Time Flies - part 2

We went to the Arizona Opry one night.  There was a group of about 20 ish from our park.  There is dinner and then this great show.  It was old time rock and roll and these entertainers can play many instruments.  The lead singer George Staerkle who was from the Tokens - the group  that sang "The Lion Sleeps tonite"  Another great night for us.  I can't thank Ernie and Dianne enough for getting these tickets for us.  They are hard to come by and they are all sold out by the summer for the next year.
We also went with a group to the Improv one night. First we met at a local pub and had supper and then on to the Improv.  It was really great, and some of the members of the group managed their own impov tricks - 'nuff said about that!

One day a group of us hopped on the valley rail public transport and rode into Phoenix.

It is an absolutely fabulous way to see downtown Phoenix.  We walked a block or so and saw this amazing Irish museum.  The building and grounds were just beautiful.  We then had lunch at the spaghetti factory before getting back on the train and going to the Wells Fargo Museum.

This was a very hands on, interactive museum and it was FREE to boot.  They took pictures of anyone who wanted to and sent them to us in an email.  I snapped this one of Suz and Larry.  We were sort of aimlessly wandering through downtown and we saw so much cool stuff.

This is a group getting their photos taken for a quincenara which is a celebration similar to a sweet 16.  It is a latin celebration for a 15 year old.  They were so cute and the girl was so pretty so I asked if she minded if I snapped a pic also.

 So many beautiful buildings to see in the downtown area. We need to go back and see more.  That is next years project.

this is Alice Coopers restaurant.  All the menu items include the names of famous stars and the waitresses all had on make up Alice Cooper style!  There is a 2 foot long hot dog on the menu which would feed a lot of people.  We also went to a police  museum which was also free.  On the way back from Phoenix we stopped off in Tempe, the girls did some shopping and the guys went to Hooters.

One night after yet another great happy hour/good bye party we went for a moonlight swim and then scorpion hunting with Suz and Larry.  You have to take a black light at night and shine it on cement walls and cracks where they might be hiding.  We found the first one and of course we were all huddled trying to look at it, and I was trying to take a picture.  You have to know that the guys will jump and try to scare the crap out of the girls.  You also have to know that the girls will scream like they were in high school and some bad words might also follow.  And of course much giggling and carrying on afterwards.   Luckily we did not get kicked out of the park and I still giggle when I think of this night.

 This picture was taken from Saguaro Lake.  We went once with Ruth and Wayne, we had a great day just looking at the desert flowers and we walked a little way around the lake.  We then sat and had a great picnic lunch and watched for birds.  It was an enjoyable day.

 Mexican gold poppy

 This tiny little flower is a desert bell.

Can you believe this beautiful field of lupins?  the ditches were loaded with purple blooms.

 A few days later Don and I went back and hiked farther around the lake.  The trail here is very nice and the view was amazing.  We needed hiking boots and our sticks.

These are baby oranges.  they will be ready to eat in Jan or so next year.

We watched this worker clean off the dead fronds from the palm trees.  I had always wondered how they did it, and I was certainly glad I never have to do it.  Its amazing how much cleaner they look if you compare the 2 in the above picture.  That is also a huge pile of trimmings!  These things are a little dangerous to leave on the trees as they blow off when there is strong winds.  The chunks of tree bark/base of fronds are fairly substantial.  They look and feel almost leathery.

This is a Saguaro cactus bloom.  I was sooooo excited to see it as they usually bloom in May or June.  They don't all open at the same time.

One of my favorite plants in the desert.   When I first saw these last year I thought there was a lot of dead things.  They look like a dead old stick with many sharp thorns but once they get a little moisture the leaves and then amazing flowers appear.  It is called an ocotillo.

I like this picture as I have figured out I look really skinny if I hide half of me behind Don.  Thanks to our photographer Larry and his assistant (aka - hide the bra straps and badge lady Suz)

Today we spent a lot of time doing laundry and getting everything all packed up and ready to leave.  We extended our stay a day as it is quite windy and we are not a fan of driving the rig in wind.

To all our old friends and new friends at VVV - thank you so much for making this such a great winter.  The weather and company could not have been better.  I will miss you all very much.  And I will  miss my pool days whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

On our way home we plan to stop in Vegas, Parker, Lake Havasu, Valley of Fire, Zion and Bryce and we want to spend a couple of days exploring Salt Lake City.  We are hoping to stop in Estevan to see family and then to Prince Albert for the summer.  I am missing my girl!

Time flies . . .   when you are having fun!
I can hardly believe the last blog I did was mid February, this last month and a half has flown by so fast!  I have found it diffucult to keep up my blog as we have been so busy having fun that believe it or not I never find the time.  Also the wifi here is really horrible so I need a good chunk of time to get it done.  Also, afternoon seems a better time for good wifi and that is my pool time - haha. 
The weather this year has been absolutely amazing!  We have not worn pants and socks and shoes since my last blog.  Temperatures have been in the high 70 to mid 80's.  Temperatures at home are going to take some getting used to for us.
I am going to give a very brief summary of the last month and a half.  Missing are many great times at happy hours and get togethers with some wonderful people.  We have met and enjoyed so many people this year I can hardly believe our good fortune!

This is a us at the second annual rib fest organized by Glenda and Terry and Gloria and Dennis.  They even made us all these great bibs!  They cooked up a ton of ribs and we all brought side dishes.  There was even some really great entertainment put on by people in the park that are talented musicians and singers.  It was a really great time.  Also they have put away the bibs for next year  - YUM!!

The park put on a Spanish fiesta for all of those in the Spanish class.  It was so great, there was even a mariachi band and of course Martguerita's and Mexican snacks.

For some reason Don thought we needed a holiday  - LOL.  So we drove to Las Vegas , this is the view from our hotel which I enjoyed both mornings.  Hard to capture in a picture but the reflections in this building were very cool.  I loved the drive to and from Vegas more than Vegas itself.  I was also recovering from a 3 day flu bug which really kicked my butt.

 That is the Colorado river which is running through the Lake Mead/Hoover Dam area.  In 2010 they completed the first desert bighorn sheep over passes in the US by Hoover Dam.  The largest herd of desert big horn sheep live here. While driving over the bridge you cannot see how really high up you are.  On the way back we were going to get out and walk on a path so that we could see over.  The sign said next right, but after a few miles we realized we had missed the turn somehow which was frustrating!  It was a rather long drive so we decided we will do that another time

 I could not get great pictures of the scenery, but along the way there were the most amazing rock "castles" .

We also saw a row of what looked like partially built homes, seemed they were right in the middle of . . .

There were miles and miles of the hugest, coolest Joshua trees ever!

We had a couple of really nice meals there, this was my veggie stir fry and I thought the presentation was just so cute!

There are so many grapefruit trees in the park.  I really hit the jackpot as a lot of my neighbors kept me supplied with juicy delicious grapefruits.  Some of them, like this one were HUGE.

Don went to Phoenix to a Nascar race.  He took a bus tour right from our park so no hassles with driving and parking.  I stayed home and worked on my quilt.

The park has a huge annual quilt show where we all can show off our masterpieces.  I could not believe how many talented ladies there are wandering among us!!

 One day I went "not" golfing with Maureen, Darlene, Colleen and Julie.  They golfed and I happily enjoyed the green grass and the scenery.

There was more than one "birdie" that day!   I enjoyed meeting some of these ladies for the first time and enjoyed them very much.  We all went out for lunch afterwards too!

 this is a miniature cupcake shop.  The cupcakes are about half the size of your little fingernail.  The detail was absolutely amazing.

 This is Bob and Angel.  They have a business called Pearce miniatures.  http://pearceminiatures.com/
Angel is only one of 6 people in the world to have a fellowship designation for making these miniatures.  She makes them out of special paper and wire that she gets from Japan.  Every single leaf and petal is hand cut and painted and put together to be exact replicas of whatever plant she is creating.

 Look how tiny these are.  There is a whole world of miniatures, and we went to this show in Phoenix to check them out.  Bob and Angel are our neighbors in the park and we were lucky enough to be invited into their home to watch Angel at work.  She was making a Japanese tree maple to be sold to someone making a Japanese inspired doll house.  There were miniatures of everything imaginable at this show.

We went to the wood carving show in Mesa.  I had just tried wood carving one time and I was pretty amazed at what was created  out of wood.

to be continued . . .