Merry Christmas

Its been 11 days since my last blog and I certainly can't use the excuse that we have bad wifi.  We have been busy doing stuff in the Park with a few trips into town and haven't even set foot out on a trail.  Now that is very unusual for us.  It has been kind of nice to slow our pace down a bit.

Lori is up to 4 Yoga classes per week and I even managed to steal her away to an introductory Pickle Ball lesson.  I have been accompanying her to 2 classes and its nice to be able to touch my toes again.  We have also been going to the gym 3-4 times per week and Lori has made me an Elliptical convert.  The unit I have been using has a VO2 Fitness test program.  Not surprisingly I have been failing the test and coming up with a below average result.  Not sure how accurate the test is but I didn't need it to tell me I need to work on my cardio among other things.   There is a Steam room and Sauna which is a nice reward after sweating and straining against the weight machines.  This time of year its been almost like having a personal fitness facility.  Most of the residents don't come in till after new years and many that are here have gone home for Christmas with the family.  Apparently there are 70 RVs coming in on Jan 1 plus many of the Park Model residents will also be coming in.  Things will be hopping in Jan but we will be off to Desert Hot Springs on Jan 3.

I spent one day cleaning up the truck.  Things get a little dusty down here.  Then there is all the dog hair that Charli leaves in the back seat.  Nice job if I do say so myself.



























The next project was to wash and wax the trailer however given the the truck took the better part of the day and the trailer is MUCH BIGGER I decided to call a professional.  $200. later the trailer was power washed, buffed, waxed and buffed again.  With all the right equipment it took him 3 hours and he did a fine job.  I enjoyed watching with my feet planted firmly on the ground.

When he was done he told me to run my hands down the side of the trailer.
Smooth as a baby's bottom.
Hopefully the bugs slide right off on the next road trip. 

The main ballroom is nicely decorated with a large tree dominating the room.



The weather has been somewhat unusual with more clouds and rain then I remember from our previous trip down here.  Today, Christmas Eve, it started off with nice blue skies however the forecast was for wind and rain to come in later in the day.  Right on schedule, at 2:00, the wind picked up and we lost sight of the Superstition Mountains due to the dust and sand.  Following that we had a few hours of heavy rain.  Right on cue, just before sunset the skies started to clear and we had an amazing sunset.  Unfortunately I was a little late with my camera and missed most of the amazing colours.

Here is a shot from a few weeks ago looking down our street to the Superstition Mountains.

This is what winter in Arizona is supposed to look like. 

Here is the same shot earlier this afternoon.

Where did that mountain go.  

Here are a few more shots of the storm.

On the positive side.  No shovelling will be required after its done.

The skies in the west started to clear just as the sun was setting.  I was about a 1/2 hour late getting my camera out.  The skies were filled with reds, yellows and pinks.  You will just have to take my word for it.


























Its Christmas tomorrow and we will be going to the main ballroom for a pot luck dinner with many of the other residents.   Hopefully the weather gets back to normal and we can get out on a few hikes plus a trip to Boyce Thompson Arboretum.  Guaranteed to have some good pics if we make it to the Arboretum.

Till then we wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year.