Thursday, March 24, 2016

Goodbye Mazatlan, Mexico, Hello Yuma, AZ............

After spending 8 winters and a couple summers in Mazatlán, we have decided to make a change.  It's with mixed emotions that we are saying goodbye for now to our Mexican home and friends in Mazatlán and have now bought ourselves a "park model" in Sun Vista Resort in Yuma, AZ. 


We have met so many wonderful friends in Mazatlán and have grown because of it.  We have been challenged to live out of our comfort zone, eating different food, thinking a bit broader and sometimes much different then how we've previously thought and are all the better for this.  We enjoyed being a part of the Mazatlán expat group and contributing to it's success. We volunteered at Recreo, the Library, Florecer, one of the orphanages, Hospice Golf Tournament and the local wine tasting group.  This was the 3rd wine tasting group Janice started over the years, and she will continue to start a new one here at Sun Vista Resort.  It continues to be a great avenue for meeting new and interesting people.  Joel turned in his application to volunteer here at Sun Vista Resort in Yuma just this morning.  Although as Joel says...his main ambition in life is now to power loaf, don't let him fool you.  He will also continue to be of use where ever he lives. 


After we returned home to Spokane the beginning of February, we stayed home to take care of a little business, see our family and get back on the road to head south 12 days later.  We decided to take Hwy. 395 all the way south.  We managed to do this in 4 days and found our way to the Palm Springs area. We ended up staying two weeks in a nice little retirement community in Indio just a few miles east of Palm Springs.  We had a great time doing more exploring of the area, visiting with school friends of Joel's that live nearby, and looking for possible homes to spend our winters in S. Calif.  Although this area is beautiful, the cost of living is much higher in this area so we decided to continue to drive east and visit Yuma.  We rented a place in Sun Vista after friends from Spokane also were looking for their affordable winter living home.  They found it here at this same park.  Janice spent several days previewing around 15 homes.  The prices of homes were cut drastically as the elderly (80+ years) were leaving for their summer homes to stay closer to their families. Also, with the Canadian dollar significantly decreasing, they are selling and returning to Canada.  We are sure this will change, so we wish they would stick it out.  However, this made it very appealing for us to find a gem at a pretty nice price.  The day we almost put an offer in on another home, the one we bought came on the market. We were the only ones to see it, and yes, put an offer on it that very day.  A little over a week later we moved in and have had two weeks to settle in before we head back to Spokane for the next 6 months.  Here are 4 pictures to give you an idea of our Winter Home in Yuma.