A Visit to Desert Gardens

This afternoon we drove south and east of Mesa to the town of Florence. Then on about another four miles to Desert Gardens RV Park Cooperative. We had seen an ad in the FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) magazine for their special for the 2013-2014 season: $1595 for October 1, 2013 to April 30, 2014, and we wanted to check it out.

Desert Gardens is in a very rural site in the midst of a forest of saguaros. It's a small park with VERY large RV sites, all of which are either sold or for sale. The smallest of the lots in the original portion of the park are 40' by 50'. The sites in the two newer sections are 55' by 60' and 60' by 70'. The designers of the park have also deliberately left a great deal of "common ground" throughout the park. They also left a as much of the natural vegetation as possible. The grounds are definitely xeroscaped.

We spent most of the afternoon looking around at the available sites and talking with people. We kept ourselves so busy that I didn't even take any pictures.

Florence is kind of a scary town -- it is full of concertina wire and prisons. There are federal detention centers, state prisons and the county jail. That's all you see when you first drive in.

We stopped at the local McDonalds for ice cream on the way home, then just snacked for dinner when we got home. We did have an incredible sunset at Valle del Oro --

   

It doesn't get much prettier than that.