Paradise Valley, Arizona: entry

At Z Tejas with Aunt Katie

January 10, 2005

We took our time in the morning and packed up for our next destination, Paradise Valley, Arizona, the new home of Uncle Gus and Aunt Katie.

The drive to Paradise was uneventful; however, we did have to make one pit stop at a Honda dealership to replace a missing gas cap. The case of the missing gas cap can be added to the list of mysteries of the road. Dusty swore he put the cap back on after each refueling. Perhaps it was those western outlaws that held up the train? If anybody has information regarding the missing / stolen gas cap, please let us know.

After a few hours on the road, and descending nearly 5000 feet into the Phoenix area, we finally arrived at Gus and Katie’s beautiful new house. Sato really loved this stop because he could chase jack rabbits around outside in their big backyard. The lower elevation allowed for much better weather for these weary Floridians. We could finally replace our jeans and jackets with shorts and shirts. The temperature hovered in the upper 60 degrees.

Our first adventure in Paradise Valley was a lunch with Aunt Katie followed by a complete tour of many posh Phoenix area neighborhoods. Considering Aunt Katie is a new resident and realtor in the Phoenix area, she did an incredible job of showing us around the without getting lost, or at least not letting us know about it. One of the highlights of the tour was a crazy looking house decorated with thousands of garage sale antique type items. We give her an A+ for the tour.

Z Tejas was the next stop of choice. Since Uncle Gus could not be there during our stay in Paradise Valley, we drank his favorite Margaritas in his honor. These are not ordinary margaritas, as Z Tejas cuts everybody off after number three. We talked about old times & family stories while in our ‘Happy Place.’ We followed the margaritas up with an excellent dinner cooked by a fantastic chef, Aunt Katie. We give our compliments to the chef for a wonderful, home cooked meal and a nice introduction to an old family drink recipe known as Uncle Artie’s (1/2 shwepps, ½ beer).

We ended the night by looking at old and embarrassing family pictures. Most of these embarrassing pics happened to be of Jim.

January 11, 2005 (morning)

Not to be out down by the dinner the night before, Aunt Katie prepared us a great home cooked breakfast. This is after, of course, her 4:30 am run!!! Can you tell how impressed we are with Aunt Katie. After a filling breakfast, Dusty & Joey said good bye to their “Pre-Sellecks” and officially unveiled “The Selleck” for the first time. What a defining moment!

With the Sellecks in check, we hit the road for Vegas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We would like to take a minute here to thank Aunt Katie for her extremely generous hospitality… if it wasn’t for Hawaii, we just might of moved in with you!