El Mirage, Arizona

Luke Air Force Base is located just down the street aways from our RV resort.

The base is an active-duty F-16 Fighting Falcon training base with 170 F-16s assigned.

It also houses a total of 144 F-35A Lightning IIs.

The airpower these jets provide is amazing and impressive.

They fly Monday through Friday from 7:30 am to 9:30 pm.

The noise they make can be overwhelming.

When they fly over during pickleball, we sign the scores. Rich and I don’t even try to talk when they start flying over.

We just count aircraft to four because that’s how many take off during each round.

Once we count to four, we’ll try to start talking again.

I feel very unpatriotic to say it, but I won’t miss their loudness a bit when we leave this resort on Sunday. 🙂

El Mirage, Arizona

We went for a drive to Lake Pleasant yesterday.

It’s a beautiful area with a manmade reservoir and lots of trails.

So we went for a hike on Pipeline Canyon Trail.

It’s lovely. Sophie especially liked the bridge that crossed part of the lake. And she really liked the lake… So much so that she jumped right in for a swim on the way back.

We ran into a couple who were also from Boise (It’s a small world!) and had a nice chat. They stay at Army Corp of Engineer and municipal parks as they travel. Those can be cheaper alternatives and easier to get in to.

I’m continually surprised at the amount of water and greenery in Arizona. I’m sure the water is just because of the places we choose to visit, but the green-tinged desert is everywhere.

People from non-Nevada areas think the Arizona desert is barren, but if they just took a look at Nevada desert they’d see what we mean.

The best part of our hike came at the end.

We heard and then saw five wild burros!

They were too far away for a picture opportunity, but we got a great look at them with our binoculars.

I had no idea that burros came in so many different colors. We didn’t see a red one, but we did see black, white, and grey.

Seeing wildlife anytime is a special memory. 🙂

El Mirage, Arizona

We recently visited a very unique 55+ resort in Surprise. It’s called Happy Trails Resort.

(I didn’t take any pictures while we were there, so all of these have been harvested off of the Internet.)

What makes Happy Trails so unique is that each one of the nearly 2000 lots is individually owned and not owned by a corporation that rents or leases out to individuals.

In all of the other resorts we’ve been in, less than 5% at most of the lots are owned by individuals.

Because lots are individually owned, people put more of their own personal touches on them. Some of the outdoor kitchens were amazing.

And nearly all of the lots have full shade including over motor homes to protect them from the desert sun.

Many have two story casitas that have a washer and dryer, full bathroom, and extra storage.

Happy Trails is an intriguing and inviting community with dozens of activities and amenities.

But I do have one big concern about it…

When all of us Baby Boomers die off, the next generation isn’t going to understand the street names.

They have no idea who Trigger, Dale Evans, Roy Rogers, etc… are. 🙂

So maybe the trails won’t be as happy…

El Mirage, Arizona

We visited Cabela’s in  Glendale the other day. It’s a colossal store with over 160,000 square feet of retail space.

While the store size is amazing, the wildlife display is the focal point of the entire store.

Many of the animals are shown in action like this mountain goat jumping across from one rock to another.

The mountain is two stories high with animals ranging from bears to wolves.

You can get an idea of the mountain’s height by comparing it to the woman in white (with her arms raised) standing at the bottom of the canyon walls .

Because most hunting is done in the fall, the scenery shows the animals during hunting season.

Another section of the store shows African safari animals.

And just to make marine lovers feel at home, there is an extensive aquarium.

And one very cute little girl who called every fish in the aquarium a dog…

El Mirage, Arizona

We went for a fantastic hike yesterday with Dean and Lil in Ford Canyon located in the White Tank Mountains.

Simply stunning…

The views of the Valley of the Sun were amazing with hundreds of saguaro cacti looming large.

Happy hikers, one and all.

I love looking at dedications on park benches. This bench is dedicated to “Hiker Hal” Norris.

“Till we meet on the Heavenly Trail…

You will be in our hearts.”

El Mirage, Arizona

We are at this resort in El Mirage for another 18 days before we return to the resort in Gold Canyon for the month of February.

Both resorts are owned by Roberts Resorts.

They own several resorts in several states, but we’ve only stayed at these two.

We’ve heard through the rumor mill that each one of these two resorts were ‘given’ to two different Roberts sons.

We have no clue if that’s true, but we’re do know that the resorts are very different in environment, culture, and operations.

Pueblo El Mirage (PEM) is nearly twice the size of Gold Canyon (GC). PEM is more centrally located near more subdivisions and communities.

But surprisingly GC is closer to our favorite shopping.

PEM heavily relies on volunteers to ‘monitor’ various activity centers. For example, the computer lab is opened limited hours and you can only use the lab if someone’s there to watch you.

At GC, the computer lab is open from six in the morning to ten at night. And they apparently trust their residents because there’s no watch dog.

There are lots of activities at both resorts, but GC has more events that are for the community at large. Every Tuesday there’s a hot dog lunch that’s only $3.50 for a Costco-like hot dog, chips, and a soft drink.

And Friday’s The Buzz is well attended because free coffee and donuts are provided. The manager is brilliant to offer it because resort news is reported during the event as we all munch away… Sure, sometimes we have to listen to a short pitch from an insurance salesman who sponsors the event, but that’s a small price to pay for an apple fritter. 🙂

We’ve enjoyed our stay at PEM because we’ve been close to our great friends Dean and Lil while they are enjoying their stay in the Valley of the Sun. We would have had to drive 70+ miles to visit them had we stayed at GC.

Our travels this year are helping us figure out what we like. And staying at two very different resorts is helping us figure that out even more.

While we’re very glad we stayed at the two different resorts, we’ve decided that if we come back to Arizona next winter (AFTER CHRISTMAS), we well be staying in Gold Canyon.

We like the community and activities, we love hiking in the Superstition Mountains, and I’m hoping to score a cabinet in the sewing room so I can quilt lots!

El Mirage, Arizona

It warmed up to closer to normal temperatures yesterday, and Sophie and I took a couple a strolls around the RV Park.

One of the things I like about this park is that dogs are allowed almost everywhere.

It’s quite big here. For example the pickleball courts are a mile’s bike ride from Homer. So there is lots to see while walking around.

On our walks yesterday, I saw lots of beautiful flowers.

For those of you struggling with winter’s brutal cold, here are some pictures of what’s coming your way later in the year…

Snapdragons, one of my favorites!

Not only are the flowers beautiful, they smell divinely! It’s so weird to smell the alyssum knowing that it’s January…

And one of the perks of living in Arizona is that we can walk outside our door and pick a tree ripened orange!

For someone like me who’s never lived in a temperate climate, this feels almost unnatural.

But I’m guessing Phoenix feels even more unnatural in the middle of August.

El Mirage, Arizona

We went for a great hike yesterday with our wonderful friends Dean and Lil in the White Tank Mountains.  (The picture below is not mine.)

From Wikipedia:

During seasonal heavy rainfall, accumulated water tends to rush rapidly through the steep canyons, over time scouring out a number of depressions or “tanks” in the white  granite near the base of the mountains. These white “tanks” are the source of the mountains’ name.

Dean and Lil have been there many times, and they picked the Waterfall Hike for the day’s journey.

There is much to see…

Including lots of petroglyphs.

Amazing rock formations, both man-made and natural.

You can get an idea of the size of the waterfall area by how small everyone looks at the base.

And here’s a picture of the huge water carved area with a small pool left over from the most recent rain.

There are many memorial benches along the trail. This one struck my heart because Justin was not quite 22 and I love the inscription…

The words are from The Beatles’ song Two of Us.

Gold Canyon, Arizona

We took a short drive yesterday to the city of Fountain Hills.

Fountain Hills was a cattle ranch prior to being established in 1970 as a master planned community. The community was designed by Charles Wood, Jr. who designed Disneyland.

Fountain Hills is very beautiful. It is surrounded by mountains and lots of green desert terrain. There are a half dozen golf courses in the area all of which were getting lots of play even thought it was Christmas Day!

The centerpiece of Fountain Hills is its beautiful fountain; one of the world’s tallest man-made fountains. It serves as a focal point for the community and attracts thousands of visitors each year.

The fountain, driven by three 600 horsepower turbine pumps, sprays water at a rate of 7,000 gallons per minute though an 18-inch nozzle. With all three pumps and under ideal conditions, the fountain reaches 560 feet in height, though in normal operation only two of the pumps are used, with a fountain height of around 300 feet. When built, it was the world’s tallest fountain and held that record for over a decade. (My guess is someone from Las Vegas came and took a look and said, “Heck, we can go higher than that!”)

There are multiple pieces of artwork throughout the park surrounding the lake and the fountain.

There is a wonderful section honoring veterans and the USS Arizona.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer ordered that flags at all state office buildings be lowered to half-staff until sunset December 25, 2014, in honor of United States Army Specialist Wyatt J. Martin, 22, of Mesa, Arizona.

I’m always excited when I see twins, and these little guys were so incredibly cute in their Christmas gear. Mom tried to get them to stay still for two minutes so I could take a better picture, but there was way too much for them to see at the park.

The lake water and fountain water had a bit of a green tinge to it. Several signs proclaimed that the water in the lake and used to water the grass is reclaimed water.

I’m pretty sure it’s green from hundreds of coots pooping in the lake and on the sidewalk.

Ooh, and on the way to Fountain Hills we passed by beautiful Saguaro Lake.