The Tucson Lifestyle

The Tucson Lifestyle

Back To Blogging Again

After a long break, we are going to crank up our Blog again. We don't have a good reason for stopping in the first place. I guess I could say we were very busy getting our real estate business going. Actually that is true, but it still sounds like a lame excuse.

Actually the real estate market is slow right now. Lots of listings but not many buyers. I think that will change in the fall.

Meanwhile we get to watch the monsoons here this summer...they can be spectacular. I have not seen it ever rain this hard before.

Well, its good to be back blogging. Time to go watch the rain!

Tucson Restaurants

For some reason we have been eating out all the time lately. We always eat out a fair amountbut this has been ridiculous.

We have lived in SaddleBrooke for almost 2 years. For a metropolitan area this small (1 million in greater Tucson area) there are many good restaurants. Lots of variety in types of food and price range.

Here are some highlights and lowlights:

Tavolino's-- Small and family owned. White table cloths...must have a reservation. Everything is good, from the pasta dishes to veal, fish or chicken. You can't go wrong. An added bonus is that my favorite author, Larry McMurtry, (you know, Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show, etc...)eats thereabout 4 times a week.

Wildflower-- Continental cuisine. Again, everything we have ever had here has been just great. Love to dine outside, even in the winter---they have space heaters.

Hacienda Del Sol-- Sunday Brunch to die for! This is old Tucson as it once was. Formerly a "boys ranch". You can still stay there. In the 30's and 40's this was a favorite retreat for Spencer Tracy, Bogart and Hepburn, etc... It is in immaculate condition. Food is unbelievable and includes unlimited mimosos.

El Charro-- Obviously there are many good Mexican restaurants in this area! This is one of our favorites. It is the oldest in Tucson. They still dry the beef (carne seca) on their roof as they have for over 100 years. This place is in the center of downtown Tucson. Worth the trip!

I was going to list a few that are not so good...why bother. We haven't found that many anyway.

Big Paper Day

For almost 2 years we were actually retired. We moved from Cleveland to this beautiful desert with the idea of staying retired.

It didn't work out that way..we got tired of playing golf, hiking, reading and basically relaxing. I know it sounds a little crazy, but we just wanted to get back to some work!

Real estate has been wonderful...we love it.

Back to my first point about when we were "retired". One of the things that began to drive me nuts was that every day of the week seemed like Saturday. It was fun and games every day...no diffentiation.

There was one day that was different. We called it "big paper day". Sundays never lost their identity. NFL football on the tube. We would get all fired up about the Browns, look forward to the game, then watch them lose. Ah yes, some things never change.

Now that we are working again, every day has the same feel again. Of course when you are in the real estate business, weekends are busy. Especially "big paper day".

Sun Glasses

I got to thinking the other day that being in the sunglasses business in Tucson must be lucrative. I mean the sun is always out! I love it when the local weatherpersons (must be gender neutral) call for partly cloudy.

What that actually means is if you look real hard toward any one of the beautiful distant mountain ranges that surround Tucson, you might see an occasional white puffy cloud.

I swear there is so much sun that your sunglasses wear out. I don't even have time to lose them. I think they just give up. They work so hard every day trying to keep the eyes protected, never a break...no clouds, no off days. They're tired.

You can tell when the end is coming...the pigment in the glass starts to lighten. The hinges holding the glasses together start to loosen, and those "nose braces", I guess that's what you call them, that allow the glasses to rest comfortably on the nose, they get crooked. Its all over.

Its really the luck of the draw. Some sunglasses get shipped to Buffalo,Cleveland, or Seattle instead of Tucson. They're the lucky ones. Get to stay in a drawer most of the time, work a few days in July. Life is good.

But Its A Dry Heat

Today the high will be 104F. It is still officially monsoon season although we are getting near the end. There is no rain predicted for the next 7 days. That will take us past Labor Day.

Yesterday it was 104F and the humidity was about 20%. That is actually a little bit high for Arizona at that temperature. The reason is "monsoon season". Other times of the year we can expect about 10-12%.

However, since we practice "full disclosure" on this blog site, during monsoon, it is actually a little "muggy" at times. The humidity level can get to 50-60%.

Because we are in the realty business, we talk with folks all the time who are relocating from the Midwest. They cannot believe how much more comfortable it is when you experience these low humidity levels.

People back in Cleveland who have never been here (or have never really spent much time here) just don't believe it! Here is an example summarizing the basic comments we would get:

"Hey Bob and Karen, great to see you. How's Arizona? I saw in the paper yesterday it has been over 100 for 25 days in a row. Of course its a dry heat! (laughter).

All we can say is, if you really want to be uncomfortable, try July in Ohio. 85 degrees with 80% humidity. Ah... wonderful. I must have gone thru 3 shirts and 4 pairs of underwear per day.

If your shirt and underwear costs are soaring, Karen and I will find you a great house in dry, sunny Arizona. Just log on to http://petrou.yourkwagent.com.

Freeways And Lack Thereof

We drove to the Desert Museum yesterday. What a place that is...but more on that another time.

You must use the one and only Tucson Freeway (Interstate 10) to get to the Desert Museum from the Oro Valley area. Tucsonians do not believe in having freeways. Everywhere you go is almost always via surface streets. Lots of stoplights. You never feel like your getting anywhere very fast. The better description is "steady".

When we first arrived in Tucson we thought it was pretty stupid to have only one freeway (I-10 which runs North and South). Furthermore, there were no plans to even build another one! In fact there were no plans to even have this issue on the ballot.

After all, we were from the Cleveland area and like most major cities there were freeways everywhere. Everyone driving around 80mph,constant merging, slow left lane drivers, traffic jams, orange construction barrels (the Ohio state bird), weather delays...well you got the picture.

Yesterday we encountered deja vu all over again on Tucson's only freeway. All it needed was snow and I would have sworn I was back in Cleveland.

As of this morning we are now convinced that Tucsonians are very wise people. Slow and steady on the surface streets makes a lot of sense.

If you love Arizona and freeways, I suggest Phoenix.