Shabbat Shalom AZ

While staying here in Arizona I was invited by a customer and a friend to attend a Shabbat Eve feast with all the company. Since the host observes the Shabbat law, I could not take any pictures that evening, but I will try to describe the great time we had there. And what happened with the campground? Did we find anything better? The full story follows…

Campground story

Friday, February 25th, 2011 – So we wake up in the morning to the sounds of the city life around us. People are talking, kids are running, cars and trucks are going up and down the road. Happy Active camping day. At least for those families and young couples who came to spend here some wild time over the weekend.
We were already hooked up, so all we had to do is get some coffee and head out. But head out where? We had two options. The first one was to continue west on I-10 to another campground, that looked like a parking lot to me. They say their sites are a little bigger, but it did not look promising.
The other option was to go to a campground named Rancho Sonora South East of the city, nearby a town named Florence. We called the place and turns out they are completely full, no one single site available, except… if we are willing to stay in a site with no sewer. Sure! that’s not a problem! we said – and we were on the way.
I think we were lucky they were full, since the site we got was insulated, by itself surrounded by cacti trees and plants. Perfect! Patti was extremely happy too, you could tell that since the carpet and the outside chairs were already opened up with our small table. I completed the picture with out cordless outdoor speaker and couple of beers, joined Patti and Diva to the perfect sun.
The views from our window are amazing. Wild West Cacti, birds rabbits squirrel and other creatures are passing by to say hi, even the view from our dining room is perfect. We are happy again.

Shabbat Eve

We were invited to a Shabbat eve dinner at the house of one of the company owners. This company is our customer for some time, and apparently we do something right, otherwise I don’t think they would have invited us. We were supposed to be at around 7:30pm in chandler, about 60 miles from here.Patti took a nap and woke up by 5:30pm. I planned on heading north at around 6:00pm so we didn’t have much time. Since we are not hooked to a sewer line, and to save time, I made myself a shower bag and went to take a shower at the campground’s facilities, while Patti got ready in the RV.
When I stepped out of the shower the sight was amazing. Bright red,orange and yellow sunset colors have provided a perfect background to the cacti in front of me. This is a perfect picture I thought, but I did not have a camera with me… I knew the sunset is not going to last too long, and we did not have much time before we had to leave for the dinner so I took some picture with my phone. All the sunset pictures you see, including the one on top is an Android creation.
We arrived just on time for the dinner. My friend has waited for us outside and we stepped into the house. The tables were already set with all the traditional Jewish Moroccans salads – Paprika Carrots, fried red peppers, fried green hot peppers with garlic, fried eggplant, eggplant with Tahini,  sour cucumbers, fresh vegetables salad, beats, matbucha, orissa, potato salad, if I didn’t forget some. All with fresh baked dinner personal Challa rolls.
Meeting so many people on Friday evening is an important part of the Jewish tradition, and many feelings and memories were floating to the surface and fill me with warmth. I think it is great that those guys are meeting every week like that – blessing the Shabbat and having great time together.Anyways – after the appetizers came the main meal – again a variety of traditional Mediterranean, North African Jewish blend of spices and favors. Artichoke hearts, Cabbage rolls with Meat and Spinach,  Rice with Pine nuts and Raisins, Potatoes, Chicken, Some kind of pasta, Peas with celery, huge variety of food!
After dinner we stayed and talked with our friend, and invited him to come over and visit us in our RV. He promised he will.
Saturday, February 26th, 2011 – … and he did. This afternoon my friend came and visited us. It is very interesting for someone who is not familiar with RV life to get a glimpse into the excitement of full time RVing. His first word when he came in was – WOW. Couldn’t imagine that RV could be so nice inside. We sat down hours and talked about the RV life style, told stories about places we have visited around the country accompanied with many pictures to show off. Simply great time. We agreed to meet once more this week and go hiking together in one of the parks here around, probably Monday or Tuesday.
This Thursday Patti and I are married 10 years! that is a great mile stone and we are very excited about it. We are not sure yet what we are going to do, but one of the ideas is to spend the day hiking in Saguaro NP, and end the day in a nice restaurant in Tucson.
After that – we will probably head west and go to California visit with my younger kids for the rest of the winter. Stories to follow!
Exciting week is waiting for us, and lots of work on our hands too. Hope you like the excitement as much as we do, so stay tuned! Thanks for following along!