Grandma's recess

Sunday, February 9, 2014

A leaky meltdown, trinket shopping and some nifty dance moves

See, we get clouds too

Back in the resort we resumed our “normal” activities on Wednesday. Joan got up and went to her water aerobics and I headed to the gym for a workout.

After cleaning up from my workout I headed back to the wood carver shop and almost finished carving my eagle. I still have to carve some words into the board and then I’ll stain it and finish it. I’m learning as I go and getting lots of help from the folks who have been doing it for a while.

Around noon Joan and I headed over to the “Vendor Fair” which is a collection of folks trying to sell old folks stuff they need. Things like pre-arranged funerals, Viagra info, hospice care, sky ambulance services, casino bus trips, RV supplies, property sales, that kind of thing. We collected a few free pens, some pads of paper and a chip clip, but our funeral arrangements remain unplanned and we’ll roll the dice on the air ambulance ride.

An RV spot we have our eye on

The afternoon was kind of quiet, but we had tickets for the Wednesday night concert which was a Simon and Garfunkel tribute group. They were a lot of fun and while the voices were good the musicians were outstanding. We have seen some great musicians at the concerts here.

I would list all the songs we heard, but just think of every big Simon and Garfunkel hit and you’ve pretty much got the play list.

We both slept in on Thursday (sleeping in for me is 6:45 a.m.) and I got up and showered and then headed to my Men’s Bible study. It was a great study and I’ve made some really good friends among the men who also attend.

A photo of the horse drawn trolley we didn't use in Tubac

After Bible study I headed back to the wood carving shop and completed the eagle portion of my project. I am still trying to come up with the proper font for the words on my “eagle” board.

I carried the laundry over to the resort Laundromat (one of two in the resort) so Joan could get our travel duds washed up. Believe me I offer to help, but just like shopping she seems to appreciate more my absence than my help. Being a “mule” is what I am best at.

After lunch and Joan’s soap opera we headed to the store to pick up some groceries and a movie for tonight. We picked up “Red 2” a Bruce Willis thriller than we have both been wishing to see.

Joan made one of my favorite dinners – Taco Salad – and we enjoyed a quiet night at home with a movie.

Ants made of metal and rocks - only $10 each

On Friday Joan and I went our separate ways for exercise, she to water aerobics and me to the gym. Then I checked on hotel rates for my cousin who is planning a visit here in March. We had a leisurely day around the trailer and looked at an RV property here that is for sale.

We walked around the park together and took a short drive to return the movie to the “Red Box.” I talked to my Dad on the phone and a friend in East Lansing. All was going well until Joan noticed a leak coming from the water heater compartment on the outside of the trailer.

Plumbing is my very worst nightmare. It is my emotional Kryptonite. Simple, I thought, just tighten the leaky plug and I’m done. Except like every plumbing job I ever do, I created a worst problem when by tightening the plug I somehow caused it to spring an even bigger leak.

Eventually, I had to shut off the water, pull the plug and then drive into the teeth of the Tucson rush hour to find an RV parts supply house to replace the plug that I broke. Trust me, I was not in a good mood and like every other plumbing project I have ever taken on, ended up apologizing to Joan for losing my temper in my attempts to fix the unfixable.

Some of the Tubac crowd and vendors

The new plug seems to be holding so except for a large muddy pool outside our trailer there is little evidence left of the plumbing disaster.

Joan made a great pork roast for dinner and we tried out the new microwave potato cooker I bought in Vegas. Part of it worked, but some of the potato never really got cooked so we have a little more work to do on the “As Seen on TV” microwave potato cooker. It works really well on stale bread, however.

After dinner, Joan talked to her sister Diane and then we headed to tonight’s resort concert “Boomerama Blast” a Sedona-based group that played dozens of hits from the 50s, 60s and 70s.

A forest of metal flowers and art

The group was fun, humorous, but most of all very talented. The play list is also too long to list here, but all good songs that most of you over 30 would recognize.

I started Saturday with a workout at the fitness center and then Joan and I got cleaned up for a trip to nearby Tubac, an historic town just about 20 miles north of the border with Mexico.

Tubac was hosting its annual arts and crafts festival and we and half of Arizona descended with us on the little town today. We systematically walked up and down the three streets of downtown Tubac visiting all the booths and regular shops in the town.

A Saguaro cactus from old golf clubs

Joan picked up a few trinkets and gifts for family and friends. It was also a great test for Joan’s new knee which is giving her more and more freedom as time goes on.

It always amazes me to see the unusual and wonderful artwork created by folks. Metal art, which is one of my favorites, was everywhere and if I had room in the trailer for it I would have bought up a lot more than we did. Actually we bought very little.

There were beautiful photographs, watercolors, oil paintings, leather goods, jewelry, feather paintings and many other wonderful works of art.

The shops, which are always there, also were open and we visited most of those as well. We spent more than four hours there. There was a furniture store that among other pricey items sported a mesquite dining room table for $15,000, each chair that goes with it costs $1,100.

As Joan told the woman working in the store, we’ll be back if we ever hit the lottery.

Rock, paper, scissors sculpture - just $24,000

On the way home I drove Joan through Madera Canyon so she could see the trailhead to Mt. Wrightson, the long hike I took last year and again a little over a week ago.

After that we drove back toward Tucson and had dinner at Texas Roadhouse restaurant. We got hit up for two boxes of Girl Scout cookies on the way out of the restaurant by two young girls, but we agreed to eat just two a day. I’ll keep you posted on how that works out. It’s always hard to say “no” to a young girl looking up at you in a cute uniform asking you to buy cookies. One of the better marketing efforts in the country.

After we got home we decided that as tired as we were, we wanted to go to the Albert Galli dance in the ballroom Saturday night. We’ve heard a lot about Mr. Galli and wanted to see him. Again we tested Joan’s knee with a number of slow and fast dances and it continues to work well.

A young couple – well around here we’re actually among the youngest people here at 66 and 65 – was at the dance tonight. I would guess they were in their 30s and likely here visiting Mom and Dad, or perhaps even Grandpa and Grandma.

New snow on the trail I took last week

I could only imagine that they thought they had accidentally arrived at “Oldworld” and were surrounded by grandpas and grandmas. But they seemed to have a good time. “Oldworld” is a lot like “Disneyworld” or some other place where everyone seems to have a good time out of context with the real world.

Around here there is always something to do, a place to visit or a fun activity to attend. I can only imagine what the young couple was thinking when they saw all of us old folks acting out on the dance floor.

Joan learned a new dance tonight, something called the Raggae Cowboy, or the Cuban Shuffle, or something silly like that. She is learning all these new dances to be ready for her niece’s wedding in June. I want to see her do the worm. Getting her up off the floor after doing the worm could take a few people.

We left the dance a little early (about 9:30 p.m.) because frankly we were tired.

Sunday was a quiet day with just church and watching golf.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

What happens in Vegas is all right here for you to read

Joan at Hoover Dam

The older we get the more we appreciate the great friends that we have. This past few days was all about connecting with some great friends.

Over the years of traveling it has always been fun to connect with friends while we are on the road. There is something special and different about seeing folks you love and respect out of the context that you usually see them.

On Sunday morning we left Kingman, Arizona and headed north to finish the short trip to Las Vegas.

The scenery was beautiful and we made a quick stop at Hoover Dam so Joan could use the restrooms and so I could get a quick photo of the Hoover Dam up close.

Obvious

Predictably the security to visit the dam is much greater than I remember when I was a boy. There is a checkpoint on the Nevada side of the dam where armed guards look in the windows of your car from both the driver and passenger side. We were quickly cleared and the restrooms were just about 150-feet beyond the checkpoint so I pulled in and Joan jumped out of the Tahoe to use the facilities.

No sooner had she closed the restroom door when a police car with red lights spinning followed a van into the same parking area, stopped and approached the van. Another police car, also with lights going, rolled in behind my Tahoe to back up the other officer on the stop.

Joan liked the leaning towers

I thought about jumping out and talking a photo, but quickly thought better of it. When Joan emerged from the bathroom she looked surprised to see our car surrounded by police vehicles, but I was able to maneuver out of my predicament and we continued on to the dam.

At the dam visitor center we declined to pay $10 to park just to snap a photograph and continued across the dam (which is the old highway road) and parked in a free lot on the Arizona side of the dam. We hopped out of the car took a couple photos and then headed on for the final 30-minute trip to the Las Vegas strip.

On the couple occasions I previously visited the dam the water was nearly to the top of the dam. You can clearly see that the water levels have fallen to unbelievable lows and there is considerable worry in Nevada that unless they see a pretty good recovery that drastic rationing measures may soon be on the way.

The drive into Las Vegas was uneventful aided considerably by my OnStar navigation system.

The night view from our room

We pulled into the Treasure Island Resort and turned the car over to a valet and the luggage over to a bellman and before Joan had visited one slot machine we were $6 poorer. But it was worth not having to worry about the car or luggage as we couldn’t check into our room until 3 p.m. and it was barely past noon.

My friends Ed and Betty spend their winters in Las Vegas so they are pretty skilled at getting good deals and upgrades and Ed had already finagled a very nice room for us with a wonderful view of the Las Vegas strip. Originally we had a “mountain view” which is really a view of the parking garage. I guess “mountain view” is a euphemism in Las Vegas for a view of anything but the famous strip.

Daytime view

Because our room was not ready, we went to Ed and Betty’s suite on the 18^th floor and caught up on family and home. At 3 p.m. we turned on the Super Bowl and by halftime we were pretty much done watching that awful game.

Worst. Super Bowl. Ever.

We decided to beat the rush and headed by the overhead tram between Treasure Island and the Mirage for dinner at the Carnegie Diner inside The Mirage. Ed warned us about the size of the meals and the bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich we ordered had to be at least 7-inches thick with at least ½-pound of bacon piled on a wedge of lettuce. You literally could not bite into both pieces of bread at the same time.

While we were eating we kept hearing the many Seahawks fans in the Mirage cheering with each new touchdown. I kind of felt sorry for the Bronco fans as they had very little, OK they had one touchdown, to cheer.

Joan enjoying herself

After the game we headed back to Treasure Island and Joan and Betty headed to the casino while Ed and I wandered around the resort until Gilley’s bar opened up. The ladies met us at the bar about 8:30 p.m., but when we learned Mickey Gilley was not playing that night, the ladies deserted us and went back to the casino.

Ed and I watched a few drunken cowboys and cowgirls get thrown off the mechanical bull and then we left the out table to a younger crowd.

Tried, Ed retired to his room and I to mine and the long wait began for Joan to return. She had a good night at the slots and we were actually a little ahead when she returned about 11 p.m. to the room.

The next morning I was up early so I could score a couple tickets to the Cirque Du Soleil performance of “Mystere” at the hotel theater for Monday night. I left the room forgetting to take my key so I hung around the casino floor watching people for an hour so I wouldn’t have to wake Joan to get back in the room.

Bad photo, but Me, Joan, Betty and Ed as we left

The night before Ed and I had walked around the casino floor watching folks playing blackjack and there was one disheveled guy playing at one table who kept giving Ed the evil eye and making comments. As I was walking around the floor about 7 a.m. Monday I saw the very same guy at the roulette table obviously having been up all night.

Joan let me into the room and after getting cleaned up we headed back to the casino floor where I met Ed and we went to a local Fry’s Electronics Store to look around. Although they have lots of electronics what we came home with was a bag to cook potatoes in a microwave oven that we found in the “As Seen on TV” section of the store.

I also picked up a new battery powered nose trimmer, which is a must for an old guy like me.

Terry, Susan, Joan and me at Sam's Town casino

The afternoon was quiet, but we met up with Ed and Betty for dinner at the Treasure Island Buffet before it was time for the show. Joan and I received a 2-for-1 buffet coupon when we checked in so it turned out to a reasonable dinner.

We had a pleasant dinner and we did some damage at several of the food stations, especially the dessert buffet.

After saying goodnight to Ed and Betty, Joan and I went to the theater and were almost immediately upgraded to lower bowl seats in the theater. Originally, we had tickets way back in the theater, but for reasons known only to the nice lady usher she picked us out for seats in about the 10^th row very close to the stage. I did slip her a little tip for her gesture.

The music and show was terrific. It is hard to describe the show, but it was a combination of incredible acts of strength, gymnastics, trapeze, special effects and wonderful original music. So much was going on and above the stage there were many times you didn’t really know where to look or concentrate.

Lake Mead

A guy in a goofy tuxedo with Professor Corey hair provided some pre-show comic relief and a very large man dressed in a diaper and carrying a baby bottle provided in show comic relief most likely to give the large cast and crew time to set up for the next scene.

Too soon the show was over and Joan and spent a little time on the casino floor, but she outlasted me again and I returned to the room early. I’m not much of a gambler, but did manage to break even for the very little bit of gambling I did.

On Tuesday morning we met Ed and Betty in the casino to say our goodbyes and a nice man took a very bad and fuzzy photo of us which you will see here. I should have looked a little closer at the photo before I let the guy escape. Wherever he is now, I just want him to know that he is not a very good photographer even if I do appreciate his willingness to help us.

Another view of the low dam water

A valet retrieved our car (we carried our own bags down to save a few bucks) and then we headed to Sam’s Town Resort and Casino to visit with our friends Terry and Susan. A few years ago we spent several days with Terry and Susan in Albuquerque, New Mexico and have looked forward to seeing them again.

Not too long ago they were living in Belize, but have returned to the states. Next year we hope to spend more time with them and Ed and Betty in Vegas.

Terry and Susan treated us to breakfast and we had a lot of fun catching up on them and their children over a breakfast at the TGI Friday’s in the resort.

Sam’s is an old school resort, kind of like the Vegas I remember as a young man. Too soon our time was up and we began the long drive back to Tucson.

Temperatures in Nevada and Arizona have sagged to more normal and cooler temperatures for this time of year, but still 60s are pretty manageable considering what is going on back home in Michigan.

Heading home to Tucson over the dam

The trip home was fairly uneventful, but Joan makes it a habit to point out every “Watch Out for Animals” sign to reinforce her constant concerns over livestock in the road.

The only animal we saw on the trip home was a little dog that was running across the freeway and nearly hit by the car in front of us.

We stopped for gas in Kingman and that turned into quite the adventure in traffic. When we were there on Saturday there was barely any traffic, but today about noon it was like downtown Los Angeles.

We arrived back at the Voyager RV park, grabbed our mail and unpacked in our trailer.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

A trip up a mountain and a road trip to Kingman

Part of the wings are carved

After abusing my body on Tuesday’s hike I decided to take a one-day break from my fitness routine. So I stayed in bed until about 7:30 a.m. and then got cleaned up and headed to the wood carving shop. I’m getting plenty of help with my project from a bunch of guys who are infinitely more knowledgeable about wood carving than I will ever be.

My little eagle is taking shape and hopefully will be ready for staining next week. I’ll include a photo here on how far I have come as of Thursday.

I know I keep raving about the entertainment here in the park, but they really outdid the previous offerings last night. In the ballroom Wednesday night was “The Tokens.” If you don’t remember the name right off their biggest hit was “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”

Hard to believe, but they are old just like us. But they were in good voice and good instrument last night and really brought the house down with a medley of great songs from the 50s and 60s. Phil Margo, the current lead singer (the band is missing three of its original members) was funny, engaging and informative about the history of the band.

Me at the memorial at Josephine Saddle

Phil’s brother, Mitch Margo, the other original member of the band, started playing “The Lions Sleep Tonight” at the opening set, but Phil stepped in and said: “What are you doing, if you play that first, they’ll all go home.”

What we didn’t know about the band is that in addition to performing their own music, the produced some very memorable hits. Among those, which I’m sure most of you will remember were “He’s So Fine” by the Chiffons, “One Fine Day” also by The Chiffons, “Denise” by Randy and the Rainbows, “See You in September” by The Happenings, “I Got Rhythm” by the Happenings, “Go Away Little Girl” by the Happenings, “Candida,” “Knock Three Times,” and “Tie a Yellow Ribbon,” all by Tony Orlando and Dawn.

They played many of the songs they produced and for kicks wore female wigs when they sand “He’s So Fine.”

On top of Mt. Wrightson

During another set, they sang a medley of old favorites and they would stop during a part of the lyrics, hold the microphones toward the audience and we would fill in the blanks.

At one point we sang a really silly lyric, something like “flying purple people eater” or something like that and Phil Margo stopped and said, “isn’t it just a little sad that you can all remember that lyric, perhaps the most useless of phrases to remember, when you can’t remember where you left your car keys?”

One of the newer members of the band is the drummer, who it turns out is Phil’s son.

“See, if you last long enough you can grow your own band,” Phil said.

Ken enjoying the summit view

Anyway, it was a really fun night, full of great music and laughter and we went home feeling very happy.

On Thursday, I returned to the fitness center early and then went to Bible Study at 8 a.m. It was another great session and I have met many really fine people here. One of the men was talking about St. Patrick last week so I loaned him my two study books on Celtic Evangelism and “How the Irish Saved Civilization.”

It is my way of extending my studies at home to Arizona.

After Bible study I headed back to the wood carving shop and then Joan and I headed to a shopping center near here so I could get my haircut and she could get a haircut and her nails done. We are all pretty now.

Our lunch spot on the mountain

Last year I climbed Mt. Wrightson on my own. It took most of the day and was perhaps one of the more grueling day hikes I have undertaken. The payoff, the 9,460-foot summit, is well worth the effort though.

One of the Tuesday hike leaders organized a special hike Friday to assault the summit of Mt. Wrightson with a group. Only 10 of us signed up, and only 9 showed up, and because of the lengthy drive to the trailhead we set out from the resort at 7 a.m.

We arrived and started the hike at Madera Canyon at 8:15 a.m. Our leader decided that we would take the Super Trail up to the Josephine Saddle and then take the Old Baldy Trail to the summit. The Super Trail from the parking lot is 3.7-miles, which is 1.5 miles longer than the opening segment of the Old Baldy Trail to Josephine Saddle. It is also not as steep, which is the reason it is considerably longer.

Patching up Ken after his fall

It was windy and temperatures were in the 40s when we set out. Two of the hikers didn’t realize that we were starting the hike at 5,000-feet and wore shorts and one of them didn’t bring a jacket. So I loaned my jacket to one of them because I knew once I started hiking I would warm right up.

It took until about 10:30 a.m. to arrive at Josephine Saddle, which is always a sobering stop because it is the location where three Boy Scouts died during a sudden snowstorm in 1958. There is a new memorial plaque installed there since I stopped at the spot last year. I added another small stone to the memorial.

A photo at the bottom of the trail

We took a short water break at the saddle and then began the 2.7-mile trip to the top of Mt. Wrightson. The hike is a long series of fairly steep switchbacks and the footing in places is pretty loose, and in a couple of other places it was a glaze of ice.

The ice presents a problem because it is located in sections of the trail that feature large drop-offs so a slip and fall can be disastrous.

One of the group was struggling with the altitude and breathing so I laid back with him and allowed him to make the hike at a slower pace. I was in what the hike group calls “the sweep” position as I am the last hiker. The rest of the group was getting far ahead of us when suddenly two of the folks, including the lady I loaned my jacket, appeared on the way down the mountain. The high winds and cold temperatures were getting to them (they were wearing shorts) and decided against going on to the summit.

The Grapes of Wrath exhibit

Mike, the man I was helping up the mountain, decided he’s had enough so he decided to go back down with them. That freed me up to pick up the pace and I caught the main body of our group about .7-miles below the summit about 8,900-feet.

The thin air and the speed of my trek was getting me a little light headed, but the pace slowed considerably after I caught up with the group and we reached the summit about 1:15 p.m.

The views from the top are unbelievable, with vistas of Mexico to the south and Tucson and Casa Grande to the north. We lingered on the summit only about 10 minutes as the cold winds were bitter and we decided to eat our lunch at a more sheltered part of the trail about a mile down from where we were.

Andy Devine and his children

Going down the mountain is nearly as tough as going up and considerably harder on the knees. On the way up on the lower trail one of our leaders fell off the side of the trail and slid a few feet down the side of a hill, but was otherwise undamaged.

Things were about to get a lot worse for one of us. During the last 2.2-miles of descent, one of our hikers accidentally walked too close to the edge of the trail and suddenly began tumbling down a steep hill. He fell about 30-feet down the hill, momentarily losing his glasses and tearing up his knees and putting a nasty gash on the side of his head.

I got out my first aid kit and we cleaned up the cut with triple antibiotic and he declined a band aid. We did find his glasses, which were unbroken and continued our hike down the hill to the cars.

We slowed the pace a little to help Ken out with his damaged knees and we finally arrived back to the cars about 4:45 p.m. A pretty eventful hike for sure.

The Enola Gay, but no explanation as to a connection with Kingman

As you can imagine I was pretty tired after the 12-mile hike and after calling Joan to let her know we were OK and down off the mountain I drove me and my passengers back to the resort, a trip of about 1 hour.

Joan had some “Sloppy Joans,” her version of “Sloppy Joes” ready for me on arrival. It tasted mighty good.

For the first time since we arrived here we are on a short road trip to Las Vegas to visit our friends from Michigan, Ed and Betty. Because of some commitments in the resort we will be returning on Tuesday evening, but are looking forward to spending time with our friends.

We were up early Saturday for the trip and headed to Kingman, Arizona to get a good night’s sleep before finishing our trip on Sunday to Las Vegas.

An aviation display at the Mohave Museum

The scenery in Arizona changes dramatically with the elevation and we drove through areas of dense Joshua trees and then dense areas of Saguaro cactus and then almost as quickly were out of both. The rocks and vegetation vary significantly in short spaces of geography. I guess that’s why I am so fascinated with Arizona.

Traveling through Phoenix we saw several advertising signs announcing the “Tattoo Expo and Beer Fest” which begins on Valentine’s Day. The combination of a beer fest and a tattoo exposition seemed a “perfect storm” of events.

We sometimes watch a show called “Bad Ink” which is a program about a tattoo artist in Las Vegas who repairs weird or bad tattoos that people have gotten.

The view from our Kingman hotel room

One of the tattoo artist’s favorite sayings is “Don’t drink and tattoo.” And yet here they are in Phoenix advertising an event that combines both. Should be a lot of Valentine’s Day body art if the beer flows like it may.

Interestingly, we were passed by a new red BMW sports car with Arizona personalized plates that read “TIGRS84.” We tried to get a look at the driver, because we had a thought it could have been Kirk Gibson or someone from his staff considering his role in the Tigers 1984 World Series win. Kirk Gibson is the current manager of the Phoenix baseball team.

We also saw signs that read “Watch for Animals.” Not a specific animal, just “animals.” We watched and watched but didn’t see any.

Joan acting like her dad the engineer

Just outside Phoenix we went through a town called “Surprise” which lived up to its name because we had never heard of it. There was also a MetLife blimp flying overhead so we speculated that there must be a golf tournament going on.

We finally arrived in Kingman about 2:40 p.m. and after checking into our hotel room we headed out to play a little tourist. We ended up at a Route 66 Museum and then at the Mohave Museum, both of which were very interesting.

Joan in front of the engine

An actor from my youth – “Andy Devine” – is a native of Kingman and the Mohave Museum had an extensive collection of Andy Devine memorabilia. One of the items on display was “Froggy” from Andy Devine’s Saturday morning kid show from the 1950s – “Andy’s Gang.” I was once a card carrying member of “Andy’s Gang” and “Froggy” was always encouraged by Andy Devine to “Pluck your magic twanger Froggy.”

Andy was in more than 400 movies and television shows (he was also known for being the whiny sidekick in “The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok.”

The main drag – the former Route 66 – is named for him through Kingman.

Joan also got to pose on a large steam engine in railroad park.

It never ceases to amaze us the interesting things we discover when we come to small towns and spend the time to visit the local museums. Every town has a story of its own, or famous people with a story of their own.

The Dambar Steakhouse

After our tourist adventures we went to a local steakhouse for dinner. The restaurant is named “Dambar” and as you can imagine they have played off that name offering “Dambeer” or a “Damsalad” or any other “dam” thing you can imagine.

We both had a small prime rib and we left happy and full.

For more photos of the hike and Kingman, Arizona scroll down to the next post.

Mileage out: 70155

Time out: 9:04 a.m.

Mileage in: 70469

Time in: 2:16 p.m.