80/50

Poor Phoenix – the year of no winter.  Hooray for us – year of no winter.  For the most part the daily temps have been 10 degrees above normal...easily.  Each day has been 80 degrees +/- and 50 at night.  Half of the RV closet is full of winter sweats and heavy coats that have not been worn.

 .

With the new year we moved to a new spot.  Trying out the good life at Good Life RV Park.  So busy the first couple weeks we got over tired and both caught the cold bug. Lucky us only a cold and not the flu which is everywhere.

 .

Nice spot with a beautiful orange tree....but no oranges this year....may have not been watered over the summer.  Provides a semblance of privacy in these "cozy" RV spots.

. 

Lots of activities here and Dean is still putting in time as a part-time gandy dancer / engineer on the garden railroad at our last RV park.  There have been so many entertaining shows and specialty meals.  And we haven't even partaken of the nightly dance bands, happy hours, and time around the pool.  Laurie is working crafts, exercise classes, and learning to ride a bike again with a Schwinn Loop folding bike.

 .

For Dean's birthday we were joined by friends at the Silver Star theater and enjoyed the Rock and Roll Show. 
 .
Michael Paul, a comedian and ventriloquist, entertained us with his off-color bird and aged Olympian.  

.

We were laughing hard with the Blues Brothers Tribute especially when the Brothers said they didn't have the money to throw scarves like Elvis and instead threw socks everywhere.  As an appreciative audience we waved our socks!  

Not all the entertainment was at the park. We saw several movies with friends including one up at Usery Mountain Park.  
.
Enjoyed a great performance on the Organ Pipe Pizza organ with a 20 minute description of all the horns, percussion instruments and odd sounds like roosters crowing, cow bells clanging, and washtub drums. 

A highlight was the Dreamland Villa Tea put on by our friend Cyndy (and helpers).  Plenty of nice tea and crumpets served by the singing waiters, plenty of senior skits, and a full house.  What a production. 

Too much – too much! 

QUE VIDA (What a Life)

6 weeks went fast at Valle Del Oro (Valley of Gold).  A better name might be Que Vida (What a life).  We did suffer though – from a lack of rest.  Way too much having fun.  The weather was sunny every day.  Temps in the 70's and 80's.  Lovin' it.  We had one day of sprinkles.  Poor AZ ---- no rain for 100 days.

Dean is always fascinated with the Garden Valley Railway which has expanded from about 20x20 to 3000 feet of track including a children's train track with Tommy the locomotive.  

A railroad this big takes lots of maintenance and Dean was ready to help.  As a reward he got to be an engineer a couple of times.  Every Thursday and Saturday the railroad runs for the enjoyment of guests. 

Always looking for new crafts, this time Laurie took classes in silversmithing and the lost wax process.  Two rings and one bracelet.  Lost wax is fun as the mold and the silver are purchased and after time in an oven the wax melts making a mold for the silver.  Viola!  

The other ring required much more work.  Cutting and fitting, creating the bezel for the stone, grinding and polishing.  Learning words like "sprue" and "investment" which is a powder.  1400 degree oven for 8 hours – all this too hot for me.  Once I got over the fact that the wax wasn't lost, a pretty ring came from the mold.  And finally I made a bracelet made from silver spoons. This was easy to do too.

Entertainment by the Highland Strings:  85% of the students at Highland High School in Gilbert, AZ are in the string orchestra. 

Nearly 45 students came to perform for Christmas – some even strolling with their strings through the hall.  I was impressed that the school even has a harp orchestra

We liked the area of the park where our site was.  Off on a non-busy street, near a dog park, and very friendly neighbors.  In fact, before we were hooked up to utilities, our neighbor came over to introduce himself and tell us that this street competes in the Christmas Décor contest.  Hint Hint – And we would be responsible for turning on the lighting on our palm each night. 

Oops, and we have had one small box of Christmas décor.  Well we added an inflatable snowman to go with the theme of the street.  We had many folks walk and golf cart by during the lightings.  And our street won the contest! 

There were 3 block parties while we were there – in an unoccupied site we all gathered around a campfire and enjoyed catching up on activities of all.

Valle Del Oro – is a huge park with about 1700 sites.  It can be suffocating when the park is full with long lines and sell-outs. But getting there before Christmas when the park was half-full, it was easy to get into activities, crafts and classes, dances and dinners and to meet people.

Our scheduling this year is to go to a couple of different RV parks to see if we'd be interested in staying a whole winter in a park in the RV or buying or renting a park model (single wide trailer).  With that in mind we have moved to another RV park – a bit smaller, fewer activities, friendly people and less $.  We have an "old boating" buddy here.  The park is called "Good Life".  We'll find out if this is true.  Stay tuned.