I can't believe this wonderful woman has followed me into this lifestyle. Couldn't do it without her.
As I said we've been getting as much hiking in as we can and have done hikes on the Lost Goldmine Trail, along with new areas like San Tan Regional Park and South Mountain Regional Park. Great views as we did climb some and we love the desert landscape. Certainly will miss that when we leave. We've been to San Tan Park twice. The first time the weather was a little cool. We hiked the Moonlight and San Tan trails that day.
Geocache container
We even did some geocaching and found 3 caches. It was a wonderful day and we got in about 3.5 miles. Of course we had to stop afterwards for some nourishment at San Tan Flats Restaurant.
Our next outing took us to South Mountain Park. The landscape, to us, wasn't as interesting but we still had a great time and got some good exercise. We did find a cool stone building that may have been an old miners dwelling.
Our next hike took us to the Lost Goldmine Trail near our park. Another great time with beautiful desert landscape.
We are so in love with this area of AZ with so many trails to hike and things to do around the area.
After our hike we again had to find a place to eat and ended up at a Chinese Restaurant near the park.
Our next outing was back to San Tan Park for a more strenuous, longer hike. We decided to hike the Goldmine trail, to the Dynamite trail and back on the San Tan trail. Total hike of 6.5 miles. Lots of climbing but fantastic views. of the San Tan Valley.
We're going up there
Looking down the valley
San Tan Valley
What a view
The girl's acting like they're skiing down the trail
It was a little steep
The girls are about done
We even had some folks on horses pass us.
Again we had to find some nourishment after such as rigorous hike. We stopped at San Tan Village Mall and ate at Cantina Laredo's Modern Mexican Restaurant. Again, very good food and service. We even had the guacamole made at our table. Tacos, Tamales, Enchiladas, Burritos and much more.
We have another hike planned tomorrow but with temps in the 80's here, we won't be going as far or as difficult. And I know there will be food in our future after this hike too.
One reason I'm getting more hiking in right now is my need to keep the legs in good shape for a challenge hike in about a week. My Canadian friend, Ron, and I are going to hike up Picketpost Mountain. It has a 2000 foot elevation gain and mileage of 4.5 miles roundtrip. From what I understand there is a geocache up there too. This should be fun??????
I wonder if there will be food in our future after the hike. I'm thinking.......YES. And lots of it. Ha-ha.
In addition to our hiking and other activities we got to spend Super Bowl Sunday with our son, Chris, his girlfriend, Audrey along with Mike, Shannon and Mason. Mike is in Lineman school with Chris.
More food than we needed but delicious and good conversation and company. Mike's a beer guy like me and he brought some great beer for me to try and I turned him on to a couple too.
We are trying to find more time to spend with Chris before we leave but it may be difficult with him working valet jobs to make some extra dough while in school and no job. I admire his willingness to do whatever it takes to accomplish his goal. #Oneproudfather
We even attended at Meet and Greet Geocaching get together recently at a local restaurant and I picked up a second travel bug. Good people and I found out there are several folks in our park that geocache too. Small world. I continue to work on getting more geocache finds.
Time flies when you're having fun and there is no doubt about that. I will have to do some work on the rig our last week before moving on. Got make sure we are road ready.
Thanks for following along. More adventure awaits us.
Sounds like a wonderful anniversary, you two are such a great couple whom we are glad to call friends. Don't think the hiking along the Gulf will be too challenging since there will be little elevation gain. We're getting in shape to tackle some of those challenging hikes next winter. Ingrid wants to hike to the wave next winter. Hope we can get some geocaching in on our eastward Gulf coast trek. See you soon.
ReplyDeleteIt was great but like I said, it was pricey. We can still get some miles in on the beach even without elevation. The Wave Cave is a great hike. Would love to do it again next year. We will definitely do some caching as we go along together. On the road in 19 days. See you in about 1 month. :-)
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