VALLY OF THE SUN

Phoenix and the surrounding towns here in the center of Arizona are known as the Valley Of The Sun. Surrounded by a higher terrain and mountains usually "the sun" part goes without saying...But because that good old El Nino weather pattern that is wreaking havoc on most of the country is hiding the sun a lot.


The temperature has been cooler than the normal 65 to 75...like 48 to 58 and in some nights into the low 30's and we had rain "sometimes strong" 8 out of 12 days. So our every other year trip to the Desert Southwest has been a little different because of the weather but we still like the area enough that we have been checking out the real estate.

On a nice day in the middle of iffy ones Tony was asked to golf with Bob Altman,

(one of his golf buddies from back in Toledo) at his club the Red Mountain

Ranch Country Club in North Mesa. The views from this course, like this one of Red Mountain where very nice and playing this challenging course was enjoyable as well as humbling. Thanks Bob for the lesson!  

This is one of our favorite spots with lots of activities in the east valley town of Gold Canyon with a great view of Superstition Mountain.    

One of the premier retirement resort companies is Cal Am ... which has 12 locations in the valley and has been a primary focus of where we have stayed at this trip because of the level of amenities like pools, spas, golf, conditioning equipment and all the other actives like crafts, entertainment, happy hours and poker nights. 

While in the east valley we enjoyed some of the unique eateries with great food and a large selection of craft beers. This is a more rural area which is very appealing to us...with great hiking in the foothills.    

And a great Texas style Bar-B Q in Masa called Waldo's on Main St.

One of best in the valley!

A lot of the parks we stayed at had "Theme Night" events with entertainment and refreshment's like these margaritas on Mexican night.    

All the places we stayed at in the Phoenix area were 55+ communities ranging from relatively small (350 spaces) to very large (2,500 spaces)...and when we say (spaces) we are talking about places to park our RV because where ever we relocate we will still want to travel in our RV but from the south going north in the summer.

The types of amenities vary of course along with the price. From a simple RV pad with full hookups to a Park Model with attached Arizona Room...You own what you put on your space and pay rent for that space.


Except one place in Surprise.... NW of Phoenix where you buy the space which allows you to more options of what you can build and the ability to have a foundation structure or Park Model and still keep your RV under a large awning. This place is called Happy Trails...yes named after the song the singing cowboys Roy Rogers and Dale Evens sang on there tv show in the 50,s ... The couple never received any compensation for the use of there names and the names of other members of the tv show like Trigger, Pat Brady, Silver and others that streets in the resort are named after.

Coyotes aren't strangers to the center of a busy area like Surprise...like this guy with his three friends that crossed in front of us on the golf course.    

This place also has an 18 hole golf course running through it and is very close to where Sandy's sister lives during the winter not to far from her nephew lives.  


Of course we are still looking ...location...amide ties...conveniences...and price are all under consideration so of course we are still looking...but we do have our favorite places ...so far.

A big bonus of traveling around this great country of ours is to be able to attend some special events...that just happen to be in the area that we are visiting.

The Fiesta Bowl was a great way to start out the new year with

The Ohio State Buckeyes beating Notre Dame.  

Fan Fest...before the game was a great start to the day with a huge breakfast burrito and bloody marry along with a close up revue of 

{The Best Dam Band In The Land}   

Sandy finding our seats in this beautiful stadium...

a great place to watch a game!

Buckeyes finishing up with there pre-game warm up...

This will bring out the goose bumps along with the National Anthem!

Buckeyes taking the field and there first touchdown...

As we leave the valley and travel towards California for a few weeks we make a short stop in Quartzite along with thousands of other RV'ers that converge on this small town in western Arizona at this time of year.

 This place offers sales of RV related merchandise along with just about everything else. We will let the pictures speak for themselves! YES it is a unique place which people have said they love it ...or hate it...We enjoy going for a couple days every couple years while traveling through.

Our travels into Southern California wouldn't be complete without at least a few days at The Fountain of Youth. This time for a week with warmer weather

and soothing mineral hot springs.    

Another favorite of ours is The Springs of Borrego RV and Golf Resort

with one of the best 9 hole golf courses we have ever played. 

After a short but nice visit with Sandy's cousin Mary Jo and husband Larry in El Centro we cross back into Southern Arizona to another favorite of ours in Yuma called the Cocopah RV and Golf Resort.

 LIVE
 LOVE
LAUGH
SanTony