Tuesday morning dances in Leisure World

Every Tuesday morning (during the winter season) at Leisure World, the LW Big Band rehearses.  Anyone is invited to attend, listen, and dance.

We arrange our schedule to be home on Tuesdays to catch them.  They are fine musicians who play a broad variety of tunes, all of them danceable.  Chip in a couple of dollars for coffee and treats, and away we go.

Ironically, on the day we decided to bring the camera to get some photos so we could remember this event, the people who organize things were having a birthday party for Danielle, one of the women who regularly attends and listens. She is one of several people who we have met at these dance/practices who is friendly and warm.

OK.  We're just starting  here.

So, we ask Danielle what day her birthday is and she says "Friday, the 31st."

Well, Friday, January 31, is also my birthday, which we just had to share and which everyone thought was very fun.

OLD  MAN HUMOR ALERT!  So, my joke was "Dan"ielle and "Dan" are celebrating their birthdays together today at  a "Dan"ce.  (You were warned).

MORE OLD  MAN HUMOR ALERT!  How coincidental is this?  One of the cakes actually had MY name on it!  How did they know ahead of time?

Here are the birthday septuagenarians:

 

Here is Vicky with our buddy Esther who we always sit with at these dances.  She was 97 on Christmas.  She has been attending these dances for three decades.

One of the things we notice about living in Leisure World is that people dress up.  For even an informal morning event like this.  It's kind of nice, actually.

And now for some nostalgia.  One of the reasons we love coming to these dances is that this room contains powerful memories.  In 2005, my mother who was 83 at the time, was a member of the tap dance group in Leisure World.  My daughter Emily and I attended her last performance in 2005 as a member of that group.

She never had dance lessons.  Yet in her mid-70s, just decided that she could do this.

Who takes up tap dancing at age 75?  

And here we are, 15 years later, dancing in the same room.  Who could have predicted that?  I feel her presence every week we go.  But this time it is she who is watching us.

Mom is on the far right, at her final concert at age 83.  Way to go mom....you look great!

Camping and hiking near the Seven Springs Recreation Area

Using our voluminous library of maps, Vicky had found several possible camping spots in this part of the Tonto National Forest, with areas close to them where the hiking looked good.   We tried several ways to get into those camping spots before we finally realized something was not right.  We went to the Ranger station and learned that the area Vicky located had sustained a burn  (in 2005) and was closed off so it could heal.

Undaunted, we headed to another place Vicky had located—the Seven Springs Recreational Area.  Vicky is really the map queen.

Years ago we had tried to camp in this area, but learned at the Ranger Station then that their campground was closed.  We were discouraged, so left and went to Cave Creek Regional Park.  That was early in our road tripping before we had discovered dispersed camping.   Now we don’t care whether a campground is closed.

Campground?  Campground?  We don't need no steenking campground!

Ironically, we found a place to camp that reminded us of our earlier road trips when we camped exclusively at campgrounds.

We found there was a campground named the CCC Campground.  And, of course, we just had to stay there.  We have been big fans of the CCC since we started exploring the US.  

As a refresher, the CCC is the Civilian Conservation Corps.  Roosevelt started it almost 90 years ago as one way to jump start the economy during the depression.  Young men from all over the country build roads, bridges, campgrounds, dams, and trails. The CCC lasted until WWII when the young men were needed to fight (and die) in that war, and in doing so gave us the lives we, our children, and our grandchildren now have. 

We have seen CCC structures all over the country, a testament to how well they were built.  Much of what they built is still usable.  Made of rocks and back-breaking labor. 

This campground was built for the young men in the CCC to stay.  We read that there was an administrative site somewhere close, but didn’t know where it was.

One sort of odd thing is that years ago when we were told at the Ranger Station that the Forest Service Campground was closed, they didn’t mention this CCC campground that was open that was right next to it.  We would have come here then.  Up the road a bit is the Seven Springs Campground. They didn’t mention that one either.  

Here is our site:

There weren’t numbered sites, which meant it was free.  Our site was different from what we usually look for in that it was enclosed by a embankments instead of being in the open.  It was next to a small brook that provided a nice sound.  We were there for two nights, and no one else stayed in the campground those two nights  We had it all to ourselves.  

It also had this very modern feature, something that we remember from our distant past:  A bathroom:

 

We said to each other:  "So that's how civilized people do it when they are camping...pit toilets."

We took two hikes from the campground.  One was on something else from our past—a hiking trail!  With a map!  And signs!  We used to hike this way all of the time, until recent years where our hiking has been all off-trail, or on mountain/desert/mining roads.  Consequently we actually ran into other hikers, who took a photo of us:

The hiking trail went along the Little Maggie May Creek (cool name for a stream).  Because of recent rains, we turned back when the trail crossed the stream, as we didn’t think we could cross it without getting wet.

And then, true to form, we decided to leave the trail and see if we could find another way back to our camper.  In doing so, we came up on the administrative site for the CCC, and perhaps the old Ranger Station.  One easy way of knowing that one is in a CCC area is the characteristic walls that the men built.  They look alike all over the country:

We later saw a sign that showed we had been on the Great Western (Arizona) Trail.  We weren’t familiar with this trail, but will learn more about it.

The next day we decided to walk up the main dirt road to see if we could find another site, which we did, and moved.  Here it is.  It is much more like the kind of places we typically camp:

The next day we took a relatively strenuous hike on roads we had identified on our GPS devices and maps.  It was shorter than our typical hike, but had a lot of elevation gain.  We thought we could make a loop hike out of it, and we did.

Part of the hike was on a road that had obviously been closed by the park service many, many years ago.  No tracks of people or vehicles.  In fact, in some places it was difficult to see where the road used to be.  Wonderful.  Beautiful sights of the mountains.  And streams in all of the valleys, with a constant sounds of birds.

This photo shows an example of the old road.  You can hardly see it.

For our final hike we retraced our previous hike in reverse, so we could see the views again but from the other direction. We also saw on the previous hike that there was a road that extended further that we might enjoy.  We did.

What we found at the end of that road was a very old, small home that someone had built an unknown number of years ago--probably 70-80 years ago, maybe more.  We had seen evidence of a corral on this hike, and wondered why it was there when we found it.  Now we believe we know--it was built by the same person or persons who built this home.

Someone had a home there, or a place to live while tending their cattle.  Who?  How long ago?  For how long?  One of the many mysteries lost to time that we continually run into hiking.  We always hope when we run into an old home or structure that, whoever it was, they were happy scratching out an existence in the hard land of the southwest.  It must have been a very challenging life.

Our hikes  We did 1/2 mile of elevation gain in our four hikes (and the first hike, the marked one, had no elevation gain, so the 1/2 mile is actually on three hikes).  That's what desert mountain hiking is all about--up and down and then more up and down.  We love it.

Jules visits

and we had a great time.   Went for several walks and two bike rides.  One of the rides was on the Bush Highway, up to Saguaro Lake.  It was windy, but weather was nice.  For our other ride we did the Tour de Leisure World.

Cycling has been such an important part of our history and relationship with Jules over the past several years.  We have taken countless rides with him and, almost unbelievably, we have done 7 Seattle-to-Portland (STPs) with him.  That number is not a typo--SEVEN times we have done this 210 mile ride with him.  A set of memories that are irreplaceable.

So taking these rides was important to all of us.

It was terrific to see him!

 

 

Hiking and Camping in Peralta Canyon in the Turtle

The "Turtle" is our name for our slide-in camper/pickup.   The pickup carries its home on its back like a turtle does.

We had a great five nights at a site in Peralta Canyon.   We found a spot on a spur off of the main road, and in the five days had only two people drive by that spur.

We got the isolation, quiet, peacefulness, and connection with nature that we have sought and found so often over the past eight years.

We found a number of terrific hikes (seeing no other hikers on these trails since we generally don't follow "established" hiking trails).

And here is what is almost unbelievable:  We were a 45-minute drive from our home!  That's why we moved to Mesa.  

Here is our site:

An aerial view of our site.  (No, we don't have a drone)

Our camper is in the middle of this photo.  It is very difficult to see because it is in the distance.



Photos from our hikes

Our Grandsons Soren and Sebastian visit

 

Soren and Sebastian were with us for a week.  We had a blast, as we always do with all of the four grandsons we are blessed with.

Here they are arriving at the airport.  All full of excitement (them AND us!)



Twice we walked to breakfast at the Rendezvous Cafe in Leisure World.  This cafe is something in LW about which we are very pleased and proud.  It is sponsored by the MARC center.  The MARC center is described as "a private nonprofit corporation providing educational, therapeutic, rehabilitation and social services to children and adults with developmental and physical disabilities and behavioral health challenges."

We can't leave tips for the servers, but we can make contributions each visit to the MARC center, which we do.  Everyone there likes the boys because they are so polite and respectful.  When Adam was here three weeks ago, this was the only place he put in a request to go, and sadly we couldn't because he was here only on a weekend when the Rendezvous is closed.   But, Adam, there is next time!  Come see!

The boys know how much we like western movies.  And that this is part of visits with Grandma and Grandpa.  Little do they know that we have a collection of about 400 of them, so they will have to come here as long as we are alive.

On this trip they saw several really good ones:  Jeremiah Johnson, The Scalphunters, and Man in the Wilderness.  Look them up on imdb.  They are good.

We also watched two Disney ones:  Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier and, of special significance, Old Yeller.

Old Yeller was a rite of childhood for us baby boomers.  It is so much more than just a boy gets dog, boy loses dog, boy finds dog movie.

After "Pa" gets back home, and finds out about Old Yeller, he gives a memorable speech to his son:  ""Now and then, for no good reason a man can figure out, life will just haul off and knock him flat. … But it's not all like that. A lot of it's mighty fine.  And you can't afford to waste the good part frettin' about the bad.  That makes it all bad."

Then "Pa" gives him the horse he had promised his son.  And says something so  very profound:  "Brought you that horse I promised.  I reckon you ain't in no shape to take pleasure in him yet.  Well, you'll just keep him for awhile.   Maybe you'll come to feel different later."

In other words, even though "Pa" went to great effort to get his son something that the son at one time wanted, he didn't guilt trip him into feeling good about it right on the spot.  He accepted his son's feelings at the moment, and allowed him to have whatever feelings he wanted.

"Pa" should have stopped ranching and become a child psychologist.

The second day here we went 4-wheeling in the 4-Peaks Wilderness area. 

The 4 peaks are in this photo. 

.....and we went swimming:



The next morning we drove to Rimrock, AZ, so we could be close to a number of fun and interesting places for the next three days.

One spot was Fort Verde State Park.  Fort Verde has several buildings still standing from the 1800s when it was an Indian fort. 

The boys decided to learn what they needed in order to become Jr. Park Rangers.  They did great, and got badges for learning.  Here they are being sworn in:

Here they are with their badges.  They DO need "steeenking badges!"

Then we went to Montezuma Well National Monument.  It is basically a natural large hole in the ground that fills with water.  In the early 1000s Indians dug canals to their settlements from this huge hole.  Interestingly, the well also leeched arsenic, naturally, so they were slowly poisoning themselves.  Fortunately for them (huh?), they only lived until age 30-35 so died of other causes before the arsenic could kill them.



Both Soren and Sebastian had "spending money" courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa.  Sebastian wanted to dress up as a cowboy, so we stopped at a very large antique store that seemed to have possibilities.  He found a hat there that was to his liking:

Looks like a cowboy, doesn't he?


The next day we went to Montezuma's Castle National Monument.  It is several old ruins, dating to the 900s.  Thankfully, now, they are protected, as in the early 1900s people basically had parties in them and stole all of the artifacts.

Then we went to the Tuzigoot National Monument, which was an old Indian village, of the same era, except it was built on the top of a hill instead of into a rock face.  Many of the buildings are still standing, as are many of the foundations of others.

We stopped at another antique/western store so Sebastian could look for more cowboy stuff:

Then we went to Dead Horse State Park.  It was named for a Michelangelo statue....JUST KIDDING!!  It was named because of a dead horse that was found there many years ago.  Kind of an odd reason for a park name.  It would be like naming the Custer National Forest "Dead Soldier Forest.' 

Anyway, they had a bunch of lagoons there, and the boys seemed to enjoy throwing rocks into them more than they enjoyed all of the very interesting, historical, and educational places we took them.  (told you they were boys!!!)

For dinner we went to a Mexican restaurant.  Now that may not seem like a terribly big deal and worth mentioning, but this one was really interesting.  All of the furniture had beautiful and vivid 3-D paintings.  Never seen anything like this.

The next morning was New Year's.  Grandma made breakfast, including blueberry/M&M pancakes.  Yum.

And then we went to the Jerome Ghost town.  Jerome was a huge mining community many years ago.  The mines dried up, and virtually everyone left.  One attraction was a private "Ghost Town."  It was actually pretty cool.  Many years ago a guy started collecting old vehicles.  Some were running (and still are) and many are just shells.  But even the shells are interesting, and unique.  He contracted with the owners of this area to be able to create this ghost town and display his vehicles. 

The boys took this picture of us in front of a VERY old camper:

 

Grandpa lost his keys somewhere in the ghost town, so everybody had to walk around looking for them.......for over an hour (meaning we all got to see all of Ghost Town about three times!).  The boys found them fallen into a crack:

Then we went to the Jerome Historical State Park, which was basically a mansion that one of the mine owners built.  It was very interesting, because now it is a mining museum, and the boys enjoyed playing on the old mining machinery.

View of the mine, and the hotel that once was owned by the owner of the mine:

I'll bet you are like me and have often stayed up late a night wondering:  "what did miners in the olden days do about toilets when they were in the mines."  Well, wonder no more.  They had a specially built rail car.  You could do your business sitting right next to your friend!  No wonder boys in the late 1800s wanted to be miners when they grew up.

(Sebastian was afraid of losing his hat so grandpa had to wear it)

The next day we drove home.  Sebastian baked cookies that night:

 

The next day we went on a hike.  The boys had purchased sling shots, so we wanted them to be able to use them.  They did.

Everybody (but me) saw Javelinas.  Baby ones too!
  

We came home and went swimming.

 

And the next morning they had to leave.  We were sad: