Getting ready to leave our ARIZONA PARADISE

What??? ---a third grader wrote about our life style???

This came through an email and I thought it was cute and began collecting photographs. Thought I would share it now since we have been busy packing up to move on. We had our last luncheon today furnished by our Workamper boss here at Mesa Regal. So we spent time saying our goodbyes to fellow workers, promising to connect up with some again over the summer, while there are others that we will not see until we get back here January 1st.

After Christmas a teacher asked her pupils how they spent their holiday away from school. One third grader wrote the following about what his grandparents do:

We always used to spend the holidays with Grandma and Grandpa.

They used to live in a big brick house, but Grandpa got retarded and they moved to Arizona. Now they live in a tin box

and have rocks painted green to look like grass. They ride around on bicycles,

and wear name tags,

because they don't know who they are anymore.

They go to a building called a wreck center,

but they must have got it fixed because it is all okay now, they do exercises there, but they don't do them very well. There is a swimming pool too, but they all jump up and down in it with hats on.

At their gate, there is a doll house with a little old man sitting in it.

He watches all day so nobody can escape.

Sometimes they sneak out and go cruising in their golf carts.

Nobody there cooks, they just eat out. And they eat the same thing every night - early birds. Some of the people can't get out past the man in the doll house. The ones who do get out, bring food back to the wrecked center for pot luck.

My Grandma says that Grandpa worked all his life to earn his retardment and says I should work hard so I can be retarded someday too. When I earn my retardment, I want to be the man in the doll house. Then I will let people out, so they can visit their grandchildren.

We will join you again on down the road when we meet up with new retarded (retired) seniors and make new friends!!

WIND DOWN HERE AT MESA REGAL RESORT

Cactus are in bloom everywhere!! Spring is here and it will not be long before it is too hot to do much outdoors except lounge at the pool!!

I did manage to get a couple photos at work before I left them for the last time this season. I did a filing for Paula and answered telephone for everyone, including Jon. Most of the phone calls were for Paula though. I think that is because the men are out in the field most of the time and they give there clients their cell numbers. What did we do before we got cell phones. My boss, Mark, was not in the office when I was taking pictures, nor were the three other office workers. However, Mark did treat us to the most delicious subs on my last day. Since my diet though, I had to bring half of mine home. So Gary and I split that for dinner that evening.

We had our last Fifth St. block coffee a week ago, but it was the first time that I got to go as I was usually working or sleeping. Gary usually does that socializing!

Last Saturday our Workamper coordinators, Ron and Ann, organized a Pot Luck Dinner with Bocce Ball for all workers. There were only about half attending compared to what is usually there. I assumed that many of them must have already headed home (north).

Here I got to visit with Fran who also worked in the same office that I did. She worked three days and I worked the other two for the week. I also got to meet her neighbor, Nancy, and we had a great visit with she and her husband, Keith. They were interesting as they have done a lot of traveling also. We learned where not to go in California, near Yosemite. So Gary went home and changed our reservations!!

We took in our last Show here at Mesa Regal last week. They were the Marlins, four brothers who sang and played any and all instruments. They were good and incorporated many of there own renditions of songs from the Big Bands, Movie Theme Songs, and popular songs through the 80's. It was all great and I would go see them any where. Bottom line about the entertainment at Mesa Regal, they sure get in very good stuff!! We have already seen the list for next winter season and it is great also!!

A couple of the brothers stopped and visited with the audience on their way to the CD table. The oldest brother, Gary, also had his wife and two daughters join him here for spring break.

Last Monday evening we also went to dinner at Organ Stop Pizza with Dave and Laura Jones, friends from here in the park. We so enjoyed the organ music, to say nothing of pizza since we have been dieting so much. Yum!!

The organ comes up out of the floor, with the organist already playing. If you have not seen one of these, you should try it. We saw another one in Florida also. We were glad that we got there when they first opened as it was really filling up by the time we left!!

After the problems with the last Blog, I decided to begin another one and see if I have the same problems. No, not the same problems, but the photos still did not load as they always have. And they are not movable as they have been in the past. I guess that I may have to call Blogspot and find out why.

VERDE CANYON RAILROAD TRIP - AZ

We took a bus trip to Cottonwood AZ to take a train ride into Verde Canyon to Perkinsville and back. It was a four hour trip and we had wonderful sunny weather for it! With a little time to spare before we could board the train, Gary took some pictures around the train depot. The caboose had been booked for a small dinner party. Since they had not boarded either, Gary was permitted to take pictures inside. Very nice and what a way to have a dinner and visit, all in the comforts of home and also mountain scenery. This is the open air car that we will be able to travel in once our tour guide makes sure that we are all on board! We had a full bus load, so there are more to board yet! Once we were out in the open car, we never did go back inside during the trip. It was a beautiful day!

Cottonwood was not far from Jerome, the town on the side of the mountain that had been a copper mining town in it's hay day.

So the beginning of of our ride, was passing the mounds of slag from the smelters. In recent years, they have decided that there are some valuable materials in these mounds. So they will soon begin to reprocess this slag. There is 45 acres. fifty feet deep. They say that there will be a third ounce of gold to every ton. Out of millions of ton, I'd say it would be a bundle!! And that is only one of the materials that they will take out of this.

We begin by goin' round the bend!!

Here you can see an ancient Indian cave dwelling in the middle of the picture. You can tell that it was a dwelling because of the blackened ceiling from their fires. They also have partially closed in the opening with their mud bricks.

Crossing a trestle over the Verde River

Now sit back and enjoy the mountain and cliffs. Our narrator in the open car, Don, was always pointing out formations of rocks that looked like something to him or others. Sometimes we could see the resemblance and sometimes we could not. What do you see when you look at the formations?

As we crossed over the valley, headed for the mountains of rock, we could see the mountains on the other side of the valley covered with brush and small trees and Juniper. No tall pine trees in this area!!

Sometimes there was evidence of human habitation, but it was few and far between. There were a couple fairly nice homes.

Goin' round the bend again!

Here we begin into the tunnel going through the mountain.

You can see another Indian dwellings here that has been used in recent years also.

We are now coming into Perkinsville where we will begin our journey back to Cottonwood.

You can see what is left of the old cattle corral used by the Perkins when they lived here. This town is still owned by the Perkins children.

They are now moving the engine to the other end of the train to pull it back the way we came. See some one leaning out over the side of out open air car?

We leave the ghost town of Perkinsville behind! Really it can not be a total ghost town as there were a couple of newer model trucks parked in the not near this station. Not sure what they would be out here for!!

You can see Gary here bending Don's ear about our life style. Seems that he and his wife used to travel like we do. He said that his wife got tired of it and they have since settled down.

Well, we have not tired of the life style. So we will be packing up this week and leaving April 2nd for places north. California will be our first stop where we will look up my uncle, who I have not seen in years. He is the only sibling left on my mother's side of the family. I am anxious to see how he is doing.

Stay with us!!

P.S. I appologize for the layout of this Blog. It sure was not intentional. I am not sure why, but the pictures loaded on the right side when the setting was for the left side. I could not get them moved over, no matter what I did and I could not drag them. So I had to just work with it and hope that it does not look too bad when I publish it.