Sunday Easter:

The day started early as we are preparing to pull out early tomorrow.  The plan is to make it to Santa Rosa, New Mexico.  It will be about ten hours driving and we will lose two hours going onto the Central Time Zone.

We worshiped again at the Coolidge congregation.   They bid us farewell from the pulpit and were happy to know we will worship with them upon our return.

 

 

We had ham for our Easter meal at Paul and Christy's house.  Grammy, Christy's mother brought a salad and Lela made a bunny cake. Again we ate very well.  The boys skateboarded on the street in front of the house, providing the entertainment.

We returned to Silver Star for our last night in AZ.  We are in pretty good shape to unhook and pull out early tomorrow.

Friday we took the family to the Lost Dutchman State park.  The "men" did man things and climbed the head of the Superstition Mountains, a distance of 2.4 miles. 

There was a change in elevation of just over 500 feet to a height of 2600 feet. 

Christy and Courtney took the 1 mile trail and G'ma stayed at the campsite and guarded our stuff.

Ben and the boys found an ammunition box on top of a rock formation and returned it to the camp.  As it turned out the box contained a memorial for someone who died in 2003.  G'pa and the boys hiked back up the mountain, about 2 miles round trip, and replaced the box where we found it.

We brought fixin's for sandwiches to have lunch on the mountain.  Lunch was devoured by a bunch of hungry climbers.

Then it was back home where G'pa BBQed chicken.  We watched the NCAA Tournament, and returned home. We were worn out.

Saturday was another family day.  We traveled to the Mesa Swap Meet.  This place is huge.  I think we have gone there every time we have been in AZ.  It is always fun to walk around and see the "junk" you can buy.  Lela and I made a few purchases.  It is a good thing that we have a truck!  We finished off at Don Pedro's Mexican Restaurant.  Paul and I capped off the day by having our annual cigar on the driveway and solving all the problems in the world.

Thursday AM:

There hasn't been too much to report for the last two days.  We have visited with the kids and grandkids, but have not taken any roadtrips this week.

We are planning on leaving for home on Monday and the plan is to arrive late in the day on Wednesday.  Our Daughter Gloria is receiving a prestigeous award from the National Nurses Honor Society and we want to be there to participate in that.

I enjoyed horseshoes on Tuesday and golf on Wednesday.  I have met and enjoyed a lot of wonderful people here and am looking forward to returning next year.

The next few days before we leave will be filled with activities with the family.  We are going to their house today and just relax.  We'll prepare the evening meal and enjoy our time with them.  We have some other plans for the weekend so you'll need to watch the blog to see what happens.

Monday Noon:

Wow! The third largest snow in the past century.  We are sorry to miss it...NOT!
I'm not "rubbing it in" but there is nothing to shovel here. 

I talked to my neighbor and he will make some tracks in my driveway today.  The neighbors, as well as our kids, are all looking out for us while we are gone.

Saturday night we went to a show in Apache Junction, about 30 minutes from here.  It is Barleen's Arizona Opry.  About 35-40 of the residents at the park went as a group.  It was the rock and roll show, all 50's and 60's music.  The main entertainer was a guy who sang with the Tokens in the 60's. The Tokens had 12 gold records including The Lion Sleeps Tonight.  It was a great show and we enjoyed it.  http://www.azopry.com/ is their website, if you are interested.

Sunday we went back to the Coolidge Church Of Christ, but didn't stay for lunch.  We went to Paul Jr.'s house for the day, and stayed for supper.  The girls went to Casa Grande to shop and the boys stayed home and watched March Madness basketball.

I located some illegals and persuaded them to wash my truck. 

The truck was covered with little bug strikes and needed to be cleaned off.  These illegals did a fine job and the truck once again sparkled like new.

Here is one more sign I haven't seen in Missouri.

Saturday AM:  (But then, everyday is Saturday now).

We had a busy two days.  Thursday we traveled to Tucson and visited the Pima Air Museum.  Lela wanted to see the B-24 Liberator which her dad flew in WW II, and the B-29 he flew in Korea.  We looked around the hangers and thoroughly enjoyed our tour of history.

B-24

Pilot's window B-24

B-29 

Then we boarded a tour bus and were off to "the Boneyard" where all the old planes are stored for parts or scrap, depending on our needs. There are acres and acres of planes.

 

 Many of the planes there are still in use around the world, so we sell parts from our mothballed fleet.  The boneyard is on Davis-Monthan Airforce Base.  That was also a special place, because Lela's dad was stationed there during Korea.
 

We secured our lodging for the night and took off again to find Tiffany (daughter of  Tim and Tracy.  Lela worked with Tracy and Tim was on my softball team). Tiffany is a student at The University of Arizona.  We took her to a Mexican restaurant and had a great visit.  She is a delightful young lady.

Friday morning we were off to Tombstone Arizona. It is quite an interesting place.  Although it is much more commercialized now than when Lela last visited in the late 70's, we had a great time poking around the history of the area.  We took in the "Gunfight at the OK Corral" show and toured the Old Courthouse.  We watched a 20 minute movie of the history of Tombstone as a mining town.



The site of the gunfight.

 

The re-enactment

The result

Lunch was at "Big Nose Kate's Saloon".  Kate was Doc Holliday's girlfriend.

The owner, Steve Goldstein, visited with us and allowed us to get a few pictures, that everyone doesn't get.

Behind the bar

 

On the bar

All in all we had a wonderful day in Tombstone.

On the way home we traveled up Mount Lemmon.  It is the tallest peak in the area at about 9000 feet. The road was steep and winding with a lot of switchbacks.  I think it was the same road that Lucy and Desi were on in the movie "The Long, Long Trailer" or at least it could have been. 

We took many pictures as the scenery was breathtaking.  It really makes you aware of the power of God.  This was another nostalgic trip for Lela, as when her dad was stationed in Tucson the family made trips from the desert to Mt. Lemmon to have breakfast and play in the snow.

 

 Here is another sign I haven't seen in Missouri

The trip down the mountain was interesting also.  Although we didn't take pictures on the way down, Lela seemed very excited to have made the visit up the mountain.

Many other road signs grace the roads of AZ.  Below is another example of a sign at the golf course where Paul plays each week with the guys from the RV park.

Golf cart crossing

Thurdsay AM:

Back in the horseshoe pits this morning.  I think I'm getting the hang of it. Finished third the last two outings. The laundry is next to the pits so Lela usually takes care of the laundry at the same time.

Lela contacted Tiffany this morning and will try to set up a dinner in Tucson, either today or tomorrow.  We are heading to the Pima Air Museum in Tucson and then to Tombstone if we can arrange our time to be back in time to go to Apache Junction for a Rock and Roll show at Barleen's Old Opry on Saturday.  We will overnight somewhwere along the way (not taking The Silver Star).

Yesterday Lela took the family to the mall for some shopping, while G'pa played golf.  I think everyone enjoyed their day.  If Steve checks in, G'pa won 2nd money with my team.  Last week wasn't for blaming my cohorts, but was only an explanation for my woes and inept play.

Tuesday evening:
 
It was a perfect day in the desert today.  Low 60's to middle 80's.  The sunset was spectacular over the mountains.


Yesterday, we met Bob and Adrianne for lunch at a Mexican restaurant.  Bob and Lela worked at the same company for many years and had become good friends.  Lela loved Bob's wife from the first time they met on a company trip.  Bob and Adrianne moved to the San Tan Valley in AZ, and upon our arrival we contacted them and arranged our meeting.  We had a wonderful time and after lunch visited in their lovely home.

Today we went into Coolidge and visited the ruins of Casa Grande.  If you are interested in archeology this would interest you.  http://www.nps.gov/cagr/index.htm

Paul Jr. was working so we took Christy and the kids with us.  I think they all found it interesting.  The best part was our visit ended up being free.  We have a Golden Age pass which we purchased from the Federal Park System last year for $10.  All the children under 15 were free and we could get 4 adults in free on the pass.

This was a culture of indians, which disappeared from this area several hundred years ago, but these ruins still stand.  We love to let our imaginations run wild in these sites.

As promised, I retook the photos of Zach and Christy.

Christy

 

Zach

Sunday PM:

Erin Go Braugh!  Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Friday was haircut day.  Christy obliged and my cowboy hat fits better now.  Courtney is on spring break so the boys enjoy that too.

Saturday Lela and I had the family over for a hot dog cookout and swimming.  Everything went well the kids enjoyed all the amenities of the park.  They swam, threw horseshoes, played pool, foosball, and table shuffleboard.  Nick beat G'pa fair and square at shuffleboard.

We used the activities center for our meal.  There were too many of us to eat in the Silver Star.

Judy wanted to see pictures of the family so I am attaching those.

Today we went back to the Coolidge Church Of Christ. Since we planned to eat lunch with the congregation again, Lela prepared food.  After church we went into Casa Grande for some shopping we needed to do.  Then back to the park for the "Big Grill Out" at the activities center.  This is the last planned activity from the park as many people leave in the next two weeks.  The Canadian folks who have been here since October have to get back before they spend more than181 days in the U S.
If they exceed those days, our gov't hits them up for income tax.  They are very careful to count their days.  It was also the St. Patrick party.  Lots of good food and folks.  We have made a few good friends here to hang out with.  We are enjoying our first snowbirding.

The Girls

Nic

Ben

The Crew

The Boys

Nic learning the finer points

Ben & Quint

Paul

Quintin

Christy's and Zachery's picture didn't turn out well.  I'll get another pic of them and post them later on.

Thursday AM

Trying to catch up on the blog today.  We are getting into the retirement mentality slowly but surely.

Tuesday was a busy day.  I started by throwing horseshoes with "the boys" while Lela did laundry then came to the sidelines as my cheerleader.

My partner was Gary.  He was worse than I was.  Teams are drawn at random.  Some of these guys are really pretty good. We won one and lost two.

After that our neighbors asked us to go walking in the desert, so we became trailblazers.  Not always the best thing to do in the desert, but were still close to the RV Park.  The weather was perfect.  Actually, we haven't seen a cloud for about three days. 

We ran across a Javelina, dead, on the trail.  If it had been alive, I guess it would have been a lot more exciting.

There are a lot of Saguaro Cactus all around us.  They are facinating to see.  The info on them says it takes 100 years for them to make one arm.

After our walk I took Lela to Paul Jr. house and I went to play golf (9 holes) on the course where "the boys" play on Wednesday.  I thought if I got a look at the course before I played with them, I would at least know the lay of the land.  I played VERY well that day (2 over). It did not translate into a good score on Wednesday.

Then it was back to the park where we grilled some chicken and watched TV for the evening.

Wednesday, I went to the golf course with "the boys".  The course borders the subdivision where Paul lives. Once again the teams are chosen by random lot.  I was paired with two guys who were much older than me and not "real" golfers.  The format is a scramble, but everyone has to count at least five drives from the tee.  These guys could only hit it about 175 yards so I was hitting most of our second shots from 200 yards or more.  Needless to say, we didn't win anything.  I hope to be paired with some better players next week.  The best part of my day was stopping at the River Bend for a couple beers after the game.  That is quite a place (if you like women with tattoos).  It is a real honkey-tonk.

This morning it was horseshoes again.  Partners were chosen by lot again.  I got the same partner from last Tuesday.  We lost all three matches today.

Today and the next few days are flirting with record temperatures for Phoenix.  92 today and 91 tomorrow.  I think we are going to try a day trip somewhere today, but we haven't decided where.

Here's a road sign that you won't see in Missouri.

Monday Morning:

It is a beautiful day in the desert.  We are expecting 70's today with full sun.  We are supposed to be 90 by Friday.

Well, the karaoke was fun last night.  We met several people including a man named Pius.  I have never met anyone named Pius before.  He was named for Pius XII.  It seems we have some elderly party animals in this park.  Plenty of wine to go around.

As we walked into the activities building I was given strict orders not to sing . 



All was forgiven and a good time was had by all.  By the way, all I had to drink was lemonade.

Sunday Afternoon:

Yesterday we spent the day at Paul's house.  The weather was not very good so we spent most of the day inside. We had high winds and rain on Friday.  I had to break down the awnings and put the carpet and chairs back in the truck.  Saturday was better but still chilly.  I think the weather was better at home.  I BBQued chicken and burgers.  Lela made cheesy potatos and baked beans (at Jr's request).

We celebrated Ben's 13th b'day with a Heathbar cake and ice cream.  Grammy came for the festivities.  Ben blew out the candles and will hopefully get his wish.

Today Ben is shopping with his birthday money.  I think he is interested in a skateboard, but that isn't written in stone.

We went to the Coolidge Church of Christ this morning.  It is a small congregation of about 55.  They have a meal every Sunday after the worship service, so we stayed and met some of the people. It was very enjoyable.  We are looking forward to being back there next Sunday.

I walked the perimeter track into the desert around the park.  It takes about 30 minutes to make the circuit.  It is a sand and rock trail with a lot of interesting scenery and even some road runners and quail.  I kept a sharp eye out for Wil E. Coyote.  I may need to get an ACME stick.

 

  

Tonight we are going to a Karaoke at the activities center. We don't know what to expect but I think we'll have a good time and meet some of the "folks." There are a lot of scheduled activities here if you choose to participate.