Friday at the Cactus Garden

Friday started off rather chilly here in the valley and almost convinced me that I should stay warm and cuddly in our little condo. Jim's wisdom prevailed and I got myself ready for an outing to Ethel M's Chocolates and Cactus Garden. It was a little chilly, but the sun was shining brightly and I was soon feeling warm and happy. I guess the fact that I had just read the paper and found that the temperature back home in New York was 21 degrees, made the 60 degrees here in the desert seem much warmer.

Thanks to our friend, Gunther (Garmen) we soon arrived at Ethel M's. We were disappointed in the factory tour as they were done making candy for the day. We did, however, get the free chocolate samples....YUMMY! Jim had decided before we left the condo that he was buying some candy and purchased their chocolate covered brittle.

The Cactus garden is spectacular. I decided rather than post individual pictures of all the species of cactus I saw, I would do a collage. It was such fun looking at all these different cacti. I plan to make a cactus scrapbook....maybe as early as tomorrow.

As you can see, mixed in among the cactus were a few flowering plants. The color here and there added to the beauty of the cactus.

Prior to leaving for this fun tour, Jim had read in the newspaper that Herman's Hermits with Peter Noone would be appearing at a local casino tomorrow evening. We had seen Peter a few years ago and loved the show. So, off we went to the South Point to purchase tickets for tomorrow evening. The price was right and we are really looking forward to being highly entertained tomorrow.

Feeling so happy with ourselves, we decided to go out lunch at one of my favorites, Balboa's Pizza at the District in Green Valley. It was delicious, as usual.

To proved that we aren't all evil, we did take a two mile walk upon arriving back at the condo.

Jim has opted to stay at home tonight watching NCAA basketball while I grabbed Gretchen and went off to LUSH to shop for goodies. That is such a luscious store and it is so hard not to overspend. We don't have anything like it at home which makes it all the more tempting.

Gretchen made a wonderful pasta and squash dish for us for dinner. Now she's doing school work and I'm just having a wonderful time on my computer.

Until next time,

~Hippo Hugs~

P.S. Once again, Blogger won't allow me to double space between some of my paragraphs. Doesn anyone else have this problem?