December 9 - 23, 2016
We've been at our winter home of Desert Gardens RV Park for almost 4 weeks now. We are really enjoying it here. Lots of activities to do. Also making lots of new friends. Wonderful weather helps also.
Dusty has been doing aerobics every weekday morning and water aerobics on the days the pool has been open. We play bingo, cribbage, hand and foot and many of the group activities.
Because this post covers about 2 weeks it is a little long. Just flip through the pictures. There are a lot of things covered.
One night there was a "Lighted Parade" in the park. I could not get many pictures because the golf carts were going too fast.
Even some of the radio controlled cars got in on the parade.
We have beautiful sunsets like this almost every evening! We are truly blessed!
Early one morning, on my way to aerobics, the moon was still up.
This is our last full moon here. The skies are beautiful here!
Our dear friend Mardene makes and sends us a special Christmas ornament each year. I strung them in the order we received them. Not much room for decorating inside the coach, but this was just right.
We got our new storage shed built.
It's a 10 x 20 on a concrete slab.
Later that same night there was a small play here at the park called Christmas in Florence in 1880's. It was interesting to hear some local history.
To start the evening there was a small band. Above are the guitarists. Below is the lead singer.
There were only 4 actors in this play.
This man read "The Christmas Carol". He was very animated.
Here is the first grade teacher, Mrs. White. She was reading about Christmas from a book from the 1880's.
Here the local priest, a local store owner and the teacher are discussing finding a pine tree for a Christmas tree. The teacher wanted to show the children in Florence AZ what Christmas in the northeast was like.
To everyone's surprise the stage driver delivered a pine tree for Christmas. It was a cute play.
It has been stormy & rainy all day today. It makes for a beautiful sunset.
Christmas Eve we leave to meet our children near Winterpark, CO for a week starting Christmas day. Everyone is looking forward to fun in the snow.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
The Mesa Arizona Mormon Temple has a reputation for the most beautiful Christmas lights in the area. The pictures are self explanatory.
This is the Temple. We were not allowed inside. The reflection pool in front of the Temple made a gorgeous picture.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Our park had a tag-a-long to the Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa, AZ.
Organ
Stop’s Mighty Wurlitzer is one of the largest and finest theater organs in the
world today. Its nearly 6000 pipes, numerous percussions, and countless traps
are masterfully presented by The Musical Staff who are world class musicians.
I'm going to insert several pictures Tic got while we were there. The music was awesome.
You can see some of the percussion instruments on the wall near the ceiling. If you get a chance look this place up on the internet at http://www.organstoppizza.com/ . It is very interesting.
After pizza, we went to the Mormon Church in Mesa, AZ. They had some spectacular Christmas lights. I'm putting this in a separate post.
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Today we are going on our first Jeep excursion with several Jeepers from the park.
We start at 9 am, will have a picnic lunch somewhere along the way and probably be back by mid afternoon.
The Box Canyon trail is supposed to be beautiful. I'm just going to put the pictures in and will probably comment on a few of them. It is amazing how many of Tic's pictures turned out good even though we were bouncing down the trail. You see Dusty drove on this outing.
This 4-wheeler went along with 10 Jeeps. Unfortunately for them, just after they reached the top, the flipped onto their side. No one was hurt seriously (just scrapes). The lady ended up riding with us the rest of the day which made it easier for her husband when traveling over the large rocks.
I think the above video is another steep hill we all conquered one at a time.
The above climb is to Granny Pass. See below.
At the top of Granny Pass were several grave markers where people's ashes were deposited. It was kind of weird for me. Above shows only a few of the grave markers.
Above and below are views from Granny Pass. The picture below is the route we will be taking to Box Canyon.
We had our picnic lunch at Granny Pass.
What a day full of beautiful sites! Fantastic day!
