Fiesta Bowl

When we were in Tucson we had tried to get tickets to a College Football or Basketball game.  Not because either of us are College sports fans but we wanted to enjoy the experience of big time US College sports.  All the games in Tucson were sold out but wouldn't you know it the Fiesta Bowl is in Glendale at the same stadium that the NFL Cardinals play and tickets were still available.  I got online and for only $195. we could get 2 tickets in the corner of the end zone and a parking pass.

Game day and the forecast was for mid-40s and rain but the good new is the stadium has a retractable roof which would be closed and, while not heated, it would be no worse than some Bomber games I have gone to in late Oct.

We had purchased a couple of T-Shirts and decided, since we were living in Az for the winter, the least we could do is support the local University of Arizona Wildcats (from Tucson) vs the Broncos from Boise State.

We decided to leave early, 1l:00 for 2:00 game time.  It was an hours drive on the freeway and traffic was moving nicely till we got closer to the stadium.  Attendance was announced at 67,000 people and with all of those cars converging on one place even the big freeway system ground to a halt.  The last 15 minutes of the drive took 45.  We still arrived in plenty of time.

I didn't bring my camera so the IPhone would have to do.
Tailgating.  Bar-b-ques, beer and despite the temps, guys in shorts, no shirts and painted blue and orange.  College sports.  Gotta love it.
While we didn't see it up close they have 8 acres dedicated to RV parking and tailgating.  If we had more time I would have loved to have taken a tour.

We made it through security.  Everything out of your pockets, jackets open and swept with a airport type security wand.  Those that brought backpacks had to go to another table to have those searched.
All in all not bad.  Everyone was very happy, especially those that had been tailgating for awhile.

 I got too close before I thought of taking a picture of the stadium so couldn't get it all in.  Will have to remember to take a shot when we are back to see the Jets/Coyotes on Jan 8th.  The Gila River Arena is next door.
I still don't get the name.  University of Phoenix Stadium.  From what I could learn the U of P is a small private, for-profit university without a sports program but they paid $155 million over 20 years for the corporate naming rights.

Not sure why but almost every selfie I took Lori had her eyes closed.












The stadium is quite the engineering accomplishment.  It is absolutely huge and can be seen towering above the skyline for miles.  Its kind of a silver metallic colour which seems to change colour depending on the weather.  We had seen it a week earlier and on a bright sunny day it looked brilliant white.  Today it was cloudy and it took on the colour of the grey and silver clouds.

The roof is retractable and today it was closed.  They have a grass field and even with the roof open the grass would get very little sunlight.  The solution.  Build the field on a giant platform which can be rolled outside so the grass can be watered and get the sunlight it needs for the grass to grow.  The field weighs 20,000 lbs. With the field outside various events can be held inside without any danger of damaging the field.  The Arizona Cardinals home games and the Fiesta Bowl are the only football games usually played in this stadium except this year.  It is also the site of both the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl in January 2015.

Here is the view inside before most of the fans arrived.  Don't know how big the screen is at the end of the field but even though we were sitting pretty far from the field the screen provided a great close up view of the action.

 Thats Lori sitting by herself in the back row.  The only higher views were from the catwalks running through the rafters.
We were in a short row with 6 seats and were joined by one other couple so we had lots of room.  We could spread out, standup and lean on the chainlink fence behind us.  With the big HD screen at the other end of the field, even though we were in the cheap seats, we had a great view of the action.

 Both teams doing their pregame warmups.  Wildcats in the red uniforms at the bottom and the Boise State Broncos in the white, blue and orange  at the top.

A college game wouldn't be complete without the marching bands.  The Arizona band at the top forming an A and the Boise band at the bottom forming a B.

 Then they rolled out the flag for the American anthem.  It was hard to get a good picture of the Big Screen as it was so bright it gave the auto-exposure on the IPhone fits.  The guy on the screen is the trumpeter playing the anthem.  It was just him and he was fantastic.

 Now you can see the stadium filled with screaming fans all dressed in their respective team colours.  I'd say that the crowd was 60% Wildcat fans and 40% Bronco fans but the Bronco fans seemed louder.  But then again, except for a late game comeback, the Broncos dominated the game.
Turned out to be a close game with the Wildcats down 21 points most of the game but closed the gap to 8 with a few minutes left.  Ran out of time driving for a game tying touchdown (with a 2 point conversion).

The college spirit was evident from the opening kickoff with chants and cheers going back and forth between the 2 groups of fans.  At times it was deafening.  Loved it.







Us from our catbird seats.

Lori couldn't figure out why I was taking pictures of the roof.  I just thought it was pretty neat how it was all designed.  The white area in the centre is what opens up so even with the roof open we had no danger of getting wet.  Would love to see how the roof opens and the field rolls out.

We had a great time and we can tick "Attend Major College Sporting Event" off our bucket list.




By the time we got home it was pouring rain and despite the fact we had tickets to the RV Parks New Years Eve party we decided to stay in for the rest of the evening.  Charlie had been in her kennel for about 7 hours and needed some love and a trip outside for a potty break.  Neither of us saw 12:01  We were both sawing logs.

We got up late on New Years Day and as I stepped outside to take Charli for her morning walk I noticed something different about the scenery.  For a minute I thought we had been teleported back home.

Superstition Mountain covered in snow with some low clouds still covering the peaks.  Obviously all the rain we got on New Years Eve was a heavy snow fall a few thousand feet higher up.

 Another mountain further north had some snow on the peaks which contrasted with the various colours of the rocks and vegetation.

Superstition Mountain a little later in the morning as the clouds started to breakup.

We spent the day at our site giving Charli some attention after she had spend much of the previous 2 days couped up in her kennel.  Lori did some light house cleaning and I did the manly job of dumping the black and grey tanks.
We spent an hour or so watching the humming birds fight for a spot on our feeder before the sun went behind some clouds and we went inside to warm up by the fireplace.

That catches you up with our activities this past week.  Tomorrow is laundry and the Morning Buzz which consists of free coffee/donuts and an update of Park activities for the next week.   Im told we might also be going to a flea market.

Later

Lunch in Paradise, Pickle Ball and Shopping

It had been a few weeks since Lori had visited Barnes & Noble so on Sunday, December 28th we took a trip to the Dana Park Mall which has a B&N.  It is actually a beautiful mall with the stores all built around the perimeter of the parking lot and lined with Palm Trees.  The construction is all in a Spanish style complete with fountains.  We found the Paradise Bakery & Cafe and decided to have lunch before heading back.  The food was excellent and while the temps were only in the low 60's the sun was nice and warm so we ate on the outside patio.  It was a very relaxing way to spend an hour, enjoying the scenery while keeping one eye on the cow birds waiting for us to drop something on the ground.  They have 3 more restaurants at the mall so we will be back for another Sunday brunch in the sun.  

We had been saying for sometime that we would do this at home, in the summer of course, but we always had a honey-do project that took priority.  Note to self for when we get home.  Forget the list at least a couple times a month.

 













Monday morning at 8:00AM I had signed up for a beginner Pickle Ball lesson.  I dressed in layers as it was only about 36F when I left the trailer.  I was the only person that showed up so I had 2 instructors explaining the game, strategy and technic to me.  Boy there is a lot to remember.  The game is played on a shrunk down tennis court with paddles that are like giant table tennis paddles.  The balls are the size of baseballs but made of hard plastic filled with holes.  Picture one of those practice golf balls but bigger.  You have to serve underhand, the first two hits you have to let the ball bounce and most important, if you go into the Kitchen get out before you hit the ball again.  We spent some time learning how to Dink, which is just softly tapping it over the net.  Harder than it looks, believe me.  Soon some other newbies showed up and we had a game filled with instructions on where to stand, how to cover for your partner, call the shots you are taking and the most difficult, remembering the score.

All in all it was a great time and if the body holds up I think I will enjoy the game.  2 hours went real fast and I limped home ready for a shower.  Newbie lessons on Monday, Newbie round robin on Wed and Fridays.  Lori has signed up for 2 or 3 Yoga classes plus we are going to 2 Total Fitness classes each week (not sure what this involves but we'll give it a try).  Hiking a few times a week and I still haven't taken the golf clubs out of the trailer and I haven't taken the e-reader out of the drawer.
Yup.  No doubt about it.  You can keep busy down here if you want.  And I thought we might get bored.

In the afternoon we had to drive to Scottsdale to pick up tickets for the Fiesta Bowl and then we did some grocery shopping and filled up the truck with Diesel at $2.40 p/g.  The oil stocks in my portfolio have taken a real kicking but gotta love the price of fuel at the pump.

On December 30 we decided to hit the Premium Outlet Mall.  Tuesday was senior day at many of the stores which means another 10% off the already discounted post Christmas sale prices.  The mall is  similar to what we have experienced in Albertville but the setup here is so much better.  The 90 plus stores are all outside and contained in a couple of big rectangles with outside park benches and restaurants so when you get tired or hungry you are never far from rest and nutrition.

Lori is the shopper in the family.  I'm more of a buyer.  The main difference is I don't enjoy the process of shopping.  Lori likes to walk up and down each aisle in a zig zag pattern, often retracing her steps,  touching each item that interests her.  Seems like a total waste of time to me.  I don't mind however buying stuff.  I just like to do it and get it over with.  Whats interesting is that quite often, too often in fact, I end up spending more than her.  This shopping expedition was no exception.
Dec 31 we are going to the Fiesta Bowl.
Later

Hieroglyphics Trail - finally

After a quiet Christmas morning we joined about 75 other Snowbirds for a potluck Christmas dinner.   On boxing day Lori did some laundry and I went to the gym with the rest of the day spent around the Park walking Charli and doing some biking.
On the 27th we decided to try to find the proper trailhead for the Hieroglyphics Trail.  This time met with more success and it turns out it is only a short drive from our Park.

The trail is only 2.9 miles round trip and only about 500' elevation.  Piece of cake.

 Still some pretty good views.  Despite the clear blue skies and bright sun, the moon was not going to give up the sky.

 Another one of those balancing rocks. One day it will topple over but not today.

Lucky for us the trail did not go up this way.  The trail had a steady climb but not too steep.  The main challenge was the loose rocks and gravel which, if your foot wasn't planted properly, it was easy to slip, especially on the way down.

The look down over the town of Gold Canyon.  

Finally we reached the Hieroglyphs which in fact aren't Hieroglyphs at all but Petroglyphs.  The basalt rock etchings were mistaken by early European settlers for Egyptian hieroglyphs, hence the erroneous name.  These petroglyphs were created by the Hohokam People, a civilization that thrived in central and southern Arizona from 500 - 1450 AD. 

 Given it was a Saturday during Christmas break this trek was not an original idea.  The trail was very busy with people and other dogs and when we got to the top it looked like a school field trip. Lori started having flashbacks.
We decided a return trip during the week and after school was back in session would leave us more time to explore.

A view from the top of the trail

That evening we were presented with this beautiful sunset reflection on Superstition Mountain.


Later