Moving On

Okay, it's official. I've started a new blog called Scoop Fountain Hills.

We have made many friends through our blogs throughout the years, and I know some of you have gotten used to reading about our lives, no matter how mundane, over your morning coffees. If you want to continue that tradition, you can sign up on the new blog.

Scoop Fountain Hills is going to be a challenge. We lived in Arizona for 16 years before we took off on our sailing adventure. We rarely did anything other than work or take care of our house. If we weren't doing those two things, we were usually watching t.v. We called two people "best" friends and then hung out with their friends on too few occasions. Life is really dull that way. This time we're going to do it differently. In order to ensure that we stay active, I'm launching Scoop Fountain Hills to give me the fire under my butt to keep us out and about and seeking out new friendships and adventures.

I'll leave this blog up, sort of like a trail of breadcrumbs so people can follow our trail. Anyone who visits Key West should take advantage of some of the things we did and shared on The Babbling Conch, so I hope you read some of our older posts about our year in Key West.

For those of you who have been following us but have decided to part ways, we thank you for coming along with us for however long we had you. Life is a journey, and it's more fun with friends.

Another Artfest/Hiking Combo

Well folks, it had to happen. Winter snuck up on us, if only temporarily. We had 3 days of overcast, sometimes rainy weather and the temps went down to the 40s at night and high 50s during the day. I don't know if you can see it here, but that's snow (and clouds) on the Four Peaks.

The snow melted the following day, but still....

Hiking & Meeting

So I got my hair cut. There will be no pictures until it grows out a little. I also got lots of info on the town since I left. If you want to know about a place, you go to a barber/beauty shop that's been around for awhile. Oddly, a lot of what had been up in the air before we left - a community pool, movie theater, etc. - was still up in the air. A lot of money has been spent on artwork, apparently 1% of all tax revenue now automatically goes to art projects (like all those statues I pointed out last week). I got quite an earful, which is what I wanted, and why I let him keep chopping at my locks.

This and That

We're down to just a few loose ends regarding the move - mostly refunds. Gimme, gimme! Michael survived his first day at work, too.

After our looong hike on Sunday, Michael and I decided to check out a trail designated as a Botanical Gardens, located right up the street from our house, figuring we'd work out our soreness a bit. Someone basically took a wash (or ghaut as it's called in the Caribbean), which is normally just for rain and animal egress, and cleared it enough so we could take a walk and enjoy the scenery. So we did. The trail basically runs in a small valley behind some houses.

Hiking!

I just discovered that we can see the fountain from our balcony (it goes off every hour).



Friday, we headed to see Amanda & Kevin, formerly of Solstice. They lived in Arizona when we did, but we didn't actually meet until we crossed paths off the island of Martinique. Now they live 25 minutes from us, so we headed over and ate some pizza. They had a nice sunset from their place.

Pros & Cons

First up, let's give a shout out to Mikey for getting a job so quickly. His old employer came to him when they found out he was back in town, they met up Wednesday, and he got his "Welcome back" email Thursday. Now that is coming full circle. The good news is that he's happy about it. The HR person and one of his crew are the last two standing since since Michael's days (he was there when the resort opened), so things might be a little different, but he's up for it. I'm still running around like a chicken, so haven't even had a chance to think about employment, but at least he can cover the bills going forward. My income will be for savings.

I thought I'd share a comparison of where we were to where we are.

So This Is What It's Like - Again.

We are still enjoying the peace and quiet of our new digs. No a/c. No heat (yet). No pool pumps. No helicopters flying overhead nearly clipping our rooftop at 7 am (yes, this happened a lot). No planes. No fighter jets. No trolleys with speakers telling guests the history of Key West. Just quiet. The temps are the same here as they were when we left Key West during the daytime - in the 80s - but we're not sweating (humidity 35% here, not 85%). We were soooo tired of sweating.  It is chilly at night, but we haven't had to turn the heater on yet. (Heater! We have a heater!)

The Long Road Trip

Sorry for the delay. I was too tired at the end of each day to do squat, and we've run into problems with both our cable and internet since our AZ arrival (not to be resolved until Thursday). I'm at the pool using the free wifi - not so bad.

So where were? Leaving! First we stocked up on the avocados that had finally started falling from the trees.

Then we packed the truck.