Busy, Busy, Busy

We’ve been quite busy this month, so I’ve barely had time to think about blogging. Here’s a little recap of what we’ve been up to since my last post.

Eric left on the evening of March 17th. We went to one last Brewer baseball game at Peoria Stadium to watch the Brewers play the San Diego Padres. It was a value day so lawn seats were only $5. We got there early enough to snag a table under the big tent in the outfield. What a great spot to watch the game. A nice table with comfortable chairs in the shade. I honestly don’t remember who won the game, but we had fun. We attended five games with Eric while he was here.

After the game we had dinner at a favorite spot, Texas Roadhouse. Then we dropped Eric at the airport where he headed back home to Wisconsin. The week sure did go by quickly.

Since Eric left, we’ve attended two more Brewer games with John and Janie. The Brewers have four games this spring where they are giving away leftover bobble heads from last season. I plan to sell them on eBay when we get back to Wisconsin. The last time I did this, I was able to sell them for enough to cover the cost of the games we attended.

On Saturday we tagged along with John and Janie to an RV show in Chandler. They’re thinking of getting a larger fifth wheel, so have been doing research. I think the research is always so much fun. We looked at lots of RVs, but none of us saw anything that made us ready to give up what we have.

By the time we were done looking around, we were thirsty. The Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company microbrewery was nearby, so we stopped to quench our thirst. Reports are the beer was good. I’m not at all a fan of beer, so I enjoyed a nice cold glass of ice water. The place was very busy, so we decided to find someplace else to eat.

Janie checked her phone and found the Blue Adobe Mexican restaurant nearby. It turns out we ate here a few years ago after a ball game in Mesa. The food was just as good as we remembered.

On Sunday we watched the Brewers beat the Chicago White Sox 14-4. Its always fun to watch our team beat a rival Chicago team. It was another hot day, so we found some shade against the outfield wall.

Thanks to Janie for taking the pictures. I really like this picture she took of us. The colors are so vibrant.

I’ve been enjoying watching the hummingbird nest outside my window. Two babies have hatched which is keeping the mother very busy. I had to laugh the other day as I watched the mother chase away a mourning dove. She was fierce!

One of the park models has prickly pear cactus that are blooming. They sure are pretty.

The weather this month has been unseasonably warm with temperatures averaging over ten degrees above average. It is true that dry heat is nicer without humidity, but it is still hot if you are directly in the sun. In the shade it is very nice, so we’ve been finding shade whenever possible.

We leave Arizona in about a week, and it is time. Although it will still be a bit too cold in Wisconsin, we are ready to get out of this heat. There are some changes in the works regarding our summer plans, but I won’t go into any detail until we get back and make things official.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Our First Nascar Experience

Kevin has been a fan of Nascar racing for many years. He has never attended a race because he didn’t know if he wanted to spend the money. I’ve been suggesting the last few times we’ve been in Phoenix that we should attend a race here.

This year everything fell into place. Our son Eric was going to be visiting during the race, and our friends Art and Dawn were also coming to Phoenix to attend the race and some baseball games. Eric’s race ticket was his birthday present this year.

Temperatures the last few days have been around 90 which is about 12 to 15 degrees above normal. I was quite worried about us sitting out in the sun for hours yesterday. We were very fortunate that there was a nice breeze most of the time. We made sure to have hats, lots of sunscreen and plenty of water.

We arrived at the parking lot at 8 am just as they opened the lots. We walked to the outskirts of the track where lots of semi trailers were set up for fans to purchase any type of race souvenirs you can imagine. Eric and Kevin purchased Matt Kenseth items. I found a half price shirt celebrating last year’s 50th anniversary of the Phoenix International Raceway.

There were over 100,000 people in attendance yesterday. Parking was free for cars and RVs. I couldn’t believe the sea of RVs. This race was sponsored by Camping World so there were even about 50 or more new and used RVs for sale. Many of them had SOLD signs. This picture is just a portion of the RVs dry camping in the desert parking lot. We saw lots of generators, but, I’m sure not everyone had them, so it must have been quite hot out there with these high temperatures.

After checking out all the merchandise, we went back to the vehicles and did some tailgating. We had burgers and brats for lunch. Art and Dawn have been to many races, and know the tricks. By going to the merchandise area early, we avoided the massive crowds. The tailgating was a much better bargain than buying food inside.

After lunch we headed back to the track for the pre-race festivities. Our seats were in row 20 behind the start/finish line. Dawn said this is the closest she’s been to that part of the track at any race.

Thanks Art for taking our picture with Dawn.

The drivers were introduced. Our favorites are Wisconsin natives Matt Kenseth and Paul Menard.

Here’s Matt Kenseth.

After the driver’s were introduced, they were driven around the track in the backs pick up trucks. Here’s Paul Menard ready for his ride.

Budweiser is one of the sponsors of Nascar, and the famous Clydesdales made their way around the track. They gave lots of statistics about this beautiful team, but the one I remember is that just the harness costs $80,000.

There were fireworks and some vintage planes from Luke Air Force base did a flyover. And, then it was time for the race to begin. Here’s the pace car and the green flag.

Art and Dawn had enough radios and headsets for all of us. I had been warned that it would be loud. When the cars first did a few practice laps, I didn’t think it was so bad, but then they hit the gas. It was incredibly loud!! I wore the headphones for the first half of the race. You can listen to the announcers or actually hear the drivers talking. After a while, the headphones began to hurt my head, so I switched to the earplugs I brought with me.

Kevin and Eric weren’t too happy that I wanted to take a picture while they were watching the race.

Pit row was right in front of us. It was very interesting to see just how quickly these guys get these cars in and out. Here’s Matt Kenseth pulling out after a pit stop.

There were ten times that the race was under caution. Most of them were for cars that blew a tire and did a spin out. The rest were for debris on the track. No crashes at this race.

Kevin Harvick was the the pole leader at the start of the race, and he led many of the laps. He ended up winning. Here’s the checkered flag, although I didn’t actually get the car crossing the finish line.

So, I have to say that it was an interesting experience. Kevin and Eric had a great time. I don’t know that I would go again, but you never know.

Phoenix International Raceway is a beautiful venue for a race track with the mountains in the background and the fantastic weather.

Tomorrow is Eric’s last day with us. We’re going to another Brewer game. His flight leaves at 7:45 pm. It was great having him here, although the time sure did fly by.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Enjoying Time With Eric

Eric arrived Tuesday evening after an uneventful Southwest flight. Although, the plane was 30 minutes late leaving Milwaukee, they made up the time in the air and arrived on time. Way to go Southwest.

This trip is all about Milwaukee Brewers Spring Training games. On Wednesday we watched the Brewers defeat the 2014 World Series champions San Francisco Giants at the Giants stadium in Scottsdale. Its interesting how the prices vary at different ball parks. The Giants charge $16.50 for lawn seating. Most other teams charge $8 for lawn seating.

On Thursday we watched the Brewers defeat the Colorado Rockies in Maryvale, the Brewers home park. We really enjoy going to our home park. It’s a nice atmosphere, and there are several spots to sit in the shade. Some of the parks have no shade unless you buy the more expensive tickets.

There were some celebrities at the game. The Ninja Turtles were lined up watching the game.

Today we’re going to Peoria to watch the Brewers play the Seattle Mariners at their home park. Hopefully, the Brewers can continue their winning streak, and we can find some shade. It’s supposed to be near 90 the next several days. Even though its dry heat, that sun is hot!!

Yesterday morning we taught Eric how to play pickle ball. Kevin, Eric, Janie and John played together, while I encouraged them from the sideline. I’m still not able to play, but my ankle is definitely getting better.

Janie and John are also beginner players. I think everyone caught on quickly and got better as they played. It’s a nice way to have some fun and work up a sweat. I can’t wait until my ankle is better, and I can play again.

While we were at pickle ball, we heard a loud bang. We looked over to the exit road, and saw what had caused the noise. A fifth wheel going over the speed bump came off the hitch and fell onto the back of the truck. Several of the RV park employees quickly went over to help, and they got it back on its way pretty quickly. You always hate to see these kind of accidents.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Hummingbird Nest

We left Yuma on Monday morning and drove about three hours to Leaf Verde RV Park in Buckeye, Arizona. As luck would have it, it rained much of the way. We’ve only had a few days of rain since we arrived in Arizona in October, and it just so happened one of those rainy days was on our travel day. Oh well, we arrived safely; and that’s the important part.

This is our third time staying at Leaf Verde. We really like this park for the price. Most of the sites are pull through, but there are back-in sites along the perimeter.  When I made the reservation, I asked for one of the back-in sites, and we were lucky enough to get one. There is no one behind us, and it seems to us there is a bit more room on the sides as well.

We got set up, and as I was sitting inside in my recliner, I noticed a hummingbird flitting about outside the window. I watched it for a while and saw it land on a nest in an oleander bush at the back of our site. How cool!! The only time I’ve actually seen a hummingbird nest was at a hummingbird enclosure at a zoo.

The nest is not very big. I would estimate it is about the size of a K cup used in the Keurig coffee maker.

Our friends Janie and John are also here for the month. They were kind enough to invite us over for dinner on Monday night so we didn’t have to cook on our travel day. Gotta love good friends. We enjoyed a delicious meal and enjoyed catching up with each other’s news.

Yesterday Kevin and I drove over to the Maryvale Baseball Park to buy tickets for some of the Brewer Spring Training games we want to attend. We also checked out three of the Cal-Am RV parks in Mesa. We weren’t too impressed with two of them. Both Mesa Regal and Val Vista Village seemed very tight and crowded. Valle del Oro had bigger sites and looked pretty nice, but we definitely like the Cal-Am park, Fortuna de Oro, in Yuma better.

I didn’t realize how big the Phoenix metropolitan area is. It was 62 miles from Mesa on the eastern edge to Buckeye on the western edge. And, the late afternoon traffic was terrible.

My ankle is slowly getting better. I am able to walk around without a problem, but it tires quickly and still swells a bit. It’s only been two weeks since I sprained it, so I’m happy with the progress. However, I’m getting impatient to do all the things I enjoy.

I’ll be giving my ankle a good test this weekend as we are going to ball games on Saturday and Sunday. Next Tuesday our son Eric arrives, and we have lots of activities planned for the week he will be with us.

The sun is out and temperatures are headed back into the 80s by the weekend. Perfect weather for Eric’s visit.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

A Week Later

A week ago today I sprained my ankle on a hike. So, this past week we’ve been pretty much sitting around at home.

One of our fellow hikers sent us a few pictures so we could see what we missed. Here’s a piece of the plane that’s up on the side of the mountain. Apparently, the plane exploded upon impact, so there aren’t big fuselage pieces.

And here’s a picture she took of the group at a rest stop. This was just a few minutes before I fell. I’m on the left with the red backpack. I actually wasn’t feeling well at this point. I had begun to feel nauseous. I think I was a bit dehydrated because I drank a bunch of water and felt immediately better. It probably would have been smart to turn back at this point, and I could have saved myself a lot of hassle.

As you can see on both of these pictures, we were in a very rocky area. It sure was tough hiking back down with a sprained ankle.

Here’s a picture of my ankle. Hopefully, its not too gross to show. The other side is just as purple. The swelling has gone down quite a bit, but it is still very sore. I think it’s going to take quite a while to be back to normal.

On Saturdays we’ve been golfing with a group of friends. Last Saturday Kevin wanted to golf, and I wanted to get out. Our friend Cathy was kind enough to let me ride along in her cart. After golf, Dick and Wanda and Bernie and Cathy came back to our park for a Burger Bash and classic car show. The burger was very good. There sure were a lot of people at the park to look at the old cars.

All of that activity caused my ankle to swell quite a bit, so we came back to our fifth wheel so I could elevate and ice it.

This week the plan is to keep resting my ankle. I may do some sewing, but that’s about it. We have lots of plans for the month of March in the Phoenix area, so I need to be good and stay off the ankle. I sure hope it’s a lot better in a few weeks.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

A Bit of a Mishap

On Monday we met up with the hiking group from Fortuna de Oro for a planned hike to the location of a B-17 bomber that crashed into Fortuna Peak on June 28, 1944. As you can see, it was quite a large plane.

The plane was doing night training, and something went terribly wrong. All five young crew members were killed in the crash. Some of the large portions of the plane are still on the side of the mountain, as well as a memorial.

Here’s a picture of the memorial from the web. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see any of it.

Here’s the trail near the bottom. We weren’t going all the way to the top, but about 1,200 feet up along a ravine. Notice how narrow the path is.

About a mile into the hike, I slipped on some loose rocks and fell a bit down the side. I didn’t fall far, but I felt my right ankle turn and give out. I also scraped up my knee, but I knew I was in trouble with that ankle.

We had climbed about 600 feet in elevation at that point on the narrow, rocky trail. I was going to have to walk back out of there. As long as I put my foot down straight, the pain was tolerable. I popped six ibuprofen tablets, and we began our SLOW descent back down to the truck.

Kevin was wonderful helping me get down. For most of the way, we found that if he stayed in front of me and I held onto his shoulders, we could go step by step. I just watched to find a flat spot to put my foot. Not easy on a steep and rocky narrow path. On some sections, I went down on my butt. In other areas, I was able to hold onto rocks along the side.

It took two hours, but we finally made it back to the truck. By that time, my ankle and leg were quite swollen. I knew it wasn’t broken as I could walk on it. It just hurt whenever I tried turning it.

Near the bottom of the trail, there were quite a few ocotillo bushes growing. They are just starting to bloom. Some people call them lipstick plants. I asked Kevin to stand next to one so you could see how big they are. This one is just starting to bloom.

As we were driving out, there were some others that had fuller blooms on them. Yuma had more rain than usual this winter, so I’m guessing the desert bloom will be beautiful this year.

So, I’m recovering in the recliner with lots of ice, rest and elevating my leg. I like to be active, so the worst part is just being patient until it is better and not overdoing it. Yesterday, quite a few of my other muscles were hurting as well. I’m sure I used plenty of muscles in my left leg, arms and shoulders hobbling back down that mountain.

I’m guessing pickleball is over for this season. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to golf again a week from this Saturday, our last chance in Yuma. I know I won’t be golfing this Saturday. However, my friend Cathy is going to let me ride along in her golf cart, so at least I’ll get out a bit with friends.

It definitely could have been worse. I don’t even want to think what would have happened if I broke my leg. I’m sure I would have ended up on the news with some type of helicopter rescue and a hefty bill. This will just take time and patience.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Felicity, California

I’d like to wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day. Kevin and I don’t really celebrate, as we feel it is an artificial Hallmark holiday. However, we do celebrate our love for each other every day, and it doesn’t hurt to have a special day to remind us to tell our loved ones how much we love them. Just to make today a little special, we will be treating ourselves to a Dairy Queen blizzard.

Yesterday we visited one of those strange and quirky places that can sometimes be found along American’s highways. Dick and Wanda picked us up and we drove about 15 miles just across the California border to Felicity.

Felicity was founded on May 11, 1986; the community was named after a town mentioned in Jacques-André Istel's book Coe the Good Dragon and inspired by his wife, Felicia. Jacques is the mayor of Felicity. He won election by a vote of 3-0. The county board supervisor allowed a one time vote by an invisible dragon as the third vote.

There is a great description of this attraction at the Roadside America website. However, the basic story is that a rich man, Jacques-Andre Istel, had a vision of creating a town and museum in the middle of the desert in honor of his wife. He created a town named after her, and is building a History in Granite museum. Words that come to mind when thinking of this attraction include unique, educational, interesting, eclectic, determined, visionary and eccentric.

We started our adventure with a little $5 tour by the center’s elderly namesake, Felicia Lee. She told us a bit about the place and showed us a short video. Then she took us into the pyramid structure to show us the spot that has been certified as the Official Center of the World by Imperial County, California and the Institut Geographique National of France. Jacques wrote the children’s book about a dragon coming to Felicity and finding the center of the world to help him convince the county to make the decree. Of course, the center of the world could be anywhere, but we have official certificates stating we were there.

And here we are with Dick and Wanda standing on the center of the world spot inside the pyramid.

There is a very unique sundial on the property modeled after Michaelangelo's Dawn of Creation painting in the Sistine Chapel.

In the above picture you can see the pyramid where we stood at the center of the world. Behind the pyramid are the granite panels that make up the Museum of History in Granite.

Steel bars and concrete are poured as the base for the granite panels. Each panel weighs over 400 pounds. At the back you can see the church. Jacques felt that the town’s church had to be at the highest point, so he trucked in 150,000 tons of earth to build a hill for the church.

Here are Kevin and I on top of the hill at the base of the church. Its not really crooked, but Dick had a little trouble seeing the camera screen with the bright sun behind him :) We spent an hour or two reading many of the granite panels. You could easily spend days here reading all of them, but it gets mighty hot out in that desert sun.

Here’s the view of the panels from the top of the church hill. If you look closely, you can see the pyramid in the background, and some people reading some of the granite panels. The panels are about as tall as a person. Clicking on the picture will enlarge it to see better.

Many of the panels are not completed yet. The museum relies on donations and volunteers. Some of the finished panels teach you about the history of California, Arizona, the United States, Korean War, and the French Foreign Legion. The most ambitious project to date is the hundred panel depiction of the History of Humanity. So far, they have only completed the panels up to 800 AD. Lots more work to be done on those.

Here are a few panels that I thought were particularly beautiful.

Near the entrance is this portion of the original spiral staircase from when the Eiffel Tower was built in 1889. In 1983, 500 feet of the staircase was replaced and cut into 20 pieces. This is piece #12 purchased by Jacque in 1989 as a reminder of his native city.

This really was quite an amazing place. We haven’t seen too much advertisement for it, and that’s kind of a shame because I definitely think it’s a place worth spending a few hours at. The mayor and his wife are quite elderly. Who knows if the project will be completed and what will happen to it in the future.

Today we golfed with a group of friends. Here are Wanda and I enjoying another beautiful day in Yuma.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!