Buick Invitational Golf Tournament

February 3, 2009

We arrived in San Diego 1 year and 3 days after we left Puyallup last year. A complete loop from Seattle to Bar Harbour, ME and down the East Coast to Orlando, FL, across the gulf coast, through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and back to the West Coast. The day we arrived was beautiful so we went to the beach and had a wonderful dinner with martini's and watched a memorable sunset. It felt good to be back on the West Coast.

On the 6th we once again used our points to stay at a Worldmark Resort here in San Diego believing that the motor home would be a little crowded with Jason, Kathy's Son, arriving this afternoon so we once again packed up the car, this time with a single load, and moved. Jason arrived safely and the next day we took off for Torrey Pines and the golf tournament. Thursday night we had dinner at Benihana's (thanks, Jason!) as it was walking distance from our resort.

A couple of evenings we played Mexican Train Dominoes - and taught Jason how to play. Mom cleaned up both nights ... THE WINNER over the guys!!!

Friday was a good day--there were very few people at the tournament so we were able to get up close to the different holes and watch the golfers. It was amazing to watch them. We spent Saturday and Sunday doing the same thing again and it rained on and off most of Saturday. Both days were cold but we saw a great tournament that was won with the last putt of the day.

On Friday I cooked steaks on a barbecue at the time share and then on Saturday I attempted to cook hamburgers. It was raining, there were no lights by the barbecue, and I flipped the burgers and put the buns on to heat them. I went back to get them and the grill was in flames and the smoke was so bad I couldn't see as my eyes were burning, etc. When I finally got the burgers and buns on a plate one of the burgers fell off and landed on my slipper and left a whole slice of cheese on top. I didn't see this until I walked in our condo. Kathy and Jason were laughing so hard and I saw next to no humor in this. This picture is worth a thousand words.

Our last night with Jason was spent with the three of us at Hooters ... both guys seemed to think the desserts (eye candy) were the best part. Jason went home to warm (?) Seattle on Monday and Kathy and I moved back into the motor home. On Tuesday we went back to Torrey Pines to get some pictures as they would not let anyone bring cameras or cell phones into the tournament.

We then went over to the Glider Port and watched people running off a cliff para sailing. It's quite a sight but we were happy to let some one else do it.

There was one guy in an SUV spending a lot of time just plowing through a big mud hole. It was worth at least one picture.

We had a great time with Jason and the tournament was really fun. Thanks for joining us, Jason!!

We have decided to stay here in San Diego for the rest of the month and head directly to Borrego Springs for the month of March. We'll visit all of the sights here including the Zoo, Sea World, Tijuana and will dazzle you with more pictures soon.

Signing off for now!

Vacationing in Tucson

January 14th to February 1

We spent the first few days getting ready for a 2 week vacation at the Worldmark Resort in Rancho Vistoso in Oro Valley near Tucson. We had to find a place to board Tiger, our cat, as they don't allow pets. We also needed to get haircuts, stock up on food, and store the motor home. When we moved in on the 17th we brought everything but the kitchen sink! It took 2 full car loads of stuff. As it turns out, my wife did a great job of planning, and our condo was a 2 bedroom, 2 bath place and fully furnished with everything including dishes, etc. One of our first sights was a beautiful rainbow.

We were on the ground floor and naturally we brought our bird feeders to encourage all kinds of birds including a very large covey of Gambel's Quail along with doves, cardinals, gold finches, road runners, brown thrashers, white crowned sparrows, pyrrhuloxia (a member of the cardinal family)and towees. We saw cotton tail and jack rabbits and, although we didn't see them, a neighbor said there were javelinas (wild pigs) and we heard the coyotes at night. The quail came right up on our patio in large numbers.

My sister Kathy and her husband Al arrived on the 21st and we surprised them with our homemade Italian Sausage Soup along with some liquid refreshments. We spent time at the pool and spa and Al & I played golf on 3 different courses, all of them beautiful. The weather was cool but spectacular. The two Kathy's enjoyed shopping, hanging out by the spa, and talking "girl talk." We introduced them to Mexican Train Dominoes - a new fun game.

We took a day and went to Biosphere 2 where a number of people lived "locked in" for 2 years to try and live off whatever they grew to eat. It is now run by the University of Arizona as a research facility. It is quite a place and the tours are very good.

Kathy & Al went home to sunny Seattle on the 30th and the next day we moved back to our motor home. Tiger, who had a great time at the vets, came back to us happy and healthy. We really liked Tucson and will very likely go back there next winter, assuming we are still on the road. The weather is great and there is lots to see and do including very reasonable rates on the golf courses. We loved spending time with Kathy & Al - thanks for coming down to join us!!!

We left Tucson on February 2nd and headed to Yuma and then on to San Diego to the Torrey Pines Buick Invitational Golf Tournament.