Getting together with Alaska trip friends

We got together with some of the folks who were also on the Alaska trip with us in the summer of 2024:

We met at Waldo's BBQ -- they had lots of signs around the restaurant -- I got a picture of this one outside.

Being as I grew up in Virginia, I still enjoy pulled pork as my favorite BBQ offering. (I didn't know until I met and married Dwayne that other parts of the country (specifically Texas) consider only beef to be a valid BBQ option!)

Our group at lunch - Peggy and Mory, "sister" Peggy (as she and her brother, Don, were on the Alaska trip, called "sister" to differentiate her from "Mory's Peggy" and a "Peg" who were also in the caravan!), and Patti and Carl.

It was good catching up with what these friends have been doing and find out what trips they are planning this year and into the future!

Some views from closer to Phoenix

Carl had a doctor's appointment in north Phoenix so we drove out a bit further than our usual trips...

On the freeway, there was a Waymo car on its way to Sky Harbor airport.

Waymo—formerly the Google self-driving car project—makes it safe and easy for people & things to get around with autonomous vehicles. Take a ride now. (https://waymo.com/rides/)

Check out the video on this page: https://waymo.com/waymo-driver/

Are you ready to go for a ride in an autonomous vehicle?

I was trying to figure out if I would be wise to follow it as maybe it knew more about traffic patterns on the roads we were driving on -- but it was going to the airport, and we were not, so we didn't. 

This was on another street on our way to the doctor's office. I thought the palm trees looked like they had their "hair" up in a pony tail!

It is always interesting when driving around!

Taking care of business

Last week, the Annual General Meeting of our Condo Association was held. Since our community is run by the owners (via a Condo board), this is the time when the general manager and active committees can report to the owners.

The condo board members were there on stage. At this point, our general manager, Steve Byfield, was reporting on projects that have been completed over the past year. It was quite an impressive list!

There were also committee reports from Architectural, Green, and the Safety and Security Committees. All of the members of the condo board as well as all the members of the committees are owners of property here in the park. General Manager Steve Byfield indicated that he receives assistance from owners who have expertise in areas of concern to the park which helps all of us. One example from this past year was that the laundry facility was not being used as much as it had been in the past (more and more people have their own laundry machines) so they reduced the footprint of the laundry allowing the released space to be allocated to the real estate office. One of our residents had run commercial laundries and was able to advise on newer technologies -- the new machines do not use coins, but rather can be charged on credit cards or used via a phone app -- so no coins to have to managed by the community staff. The company supplying the machines is responsible for maintenance. $0.80 out of every $1 spent at the laundry is returned to our community. Seems like a good solution for our community.

After the Annual General Meeting, I was running off to a dental appointment... 

This picture was on the screen in the examining room where I was taken. I was wondering what it was a picture of, and I asked the young lady who was taking x-rays and she didn't know. I got Google Lens to take a look at it, and it said, "This image depicts a moment at the Badwater Basin salt flats in Death Valley National Park."

More information about Badwater Basin:

• It is the lowest elevation in North America, sitting 282 feet below sea level.
• The polygonal patterns are created by the constant cycling of salt crystals growing and drying in the basin.
• After heavy rains, a shallow, temporary lake known as Lake Manly can form, creating reflections on the salt flats.
• The basin is surrounded by mountains, including Telescope Peak, which is often snow-capped in the winter.

My dental hygienist and I agreed that the pictures they display should have captions for the curious!

Updating exteriors

A couple of weeks ago, one of the houses across the street from us was re-painted...

Painting in progress -- we thought that they had painted more blue than intended...

... when the painters finished, it didn't have as much blue at the bottom, but they did paint around the roof line, and freshened up the white/cream color too. The thing at the peak of the eave is a piece of "art" -- we don't remember whether it was there "before" or whether it was added after the paint job.

One of the houses that is a few doors down from the one that was painted is having stucco put on -- that can really make an older unit look more modern.

Here's another older unit that has had stucco put on -- it not only looks more up-to-date, we understand from friends who have had it done that it helps with insulation too.

This is an older unit that has *not* had the exterior updated (like our "casa", though this one does have a lower Arizona room). It looks more dated than the ones with the stucco facing.

We like seeing that owners are doing things to improve their properties. It keeps the community looking good and shows that the owners care about their properties.

A car in our community

We are trying to take a walk every day (working on being ready for our April tour) and one day we walked on a street that we don't usually walk...

... which allowed us to see this beauty!

According to the license plate holder, it is a 1931 Model A.

It has Nevada plates -- we haven't seen it driving around the community, and I don't know whether they drive it down each season or not. 

Pretty car!

"Next Steps" class at Broadway Christian Church

Last season, we were involved with the worship service here at Venture Out, helping out with the coffee and donut time after the service (aka Gabfest). At the end of last season, when we got back from our cruise, the Venture Out services had ended so we decided to try visiting another church. We went with our friend Lesa to Broadway Christian and felt very at home there.

So, this season, when we returned to Mesa in October, it was before the Venture Out worship services had started up, so once again, we went to Broadway Christian. We like the continuity of the messages from week-to-week (the VO services have a different preacher each Sunday so the topics bounce around a bit). One of the Broadway pastors, John Enabnit, is one of the preachers who preaches at Venture Out once or twice a season and had been one of our favorite preachers even before we went to Broadway. 

At Broadway on Sunday, they announced that they would be holding a "Next Steps" class on Monday, so we decided to go so we could get more information about the church and its ministries...

They provided a booklet with information that they went over during the meeting and that we could take home with us.

They also provided a pizza and salad dinner!

Pastor John Klundt (and Pastor John Enabnit) shared information with us about the history of the church, their beliefs, and their ministries.

It was quite informative and we're glad we went!

A funny experience

Venture Out is a 55+ "active adult" community.

There are definitely *senior* adults living here with us (certain days, we definitely resemble that description!).

When I was volunteering at the Activities Office recently, a lady came in ... I said brightly, "How may I help you?" 

She responded, "I'm sure that there is a Michigan driver's license office here in Mesa, but I can't find where it is located. Can you help me find the address for the Michigan driver's license office?"

I am certain that the blank expression on my face made it obvious that I was not sure how to answer. The office manager, Denise, was at her desk just behind me and noticed that I wasn't responding. She said, "What was it that you need?"

The lady elaborated, "I need to know the address for the Michigan driver's license office. I've lost my Michigan driver's license and I need to get a new one."

Now, Denise had a similar expression on her face!

I asked Denise if we'd had a Michigan driver's license get turned in to lost and found (we hadn't -- we would have called the resident if it had). 

I responded to the resident, "I don't think that Michigan has a driver's license office here in Mesa. When I had a similar situation a few years ago with the state of Texas - not a driver's license, but we had lost our vehicle registration - I had to fill out information online with the state of Texas. It cost us $2 but we were able to get a duplicate copy sent to us. I don't know what the state of Michigan will require, but I think you're going to need to do it online or by phone."

I added, "Are you okay with looking things up online?" (There are more than a few residents here who are not, and I was willing to help her outside of my Activity Office duties if that was the case.)

She said she was okay with doing it online -- and left with a smile.

Denise and I looked at each other, grinned, and shook our heads!