This was a very long trip so we got an early start. We traveled along Interstate 10 under cloudy and dark skies. It rained, but it was not constant. The sun did peek out on occasion. When we passed through Palm Springs, the surrounding mountains were covered with snow. It was a pretty sight and I bet a real treat to this desert city.
We stopped in Buckeye, AZ and had an early dinner at Cracker Barrel. This is one of our favorite places to stop at to eat. It is a friendly, southern home style restaurant with a real nice gift shop. We have found many treasures at this gift shop. A 'must have' treat that I (Jo) look forward to is the stick candy. This place has quite a selection of flavors and they are only 15 cents a piece (or 10 for $1). Every other place that sells this candy charges 50 cents to $1 a piece. Cracker Barrels are quite popular in the southern part of the US. They are all over the place along major interstates and highways. After nine & half hours and 385 miles, we reached our destination in Mesa, Arizona, Val Vista Village.
VAL VISTA VILLAGE is a community for seniors. This facility has about 1000 sites. Most of the sites have permanent structures on it, others have the huge rigs parked on gravel with cement 'patio' pads, and then a few sites scattered about the facility are left empty for 'over nighters' like us. There is the village center with a card room, library, billiards and other activities for seniors. There is also a craft room, computer center, and fitness center and of course a couple of pools here and there. People purchase their own cable TV, so us over nighters have to depend on whatever local channels our antenna can pick up. But there is free WiFi and we get a pretty good signal.
A lot of the residents are only here for the winter. Their 'home' then stays empty while they return to Canada or the north. When winter returns to the Phoenix area, and the population increases by 80,000; it's places like this where that population resides. Mesa and Apache Junction is where most of these facilities are.
It was 6:00pm by the time we settled in. Just in time to catch the last two hours of the Academy Awards. Fortunately we got that channel loud and clear. There was this huge dark cloud overhead as we entered Mesa and it seemed to get darker as we got closer to Val Vista Village. As we were unhitching the trailer and loaded the pets into the trailer, the thunder and lightening started. What a show. I really miss those light shows we often had when we lived in Phoenix. It was later on in the evening that the rain started and it came down hard.
DAY 6, March 8 - SHOPPING:
It was a dark and stormy day so we decided to visit places that are indoors. And those places, of course, are the Malls. Arizona has some of the best malls. These are summer hangouts when the temps outside reach 110 degrees and higher. We visited Chandler Fashion Mall and a discount mall called Arizona Mills. Another stop was a wonderful bead shop in Tempe called 'Beads Galore'. I spent about two hours there. Our last stop was Trader Joe's. We will be stopping here a few more times before we leave Arizona, as there will be no more Trader Joe's until we reach Washington DC.
DAY 7, March 9 - MORE SHOPPING:
This morning was cloudy with some blue sky and sun. So we decided to visit the Phoenix Zoo and Desert Botanical Gardens (next to each other). However, as we got closer the sky really darkened and it just poured and the wind was blowing. It felt like we were in a hurricane. So we continued into Scottsdale and had lunch at Scottsdale Fashion Mall then walked around. The sun finally came out late afternoon, but by then it was too late to visit the zoo and gardens. That evening we had a nice visit and dinner with Joanie, a friend and co-worker from our Fireman's Fund days. For those of you who do not know this, we lived in Phoenix for 12 years. Joanie and Dave were with a small group of Fireman's Fund staff that moved to Phoenix to open a 2nd data center. "It was nice to see you again Joanie and we enjoyed 'catching up' with you."
DAY 8 & 9, March 10 & 11 - TUCSON, ZOO & GARDENS:
The next two days were just beautiful! Scattered fluffy clouds and lots of blue sky and bright sun. We spent one day in Tuscon visiting the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. This place is high up in the hills surrounded by Saguaro cactus. If you enter the area in one direction you go through Saguaro National Park. This Museum is a combination zoo, natural history museum and botanical garden; everything native to the Sonoran Desert region. There are more than 300 animal species and 1200 kinds of plants on display, alive in their natural desert settings. There are almost two miles of paths over 21 acres of desert. the museum also has gift shops, coffee bar, a cafe and a fine dining restaurant called Ironwood Terraces (the food is delicious here). Displays are always changing here so everytime we visit we see something new.
On our last day we finally visited the Phoenix Zoo and the Desert Botanical Garden. There were changes at the Phoenix Zoo so it was like visiting for the first time.
That evening we met with another friend for dinner and a visit. Katie and I (Jo) are childhood friends and lived in the same neighborhood in Terra Linda, CA. We've known each other since the 5th grade. "Had a great time visiting with you, Katie. Wish we had more time to hit some garage sales. Maybe next time".
Time to move on. Our next stop will be in Holbrook, AZ for two nights to visit the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Park.
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