Last week I had a vacation day on Thursday, and I don't go in to work on Fridays, so we took the four-day weekend and went to visit long-time friends, John and Dixie Murray. We met them back in the '80s, when they were brand new Christians. They were eager Christians then, and they still are, and it was a joy to visit them in their Green Valley, Arizona home.
We stopped and walked into the desert a bit, trying to get closer to the saguaro cactuses that are so interesting. Watch out for snakes!
Watch out for wierdos!
After you turn off the 10 freeway and head down to Green Valley on Route 19, this is how it looks. There are black mountains all around you and it's really beautiful! The sunset was so pretty! We left at 7:30 in the morning and arrived at about 6:30 in the evening, losing an hour at the border.
John and Dixie were having their Life Group at their home on Thursday evening, so we got there just in time to share dinner with everyone. They were a nice group of people. Green Valley is an age restricted community - you have to be 55 or over, and they said it took some getting used to... seeing only old people, everywhere. But there are no schools anywhere, just well appointed recreation buildings, pathways and nice homes.
On Friday John drove us around to some of the local sights. I just took pictures of some of the things that caught my eye...
A pretty fence...
Here they are, waiting for me to take my fence picture. And below, eating at a great Mexican restaurant. John is growing the beard for the community Christmas outdoor pageant they're doing - they'll take guests in groups down a winding path on their new church land, where people will meet Roman soldiers and other interesting or exciting people. At the end, they get to the manger, where they can view the cross in the distance. It sounds wonderful!
We went out to their church property where John explained their plans and told us the story of their new church and how they got the land. They are in a great spot in the neighboring town of Sahuarita.
On Saturday we drove up into one of the mountains you can see from their house, to the base of a trail where John and some friends like to hike. They get quite a bit of snow up there and it's very green. It reminded me of one of the backroads behind Solvang.
This is another view along that road, as we were coming down. There was so much beauty!
This is John and Dixie's neighborhood. They look at these mountains every day, and this is where we went, in the pictures above. It looks dark and dry from here, but it's actually green once you get up there.
John and Dixie's front yard landscape.
Driving home, I just enjoyed the scenery. Saguaro cactuses can live for up to 200 years. You can tell the oldest ones because they have "arms." The youngest ones are just straight. It was so interesting because some of them look almost human! There were two right next to each other that looked just like a couple dancing! Another one looked like it had a monkey with a curling tail in it, but it was all just pieces of the cactus.
We stopped in Gila Bend, AZ, and I just had to get a picture of this whole place. Not sure how they happened on this theme...
Driving back into LA, we were pretty tired, but we sure did have a good time!
4 comments:
It is nice just to take off and enjoy a road trip. There is something about the desert that is calming. Looks like a fun trip.
Wow, what fun pictures! Looks like you had a great time. :-)
What a nice trip! John and Dixy look great.
What a fun trip! I love that you made very good use of your weekend-- sometimes we need to putter around at home for a couple of days, but I think it's great when we have the oomph to go do something memorable!
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