Where are Cheryl and Dennis?: March 2019

03/16/2019 – 03/22/2019

Sunday – 3/17/2019 – During my research of equestrian happenings in the area I discovered something called Mounted Cowboy Shooting. Upon further research I found a competition happening today as part of the Roots and Boots events at Horseshoe Equestrian Park in Queen Creek AZ. We invited Jim and Bonnie along and we picked them up around 9:00. The event started at 10 and with it being just 30 minutes away we got there plenty early. Besides the shooting competition there were carnival rides, food stands and plenty of vendors selling their wares. Later in the day there was a rodeo.

Cowboy Mounted Shooting consists of 10 or 11 balloon targets set up in an arena. It is a timed event were the riders must ride as fast as they can, shoot at and pop all the balloons. They do this with two guns filled with black powder shots. As the ride by the target they shoot at it and the sparks from the shot pop the balloon. Each gun only has 6 shots so halfway through they need to switch to the other gun. The shot is most effective within 5 to 10 feet and dies out after 20 feet. That was comforting has I was wondering how it could be a spectator sport without having fans being shot! There are 3 stages as well as different skill divisions. Each stage is a different pattern and all skill levels do the same patterns. At the end of the competition the time for each rider in each stage is added together and the fastest time wins.

It was great to watch and some of the riders were both excellent shots as well as excellent horseman. I think the women out rode and out shot the men! We stayed to watch the first two stages then headed to get a bite to eat. Before we left they mentioned something about shotgun competition after the mounted shooting. Something to check out next time!

We headed to Joe's Farm Grill in Gilbert. This is a restaurant that we saw featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. It has an interesting story as well. It is located in an area called Agritopia which used to be the farm of the Johnson family. The restaurant which is the original Johnson home is surrounded by 12 acres of urban farm as well as a planned residential community. The urban farm helps to provide produce for the restaurant and contains a community garden that can be used by the residents. There is a coffee shop and a brewery in another building that supports other small businesses such as a gun smith and a kitchen utensil maker. It was really a neat place. And by the way the food was awesome. Dennis and I had items that had been featured on DDD. He had the Ahi Tuna Sandwich and I had the Gouda Garlic Bacon Burger. Dennis' tuna was slightly over cooked but both were really tasty. It is a little pricey but very good.

Tuesday – 3/19/2019 – This afternoon we visited the Desert Botanical Garden. All winter the garden has a special evening light show called the electric desert. We planned on attending that as well. We arrived at the garden around 2:00. They have several different gardens to stroll through showing a variety of desert vegetation. We visited the butterfly pavilion which had hundreds of butterfly flitting around the profusion of flowers. My favorite was the Zebra Long Wing butterfly. The temperature was around 80 degrees and the sun was quite hot. After walking around for an hour or so Dennis was not feeling very well. We could come and go as we pleased so we headed over to the Scottsdale Fashion Mall to get some relief from the heat.

This mall is huge! Lots of high end stores such as Prada and Coach. The most interesting place was the Apple store. It was at the end of one of the main hallways. All the walls were glass so when you approached it from the inside you could see right through the space to the outside. So that's were some of my money went!

After strolling through the mall it was time to get something to eat before returning to the garden for the light show. We stopped at a small Greek restaurant call Mika Greek. It was a fast food type joint but they served everything on real plates and bowls. I had a gyro and lemon lentil soup. Dennis had a gyro plate. The food was very good and the servings plentiful.

We arrived back at the garden before full dark so had to wait a while for the light show to begin. There were 5 or 6 light displays. Our favorite was the light show in the cactus and succulent garden. It was a kaleidoscope of moving and changing colors set to music. There was also a display on the side of adjacent hill.

Before going to the garden I had checked out the entrance fee for the garden and the light show. It was $35 per person. I did some investigating and found I could purchase a membership in the American Horticultural Society for $25 per person. This membership got us into the Desert Botanical Garden for free including the light show. It includes special admission privileges and discounts at 320 other public gardens throughout North America as well as a The American Gardener magazine. As we travel I will keep a lookout for other gardens where we can utilize this membership.

Where we are parked: – Sunrise RV Resort Site 238– 500 sites – heated swimming pool, hot tub, shuffle board, horseshoe pits, pickle ball and tennis courts. RV site rates: We paid $804.40 which included a referral discount. There are other rates for extended and fall only stays.

COWBOY MOUNTED SHOOTING

DESERT BOTANICAL GARDEN

SCOTTSDALE FASHION MALL

EVENING AT THE BOTANICAL GARDEN

03/05/2019 – 03/15/2019

Tuesday – 3/05/2019 Before we left Yuma, Dennis had contacted a Ford dealer in Apache Junction to get our check engine light checked out. Today Dennis took the truck over and they gave him a ride back to the park. We did not hear from them til the end of the day. It was something with the EGR valve and they also said our shocks were leaking. The total was going to be around $3000. Bummer! Oh well, the truck has over 111,000 miles on it and we have not had any major issues with it.

Wednesday – 3/06/2019 Dennis received a call this morning from the Ford dealer. In the process of taking the truck apart they broke a bolt. They said it was going to be an additional $1500 to fix it. Dennis was quit irate and they agreed to split the cost. But it was going to be another day before we get it back.

Thursday – Since we did not have the truck back yet I hopped on my bike and rode to Frys to pick up a few groceries. It is really pleasant riding bike here as there are no hills! In the evening we attended happy hour at the pool where one of the park residents sang and played guitar. It has been really nice here the last few days and was especially nice that evening as it was warm and the sunset was gorgeous. Dennis got a call from the Ford dealer that the truck was finally ready but he told them it could wait until tomorrow.

Friday 3/08/2019 – Dennis was picked up here at the park around 9:00. We had planned to take a drive today so as soon as he was back we took off. We headed north and took the N Bush Hwy to Hwy 87 up to Payson. At Payson we continued north and west toward Camp Verde. Along this route we reached elevations close to 6000 feet and it became quite chilly with snow still remaining in the higher elevations. We also encountered a few rain showers but the combination of the mountains, clouds and bit of sun was really breathtaking.

At Camp Verde we visited Montezuma Castle. Montezuma Castle is a 5 story cliff dwelling built in the limestone cliffs above Dry Beaver Creek. The creek was not dry as it was almost overflowing its banks from the snow melt from the higher elevations. From there we went to Sedona. The scenery is breathtaking in Sedona as it is surrounded by red rock buttes and mountains. The town is very touristy and EXPENSIVE. We had lunch in a Mexican restaurant we each had water to drink and the bill was over $30. We could get the same meal in Yuma for less than $15. We also stopped in the Bonanza Flute and Jewelry to look at there selection of Native American Flutes.

From Sedona we continued north and drove through Oak Creek Canyon and up the windy section of Hwy 89. We connected with I-17 just south of Flagstaff and headed home. It was a 2.5 hour drive back to Apache Junction and we arrived about 8:00.

Sunday 3/10/2019 – We were visited by our friends Bill and Sue. I used to work with Bill at Kohler. Ten years or so ago they retired and moved to Surprise AZ. Surprise is way on the other side of Pheonx from Apache Junction but they agreed to come to our park. They arrived about 11:15. We visited at the park for a while then went to get some lunch. Bonnie had mentioned a sandwich shop a few days ago so we went to check it out. The Meat Slicer is a mom and pop type place, nothing fancy, that serves gianormous sandwiches as well as take and bake pizzas. As advertised the sandwiches were very large, too large to get your mouth around. We had a great meal and a great visit.

We took in two shows this week. Tickets were purchased at a discount at the park activities office. On Monday we went to a dinner show at Barleens. It was a variety show with all types of music and even a little comedy. I liked the steel drum performance the best. The meal of roast beef, potatoes, gravy and salad was good. Even came with chocolate cake. On Wednesday night we attended a Beach Boys Tribute concert at the Apache Junction PAC. The group was very good and it certainly brought back memories. They even played Kokomo which was Sheila's favorite song when she was little.

Thursday afternoon I went to another flute circle. This one was at a another RV Resort just a couple of miles away. I met some more great flutists and learned some new techniques. Now I just have to practice.

Friday 3/15/2019 Dennis has been wanting to drive Apache Trail to Roosevelt Dam ever since we have been here so today was the day. We left around 9:30. We made a few stops along the way including Tortilla Flat, Apache Lake and a few of the scenic view sights. The road was paved from Apache Junction to just beyond Tortilla Flat then it turned to gravel. It was bumpy and slow driving, not much more than 10 to 15 miles an hour. I think it took us about three hours to cover 43 miles but the scenery was spectacular. Lots of desert wildflowers including desert poppy and lupine.

Once at the dam we stopped at the Roosevelt Dam overviews as well as the Roosevelt Lake Visitor Center. The original dam was completed in 1911 as part of the Salt River Project, one of the first projects authorized under the Reclamation Act of 1902. A masonry arch dam was constructed on the Salt River to mitigate flooding as well as provide a steady source of water to the Phoenix area.

Early in 1980 it was determined that the existing dam would not be able to handle a probable maximum flood and did not meet the standards for a maximum credible earthquake. In 1989 a project was started to strengthen the dam and raise it an additional 77 feet. As part of this project a new bridge was constructed to divert traffic on Highway 188 off of the dam. The modifications were completed in 1996. The modified masonry gravity arch dam is 357 feet high. It is 21.6 feet wide at the top and 196 feet wide at the bottom and in addition to storing much needed water for the Phoenix valley it also produces 36 megawatts of electricity.

From the dam we continued our trip on Highway 188 toward Globe. We stopped to check out a couple of the recreation area campgrounds. We also stopped at the Tonto National Monument. This is a another site of early native American cliff dwellings. The dwellings are estimated to be 700 years old and were occupied by the Salado people. It is thought that this site was a permanent settlement and that this was a farming community growing corn, beans, squash and cotton.

Access to the lower cliff dwelling is 350 feet up a steep, paved path. It was quite a climb but the dwelling is very interesting and the view was spectacular. The walk back down was much easier.

We continued east on Highway 188 toward Globe. It was getting late so we did not stop in Globe but turned onto Highway 60 and headed home.