Phoenix (03/06/2005)

I am calling this Phoenix although as of yesterday we are in Tucson. We had a busy week. Tuesday, the Park had a quilt show and for the first time I had some items in the show: our bed quilt, Christine's pillow, and the new little quilt I made. They were not the best in show but many people liked them. After the show Rich and I went to the Heard Museum (Phoenix Indian Museum). I learned a lot that I did not know about the Indian school system. I had no idea that it was so harsh. After the museum we went to a Phoenix shopping mall so I could see what malls here are like. I prefer malls with small shops where the you can see the owner's style and individual designs rather than national franchises. Unfortunately, the mall we chose was not the kind I like so it became a mall walk instead of a window shopping excursion.. Wednesday, we drove the Apache Trail. It took all day, but it was an awesome drive. I did not photograph them, but the flowers were beautiful. The desert was green and yellow and white and purple and orange. It looked the way we imagined the desert in spring to be. Please take a look at the pictures below to see some of the sights. Two things about the rain we experienced while here in Phoenix: the flowers are wonderful and until this week (when it stopped raining) we had not seen any smog. Thursday, I went with the park quilt group to a local museum to see a quilt show. It was small but had some lovely old and new quilts. Friday, I went with the park quilt group to another quilt show at a local church. This show was larger and had many very nice quilts.Saturday, we packed up and moved to Tucson. Once again the desert was awesome. We arrived at the park and it started to pour (rain and hail). This park has a really good system for moving water off the roads and into the wash. I was amazed at how fast the water was cleared off.
Here is some information about these parks. The park in Phoenix had we think about 700 spaces. This park (in Tucson) is larger. Of those spaces, some are for transients (like Rich and Sue) but many have ‘park models’ permanently attached. A park model is a single-wide mobile home (read non-mobile). The park models are owned by individuals who rent the space in the park. The parks actually sell the park models. The owners generally spend the winter in the park and spend the rest of the time in their homes in the north. Many have been coming to the park for 5-10 years. They have two communities of friends: their winter and their summer friends. These 'permanent' residents form the backbone of the activities at the park. They teach, lead, and do volunteer work keeping the activities happening.
I apologize in advance to all you working stiffs for what I am about to write. It takes me about 1/2 hour to shower, dress, and do my 'doo after swimming. One day as I was getting ready, I was telling (complaining to) a woman about how slow I am. She said "Don't worry. You do not need to hurry. You are not working." With that, she reminded me what a great luxury time is. You would not think I need to be reminded, but apparently I do.