Sun City, AZ

We've been visiting with Larry and June, my classmates from high school, who now live in Sun City, AZ. We have had a great time catching up on lots of happenings and seeing the sights around Phoenix. The first picture is their back yard. The trees are tangelos, tangerine, navel orange, juice orange, cumquat, and lemon. It was such a treat to eat out on the patio, then turn around and pick a juicy orange off the tree and eat it for dessert. June warned me that I'd be spoiled and unable to eat any more oranges from the grocery store! Their neighbor had ruby red grapefruit trees but he'd already given all the fruit away. I wish I could bottle the delicate aroma of the orange blossoms. The smell permeates the entire area. The houses in Sun City are well very neat and well kept, landscaped with lots of palm trees and various cacti in the yards.
Yesterday, we went up north of Phoenix into the foothills and Larry and Gary took their metal detectors. The group he belongs to have staked a claim in a certain area and people who are members can look for gold. Alas, they didn't find anything, but I got lots of beautiful flower and scenery pictures. The desert has been pretty and green due to lots of rainfall this year. You can see the saguaro cacti in the bottom picture.
I haven't been through Phoenix for many years, and I was amazed at how sprawling and absolutely huge the area is. We said goodbye to Larry and June and took off west this morning, ending up in Quartzite, AZ, a dry, dusty little burg with lots of rv'ers who were here for the winter. There isn't even a car wash in the area! We have to drive to Blythe, CA, about 18 miles down the road from here, to get the car washed. It gets filthy behind the motor home. For the life of me, I can't see why anyone would stay here. However, I can say that the RV park might not be fancy, but it's quiet! I'm in need of some good sleep.
We'll be here for 6 days, then we're headed to Los Angeles, namely Seal Beach. We're both apprehensive about the southern California freeways. I'm really excited for Gary because he's never been on the west coast before.
I'm going to try to put more pictures on this, but I may have to make another entry. I got some beautiful pictures of blooming cacti.
Well, thanks for reading the blog! More later!