SIGHTSEEING IN CASA GRANDE WITH SISTER SHARON

Top photo is of the Casa Grande Ruins (a National Monument). The second photo was taken at the top of the Phoenix City Park - you can see forever from the top of the mountain - out over the city and beyond. Royle, Sharon, Gary and their friends who are wintering in Mesa are looking at the gage that points to the city. The 3rd photo is of the Mystery Castle which is located just a few blocks from the entry to the park. A very interesting story behind this castle and a must-see when in the Phoenix area. The last photo was taken of Sharon and Gary as they were looking at the mountain from the ghost town we stopped at on our way back from lunch at a remote location in the hills. I didn't get a photo of the unique, touristy, spot in the mountains. Someone had told me about a lunch spot at an old stagecoach stopping place. It took us a while to get there but worth the trip. It is called Tortilla Flat and it is located about 10 miles east of Apache Junction. Many tourists at this place with the same idea - hamburger lunch. We also went to Bashas' Art Gallery. Also a must see for anyone in this area. It is located outside Chandler. The museum is in the Basha (grocery) Corporate Office and is a collection of paintings, sculptures, baskets, etc., from the Basha family. No admission fee and no donation box. Found this place only because friend Nancy told me about it. We also visited the Casa Grande Museum of History which was also very interesting and included old farm equipment.

CASA GRANDE, AZ - 3/9-23

We had a short and easy trip from St. David, AZ to Casa Grande. We will leave on the 23rd and head for Yuma, AZ, Pilot Knob RV Resort, for 2 weeks. From there we will head for Ehrenburg, AZ, Colorado River Oasis RV Park, for a week and then on to Pahrump, NV for 5 weeks.

We canceled our reservations for next winter at Pioneer Beach RV Resort in Port Aransas, TX. We decided to spend next winter in California, Arizona and Nevada.

ST. DAVID, ARIZONA

We are in the St. David Western Horizon Resort until 3/9 and then we head to Casa Grande, AZ for a couple of weeks. All is well with us. Warm and dry and so different from the humidity on the Gulf Coast. I am trying to get used to the dry air and a new time zone.

GOODBYE PIONEER BEACH RV PARK

We will be leaving the park this morning and plan to stay at Pecan Valley RV Park north of San Antonio. It has turned cold again, at least this morning, but forecast is for 68. I think it will be warmer as we head for Arizona.

Added a couple of my favorite pictures from the last couple of days. Pelicans are everywhere - we always see them at the ferry dock and the beach. Royle got a great photo of one coming in for a landing on the water. He also got a couple of great pictures of the sun coming through the clouds. This is a beautiful place and we will miss it but we are ready to move on.

Counting Down

The top 2 photos are of the pink spoon-billed birds which were in the pond behind our coach. The one photo also includes the beautiful white egret. We always take photos of the beach so I decided to take a photo of our park from the boardwalk leading to the beach. From the boardwalk if you look west you can see Corpus Christi Bay and east of course is the Gulf. The bottom 2 photos were taken on one of our trips into Corpus. I love the gazebos and got a great photo that shows the marina behind it. There are gazebos lined up along the city waterfront. There are several parks along the waterfront as well. What a great place to live (or visit).

Counting down. Royle is getting his mind on what he has to do before we head out. I am still in denial.

KING RANCH, KINGSVILLE, TX

Yesterday we went to Kingsville to tour the King Ranch. It is an 825,000 acre working ranch with cattle, horses, and various crops. A tour bus took us on a 1 1/2 hour trip through a portion of the ranch. We drove by the huge, beautiful house but the bus is not allowed to stop so we could only get photos of the house from the bus. I was able only to get the porch area of the house.

The story behind Richard King and the history of the ranch is very interesting (King-Ranch.com if you are interesting in reading about it). In 1830 Richard King, at the age of 11, was living in New York when he stowed away on a ship going south. In the mid 1800's he started buying up land. He died from cancer when he was 60 and his wife continued running the ranch along with family members.

I was able to get a pretty good photo of the Texas Longhorn but they only keep a few head for historical purposes.

Still in Port Aransas, TX

Photo of the grands holding pottery they made.

Photo of Royle playing his new favorite game - Sudoku.

Turtle photo taken at Port Aransas Wildlife Refuge

It is hard to believe we only have another 6 weeks here - time goes so fast even when we don't do anything.

We had a nice New Year's Eve with a couple we first met in Indiana when we were both getting coach work done. We spent many hours in the waiting room and we went to breakfast one morning. They showed up in this park a couples weeks after we arrived. They will be here until the end of March.

The weather changes so much from day to day. We've had to take out our winter coats and wear them for a day or two and then put them back when the temperature gets back in to the 70's. But, we love it here and plan to make reservations for next winter before we leave at the end of February.