Judy and Matt At Sea: ARIZONA

We found the most beautiful place in the world with the most perfect weather. Now we will see if we can live here.

I digress, when last we spoke we were in Lubbock, Texas, getting ready to go to Arizona. Well, we did. We spent two days driving to Tucson (we did see some smoke from the wildfires in the distance) where we spent a week at a beautiful Embassy Suites. The first night we were there we went to our friends from Canadair days, Frank and Diane Barker’s beautiful home in the Catalina Foothills for a glass of wine. They then took us to their clubhouse for a dinner out on the veranda with fantastic city views. We really enjoyed having a meal outside with a cool evening and not a single bug to interrupt our dinner! It was a great introduction to Tucson.

The next day we drove up to a development introduced to us by our friend Walt Fraser, called Saddlebrooke. It is about 25 miles Northwest of Tucson. We spent at least half of the day looking at model homes, lots to build on, and talking with the salesperson. No, we aren’t going to build, but this is a good way to learn about the area and the houses. This salesperson is one of many we are dragging into our “process.” Saddlebrooke is huge -- over 5,000 homes. In our opinion, the best part of the development is their clubhouses. They have fantastic fitness centers, pools, tennis courts, restaurants, etc. We fell in love with the one at The Preserve.

Sunday, after going to a local church, we met with another realtor and looked at several houses in Oro Valley. The rest of the week we just rode around and looked at areas. We decided that Tucson wasn’t for us. We have three sets of friends there and really wanted it to work, but we don’t think it will.

One day Matt met his friend, Warren Gretz, that we knew in Denver (haven’t seen him since the 80’s, but last year they started communicating by email -- I call them “pen pals”). They went flying in Warren’s RV6 experimental airplane, which he built. It is similar to the one Dick Healey is building in Aiken.

We then drove to Prescott, AZ (pronounced “preskit”). We were on our way to Sedona, but couldn’t get a room until Sunday, so thought we would just stop in Prescott to bide our time. Well, we were favorably impressed with the town. It has a great old historic downtown with lots of stores, restaurants and a beautiful courthouse square. We even had a beer in a bar, The Palace on Whiskey Row, where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday used to sip a cool one in between gunfights. One evening we went to a concert on the square where people bring their chairs and the whole family listens to music. Great fun. We drove around looking at areas and fitness facilities, then met with a realtor. We like the town, but didn’t really pick out a place we would be interested in living yet. The weather was wonderful -- dry, and cool in the morning and evenings.

Sunday, after visiting a church in Prescott, we took the scenic drive to Sedona over some mountain passes and through the historic copper mining town of Jerome. The views and vistas were fantastic. We got up to 7680 feet. We came down into the Sedona valley and couldn’t believe what we saw. The red rocks are everywhere and colors that are hard to describe (and don’t come out that well in pictures). We just love it.

Monday we met with a realtor recommended by Walt Fraser. He is supposed to be the best in town. After a long discussion on why we should buy and live in Sedona, he showed us 5 homes. He knew we aren’t buying immediately, but wanted us to see what you got for your money here. Some were more interesting than others. It is easy to get a good view as the town is surrounded by mountains and it is almost all National Park land. The town is fairly small with lots of tourists, but there are some surrounding towns, such as Oak Creek and Cottonwood, that are not as busy and have fabulous views. At the realtor’s suggestion, we went up one of the mountains to the Enchantment Resort for a sunset drink. Unbelievable views of the red rocks and valleys with the shadows ascending the rock cliffs as the sun goes down. We recommend this place for our big buck friends, as it is very pricey. You won’t catch us staying there, but it is amazing and you don’t even have to fly to France to see it.

Today we looked at some homes to rent. We decided the best way to judge an area is to live in it for a few months. We found a great house with wonderful views, so we took it from June 13 to July 31. The house is located in the Sedona Golf Resort and there is a large Hilton complex there. The advantage of the Hilton is they have a spectacular spa with lap pool, tennis courts and fitness center that is very reasonable to join on a monthly basis. It will be good to stop staying in hotels and eating every meal out at restaurants. We will take this time to learn the area and see if this is a place we could live in.

We are going back to Prescott tomorrow for a few days to check out some things, then will come back here Monday to move into our temporary digs.

An interesting fact -- Arizona does not go on Daylight Savings Time -- so it is always Mountain Standard Time. Right now, it is the same as Pacific Time. Sunrise here is around 5:00 a.m. We get up so early that we can’t stay awake at night. We have been sleeping so well -- is it the fresh air or the lack of stress from owning a boat?

Stay turned to the next blog to see how we like beautiful Sedona.

We love hearing from all of you and hope you either stay dry, cool, warm or whatever, depending on what part of the country you are in.