Sun City West

As mentioned in my last post, Kelly and I left Tucson on Christmas morning and drove to Sun City West – home of Kelly’s father and his wife (Sandy).  Sun City West is an interesting place – something straight from the stereotypical pages flipping through your imagination.  There are lots of golf courses, a seemingly infinite number of retired people (some really old), and a shocking abundance of medical care facilities.

More, for the person preferring to run errands while driving a golf-cart in lieu of an automobile, this place is fit for purpose.

The locals refer to this township as “SCW” and I always enjoy visiting this area.  Something about all these retirees racing around in gasoline powered golf carts with lap dog driving shotgun makes me smile.  I’d guess that at any given moment I am the only mixed race, socially liberal Democrat within the city limits, but despite that nuance, I find a peacefulness to the area.  From what I can tell, people here seem to fall into two camps – a happily retired and pleasantly carefree person, or a curmudgeonly bastard … likely pissed-off at somebody for no sensible reason.

I get a kick out of both scenarios which affords me plenty of humor all around.  BTW, if you’re wondering – Gene and Sandy fall into the happily retired and pleasantly carefree camp.  They love it here.

(True story … one morning at the senior center fitness room, I witnessed two locals nearly break into a fist-fight because one guy was mad at the other for allegedly scaring the dog he brought into the gym.  Literally, two grumpy old men cussing like sailors and daring the others to keep talking trash.  It was awesome to witness.  Displaying a knack to multi-task, I was impressed that the guy with the dog didn’t once break stride atop the recumbent bicycle he was riding.)

Gene and Sandy are great hosts and visiting their home is always easy.  We abandon our trailer and stay with them in their home, which is  spacious and comfortable.  As an added bonus, Lilly has access to a big backyard wherein she can run freely.

Fortunately, the streets in SCW are wide and barren – a combination which easily accommodates our home for a few days.

Mabel rests quietly on Marble Drive.

Once upon a time, spending time in a home like this was no big deal, but now these periods of Airstream abandonment seem oddly foreign.  At roughly 1800 sqft, their home is not huge by our societal standards, but compared to our 188 sqft home, theirs seems huge and grandiose to what we are used to.  To be honest, retreating back to the familiar cocoon is strangely comforting.

Another benefit of arriving to SCW was my rendezvous with the holiday gift package my mom sent us.  Complete with traditional family foodie items and other gifts, the care package landed at Gene and Sandy’s prior to our arrival and I was happy to have a bit of Christmas tradition, albeit 1,600 miles away from my immediate family and frigid upper Midwest temperatures.

Regrettably, I didn’t capture many fun pictures during our stay, but like our stay in Tucson, these few days in SCW were fantastic.   Gene and Sandy are fabulous hosts and before we knew it, Sunday morning arrived and we began our trip north to Sedona.