Tuesday, September 4, through Monday, December 31, 2018, Adios, Val Vista Villages, It was Fun!

I was so far behind on the blog the only way to catch up was to condense our stay at Val Vista Villages into one long entry. We arrived on Tuesday, September 4th and stayed through Monday, December 31st. That's nearly four months and while we did not do much sightseeing we did stay pretty busy so please excuse the wordiness as I attempt to document our experience.

When we arrived here I had some concerns about an extended stay in one location. Those concerns were obliterated as we quickly learned there was far more to do in this park than we could possibly embrace. We had to content ourselves with sampling some of the opportunities and passing on so many others that we will happily return again for an even longer stay someday.

Arriving in September meant we had to contend with the heat. Most days in our first two weeks the temperature was near 110 degrees. Our A/C rarely took a break but managed to keep us cool. We saw many a colorful sunset during our stay. If I remember correctly, we only had rain once (until our last day in the park), but we heard tales of a huge storm that blew through a few months before we arrived. It was called a "haboob" and evidence of its destructive passing was found all around the park. We were also told by some of the full-time residents that "110 was nothing - you should have been here when it was 120, now that was hot."

What I did fully engage in, on a daily basis, was the social scene at the dog park. Our site was steps away from the main dog run and Sam had the chance to meet dozens and dozens of new friends. I tried to make a game out of remembering the names of each of my neighbors and their dogs. I was doing pretty well until we were up to maybe 50 dogs before I started getting them confused and finally gave up completely. Often there were 20 dogs chasing and playing at a time. Some were young and rambunctious and others were old and reserved (like Sam). One of the largest and maybe loudest dogs was Hunter, an Airedale, who was friends with everyone. The smallest dogs were probably no more than 5 pounds. They all seemed to get along well and I never witnessed any more than the occasional sharp "leave me alone" bark.

The Fiesta pool and spa was another facility we visited nearly every day. Nice large showers with endless hot water made the visits even more refreshing. It might be difficult to imagine but the 102-degree spa water felt great even when the afternoon temperature was over 100 degrees. It felt even better when the temps cooled off and we would visit in the evenings when the temperatures were in the 60's and 50's. I really appreciated that the pools (four) were never closed - you could swim at two in the morning if you had the desire. Throughout September we never saw another person in the pool or spa. Finally, in October we started seeing others once in a while. Everyone said it was going to get crowded in a few months but we never saw that happen. The spa and showers will be sorely missed when we resume our fulltime "camping" lifestyle.

One of the highlights of our stay was meeting Barry at the pool and later his wife Della. Della and Joani found they shared a lot of interests (low carb cooking and cryptograms). As it happens, we will have the chance to see them again in California.

One of our favorite activities was the Core Balance class at 8:00 every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. It was a great way to start our day and I, for one, found my balance significantly improved. Full disclosure, our instructor, Cassie, had a lot to do with how much we enjoyed the classes. She was barely into her 20's and full of energy and always smiling and bubbly. My favorite part was always the last 10 minutes where we would "cool down" (not that the class ever made us sweat). Cassie would lead us through stretches and deep breathing exercises that made me think I was in some zen meditation class.

Quite a few mornings we followed balance with a workout in the huge, well-equipped gym. Any kind of workout you could imagine could be accommodated in that gym but we usually just opted for the elliptical machines. Each exercise machine included a 17-inch screen where you could watch cable TV, surf the internet, play games or have it display a hiking trail that moved by as you worked the machine. It was interesting that we were able to "hike" along trails that we have actually been on (Utah and California) and trails we will likely never see (New Zealand).

Not long after our arrival, I spotted a bicycle for sale in the neighborhood. Joani surprised me by saying she would ride if she had a bike. It looked good and was priced right so we became a two bicycle camper. The front tire needed a new inner tube but the expensive speedometer only needed a battery so things worked out pretty well. Of course, we had to work on our stamina and the very pleasant 2+ mile loop around the park made that fun. Since her bicycle was not the folding type I needed to add a rack to the motorhome. Being stationary allowed us to order everything we needed online. I managed to drag that little chore out about a month and a half but, fingers crossed, it should be ready for the road.

The park had numerous opportunities to indulge in bad behavior. They offered coffee and doughnuts every Thursday morning as part of their sales drives and every Saturday morning for park news and announcements. We had to avoid those mornings because early on it was obvious I did not have the willpower to pass on the doughnuts. Several times the park sponsored happy hours at the main patio that featured 25 cent beer and wine. Big spender that I was I usually spent a whole dollar over there before calling it an afternoon.

I joined the book club. Serene, who we met at one of the sales functions earlier, was there as well as Ruth who was in an RV across the street from us. We had the chance to get to know both Serene and Randy and Ruth and Mark during our stay.

Unfortunately, the book club chose to meet just once a month so I did not have the chance to discuss many books with them. The first meeting had 12 attendees. The park provided us with snacks and wine for free! The next meeting had nearly 40 people which made for a lively discussion. The club had to split so there were two book selections but with them scheduled concurrently, I could only attend the discussion on one or the other. Typical of book clubs, in general, they tended to choose books I would have never chosen on my own. I liked one and pretty much hated two so maybe it was just as well that we did not meet more often.  

Everyone seemed surprised by us signing up for ballroom dance lessons. It was a  lot of fun. Our instructors Mitzi (a former New York City Rockette) and Roger showed us the Foxtrot, the Rhumba, East Coast Swing, the Cha-Cha, the Waltz and the Tango. 

We enjoyed dance lessons with Glen and Colleen, at the far left. New friends that we will treasure.

We learned a lot, but without practice, we couldn't say we mastered anything. The entire class met for a graduation party where we danced and ate and drank while Mitzi and Roger handed out graduation certificates and trophies. That's right, we are award-winning dancers!

We were able to get Katie and Mike reservations for a week in Val Vista. No, they are not 55+ but Joani worked it out with the manager and they were in. It was so great to see them. We ate out at Organ Stop Pizza, The India Oven and Rancho de Tia Rosa. One afternoon we took them to the Desert Botanical Gardens (see our previous post) which became one of our favorite places to visit during our stay in Mesa. Several weeks later they drove back up to see us from their site in Las Cruces, NM, and we were able to show them the same Botanical Gardens lit up at night. The pictures below do not do the show justice as the lighting was animated making it unlike anything we had seen before. We just had a great time and are hopeful we will be able to get together again soon.

A couple of art festivals took place during our stay which made nice day trips especially since they were dog-friendly. The Fountain Hills Art festival was just north of us in the relatively new, upscale community of Fountain Hills, AZ. A few weeks later we explored the Scottsdale Art festival and noticed a few of the same artists. With so many beautiful and unique things on display, it was good to be in a motorhome with no room for any new acquisitions.

I heard about water volleyball played with modified rules to make it much more fun. I tried it and found they were right. The ball could be hit any number of times on a side and as long as at least two people hit the ball before it went over the net it was good. The other rule modification forced the serve to change sides after five points to avoid runaway games. We played at the indoor pool for a couple of hours three times a week. I finally had to quit when it overlapped the ballroom dancing but it was getting really crowded so I'm sure the play continued without me. 

There were a lot of people hooked on shuffleboard. They held a regional tournament that lasted a full week and included teams from several area parks. Afterward, they started open play three times a week so we gave it a shot. The surface was covered with tiny wax beads so it was difficult to even get the disk to stop moving before pushing it down the court. I did not realize how little effort it took to send a disk down the court. We had a guy give us the basics before starting play. We made some adjustments and we both played pretty well. We did not take the opportunity to play a second time but it was easy to see how you could become addicted to the game.

Bocce ball seemed a little easier to manage than shuffleboard. There was no elaborate court set-up and you could pull the equipment out and be playing in less than a minute. The play was simple but the control required to score made the game a challenge. We did manage to play bocce ball with several of our new friends and had a great time. Next to the bocce ball courts was a batting cage where I took a swing at a bucket of balls. There was no doubt I do not belong on a softball team.

Throughout our travels in Michigan, we managed to gather quite a collection of interesting and pretty rocks. The Lapidary lab was the perfect place for us to see just what we had collected. What a fantastic facility and such nice and helpful people. They showed us how to grind and polish stones. Below, I caught Joani with one of the lab monitors. You could probably guess she goes by the name "Rocky".

The real fun was slicing stones to see what was inside. There were three saws that would handle small pieces up to huge chunks of stone weighing many pounds.

We had a large array of Petoskey stones from Lake Michigan. Petoskey stones are fossilized corals that lived 350 million years ago. Once the rocks were polished the coral structure was evident in the beautiful patterns in the stone.

Just a small sampling of my lapidary fun with the Lake Michigan rocks that I collected this past summer.

Below are before and after pictures of the same stone for reference.

I mentioned in a previous post the damage to our windshield on the day we arrived in Mesa. You can see below how large the fracture was compared to Joani's hand. It could not be filled and it was no doubt going to continue to grow so it had to be replaced. Though it turned out to be quite a hassle, it was eventually replaced. With a little luck maybe this windshield will stay chip-free for many miles.

We got into the Christmas spirit as we decorated the inside of our coach. This year's decorations included some original artwork from Katie that we finally framed for display. 

There was a Christmas Potluck dinner. We signed up along with about 50 other couples. What a delicious variety of food followed by an equally delicious array of desserts.

We met Bill and Darlene in Michigan this past summer. What fun to bump into them again!

Afterward, we walked around the park and viewed the winning Christmas light displays. The snowman at the house below was our favorite - it had a motorized mechanism that made him appear to be shivering while his sign read "BRRR".

We finally made it to the pickleball courts one Saturday morning where volunteers taught us the essentials of the game. It really seemed more closely related to ping-pong or badminton than tennis. In fact, our tennis experience worked against us since you cannot return the ball in the air at the net (which is often the best strategy in tennis). The play was lively but the small court and a partner meant there was a lot less running than tennis making it a lot easier on the joints. Our pickleball introduction came so late in our stay we only managed to play once, but will surely be playing it again.

Now a little bit about what we did not get to do. Val Vista Villages has one of the largest and most complete woodworking shops we have ever seen. When I visited the shop I was able to see some extremely nice craftsmanship. I was sad I did not have any immediate woodworking needs so I could make some sawdust of my own. There were rooms for wood carving, stained glass, pottery/ceramics, and fiber arts (sewing and quilting). There was a hiking club and a bicycling club. In the main building, there was a really nice pool room sporting about 8 tables, card rooms, poker rooms and a large room with lots of big screen televisions for watching your favorite sports action.

While we will be happy to get back on the road we are more than a little sad to leave behind so many new friends. We found so much to like about this park we already made reservations for March, so hopefully, we will see them all again when we return.