Thursday, March 26th

A great day in the valley.  Busy day so no time for the coffee & donuts.  Sunny and clear blue skies with the daytime high about 88F, so it was hot.
  Another surprise, the tour Char had booked was a tour of the Ping factory in Phoenix.  Truly a remarkable experience.  I never really thought about it, but there are so many steps in producing a quality product.  They were great & remembered that it was Phil's impending birthday and that he had just been fitted for a set of clubs by the club pro at home.  The information was great and they could not have been more accommodating.  It also gave Phil an opportunity to see downtown Phoenix as well as the freeway system at rush hour.  The good news was with a passenger we were in the HOV lane and made excellent time, with enough time to enjoy the place.  An interesting fact was that there is almost no signage on the factory, in fact it was almost hard to find without a GPS.  Got on the road and were back in time for lunch.
  The gals got mobile in the morning and went to water aerobics.  It gave Char & Katie a chance to meet some of the other ladies in the park.  It also gave Char a low impact workout after all walking on their trip.  Katie loves the pool and it has long been a thing she and grandma do.

 

 After lunch we went on a road trip to see some of the surrounding area.  Our first stop was down in Queen Creek at the Olive Mill.  A neat place and the only place in N America that produces virgin olive oil.  They also offer a wide and varied array of olive oil products and samples to try.  I guess Phil tried one that had some kind of hot pepper stuffed in it and then had to try others to get the fire in his taste buds to die down.
  Then it was on to Florence.  A neat old town from the wild west whose main claim to fame now is the large and numerous prisons in the town.  Drove around a bit and saw lots of guys in nice orange suits behind some nasty razor wire.
  Got back in time for a happy hour break with our guests and then it was off to the Golden Corral.  The first time there for Phil, Char & Katie.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it and we all left feeling like a stuffed turkey.  Food was pretty good tonight and had some laughs about the desert options.  After supper it was back to the park, where Marg had made strawberry topping for the cheesecake she made yesterday.  While on their route around the park, 2 other couples stopped in and joined us for coffee & cake.  One of them was leaving in the morning, so long Gary & Linda see you next winter.  Oh yeh the cheesecake was awesome.   A nightcap of Scotland's nectar and it was off to bed.