Gold Canyon Arizona December 2015

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!

Gold Canyon Arizona November 2015

Well, here it is time again to write the next blog and as you can tell, I still haven't fixed the problem. It seems google has made some changes and messed up some other things. Anyway, we will continue on. November was the month to recognize our veterans. The park had their own parade for Veterans Day. It started out with a color guard of young Marines and was followed by a band.

Unlike the parades back home where we had dance groups, baton twirlers, Semi trucks and old cars we had golf carts with old people. Lots of golf carts. Followed by more golf carts.  

                                                   At the end was a little red convertible.

After the parade the park had a nice luncheon for the veterans and their spouses. They played all of the different service songs. As the song for your branch of service was played you were asked to stand up. Much to my surprise when the song for the Coast Guard was played there were two of us who stood up. Normally I am the only one standing, especially out west where you don't find a lot of shore line.

We took a trip into Scottsdale and went to the Hall Of Flame. It is a museum of fire fighting equipment. They have a fire cart back to 1735. They have equipment that used manpower to pull them to horse-drawn carts to the modern engines.

This is a fire sled from Nagaunee Michigan. It was  interesting to see how fire fighting has evolved over the years.

This is a hose cart that was horse drawn. It is really fancy for a hose cart but back then each fire dept. tried to have fancier equipment then the others. 

This unit has the water pumping equipment mounted on the front of the engine. All of the equipment has been restored back to its original condition. Notice how clean this unit looks and how shiny the chrome is. That's how it looked when it was in use. Just like the fire departments now days, the people took pride in their equipment.

This engine was the first one bought that started the collection for the museum.  It is in working condition and is used in local parades.

                                        The gold leaf designs used on these engines was amazing. 

Holly was able to cross another thing off her bucket list. Here she is driving a fire truck. Cool helmet sweetie.

They had several cases filled with patches from fire departments from all over, They were all donated to the museum. If you are a fire fighter or know one, they are always looking for patches. They have all been cataloged and you can see if your local department is there. We found this one from Hudsonville Michigan, and we also found them from Grand Rapids and Bay City.

In our traveling around we have seen that there is more to Arizona then desert. There are plenty of mountains and beautiful sunsets.

We went to the Phoenix Zoo and talked to the animals. Don't worry they didn't talk back.

It was a nice day to go to the zoo and they have a large assortment of animals in large and well kept areas.

This is an African Elephant. They have two but only one is out at a time while they other one is inside resting. They had camel rides and I thought Holly might like to cross something else off her bucket list but she thought two things in one month might be a bit much. Below is a tooth from an African Elephant. They only have four teeth but from the size of this one four should be enough.

Well that's it for now. Hope you are all enjoying the weather up north. We had a cold spell run thru here but it's now sunny and warm during the days and cool at night.  We have found our summer location. We will be in Southport Maine at Gray Homestead Oceanfront Camping.  We wish a Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Gold Canyon Arizona October 2015

Well,  I've been working on this months' blog for two weeks now and am still having problems. So until I get it straightened out the look will be a little different. We are now in Gold Canyon Arizona which is about 50 miles east of Phoenix.  This is the first time we have worked at an RV Resort and are enjoying all of the amenities that go along with it. Holly works in guest services and I work in the softball concession stand. That's right I'm the hot dog guy,

 All of the work campers are together in the same area which is nice because we get to know each other even though we all work in different areas. There is the table and chairs department, the kitchen staff and the decor department.  As you can see we have a nice view of the Superstition Mountains.

We took a little loop trip that took us to the town of Globe which is about 60 miles east of us. We found the BESH-BA-GOWWAH PUEBLO there. it is mostly just foundations of buildings that were there but the have restored some of the buildings. It was occupied between 1250AD and 1450AD.

As we continued our our trip we headed north and stopped at the Tonto National Monument. This is the site of some early cliff dwellings.

It's a nice paved path up to the site and only 1/2 mile long but it gains 350 feet in that half mile. As you climb you finally get a glimpse of the dwellings about half way there so it is a little incentive to continue. The closer you get the more impressive they look.

After our little walk we finally arrived and were able to get a closer look at the dwellings. We have been to other cliff dwellings before but are still amazed at how people used to build and live in them.

On the way back down to the visitor center I caught this fellow watching us. I think it is a spirit of a lost race making sure we treated the area with the respect it deserves.

After leaving the cliff dwellings we headed north and caught AZ Highway 88 back to Apache Junction. Little did we know that the first 24 miles were gravel, twisting, turning and a lot of ups and downs with a 6-mile stretch of single lane road. These two pictures were taken at the top of the pass and you can see the road down below.

When we finally made it back to paved road we found a little rest area and stopped to take a break and watch the sunset paint the mountains around us.

By the time we left there it was dark and we didn't get to see the last 17 miles. So we had to go back to see what we missed when it was light out. It was a good thing we did too because there is some beautiful scenery out here. No. that is not a painting below but a picture I took that just turned out great. I really like how it turned out.

Last month I talked about the Lost Dutchman Mine. Well I don't know what the big deal was, I found it right away in the town of Tortilla Flats. That's Tortilla Flats below, it was built by the owner of the Lost Dutchman Mine. He didn't like that he had to go so far to get to a bar or store so he built his own town on the road to Apache Junction. Now if I could only find a way past the "KEEP OUT" on that mine and get some of that gold.

We took another trip to Carefree (yes that is a real town and the park was on Easy Street) and saw a display created by a well known carver that made several displays and carvings. Must be great to be so talented. We start out with this golfer getting ready to make his second shoot for the green.

                                                   We had a mariachi band to serenade us.

                                                 We had campers roasting marshmallows.

                          As always when walking in the desert you need to watch where you step.

                I took my eye off Holly for just a minute and there she was sitting with another guy.

            Notice that the last guy in the line is taking no chances that the jump will be a success.

Well that's it for now. I guess we will take off and see what new adventures we can find. Or maybe we will just sit back and follow this fellow's example and take a little siesta. Whatever we do, stop by again and see what we find next.....Adios 'til next month.