Where are Cheryl and Dennis?: Apache Junction

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