Frank: There is no place east of the rockies that even comes close in my opinion. Ya I'm in a good place...for a greenhouse. But compared to CA, well there's no comparison. When I lived in Amarillo I often said that we get more bad weather in April than CA gets all year. Most years that was certainly true. Around lake MI you are looking at a 4 month shorter growing season and what you have is not nearly as good as CA. What I loved about CA is you had a long dry warm summer season that was ideal for ripening high quality fruit. Then you had a mild winter with some rain where everything greened up. It was like another summer only better in many ways than the real summer. You harvested citrus and many other fruits and harvested your cool season vegetables. I harvested sweet peas all winter just for an example. Around here all winter is good for is wind and drought. My peas, the one year I tried them were froze out in early November.

>smileI also live on a flood irrigated lot. I'll tell you what I've put in (or what was here): I planted a Honey Mesquite Prosopis glandulosa- its weeping form keeps it fairly upright as opposed to spreading. The filtered shade it provides is great for underplanting. I also put in a Sonoran Emerald Palo Verde (new hybrid) in an area that will probably end up not having irrigation soon - it has taken off and I'm expecting the bloom to be spectacular. We had a Bottlebrush Callistemon something or other tree that we (highly unfortunately) had to bring down. The hummingbirds aren't talking to me to this day - they loved the bright red blooms. Same sort of form as the Honey Mesquite. My neighbors have the Arizona Ash - it's gorgeous, but I'm not as happy with the volunteers in my irrigation ditch. I also have neighbors a beautiful carob tree - it's fine if you get the female but the males actually smell bad in the fall and the spread is fairly wide and dense. The fruiting trees do fantastic with our water, too - the figs, citrus, etc. - Greg at the Urban Farm (dot com) has a great selection that he orders personally. I've been considering an apricot from him. Do not, no matter what anyone says, do a Pecan. Even with the flood, mine drops branches (pretty heavy ones, too) consistently. The only other one to add to Cathy's list is the Desert Willow - I'm probably going to put one in this next spring - beautiful blooms in pink/white and they have some burgundy hybrids, now. I especially like the Silk Floss trees (very bizarre and interesting trunk) and the Pistaches. Now is the time to shop for the Pistache - they have red leaves or bright gold and you can only predict by seeing it - which is now. Okay, now I'm rambling... HTH, don't hesitate to ask more if there was something else you were thinking of.

Yes to the Pink Jeep Tour and L'Auberge. Also: Drive up to the top of the mesa on which Sedona's airport sits. The view is awesome. We always stay at Sky Ranch Lodge there when we're in Sedona, because of its location. There are many good restaurants. Two of our favorites are Rene's, a French bistro in Tlacapaque (tah-la-ka-pah-key) Square, and the Mexican restaurant also in T.S. But you don't go to Sedona to eat. You go there for the stunning scenery and the shopping and art galleries. If they have time, they really should drive up through Oak Creek Canyon and up to the top of highway 89, again for the scenery and the view from the top. It's my favorite drive in the world. In fact, if they've never been to the Grand Canyon, this is an easy one-day trip from Sedona that shouldn't be missed! Start early, drive up the 89 to the top of Oak Creek, then head east and north to the Grand. They can have a wonderful lunch there, stroll along the canyon edge, and revel in the wonder of that place. Have lunch at El Tovar Lodge; it's a GREAT experience, but call on the way up to reserve a table, just in case. After walking off lunch, go window-shopping in the Hopi House, and then drive back to Sedona. That is a perfect day trip. Just bring a warm jacket and maybe gloves, for the Grand C. in February. But do not do the trip if snow is forecast! Another half-day trip is to head south from Sedona, through Cottonwood, to the town of Jerome. Jerome was a mining town, then abandoned, and is now slowly being reborn. It sits on a mountainside - a very, very easy drive. The view from Jerome across the Verde Valley, past Sedona and north to the Mogollon Rim just cannot be described in words. There are some nice cafes in Jerome, and it has a gentle ghost-towny atmosphere. There is a delightful little picture/paperback book entitled Westerns of the Red Rock Country: 43 Movies Filmed in Sedona, by Bob Bradshaw. It's well worth buying and reading in advance, if possible, and taking along. You will never view westerns in the same way! Broken Arrow (with Jimmy Stewart) is the most famous movie filmed there, but there were many more, as well as TV shows. What a great trip to plan and take!

Now that I've moved to the southwest where the summers are HOT HOT HOT and the winters are mild, my consumption of red wine has drastically declined. I LOVE red wine... but I pretty much only have it in the winter when I'm braising or roasting meats. Spring, summer and fall are all about salads & grilling outside and drinking whites or rosés. I'm pretty much a rosé junkie now. Luckily the local liquor store has a huge selection. I'm partial to old world rosés because they have significant minerality and are very dry on the palate. Dark rosés are great even with grilled meats and lighter rosés are wonderful with poultry & seafood. One of my favorite combinations is a french muscadet with oysters. (That is one taste preference that hasn't changed: I still love cold water oysters more than warm water oysters). French rosés are inexpensive, usually anywhere from $8 - $15 a bottle and are fantastic.