On Friday, I took the gang down to Casa Grande where we had lunch at Bedillon’s.  For those of you unfamiliar with Casa Grande — you aren’t missing much.  It’s a pretty depressing place — economically and aesthetically speaking — however Bedillon’s is a great restaurant with great desert ambiance.  Casa Grande is about an hour south of Phoenix and is pretty much the half way point to Tuscon.  If you need a place to grab a bite to eat, Bedillon’s is the place!

This dead tree is in front of the restaurant.  I wish our dead tree looked as cool.  Sigh.

I love this fountain.  I wonder if Chucklebutt would put one in our yard for me?

Check out that cactus garden!  It’s gorgeous.  Exactly what desert landscape should look like.

One of my favorite things about the property is the family “museum.”  It’s really no bigger than a living room, but it has some neat stuff inside — including Native American artifacts and Western collectibles.

Me with two of my favorite people — Lucille and her sister Virginia.  They are some cool ladies!

This is the trellis coming into the restaurant.  I keep manipulating our bougainvillea so that it will look like this.

Here is the whole gang waiting for the bus to pick them up.  Afterwards, we headed to the outlet mall which was a bit disappointing.  So many of the stores have closed and I’m not one for Guess Brand or Liz Claiborn.  Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a Magnolia Pearl outlet store?!?!  Anywhoo, I passed time by hanging out in the kitchen store and eating a most delectable treat — shaved ice.  Apparently, I have never had a proper shaved ice.  It was so darn good.  The guy started with a huge slab of ice and this super-cool machine that actually made shaved ice — super smooth and no chunks.  I asked him which was the best flavor and he likes banana with a little bit of cream on top.  OMG it was so good!

Bedillon’s and banana shaved ice — both worth the hour trip to no-man’s land.

Have a great week everyone!  😀