Asah Gweh Oou-o

I think we've finally found the place we'll be staying at next winter! Valle del Oro is a very nice RV resort, but it's BIG! There are more RV and Park Model sites here then there were people in the town of Ritzville where I grew up. While there are lots of activities going on all the time, most of it is stuff we're not interested in. I guess we'd rather be out bird-watching or flower hunting then dancing and partying.

I've been saying for some time that I wanted to find an RV site where you could tell you were in the desert. We liked Desert Gardens, but didn't really want to buy our lot. And its heavily-graveled interior roads wouldn't make for very fun bike-riding. We also liked the Escapees North Ranch, but once again all of the large lots are the ones you have to buy. And it's a long way from the baseball parks!

I had read an ad for Asah Gweh Oou-o or Eagle View RV Resort in an Arizona RV Magazine I had picked up at Camping World when we were there last week. Since it was near Scottsdale, we decided to go look at it today.

The address of the RV Park is Fort McDowell. You turn into it right across the highway from the Fort McDowell Casino. It is a small park with only 250 sites -- and NO park models! The interior streets are paved and there are cement patios at each RV site. We drove around and really like the looks of it. One side of the park is bordered by the Verde River and there are views of the mountains all the way around. We liked what we were seeing, but decided that we'd not make any decisions today...

Then we went into the office to talk to Sandy. She said they had started a new offer for next winter that would give you the months of October through December for $600 per month. That's inclusive -- water, garbage, sewer and electricity! (All of which we are being charged separately for where we are this winter -- electricity alone has been right around $200 per month.) All of the perimeter sites on the river side were already taken and there were only six perimeter sites left on the other side.

We went back out and drove around again, checking out the view from the various sites. We picked out three that basically had a view down an interior street of the park out to the desert and the mountains. Then we went back to the office and made a deposit on this site, #169 --

Looking down the interior street, you can see the mountains in the distance.You can also see that this RV park is definitely in the desert!

This is the office, community room, laundry, etc. building. The swimming pool and a hot tub are behind it. We had a chance to visit with a couple who were in the pool. They were from Wisconsin and were spending their third winter here. 

We took the back road from Fort McDowell back to Mesa that goes by Saguaro Lake. It is a gorgeous drive -- especially with the sun shining on the rocks.

A Fun Valentine's Day!

I woke up this morning to find this lovely miniature rose bush. Forry was very proud of himself as he had managed to purchase it without my knowledge.

 

Then this afternoon Juni and Tom went with us out to the West World Exhibition Center in Scottsdale to the National Arabian Show. There are some really neat life-size bronzes at the entrance. I really like this one of the cowboy carrying the baby calf --

This one of the cowboy watering his horse from his hat is kinda neat too. Of course they also for sale...

After we visited with Colleen and Dennis for a while (and Junie bought a really neat wind chime made with an old coffee pot and silverware) we went to watch part of the horse show --

The portions we watched were mainly youngsters under eighteen years of age --

They were very beautiful and fun to watch. I think all of us were greatly impressed by the gorgeous horses, the abilities of the young people and all of the tack.

 It turned out to be a fun way to spend Valentine's Day.

Company!

We went over to the office and paid them for another month here at Valle del Oro. We have decided that we would stay here until the end of March, then think about going to the North Ranch Escapees Park for their 15 day deal.

I took some steaks that I had gotten at Costco out of the freezer this morning and let them thaw. Then seasoned them ahead of time like I had seen them doing on The Chew. I used some of the bourbon flavored smoked salt I had gotten in Tennessee along with some ground pepper and some ground lemon pepper. I put them back in a zip lock bag and let them sit until dinner time. I broiled them on our George Foreman grill and they were delicious!

Our friends Colleen and Dennis are going to have their silverware jewelry booth at the Arabian Horse Show in Scottsdale starting tomorrow for the next ten days. We had invited them to come over for dinner tonight after they got all set up. I had put some potatoes in the oven to bake, so we had them along with some fresh asparagus and hard rolls. Forry had picked out a chocolate mousse cake at the bakery this morning, so we had quite a feast.

Colleen brought along some really good red wine to go with. We spent a great couple of hours just getting caught up again and visiting. It is so good to spend time with friends from home.

Almost Over...

It's hard to believe that 2012 is almost over. As I listened to the news and the weather reports this evening, I began to think that many on the East Coast will probably be very glad to see the end of it! Once again, people were attempting to keep their houses and basements from flooding. Once again, they are dealing with downed power lines and cold, cold houses. They've had to deal with hurricanes and nor'easters, tornadoes and blizzards this year. Enough, already!

I was whining a bit this morning because it was overcast and chilly (50 degrees) here in Mesa. Big deal! We got a few - very few - drops of rain, then it all cleared up. Actually been quite pleasant here this winter.

I did some laundry today and read a couple more books on my new iPad. Forry drove over to Camping World to pick up a little ice maker that was advertised in their flyer which came in our box of snail mail yesterday. Unfortunately, they were all out. They gave him a rain check that's good for a month in case they might get some more in.

I did take a look at the web-site for OdysseyO, the horse performance that is going on in Scottsdale over the holidays. We had talked about getting tickets with Juni and Tom, but after I looked at the ticket prices - even for weekdays - we decided we really didn't want to go that bad! Even tickets for Seniors were over $150 each.

A Very Lazy Day

Not sure what happened today, but I do know it was a VERY lazy one. We went out to dinner last night to Frasher's, a steakhouse over in Scottsdale with Juni and Tom. We met Tommie, Tom's son,  and his roommate Steve there. We were all celebrating Juni and Tom's anniversary. We think it was their ninth anniversary, but they weren't entirely positive...!

Forry and I split a wonderful rib eye steak. It was served with a mashed acorn squash that was topped with a sour cherry sauce and candied walnuts. It was a great meal. It wasn't all that late when we got home, but we sure weren't moving very fast today.

We had bought a very little living Christmas tree last week when we were in town. We had put it in the windshield so that it could be seen from outside. But we have discovered that the lights cannot be seen through the sun shade on the window, so tonight we set it outside on the table by my lounge chair --

I spent most of the afternoon reading and dozing on the couch while Forry alternated dozing and watching the Army-Navy football game on TV.