Hikes, hikes, jewelry and friends!

At the end of an 18-mile hike

It’s been busy here again, but then it is always busy here. Our friends, my former boss and his wife, Roger and Jessica, are almost at the end of their visit and two weeks from this Friday we will also be wheels up and on our long trip home.

But until then there is much to tell and much to come.

The shows at the resort have been top caliber this year and since we last talked we have seen some really good shows, including an Eagles Tribute Show and a singing comedian and impressionist, Scott Record.

One great view from the long hike

The latter was very good and was once a close associate of Rodney Dangerfield (he did an outstanding Rodney Dangerfield impression). The Eagles concert was likewise very good, but the loudness drove some of the older audience members home at intermission.

 Just last week we saw “New Odyssey” a group of three men who play (and play well) 30 different instruments. It was an incredible performance with a lot of humor, and of course, music.

As I have mentioned previously in this 55-plus park you have a variety of musical and entertainment tastes. With ages varying over three decades it must be a challenge to offer up entertainment that keeps everyone happy. When the Rap tribute concerts start being booked I’ll know that it’s time for me to stay home. I would welcome a Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin tribute show, but it would likely not be popular with the older folks here.

Blackett's Ridge Memorial Hike for Dave

This has been my best hiking year here ever. I’ve been average more than 2 great hikes a week (in part due to the visit of my friend Mahlon) and about 10 days ago a group of us here in the park set out on a hike I have wanted to do for a long time.

The hike starts in Bear Canyon and goes past Seven Falls (I’ve been there twice already before this season) and continues on up the mountain into the Sycamore Reservoir area in Catalina Mountains and then circles back on the Hutch’s Pool Trail and finishes on the Telephone Line hike.

Joan showing her jewelry creations at Show and Tell

We were told that it was a 14-mile hike. When we finally finished the GPS devices carried by two of our hikers logged us in at 18.8 miles for the day, which was more than 9 hours of hiking. The last four miles of the hike was pretty quiet as we were pretty exhausted in the heat and just wanted to put one boot in front of the other to get to the end.

Hockey night in Tucson

The views were outstanding and there was plenty of water in Bear Creek and Sabino Creek so that was refreshing to see. Most of the other hikes were in the 7-8 mile range and all are in preparation for next week’s adventure as we hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, stay down in the bottom of the canyon for two days and then hike out on the fourth day. I think I’m ready, but I know it will be a grind.

Joan has been working hard at the health clinic, as long as doing her jewelry making.

She showed off her creations at “Show and Tell” here at the resort and I manned the Bible Study table at the same event. There are some very talented people here and they all showed off the stain glass, silver jewelry, stained glass creations, quilts, wood carving and other great activities offered here.

I know it probably sounds like bragging, and I really don’t mean it that way, but this park offers more activities both indoors and outdoors than any park we have ever stayed at. People here for the first time simply are stunned by the range of activities offered here.

Also since I last checked in we have attended a dance and a dinner show.

Lunch on the Bug Springs hike

Joan has been faithful about attending her aquacise class and I recently was asked to come on  board as a hike coordinator for the hiking group here which means I will be leading a couple of the hikes during our stay here next year.

It had been three years since we had our trailer carpets cleaned and the desert dirt and dust had taken a toll on our floor despite Joan’s constant attention to cleanliness. So we called the man who cleaned them before and he came out and cleaned them again.

However, because the carpets need time to dry, we decided to visit a new casino resort in the Apache lands north of here overnight to let the carpets dry. When Joan booked the hotel she thought she had lodged us at Apache Sky Casino which is about two hours north of here. As soon the carpets were done, we left for the resort arriving about 6 p.m.

Lunch on the rocks (with my friend Jim)

As we drove up the new driveway I was pretty confused to see the casino, but nothing that looked like a hotel. Inside we asked the clerk where the hotel was and she said “there’s no hotel here.” That’s when we discovered that Joan booked us into Apache Gold Resort, which was another hour north of Apache Sky.

We asked if they had a restaurant at the new Apache Sky Casino, because we were really hungry, and she happily replied “There’s a food truck out back.”  Not what we were looking for so we caged our hunger, got back in the car and headed to Apache Gold where we checked in and grazed on a nice prime rib.

The next day we returned to Apache Sky used up the free $30 free play they gave us and then headed back to Tucson in a small rainstorm because we had tickets to the Tucson Roadrunners hockey game. A number of our friends from the hiking club were also going and because it was $1 hot dog night we feasted on those.

A really bad hike selfie

We were also supposed to go on a Boneyard Tour (that’s a tour of the aircraft being stored in the desert at Davis – Monthan Air Force Base, but the Pima Air Museum really dropped the ball and never got back to us about the reservation we made for the tour. Not sure what is going on with the museum, but their customer service, at least in this instance was really lacking.

Well, another week went by so I’ll add an additional two great hikes, one at Bug Springs and another 13.2-mile hike to a back country campground in the Catalina Mountains. All of these hikes are in preparation for my big challenge coming on Wednesday, March 21, when 18 of us hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and spend two wonderful days along the Colorado River at Phantom Ranch.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, our friends Roger and Jessica have left the park to start their long amble home. They were stopping in Albuquerque to visit friends and I know they probably hit some pretty cold weather when they arrived there.

Arizona sunrise

They took us to dinner on Wednesday as they were going to be locked up with grandchildren for the last two days they were in the park. After saying good bye to them Saturday morning, March 17, I felt pretty sad when I returned an hour or so later and saw that there motor home had left. Safe travels friends!

So look here in a week or so and there should be some wonderful Grand Canyon photos to view. Looking forward to seeing our son, William, my cousin Cynthia, and sister Laura on our way home.

Talk to you all soon.