Feb.17, 2010 -Village of Oak Creek

As Bob, Barb, Keith and I drove to the Village of Oak Creek and I saw ALL THE RED ROCK...it is breathtaking!...All I wanted to do was take more and more pictures.

Driving into town you know that this is a very up scale area....

O.K. so I had to add this sign...just reminded me of my brother, Jack...:)

This is Bell Rock Vista and Pathway... we stopped here so I could take more photos.:)

The next photos will show the Chapel...

Yes, this is the Chapel in the rock... it is so impressive.. What I didn't know at the time was that we'd be driving around to the back and up to this structure.

When you're standing at the back of the Chapel there are many views of rocks and some of them have names like this Mother holding her Child...and if you can see it...to the right is a very small boys head..but it really looks like he's fishing...I just couldn't get it so you can see:(

This is Eagle Rock.

From the front of the cross as you look down, this is a house being built...more like a castle!

And a view from another side of the cross.

Wed.Feb.17,2010- Montezuma Castle

I am breaking this day down into many parts : At 8:45 a.m. Bob, Barb, Keith and I drove from Tempe to Sedona area....It was another beautiful day with temps. around 76 in Tempe, but about 10 degrees cooler as we got up to 4000 ft. elevation. It is about 120 mile drive. Not a cloud in the sky...and the sky was clear blue..

Our first stop was just south of Sedona at exit 289 off of 1-17 at Camp Verde. First we stopped at the visitors center and found that our Senior Pass got us in with no fee. Most of the day this was true...we just had to put the pass on our dashboard and off we'd go. If you are 62 years old, you are eligible for a senior pass. It can be purchased at any National Parks information center for $10. good for life one time fee. Keith has his, I need mine. But the card will get a car with 3 other people into the parks. We found that in some cases, at State Parks when we showed the card, it got us free parking. It pays to show the card.

Montezuma Castle is a treasure among ancient cliff dwellings. Southern Sinagua farmers began building this five-story, 20 room dwelling (above) early in the 1100's CE(Common Era). It stands 100 ft above the valley. It was believed to be Aztec in origin. The creek was a reliable source of water, and there was fertile land on the nearby terrace. The Sinaguans resided in the cliff dwellings for about 300 years. When they left, en masse, around 1400, they left behind a rich collection of pottery, weaponry, household items, and jewelry. No one knows why they left or what happened to them. We spent about 40 min. here.

Barbara LOVES trees and she pointed this one out as we pulled into the parking lot...

I had to use the "crop" on my computer to bring this area close enough for you to see...The Sinagua used ladders and ropes to get up to their dwelling, and then more ladders to get from one room to another... One of the areas had 45 rooms.

This was a model of the way it looked... all built in the rock.

Barb took this photo so you can see how far up the cliff the dwellings were.

It was just a short walk down to the water flowing swiftly down from all the snow and rain that this area has gotten this year.

Barb and Bob told us that they've been here when there was NO water flowing.. They were so excited to tell us how neat it was for us to see all this water.

Barb and Bob walking along the path with us.

Remember I told you Barb likes trees.... So I told many photos of her with trees:)

She really wanted to get up in the tree so Keith gave her a hands up....She was as happy as a lark!

Sun. Feb. 28, 2010 - Moving to TT Verde Valley AZ

This is supposed to be the last photo, so please read it last. This is section A with only 8 other RV's besides us! We have the place to ourselves right now. There are groups coming in on Thurs...

It rained all Sat. night into Sunday morning...but thankfully, it slowed enough for us to leave at 9 a.m. Harry and Karen were with us and thanks to Karen, I have these photos to share. As we traveled up 1-17 we saw the snow on the mountains and hoped that it would be much nicer weather in Cottonwood.

I just love that Karen got this shot.....it's a view that I wanted to have forever...it's so awesome. The rain has made the desert green...and with the blue sky and the snow on the mountains...well, you have to see it for yourself...

We pulled into the campground at 11 a.m....drove the mile and a half back to section A near the pickleball courts and parked. The resort is nestled along the Verde River, with the Red Rocks to the North, Mingus Mountains to the West, and the Hackberry Mountains to the South.

This is the view to the South.

Larry was only about 10 min. behind us as he was coming here too. He and puppy Lilly are parked on the right....We are facing the camera and Harry and Karen are right next to us.

Shortly after we got set up it rained again, but only for a little while and the sun came out and...what a beautiful rainbow!

Feb. 2010 - Senior Pickleball Week with FRIENDS

Here we are at Wayne and Nancy's RV and outdoor living area at Happy Trails. We met them at Hershey playing p-ball several years ago. They had us over several times during this week in Sun City AZ...

Forgive the miss order of some of these photos... I hope you will enjoy seeing so many of our friends. Karen and Marti are enjoying some wine before our turkey dinner at Wayne and Nancy's .

From left to right...Norman, Jettye and Bob... Jettye and Bob were the organizers and ran everything at the Senior Games for the whole week...They deserve so much credit for how smoothly everything ran. Over 350 participants played in the games this year. Personally, I don't know HOW THEY DO IT ALL!...

Harry and Marti enjoying the turkey dinner Nancy made for us.

Everyone was enjoying the dinner and each other.. Keith and I love being outdoors as most of you know...This was just fascinating to us - from the floors to the heating, the dishwasher, 4 seating areas...well, it just had everything you can think of. Nancy and Wayne live here til it gets too hot in AZ (120 degrees) then they go to their other home in Montana.. Can't blame them.

The Senior Games were played here at Marinette Rec. Center. There were at leasts 16 courts going at all times with a few for practice.

As we drove in on Sunday morning going to Paradise RV resort we passed Bob and Jettye's RV and knew right away that we were in the right place.

Games went on all week starting on Sunday for novice thru the final day Sat... We saw some incredible players...and know that we have to keep practicing.! Ha. I particularly liked the merchants mall area. I bought a new paddle with some of my birthday money...also a guard for around the paddle, a visor and shirt....:)

You might remember John from Casa Grande photos. He and his partner, Ken, won the Bronze metals in their skill level of 3.0....WAY TO GO GUYS! They were awesome to watch.

John's wife, Pat, and her partner Joyce won Silver Metals in their skill level 3.5.. GO FOR THE GOLD GIRLS!
The 4 of them drove up from Casa Grande for their games on Wed. Most all our friends played that day. It kept us running from one court to another as their names were called over the sound system.

Can you tell we're always happy to see our friends from all over the country....and so many in one place at a time..

Larry played on Wed. too... He was staying at Sunflower RV resort. We hadn't seen him in about 2 years.

When we left Dawn and Carlton in Fl...they asked us to look for their very good friends Norman and Marti....We said we would and sure enough...Here we are. They are such a great couple and we can see why Dawn and Carlton miss them so much. They are GREAT pickleball players too.! We actually got to play with them over at Happy Trails before the turkey dinner.

Left to right: Harry, Karen, Me, Pat, Keith, and John... It was so good to see them again and glad they won metals... :)

Left to right: Keith, Carl, Norman and Harry.... Men talk!

We stayed one mile down the road from the games at a place called Paradise RV Resort. We used our Encore special to use the park at this time of year. Any other time we'd be able to come in on RPI...but we probably won't as they don't have any p-ball courts...Must be the ONLY park in this area that doesn't have courts...

Happy Trails has 1200 players... Sunflower has 850....and so on..

Harry and Karen are on the left...and we're on the right... The sites were nice and large...but like I said, no p-ball courts SOOOOO

We went over to were Larry was staying to play on the courts at Sunflower. As you can see they are very nice courts. We played for 3 1/2 hours Tues. and it felt soooo good.

Karen, Nancy, Keith and Harry. You couldn't ask for a better host and hostess than Nancy and Wayne...they really made us feel at home this whole week. They gave us the 25 cent tour since we didn't have time for the 50 cent tour. But we jammed an awful lot into the time that we had.

Can you tell I really loved this outdoor living? I took enough photos!

You never get cold sitting outside since they have 4 heaters to use IF necessary.

Behind Keith is the two story AZ room where there is a washer/dryer, refrig./freezer, bathroom/shower and...when they pack up to leave for Montana,,,,all the furniture goes inside.. Pretty neat!

The very first night we were invited to go to pizza with 2 other couples...but as we learned very quickly, things GROW around here...

Wayne and Nancy - Aren't they cute? and to the right is Jettye and Bob .

When the WORD gets out that someone is doing something....Everyone wants to join in!...We kept adding tables and it was so neat to meet NEW FRIENDS! They ALL play pickleball.

It was just a GREAT WEEK...thanks everybody! Hope to see you ALL on the east coast!