Of course, the obvious difference for us is we usually don't shop in the same grocery store more than once or twice and the view outside our window changes every few days.
My grocery store of choice is now officially Wal-Mart. I have learned after being in different Wal-marts all across the country and in Canada that they basically are all set up the same. Which means when we do our grocery shopping, I have a pretty good idea where to find what we need without walking all over the store. When we go to Safeway here, Food City there, Ralph's in another place, Giant Foods somewhere else, etc., I spend way too much time looking for groceries and many times end up buying things we don't need and at a higher price. At Wal-Mart, I get the best prices and I don't have to spend a lot of time looking for our groceries.
Even after our big grocery trip yesterday, we thought of a couple of other things we needed. Also, the right passenger tire on the Honda has a slow leak. And we wanted to visit Lazy Days in Tucson. And we thought about trying out one of the bike trails in Tucson.
We drove to Discount Tire first to get the tire fixed and get all the tires rotated. Since it was going to be about an hour and a half wait, we decided to walk around the shopping center which is kind of like Providence in Mt. Juliet or the Avenue in Murfreesboro. And guess what? I found 21 cents when we began our walk. I'm a rich girl now. :)
By the time we got back from our walk, they were just about finished with the car. When I went to pay the bill, guess what? No charge. We couldn't believe it! We didn't even buy our tires from Discount Tire. And they didn't charge for fixing the flat or rotating the tires! WOW!!!!!
We stopped at a Subway for lunch after leaving Discount Tire and then drove by Lazy Days. Next, we went to Wal-Mart to get those few items I forgot yesterday and when we started to check out, the lines were 4 to 6 customers long. The long lines can be one of the bad things about shopping at Wal-Mart. However, while I was standing there waiting, I noticed a light come on Register #7 and no one else did. So I walked right up and we were checked out in just a couple of minutes.
I'm on a roll: found 21 cents, no charge for flat tire or rotation, 1st in line at checkout.
Our last stop was Walgreens. The main thing we buy at Walgreens besides occasional prescriptions is Nips. What is a Nip, you ask? Nips are a hard caramel candy with a soft center and come in 4 or 5 flavors. Our favorite is Chocolate Parfait and has a soft chocolate center. The best part is they are only 30 calories.
Chuck's aunt, Anna, introduced us to Nips when we were together in Pensacola for the Snowball Rally last year and we have been hooked ever since. You know how when you finish a meal you just want that "little sumpin' sweet?" Well, a Nip satisfies that craving. So after almost every lunch (picnic or otherwise) and after every dinner, we treat ourselves to a little nip! :)
For some reason, no Wal-Mart in the country carries Nips. But every Walgreens has them. Chuck let me out at Walgreens to replenish our stock of Nips and guess what? When I went to pay for them, we had $3.00 on our Walgreens Balance Rewards Card so those 3 boxes of Nips only cost us 87 cents!
I'm on a roll. I probably should buy a lottery ticket today or something. :)
Later that evening, we decided to go for a walk around Justin's Diamond J RV Park (which is a mouthful to say and a handful to type)! :)
The mountains behind us were absolutely beautiful.
As we walked around the campground, we saw green prickly pear cactus,
red prickly pear cactus,
barrel cactus,
and our favorite, the saguaro cactus.
According to the Saguaro National Park website, while the saguaro cactus will normally reach a height of 40 feet tall, they grow very slowly. It can take a saguaro cactus 10 years to reach one inch in height. By the time they are 70 years old, they will be about 6 1/2 feet tall and by the time they are 95-100 years old, they will be 15 - 16 feet tall and could start to produce their first arm. By the time the saguaro is 200 years old, it has reached its full height and may have many arms...or none.
200 years old!!! Isn't that amazing!!! Based on their height, these saguaros were probably over 100 years old!
Some of these saguaros have holes in them in which birds will make their homes.
I call these guys the Three Amigos.
As we finished our walk, the setting sun provided some spectacular pictures.
When we get to see beautiful sunsets like this, it reminds me of how very, very blessed we are.
Love the photos. I thought you were going to say while waiting in line to pay for your candy, the person in front of you left you go 1st, you were the 1,000,000. Customer, and won a free car. Keep enjoying.
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