Consequently we investigated the amazing airfares there are and booked flights to Tucson, to Memphis and then home from Nashville. Frontier has fares almost cheaper than a bus right now, and may I say thank you to OPEC for flooding the market with cheap gas?
We actually flew in to Phoenix and hopped a shuttle down to Tucson as that was much cheaper than flying directly into Tucson. Frontier has stopped a lot of their direct flights into more expensive airports. The first thing we noticed in Phoenix was the bright, blue sky. It was nice and cool and we definitely enjoyed our Chorizo breakfast burrito on the way home in the shuttle. We were also the only passengers with a great driver.
Once in Tucson it's always easy to go do the things we always do, eat where we always eat and generally relive some previous trip to Tucson, but on this trip, we diverged. I researched new restaurants, special events and trends and we had our very first Sonoran hot dogs. Which are fabulous, by the way. Then we ventured out to a new Tucson tradition, Tamale fest which is now 11 years old. Definitely worth the drive to Casino del Sol, which I'd also never been to. A nice gift fair, live mariachi music and some of the best tamales ever.
It was close enough to San Xavier del Bac that we took mom through that beautiful church for her first time in decades.
We managed to squeeze in an In and Out hamburger and a Nico's breakfast burrito as well as cook a full turkey dinner for my mom and now 99 year old grandmother for her birthday. She lives in assisted living, but came over for much of one entire day and we had a good time showing her some old photos on the larger screen of mom's computer.
My Aunt Cheryl came into town the day we left and we were blessed to get a four hour overlap. We took advantage of that and went through all of grandma's remaining boxes of keepsakes together. Much of my time on this visit was helping my mom to declutter her three bedroom house, and boy did we do a great job! Over four hefty bags from the kitchen alone, which my sister will go through to see which items her 18 year old daughter will want for her first apartment. Then the rest will go to charities.
I photographed everything and sent those along to my sisters so we could get the final "list" done that my mother has been putting off for many years. After watching friends develop an unhealed five year old rift over less than $1000 dollars worth of stuff, and having Richard's mom die without a current will, this was a key piece of having family work. Mom's happy it's now close to complete and we are all happy with the results of our choices. The best thing is that we were all more committed to being in relationship than having any of the stuff.
Then it was home for one night in our own bed, followed by a week in Memphis, Oxford and Clarksville to see the rest of our families.
We had a big birthday dinner for Lee, Richard's brother one night at Richard's sister Lindley's home. Then we went to an open house at the amazing Memphis Guitar Spa, and finally, we were treated to a private concert by 3 of 4 "Generic" band members, and our nephew Connor joined in later on bass. First time I got to hear Lee and his son play together, a special treat!
Next, we spent some special time with Richard's daughter and son in law, finishing up with three days with my daughter, son in law and grandson. I cherish those moments and he is such a quirky, lovable grandbaby! Oh, and we did manage to squeeze in a trip to Rendesvous for ribs with Richard's daughter and son in law, Lee and Poppy!
I've reached the age where memory does fail, so I'm glad I got a chance to revisit all my old ornaments and decorations that I'd gifted to my daughter, otherwise, I feel sure I would have spent a frantic hour or so looking for them at home! We downsized them just last year. All in all, a simple holiday this year, and I'm grateful for cheap airfare so that we will be seeing many of these folks again in January when they come to visit us in Denver.
