Walgreens Charity Classic, Final Round

Never mind the suspense, Juli Inkster shot 64 and won.  Again.  By 5 strokes.  It's kind of unfair, almost like when Tiger used to be Tiger.

Shelley Hamlin made up a 3-shot deficit in 3 holes, with a birdie on 17 while Jan Stephenson was making bogies on 16 and 18, and then won the Honors Division on the first hole of the playoff.

I walked with Karen Davies and Cindy Figg-Currier today.  Karen is from Wales, lives in Carefree and teaches at Pinnacle Peak CC, and is no relation to Laura "Big Mama" Davies, who is English.

Cindy is a hot ticket.  She was the talkative one, and had a couple of half-empty wine bottles ("a nice Pinot Noir") in her golf cart, the remnants of a bet on the practice round.

They both started the day at -1, 4 strokes off the lead, but were unable to do any good today.  Karen birdied the first hole, but never got lower than -2, and finished with a double bogey on 18 for 76.  Cindy had 9 pars on the front, then bogies on 10 and 12.  She hit the pin with her approach on 16, then missed the 5-footer for birdie, and drained a 30-footer for birdie on 17, for 73.

Patty Sheehan continued to have troubles, and shot 77 to finish T43.

I saw Rosie Jones before the round, and she wanted me to walk with her again today (I'm her good luck charm), but I had a previous commitment.  She shot 74 and finished T9, 10 shots behind Juli.  I waited for her at the scoring tent, and apologized to her for not being able to help today.  She says "Oh, yeah, who did you go with, INKSTER!?"  I replied "Oh, NO, I would never do THAT!".  I may have to go back on Facebook and tell her to ask for me next year.

The train set you wish you had

They have an unbelievable outdoor model train setup at Valle Del Oro RV park in Mesa, AZ.

Look at all the tracks!  Even a roundhouse!

And the buildings

And people, animals, vehicles!

It's HUGE!  More pictures.

Phoenix Zoo

March 2014

It took a while, but we did finally go to the Phoenix Zoo.  It was a warm day, so the animals were sluggish, but there were a lot of animals, a good variety.

More pictures.

Catalina State Park

is our favorite place to stay near Tucson.  It's in the desert foothills of the Catalina mountains, with wonderful desert and mountain scenery.

including some very large or unusual cacti

or in bloom

There is a trail that goes through some pre-Columbian ruins

and a riparian area

A nice park.  More pictures.

Gambling

For staying in the Eagle View RV park across the street, also owned by the Yavapai tribe, we get a weekly $10 credit for the Fort McDowell casino.  It's only good on certain penny and nickel slots.  We hadn't gone for 4 weeks, so we each had $40 on our card.  We wanted to go to the buffet, all you can eat crab legs tonight, but the line was too long so we just had a sandwich in the deli and headed for the slots.

I tried a new machine this time, the Frog Prince, and on my first $20 I won $48 !!  My biggest win since we've been here.  Vicki had won $15 on a $10 bankroll the first night, that was the previous best.  Then on my old standard Cleopatra machine,  I won another $20.25, for $68.25 cash winnings for my $40 free credits.  Vicki won $31.25, too, so we are almost $100 richer.

Thank you, Yavapai Nation!  We've already made our reservations to come back here next year.

Yuma Territorial Prison

January 2014

From 1876-1909 the Territory of Arizona operated a prison in Yuma.  3,069 prisoners were incarcerated there, and today it is a tourist attraction.

Their crimes:

The conditions:

Despite the looks of it now, it was considered a model institution in its time, and called the "Country Club on the Colorado", because it was one of the few places that had electricity, running water, and flush toilets.  After the prison was closed, it was used as a school.  The Yuma Union High School Criminals played 4 seasons from this home after their previous building burned down.

They had an innovative way to do mug shots, saving 50% on film

 There was a famous escape attempt:

Some of the more interesting inmates:

 Related to Senator Flake, I wonder?

And in the courtyard, some humorous decorations

More pictures.

Las Noches de las Luminarias

December 2013

Every year the Desert Botanical Garden has a series of evening shows, with live entertainment.  Last year, it also featured lighted glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly.  Very large, elaborate, lighted glass sculptures

More pictures and movies of the bellringers.

Colorado River Oasis

November 2013

A park we've stayed at twice now, as it's a day's drive from PHX toward California, is in Ehrenberg, AZ, on the banks of the Colorado River

and across the street from it is a pioneer cemetery

Not as fancy as Boot Hill in Tombstone, but a fascinating piece of the Old West.

More pictures.

Root 66 RV Park

May 2013

We park our RV for the night in a variety of places, from campgrounds in the woods to luxury resorts to Wal-Marts and truck stops (well, just once in a truck stop.  We had to try, didn't like it.  Noisy, and bright lights all night.)  One of the unique ones is in Sun Valley, AZ.  It's a gravel parking lot for an abandoned motel at the exit on I-40 (the old Route 66), handy to the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest.

It doesn't have a web site, but some patrons have reviewed it.

Not even in the same ball park as Omusee Creek, but a solid second place among RV parks.  (Wal-mart is in a class by itself, simply because of the lack of hookups.  We need electric in order to run the A/C, so even Omussee Creek and Route 66 can rank ahead of Wal-Mart, depending on the weather.)

Hubbell Trading Post

May 2013

Hubbell Trading Post is the oldest operating trading post on the Navaho nation, since 1878.  They have a small museum, and sell native art, groceries, and touristy stuff.

No relationship to the telescope, which is spelled differently.