Our Last Day at Carriage Manor

On Friday the winds were too strong to play pickleball, so I dove into my take down chores.  This involves removing everything from the car and loading it for the next stop, adding to it all the tables and chairs from our big set up.

I modified the outside bays a bit by adding a plastic drawer to hold the table linens and bird supplies.  Since I needed to raise this up to allow pulling out the drawer, an underbed storage box was placed underneath it.  This will hold stuff we never seem to use but still want to drag around with us. 

It's a good thing I got rid of my golf clubs, because now it feels like there's actually less room than before.

Left Brain took me to lunch for Friday fish and after we returned I took the remaining laundry down to work on it.  It's always nice to have everything shipshape before departure and we will be busy at the Escapade in Tucson for the next week.

On Saturday it is Carriage Manor Days with a parade and I can't wait to photo all the dogs in their strollers.  Pet owners are not allowed to walk their dogs on the streets here, so there is always an assortment of baskets, strollers, bikes and such utilized to carry them to the dog park.

The street we lived on is the most heavily traveled for what I now call "the potty parade" so I've met a good many of these creatures as they are escorted to the park.  However, for the parade they were much more fancied up.

Sunday morning we need to roll out fairly early as they have designated parking hours of 8:00 to 2:00.

Long Live the Queen

Arizona Opry

During our last visit we didn't get to see the Barleen's Arizona Opry, so we made it a must this year.  This is owned and operated by the Barleen sisters, who are twins.

This is a dinner theater, so not only did we get good eats but we got to listen to their Variety Show full of music and comedy.  They seat 508 and deliver the meals in 35 minutes.  As soon as we sat down we were served our food.

My highlight was meeting George Staekl.  Who...you might ask?  He was the lead singer with The Tokens?  Again, who....you still ask.  They are best known for the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".

This is my all time favorite song.  It's kind of my theme song and for a while was used as my ring tone, but then I got a new phone and access to my brilliant nephew was not available to set it up again with that song.  Sigh.

I approached him and asked if I could just touch him...he opened up his arms and gave me a warm hug.

Then I told him that the photos shown during the son of the sleeping lion made me think of my orange cat...who I named George.  Here's a clip of the song for your enjoyment.

Now he's eyeing me up like some kind of stalker.  I think I rattled him a bit.

They featured a ton of instruments, but the coolest one was the contra bass saxophone he played.  There are only four of them in the world.  It is HUGE.  Can you guess which instrument it is?  Hint:  on the far left.

It was a great night for everyone.

Long Live the Queen of Sleeping Lions

Seeing more old friends

We managed to connect with one of our three "Bob and Marti" couples while they were in the Mesa area.  Marti is an old friend and Bob is more of a new friend.  It was nice to have an opportunity to get to know him better.

Marti suggested we go on a hike and so we met at the Nature Center at Usery Mountain Park and started our ascent.  She's like a mountain goat and I was soon falling behind.

The view at the top was spectacular and she explained that the Phoenix sign was used to guide airplanes back in the Good Ole Days before GPS.

Going up wasn't so bad, but down really had me worried about my knee.  There's a lot of loose rock and even though I knew my hiking boots had a good grip, it was the twisting and turning of the knee joints that had me worried.  I added a lot of extra time to the excursion because I was going so slow.

We came back to the RV to show them our digs and meet the cats before heading over to the Little Mesa Cafe for some lunch.  Bob took a spin on Left Brain's bike to test drive it as he's looking for a new bike.

When I mentioned the induction cooking I had to give a brief demo of how that worked by boiling some water...one of my best cooking techniques.  Bob likes to cook and I can see him getting into induction cooking in the future.

During lunch we learned they had just started to learn Pickleball, so we took them over to the courts for a short lesson.  Remember, we are still in jeans and hiking boots, so there wasn't a lot of running involved and it was a short game, but hopefully it gave them a start as to the rules and how to keep score.

Then we did a walk about the facility to show them the diverse activities that Carriage Manor offers.  

When we returned to the inside of the RV we were greeted by socks strewn about the interior....from the front door to the scene of the crime.

Apparently I had not closed the drawer tightly and Gracie had a little field day.  I was just glad that she didn't repeat an earlier performance involving crawling behind the drawer and getting stuck.  It seems she remembered not to do that part.  Having a nanny cam would be interesting to watch what it is that they do when we're gone.

Then it was time for Bob and Marti to head back to their place as they are preparing to leave the next day.  We look forward to seeing them again back in the Midwest when we return to Wisconsin.  But not until Wisconsin is fit for habitation and much warmer than it is currently.

Long Live the Queen of Friends

Apache Junction

The Visitors Center in Apache Junction has buildings on the grounds to rival any old western movie set, so we set off in pursuit of some photos from this area.

The logo is of the Lost Dutchman, a common theme in these parts.

These lovely fluffy looking cactus are called cholla and can be very painful if you get even near them.

The church was cute and looked nice with red stagecoach parked nearby.  The other view shows the mountains behind it.

Who would have ever guessed that Elvis was leading the service that day...I'm still all shook up over that.

Shayna....this made me think of your mother.  She'd have loved going to this church.

There was a lot of old machinery, which I love to photo.  There's something about metal gears and such that excite me even though I have no clue what they did in their prior life.

Indoors they had lots of old stuff on display, like these cool washing machines and old wooden saddle.

The sign on this coffin says "why walk around half dead when we can bury you for $22.50".  Such a deal.  I wonder if a person was tight for money if they could arrange a "lay away" plan.

Then we went to visit the Mining Camp Restaurant to see what it looked like since it was just up the road.  This got us up close and personal with Superstition Mountain.

They had a cute replica of a mill next to it and once I removed the house and applied a filter it said "old west" to me.

This old safe was sitting outside.  I was tempted to open it, but with all the rattlesnake warnings didn't want to push my luck.

Long Live the Queen of Old Western Artifacts

A little Photoshop fun

When we were at the horse show in Scottsdale we saw many dogs.

One that really caught my interest was this Siberian husky.  Those blue eyes just grab your attention.

So I wanted to make the background look more "snowy" to suit the bread and play up the features of this magnificent beast.

Here is the original photo taken that day for comparison.

Long Live the Queen of Mush