Josie and her friends Gloria and Terry have been taking day trips almost every week. They drove across the valley to the Superstition Mountains and took a ride on Canyon Lake aboard the Dolly Steamboat. The bathroom stalls in the Saloon made for a great photo op. One week they went to the Mesa Market, a huge flea market across the valley. On another day they visited the Wrigley Mansion (The gum owner) and then had tea at the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale.
We took a trip over to Old Town Scottsdale one day with our friends BJ and Karin. On the way we stopped at Penzey's Spices and stocked up for another year. About twice a month our friends Lee and Carol host a karaoke night at their site. Always a fun night even though we do not sing as we don't want to call the coyotes in. On another night they hosted a drive in movie night and those with carts pulled in and sat in their carts while the rest of us brought over chairs. We had a great time watching the movie "Keeping Up With The Jones."
We had a great goodbye cookout over at Larry and Debbie's. Everyone brought a dish and BJ cooked up a ton of delicious brats, steaks and smoked pork shanks. I believe I have elaborated on pork shanks before, but they are the lower leg of the pig and they taste just like short ribs but with a lot more meat on them. We finished the evening with chocolate cake shots. After you lick a lemon that has been coated with sugar you drink a shot of Frangelico and Vanilla Vodka, and then bite the lemon. The combination tastes just like a slice of chocolate cake. The evening ended rather dramatically when a desert wind storm came through and we all were running around taking down awnings and umbrellas and trying to keep all the food from flying off the table. As our friend Diane said "It would have been great to have a movie of all of us running around trying to keep things from blowing away".