Day 35, Thursday February 11

Another golf day!  Can you tell we haven’t had golf weather for a few months?

Today we golfed at Superstition Springs Golf Club in Mesa.  We played with friends from home:  Tab Bronson (Trilogy) and Katherine Curry (Kirkland – formerly of Trilogy).  What a challenging golf course!  Because none of us had played the course before, we were surprised on every fairway.  Some of the fairways had multiple grass pothole bunkers in addition to sand bunkers, and there were lots of strategically placed water features.  Needless to say, a few golf balls were lost.  Would we play the course again?  Sure – now that we know what to expect.  It was fun and not your normal out-and-back layout.  Drinks after were in order, and much enjoyed, but put us in the middle of rush hour traffic.  Took us twice as long to get home as it did to get to the course in the morning.  Oh well…..

Day 36, Friday February 12

Another day in paradise with no plans.  These days always seem to get filled somehow.  A run to the grocery store for dinner salad fixings also incorporated a stop for Dave to get a haircut (yes, these tasks still need to happen).  Spent a couple hours in the afternoon at the clubhouse doing computer stuff like paying bills and catching up on email, then home for dinner outside on our patio.  Light clouds seem to move in each evening and we’ve had some beautiful sunsets (sunrises too).  

Day 37, Saturday February 13

Dave spent the morning waxing one side of the RV (small sections at a time).  In the afternoon, we headed out to Paradise Lake because we wanted to check out the RV  park there.  We’d looked at it online and it looked like a nice location, but it’s hard to really tell what they look like by their website and the aerial map.  Besides, there is a pub at the marina we wanted to try for dinner.  Wanting to see some of the territory besides the highway, we headed out on some side roads.  We followed a road on the map that looked like it would take us where we wanted to go, only to find out that part of the road was dirt (we don’t have a car with much clearance).  We turned around and backtracked to nearly our start point.  Reluctantly we got on the highway, not wanting to risk getting lost again.  Finally, we got to Paradise Lake Resort, only to find that they charge $6.00 just to enter…even if we are having dinner there.  Entrance fee paid, we toured the RV Resort (not quite what we would consider a “Resort”) and parked for a ride to the marina.  The shuttle actually ran out a long dock to the marina that also housed Dillons BBQ.  OK food, but not much of a view.  We had a table that faced large boats tied to the dock.  Not quite what we expected.  Walked back to the car rather than ride the shuttle.  

On the walk back, we saw the sky full of hot air balloons getting ready to descend near the Paradise Valley airport.

Decided this wasn’t our kind of RV park, but that’s why we go exploring.

Day 38, Sunday February 14

Happy Valentines Day 

Dave got up this morning at 6:30 to catch one of the first tee times at Peoria Pines for $11.00.  He forgot it was the weekend- and a 3 day weekend at that.  No $11.00 specials on the weekend.  Ended up going to the driving range instead.  Came home with pastries and flowers for Valentines.

In the afternoon, we headed to Verrado Golf Club in Buckeye.  We wanted to find a place to have a glass of wine on a patio with a view….thus the golf course (remember, I told you that if we couldn’t afford to play a course, we eat or drink there).  The town of Verrado sits at the base of the White Tank Mountains on the west of the valley.  It is a very picturesque master-planned community with shady tree lined streets, a town square, and older-style architecture that looks like something from small town central America.

        

        

        

        

        

Watermelon/Orange Salad w/Goat Cheese