Here is the view from the top of Silly Mountain (that's really the name). We have taken up geocaching. That is where you use a GPS to find hidden caches. There are three of them on Silly Mountain and we have found two so far. It's a great way to get exercise and enjoy the great out- doors and there are caches hidden by people all over the world...that's right, the world. That's me resting on the sign pointing to the Huff and Puff trail which is the right name as far as I'm concerned. So far we have found ten caches in the area. There are some in our group that have two and three thousand.
The resort put on a Christmas party for the work campers. There was food and dancing, some great entertainment and a gift exchange. We all had a great time and as you can see, there are several work campers here. This is just half of them. it takes a lot of us to keep all of the residents here happy, We do every thing from setting tables and chairs, to the kitchen staff, the decor department, the deli, the on-site post office and of course my favorite, the softball concession stand.
This is Debra, she is the activity director and is also my boss. She is at the resort all the time. She attends all of the special events and tries to keep things running smoothly. You have to remember this is a resort and there is so much going on. If you come here and say you are bored then you're not trying. There is everything from line dancing to poker night, quilting to card bingo, lapidary (that's rock polishing) to geocaching, golf leagues and softball teams and that is just a small part of what is going on,
We went into Phoenix and visited the Arizona Museum of Natural History. They have everything from dinosaurs to stage coaches. They cover the history of the early natives to the present. We really enjoyed the visit. They had a lot of activities for kids so you know I was entertained the whole time.
They also covered all different kinds of animals, snakes and insects. This is an Javelina; most people think it is a member of the pig family, but we were told it's really a rodent. We can personally tell you that they get to be very big. We saw one when we were out walking the dogs one night. They roam the park at night eating peoples flowers. We also have coyotes and a bobcat in the park. Holly has seen the bobcat on one of her morning walks and we hear the coyotes at night.
Holly was getting hungry about the time we were going to leave so she sent me out back to pan for some gold so I could take her some place nice. As you can see from what's in my pan we ended up at McDonald's.
This is John and Barb. They are from Oregon and in their first year of work camping. John and I work together in the softball concession stand. The other couple is Dana and Judy and they're from Missouri. They work in tables and chairs and are also in their first year of work camping and are our neighbors in the park. We spend a lot of time together. We go to movies and lunch or dinner and we all play a lot of bumbee ball together.
As it turns out Dana was an engineer for the BNSF railroad. It seems that every place we have been we find at least one couple that we really enjoy doing things with and this year is no exception.
We went on a road trip with Brutus and Ruby to Prescott Arizona. It was about two hours north of us. Turns out it's up in the mountains and they had snow on the ground so if we need a snow fix, we know where to find it.
Prescott is a nice little town. We walked around the courthouse square with Brutus and Ruby. There are several little shops and restaurants, and a lot of people walking their dogs, or just spending time with their families. We stayed until all of the lights came on and then took another walk around. There were many trees and they were all wrapped with lights. The court house was also nicely decorated.
After we left Prescott we drove by Prescott Valley and we had just seen on one of the morning news shows that they had a great light display. There was a park where you drive through and there were light displays all around. There were tunnels over the road in a couple different places and some of the displays were animated.
They had a patriotic display for our service men and women.
They even had a special one for our Air Force, Oh wait that's Snoopy on his dog house.
I was so inspired by the decorations I went and decorated the motor home. Not quite the same but better then nothing.
This is bumbee ball. It is played on a tennis court with four to five people on a side. We have played with as few as three on a side but that is a lot of work, We use a large foam ball that is a foam practice tennis ball, and tennis rackets. The best way I can explain it is that it is a cross between tennis and volley ball. I have been accused by Holly of playing seven days a week but the most I've played six days a week. We have played twice in one day. I LOVE this game!
Here is Holly going for the kill. You can see the ball just leaving her racket. The good thing is if you get hit by a line drive it won't leave a mark but it will sting ( just ask Holly).
This is the die hard group - Me, Holly, Judy, Dana, Kelly, John and Barb. There is also Barry but I think this was taken on poker night so Barry was absent. This picture was taken in December. We hope you all had a great Christmas and that your New Year started out good. That's it for now. We hope to visit with you all next month. I think I'll go out and raise a little racket now. Bye!
