Tucson, AZ

We are safely home in Tucson and slowly recuperating from the very long flights from Amsterdam. We had a wonderful cruise; if you kept up with the blog you know how busy we were and how great the weather was.  The flight from Amsterdam to Atlanta was fine—if you consider nine hours cramped on a plane, "fine"—but our flight to Tucson was delayed three hours because of thunderstorms in the Atlanta area—making for a very long travel day of 23 hours. 

It turned out to be a good thing that we flew home on Sunday rather than Monday, because on Monday the skies in Arizona fell, pouring down a mighty volume of water to end this year’s monsoon.  There was lots of flooding from overflowing dry riverbeds and washes, requiring many swift water rescues and resulting in two deaths in Tucson.  Phoenix was hit even harder by the storms and flooding.  Our house is pretty far from any major washes and we are about 1200 feet above downtown Tucson, so we are usually safe from all the water.  But it is pretty amazing to see raging waters flowing through riverbeds that were completely dry the day before.    

Two happier recent events in Tucson: 

·         The opening of the Modern Streetcar, which runs through four miles of the city, covering several major neighborhoods, including downtown and the University of Arizona.  It was built on the remnants of an old trolley system, but it is basically all new, much like the trams you find in European cities.  Lots of fun to ride.

·         The opening of a Whole Foods Market close enough for regular grocery shopping.  There are other Whole Foods in the city, but this one is the first that we can really use.

Although I was happy to be able to post many pictures on the blog (the internet was far superior to my last trip to South America), I will start posting even more photos now that we are home and no longer paying by the minute for internet use.

Our next trip is Thanksgiving in Las Vegas with family from Baltimore, Texas, and California—but that’s just a short flight away.

My next cruise begins 19 January 2015:  14 days sailing from Hong Kong to Singapore on HAL’s ms Volendam, visiting four ports in Vietnam, one in Cambodia, and two in Thailand, including an overnight in Bangkok.  I have been to HK several times and once each to Bangkok and Singapore (almost 30 years ago).  I will give more details as I get them. 

But for now, LFL at Sea is down for a good rest.