AZ

Tak and I "ventured out" to visit Grandma B in Mesa this weekend. She took us on a tour of the park and we spotted one of her pool championship plaques.

the Venture Out pool hall

The RV park was decked out for the holidays.

We had time for a little afternoon game of shuffleboard. The folks at VO were very serious about the maintenance rules. First you have to wax the board (above), then you play (below), then you sweep the lane with one kind of broom and the gutter with another and put the two piles of used wax into two separate bins. We were also accosted several times for not having name badges or being accompanied by a park resident. Sheesh, we just wanted to play some shuffleboard.

Tak eked out a victory in the final frame, but it was a heated match.

I'm pretty sure I won for style and technique.

Then we met up with Uncle Dan & Danny for dinner at Friday's Front Row (TGI Friday's at Chase Field, where the Diamondbacks play). If we'd stayed longer, we might have seen ZZ Top and Pink performing at the Go Daddy holiday party on the field. It looked pretty swanky.

After dinner, Tak and I met up with Lizzie at Hula's (a "modern tiki bar"). And guess who we saw? Dan Brady!

Not! I guess this was his twin.

Tiki-ing it up

We shared this huge, flaming bowl of tropical drank.

Day 2: Desert adventure

We drove to the outskirts of town to visit Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home/office/school.

It was pretty neato.

Then we had a farewell Italian dinner with Mom and Grandma. Adios Arizona!