Back to Reality

April 2,2011

As we leave Arizona, we feel a little like these desert creatures.....

 We left Palm Creek and headed to Yuma where we spent a great three days seeing the country there.  Was nice to see the mountains and meet up with friends who spent the winter in Yuma.  Really hating to leave the warm weather, we headed north through Laughlin and Ash Springs until we hit Idaho just after Jack Pot.  Then it was off to the Boise area to spend time with family and catch up with everyone there.



Line shows the full circle trip we made.....12,000+ miles!


Finally, it is good to be back home and to see  friends here.....and of course to catch up on yard work, house maintainence and get those taxes done!!!

We plan to make the trip to Arizona again next winter, so until then.........here are photos of our trip home.

last view of palm trees......ahhhhhh

there is water in Arizona!!!

Nice to see mountains again.....



What's this white stuff?



Guess we can survive a little snow.....not happy about it though!!



Back to where it all started.......with lots of great memories!!!

Until the next trip.................

Time to Leave Palm Creek

March 21, 2011

                   We have been very fortunate to be able to golf and play every day in the great AZ sunshine!


Golfing every day is pretty hard to take!




Jill and Doreen taking a break between holes



















Yes, we have spent many days golfing and enjoying the friends we have made here at Palm Creek.   It has been a great 3 months and we are sorry to be leaving, but on the other hand are anxious to get back home and catch up with everyone there!  Steve now has a new set of golf clubs and lots of hours of practice.  I have spent a few days golfing, but still call tennis my favorite sport---new equiptment really helps there too!

One of the great things about being here has been the visits we have had from friends from Idaho........Ted and Marilyn White (from Lewiston) came to visit from their winter home in Quartzite for a few days.... Dan and Shorty Jackson (from Caldwell) spent a day and night.....they are in Yuma right now, so that is our next stop on our way home.  Jay and Midge Moore (from Meridian) stopped by to visit for a few days and ended up staying for 5 weeks, and will travel with us to Yuma and Boise.

Here are just a few more pictures of the fun we've had here......the first one is from the pottery show we had at the Resort.  I exhibited a few things and was really proud to be part of the show.....I had a great time making pots, bowls and plates.....some hand built and some on the wheel.




the two blue/maroon bowls in the middle are ones I made

 

flowers coming back after the cold spell in February



early evening photo of the super moon



Dinner with friends at Eva's



the end of a beautiful day.........

We are heading to Yuma tomorrow to spend a few days there.  Then we will head north with Jacksons and Moores through Nevada and should be in the Boise area by next week.  We'll spend some time there visiting family and friends and should be home soon after that.....hoping to miss any snow left over from winter!

Still having fun!

February 10, 2011

Old Tucson



We took a great motorcycle trip to Old Tucson with some new friends, Mike and Julia.  It is just outside Tucson and is an actual Hollywood Movie Set where many of John Wayne's movies were filmed.  We saw lots of familiar places from favorite old movies.....McClintock,  Three Amigos, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Tomstone.....just to name a few of over 300 film and televisions productions filmed since 1939.  We walked streets where Clint Eastwood, Elizabeth Taylor, Kurt Russell and "The Duke" walked.  Was really interesting, and a great ride from Casa Grande.  Here are some more fun photos.....

Mike and Julia



street scene



Courrthouse/Town Hall



Old Southwest



Took another fun trip to Phoenix and had lunch at  "Organ Stop Pizza".  It is a great experience, as it houses the largest pipe organ ensemble imaginable.....hard to describe, but the organ itself rises out of the floor and is connected to hundreds of other musical instruments mounted all around the room, and is played by one organ player.....it spreads the entire inside area of the pizza parlor and is said to be valued at $5,000,000.00. The pizza was not too bad either!  Many of us from Palm Creek went there for the afternoon and were treated to a private performance!  Five couples went up on Harleys, so that made it even more fun!

Organ Stop Pizza

Organ rising up on stage with pipes on back wall and other instruments visible from ceiling and side walls



quite a sight!

 Another interesting outing was the Gourd Festival at the Fairgrounds just outside Casa Grande.  It took all my willpower not to take up gourd painting as my next hobby.....it is amazing what people do with gourds, and how many special tools and equiptment is needed to turn them into works of art!  Some are dyed, some painted with special metalic paint, melted colored wax, oil paint, or acrylic paint.  Many are carved or have wood burned designs and have horse hair, beads or special pine needles woven into the tops.....here are just a few examples of what we saw...


silly gourds



works of art



 

interesting variations laced to the tops



We also had a beautiful celebration at Palm Creek to highlight cancer awareness and raise funds for cancer research with a Silent Auction and several Raffles.  I donated several of my "owl rocks" and was happy to raise $100.00 for the cause!  The event ended with a gathering at the Activities Center with several Hot Air Balloons to view.



Luminaria bags lined the streets of Palm Creek





Hot Air Balloons at Palm Creek

As you can see, we are continuing to enjoy Arizona and  look forward to another month of warm weather.  Still playing tennis and golf and playing with pottery.  We've made many great new friends and even attended a party for Idaho residents and were surprised to meet lots of people from Coeur d'Alene, St. Maries, Moscow and Boise.  Miss all of you back home though!!!

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!!

January 29, 2011

Burrowing Owl at Palm Creek

Isn't this the greatest little owl???  There are a number of these little creatures living in and around the Resort.  Seems they are pretty common in Arizona, and quite a sight to see when you find one.  They live in burrows or culverts in the ground and stay there guarding their nests underground.  They keep the grounds free of baby rabbits and like to feed on young doves.....and other little critters.  I took this picture of one who lives just outside the front gate at the resort.  It inspired me to paint them on rocks (go figure...).  This kept me busy for several days and I sold about a dozen of them. 




Patio Sale


 

   Every month there are Patio Sales at the Resort with people selling all kinds of things at their sites. I had one in January and had a great time meeting people as they rode around in golf carts finding crafts and RV things to buy....kind of like a garage sale back home!  I even managed to make a little money.....the rocks were fun to do because they all took on a personality as soon as I painted the eyes......Steve was glad when I sold them because he felt like he was being watched by a bunch of angry owls every morning when he looked at the dining table.





early evening at Palm Creek



We have been here at Palm Creek for 7 weeks now and have enjoyed every minute of it.  There have been several dances that we've gone to with friends and have taken many adventures in and around Casa Grande.  There was a Vintage Car Show in town and have been several craft fairs at the resort.  Our Internet service here with Verizon is pretty weak, so it is really hard to do much online for very long.....so that is why my postings have been so few and far between.....  Sorry!



Jim and Betty Albright

We were surprised by a visit from great friends from Juliaetta, Idaho---Jim and Betty Albright.  They arrived in their Coach and stayed here at the resort for 3 days.  We had a great time visiting with them and even got to take a motorcycle ride with them and a bike group from here.


trip to Tortilla Flats

We've met a great bunch of people here at the resort with motorcycles, so have taken several trips around the area. The trip we took with Jim and Betty was to the Superstition Mountains, Dutchman's Lost Gold Mine and Tortilla Flats....just east of Phoenix.  We had 9 motorcycles in the group, so had a great time traveling around that day and got to see lots of great sights!



Superstition Mountain



bike group at ghost town near Superstition Mtn

Another day, we took a ride to a Skydiving Airstrip in  Eloy, AZ.  It is said to be a skydiving capital and attracts skydivers from all over the world.  The day we were there we saw over 100 crazy people jump out of planes and sail through the sky.  It was great standing at the landing area and watch as they landed--no one from our group was brave enough to join in the jumping and we were really glad that there were no accidents that day!






skydivers at landing area



look in the sky....there's lots of skydivers!

We continue to play tennis every morning from 9:30-11:00, so are getting great exercise and are even getting to be better tennis players!  The people in the Tennis club are so friendly and helpful and we are able to take lessons every Tuesday.  Steve is still working at golf and has taken several lessons and has gone out to hit balls with a guy next door who just happens to be from Boise!  So he is improving there too!





tennis courts at Palm Creek

I am still playing in the pottery studio and am learning lots there too.....hope to have some things to bring home in April! 

Will post again soon......









Merry Christmas from Arizona

December 21, 2010


Merry Christmas!!

 We are all settled in Casa Grande, AZ. and are staying at a great RV Resort....Palm Creek.  In January, we understand that there will be about 1800 RV's in the park.  It is on a Golf Course and many of the people here are golfers, so we don't have an excuse any longer about not being golfers.  We have met some wonderful people and are looking forward to all the activities...tennis, exercize gym, golf, pickleball, lawn bowling, shuffleboard, swimming (2 pools), poker/billiards, library, dance classes, computer classes, yoga and pilates.... and great artistic things for Jill---pottery, painting, silversmith, basket weaving, woodworking, lapidary, sewing/quilting...haven't even discovered them all yet!   Steve even managed to find a nice Trap Club in town, so he can shoot trap every week! BBQ's are held every couple weeks in the main Activity Center and Vendors come once a month for a huge flea market with lots of artsy stuff!  Happy hour is also a daily activity here.....and with so many neighbors, we can travel to a different one every night, or just stay home on our patio and someone will surely show up to join us.
There is a casual dance every Saturday night in the ballroom with live music, so date nite is built right in!  We drove around the park last night in a golf cart to see all the decorated RV's and it took us an hour and a half just to see them all!  The park is just beautiful...with hundreds of big palm trees, all decorated with white Christmas lights. The golf course has a creek running through it and several ponds with fountains.  Harley loves the "dog park" and makes us take him for walks several times every day.  The weather has been great--in the 70's during the day and 50's at night.  We've had a couple rainy days, but that hasn't slowed us down a bit!  Even doing laundry is fun because the laundry building is adjacent to one of the pools, so I just put in the wash, sit by the pool, and wait till it's done.....couldn't be more fun!
We are only about 50 miles from Phoenix, so have made several trips there, and Tucson is about as far in the other direction.....but Casa Grande has everything we need and some great shopping centers, so we will get to know this area pretty well, I'm sure.
If you did not receive a Christmas card from me.....sorry.....please know that we are having a great time, but really miss our family and friends and are feeling a little guilty about missing all the snow!  We do wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope that you enjoy a Great 2011!

Here are some photos of our time here so far.....I'll try to keep up with the photo taking and will post again when we do something exciting!

Entrance gate to Palm Creek




 


the golf course on a morning walk



this is what we see on our walk every day



view of our neighborhood



Harley enjoying the "dog park"



Christmas lights out the back window of our RV



Just want to also include a picture we took last summer when Amy, Andy, Zoe, and Jackson were in Lewiston for a visit.  Was great to have them here with Sara, Cameron, Emily, Kathryn and us for our "Christmas in June"

what a great group.....our family is very  blessed!

Thanks for following our Blog.....we wish the best for you all and hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,

Jill, and Steve

We made it to Arizona!

Dec. 11, 2010

Along the River Walk in San Antonio, Texas

Texas is ONE BIG STATE!  We took 6 days to get from east to west and then spent one night in New Mexico and have arrived early in Arizona.  We are at Tucson, AZ tonite and plan to be in Casa Grande tomorrow where we will settle down for 3 months.
We found Texas very interesting and very different from where we have been for the past couple months.  We managed to have a great day in San Antonio at the Alamo and along the River Walk.  They have done a great job of creating a fun way to enjoy the river through town and have turned it into a great meandering canal running through and under buildings and streets in the down town area.  Lots of shops and restaurants along the way with great trees and plants.  We also enjoyed several hours at the Alamo and found that the "Hollywood" version is not entirely accurate (John Wayne did do a great job in the movie tho!)
Here are some photos of our time in Texas...we were not allowed to take pictures inside the buildings at the Alamo, so here are some courtyard pictures.....

going in to the Alamo

Chruch at the Alamo

cannon in the courtyard



live oak in the courtyard of the Alamo



just a pretty archway

Here are some shots of the River Walk in San Antonio.....really beautiful!!


River Walk





walking right on the river's edge....no railing or wall...



friends Harley made along the way

tilework under the bridges

Here's where the scenery begins to change and looks more like the desert.....Las Cruces, New Mexico.  We spent a day here and visited Old Town Masilla.  Billy the Kid was here once!  We liked seeing the adobe buildings and the "Southwest" flavor.

Las Cruces, New Mexico

little shop in Masilla

great doorway to a home

just a pretty scene

more friends for Harley at our campsite

We are looking forward to the next leg of our adventure....3 months in Casa Grande.  Boy this retirement stuff is really nice....