We are parked for two months at Valle del Oro, a 1760 space 55+ Resort in Mesa, Arizona. We never expected to spend this much time in one place, if we weren’t volunteering somewhere. But we did want to be in Arizona and didn’t have any specific sightseeing plans. When we learned about Cal-Am’s sale (Cal-Am is based in Costa Mesa, California, and owns seven resorts here in the Phoenix area) we decided to take advantage. They offered three months—October 1 to January 5—for the price of $795. Of course, water, sewer and electric are extra, but 96 nights for $795 is only $8.28 a night—better than full hookups at a Corps of Engineers park at half price for seniors. We didn’t arrive in Mesa until Oct. 26. Even then, we will be parked here for 67 days at a cost of $11.86 a day. What is really surprising is we are enjoying it. This is a view of our trailer, looking down a row of Park Model homes. 
What are they? They are small mobile homes, maybe 34 ft long by 12 feet wide, that are pulled in on wheels, then set up on blocks and attached to the utilities. A covered car port is usually built and many people add what is called an “Arizona Room.” It amounts to a family room, attached to the original structure. The same lots used for the park model homes are also used for RVs, like ours.
Our trailer front door faces the south, so we are in full sun all day. The good news is, we have only had one day of wind since we arrived. Almost the entire summer, we had wind every day and have rarely been able to use our awning. Although it doesn’t give us enough shade to sit out there, it does help keep the trailer cool.
On the north side of the trailer, we have shade. We put our chairs there, where we are surrounded by citrus trees. 
There are grapefruit trees and lemon trees. Even when the fruit looks ripe, it is still hard. I wonder if any of it will be ripe enough to eat before we leave here.
When you drive around the Phoenix area, wherever you see large concentrations of palm trees, you know you are approaching either a 55+ resort or a shopping mall. 
And what do 55+ resorts offer? There is a swimming pool, shuffle board and tennis courts, a softball field, exercise room, sewing room, computer room, wood shop, “lost wax casting” room, lapidary room, and numerous activities. We probably won’t participate in many activities. We aren’t traveling to spend lots of time with people. We have signed up for the Thanksgiving Day dinner. And we check out the information on the hikes to get ideas for our own—private—hikes. These resort activities are the main reason a lot of people come here, I think. That just isn’t our way of life.
We are just 6.5 miles from the entrance to Usery Mountain Regional Park, one of several parks operated by Maricopa County, home of Phoenix. This week we have taken two early morning hikes at Usery Mountain. It has been important to get out early, because the temperatures are up into the low 90s in the afternoon. We haven't adapted to the Phoenix heat and have no interest in learning what it is like here in the summer.Hiking in the Sonoran Desert is different than in the mountains of Colorado. We don't see evergreen trees, bubbling streams and willows. But we do enjoy the diversity of this desert environment. We have been here often in the last three years and we feel almost like we are coming home. The park is covered with palo verde and several varieties of cholla cactus.
Monday we arrived at the trailhead at 7:45 am and found nine cars were there ahead of us. The trail was busy. We passed numerous people on the three-mile round trip trail up to Wind Cave. Rated as moderate, there is some elevation gain and a rocky surface. It was a good hike. We passed a number of younger, fit women, two of them running the trail. We also encountered a number of gray-haired, overweight men, including one who asked if we had seen any other "old geezers like him" on the trail.In addition, we were visited by this ground squirrel, who was looking for something to eat. 
Today we took a four-mile hike around Cats Peak. We had that trail almost entirely to ourselves, but it didn't have much of a climb. The quiet was very nice, however.Today we saw the moon in the western sky, as well as several interesting saguaro cactus.
OMG! We have really become snowbirds. We have spent time in Arizona five times in the last three years. But we have always been going against the traffic—driving south in March and north in October, always watching hundreds of RVs (so it seemed) going the opposite direction. Until this year, that is.
This year, we drove south in the first week of February and again in mid-October, and many of the RVs on the road were going the same direction we were. We will be spending the first three months of 2010 volunteering at Casa Grande Ruins in Coolidge, AZ. We had planned to slowly make our way south—Wickenburg, Cottonwood, Mesa, Tucson, Benson—then put the trailer in storage for a couple of weeks while we go to Colorado for Christmas.
Our plans changed this week when a cold front moved through Arizona. We are parked in Mesa and temperatures ranged between the mid-40s and the mid-60s. But when we checked the weather in Benson, the low on Thursday morning was 18 degrees. What is the definition of a Snowbird? It is a gray-haired human flying south to avoid the snow and stay WARM. That cold front brought lots of snow to Colorado and other northern states, driving lots of snowbirds south.
And we changed our plans for the rest of this year, signing up for a sale here at Valle del Oro. For one flat rate, we can have our RV here till January 5. We have stayed in other snowbird parks that have both park models and RV sites, but always off season. We thought they would be too crowded and too social for us during the busy season. Granted, we have to leave in the first week of January, before the place really fills up. But the park’s character is already changing. We will see soon whether we enjoy it or not. But the Phoenix area is relatively warm—our first criteria for a winter place to park.
Each day many new people arrive—some in the RVs, which they spend the winter in; some in RVs that they empty into their park model, then put into storage; others by car or plane, headed for their park model. Classes, hikes, social events are gearing up. We don’t know how we will feel by the time we leave for Christmas, but we are enjoying learning about something new and wearing shorts to go hiking.
John and I are train buffs and we try to ride them as often as we can. Unfortunately, it has been a long time since there was a good opportunity to do that. I enjoy the ride and the scenery. John enjoys both of those aspects, as well as the sounds and the chance to study the train engine.Saturday, we rode the Verde Canyon Railroad, a 40-mile trip along the Verde River through wilderness from Clarkdale to Perkinsville. First John spent some time looking at the two engines--F-7 diesels. Isn't that a great eagle painted on the side?
The Verde River was lined with trees turning yellow. The clear sky was reflected in the stream. This shot gives a good view of both the river and the train.
Open cars are an amenity that makes rail fans happy on tourist trips. This train had one open car for each traditional Pullman coach. As you can see, most people spent the trip outside. We had perfect weather for that, sun but not too hot.
There was a lot to see in the canyon. First we came on a Sinagua Indian cliff house. Theses southwestern Indians lived in the area during about the same time the Anasazi lived in the four-corners area of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.
In addition to the Sinagua ruins, we saw what archaeologists believe is the remains of a Hohokam pit house. Look at the dead tree in the center, surrounded by a low stone wall. The Hohokam were Indians that built extensive canals to support their irrigated farms along the Salt and Gila Rivers in Arizona, south into Meso-America. At the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument in Coolidge one of their last and largest structures can be viewed.
Some American Bald Eagles live year-round in the canyon. Others migrate through. Here is a shot of an eagle nest on the canyon wall.
Later we saw one of the Eagles. He was a long way away, so this picture is a little fuzzy, between the extreme telephoto aspect and the moving train. But you can see it really is an American Bald Eagle.
We also saw this magnificent Great Blue Heron down by the river.
Earlier this week we visited two towns near Dead Horse State Park, where we are staying for a week. Wednesday we drove to Sedona, a city located in what must be the most spectacular setting we have ever seen. This photo was taken from the sidewalk in the center of town.
Before lunch we drove up the Oak Creek Canyon north of Sedona. The scenery is beautiful. We saw fall color, red rock formations and colorful rock walls.
After lunch, we enjoyed exploring Sedona. Other than getting a start on our Christmas shopping, we didn't buy anything. Large paintings and expensive jewelry don't fit in our RV or out lifestyle. But we did enjoy looking. And the town has numerous statues--of javelinas and western subjects.
One very attractive shopping area is Tlaquepaque, a development resembling a Mexican village. We found numerous corners like this as we went from shop of shop.
It is amazing to us that roses are blooming in late October. This was taken in the rose garden at Tlaquepaque.
We found these chairs in front of one of the restaurants. They are surprisingly comfortable, considering they are made of rocks.
Jerome is a small mining community high on a hill, overlooking the Verde River Valley. We thought we would be visiting what amounted to a ghost town and were going to compare it to those we know in Colorado. Were we ever surprised! It is a town that holds ghost hunting bus tours and focuses on the bawdy and the macabre. The House of Joy sells bordello tokens and skeleton statues. This is a view of their garden. If you look closely you will see a casket and a detached arm. (Is it really a casket? John doesn't think so.)
The name of this pizza place shows you what I mean by bawdy.
The town sits on a steep hill. The building roofs on one street are lower than the sidewalk on the next street. Those miners, as well as today's residents, get really good exercise moving around Jerome.
At the very top of the town we found the Jerome Grand Hotel. We were probably the only visitors who walked there, looking for some lunch.
The restaurant is called The Asylum.
It was decorated (for Halloween only?) with a casket and body, spider webs and black cats. The wait staff was in costume. We were served by a jar of mustard and watched a belly dancer serving food. We did enjoy our lunch.
Before we left Nevada, we visited the Nevada Southern Railroad Museum and downtown Boulder City, where are RV park was located. The museum had both steam and diesel engines.
We also found a small switcher engine with an interesting name. It had been used at the rocket development sites operated by the US Atomic Energy Commission and US Air Force in Area 25, which is located in Jackass Flats in Nevada.
Mountains in Nevada are not the tree-covered areas we are used to. But they have their own interesting character. The red mountain below is on the edge of Boulder City. We saw the great formations as we drove south into Arizona.
Downtown Boulder City is very attractive. The city grew to serve the many workers who came in to build Boulder Dam, which created Lake Meade. We enjoyed a beer at the Boulder Dam Brewing Co. The word "dam" is used on the local hotel, as well as on the clothing store.
From Boulder City, we drove to North Ranch, an Escapees RV Park in Congress, AZ. Congress is just a wide spot in the road with a post office. About 15 miles south of North Ranch is the town of Wickenburg. It is an attractive, very western town. We visited the Cowboy Caboose in downtown. It had housed the cowboys who accompanied their cattle on train trips to distant markets. We were told the cowboys were along because every 200 miles, the train had to stop so the cattle could be taken out of the cars, exercised and given food and water. That could make a train trip from Wickenburg to Fort Worth or Chicago a very long haul.
Throughout the town there are statues with a story to tell. This is a young school teacher, fresh off the train, engaged to teach in the local one-room schoolhouse for the year.
We know we are back in Arizona, the land of glorious sunrises and sunsets. These were taken from our site at North Ranch.
