Northern AZ, Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks - April 2015

Wednesday - April 15   We pulled out of the Good Life RV Park and went up around Phoenix, over on Loop 202, north on Loof 101 around Scottsdale and then north on I-17.  Before we reached Black Canyon City, we had good grades for 8-10 miles.  The next good grade up was in to Flagstaff.  We stopped there and fixed ourselves lunch, then headed north on Hwy 89.  We passed the junction of Hwy 160, which leads northeast to Monument Valley.  At Bitter Springs we continued on #89 to Page, AZ.  Again we were climbing up grades, so we stopped and unhooked about ten miles out of Page.  I followed in the car as we went through the pass and then drove down into Page.  The scenery going in was gorgeous, we were seeing the red cliffs of the Glen River Canyon. There were two other RVs parked at the Elks Lodge when we pulled in, we got set up and went in to pay our fee. The Elks members were very friendly and one of the ladies we visited with gave us a lot of good information on where to eat and what to see.  We took her recommendation and ate at Big John's Texas BBQ and drove around to see more of the town.  The city of Page was just incorporated in 1975, one of the youngest communities in the US.  It began in 1957 as a federal municipality that housed the workers building the Glen Canyon Dam.

On the road again

Outside Flagstaff

Beautiful Arizona!

All the colors of the high desert

Elks Lodge camping in Page

Our view from the campsite in Page

Great BBQ-nice pipes on the smoker!

Thursday AM we got up early and drove out to see the sun rise at the Horseshoe Bend area of the Glen River Canyon. It gets its name from the serpentine, 180 degree curve in the Colorado River and is one of the most photographed natural wonders ever. We joined several "skilled" photographers catching the views in the early moments of light.  It was incredible watching the shadows and light change on the scenery! Every minute it looked different. Back home, we had breakfast and then drove down to see the dam. We went to the Visitor's Center and learned more about the river and the history of the dam and how it created Lake Powell.  The park ranger told us that the level of the lake is down almost 50% because of the past ten years of drought.  Afterward we packed up, then drove north into Utah on Hwy 89, which goes through the south part of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.  We stopped at the Big Water - BLM (Bureau of Land Management) visitor's center.  This BLM center's displays focus on the geologic and paleontological discoveries in the region. We spoke with the paleontologist there that personally made one of the earliest discovery of dinosaur bones there in 1999 - it turned out to be a feathered walking dinosaur species never found before. They named it, Nothronychus graffami, using his last name, and the bones are on display at the center. Since then, they have continued to find over a thousand other dinosaur bone types.  
Leaving there on Hwy 89 we drove through several miles of snow squalls (not a good sign) before reaching Kanab and then followed the highway as it turned north.  We had hoped to stay at the small RV park across the road from the Best Western Thunderbird Lodge at the junction of Hwy 89 and Hwy 9, but the six spaces were full - it looked like they were long time renters.  We continued on hoping to find a place for the night without going back to Kanab.  Our next option was the Mt. Carmel Motel and RV Park. A smaller motorhome pulled in right before us and when I went in to register, they and we got the last two spots they had for that night.  We were able to reserve our spot for the two nights we needed, thank goodness.  It was chilly out and started to rain, so we got set up and just stayed in for the night. It cleared up and the sun was on the mountains.

Sunrise on the cliffs

Sunrise across the bluffs

Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River

The reds and oranges were brillant

Amazing rock formations

Red, blue and green

The sun is up!

Desert hiking instructions

Glen Canyon - Page, AZ

Glen Canyon Dam created Lake Powell

The Colorado River

Natural stone pathway to view the canyon

Sunset view at Mt. Carmel park

Friday we woke up to a very brisk morning and we could see new snow on the mountains from our view at the RV park.  We packed our hiking gear in the car and drove over on Hwy 9 to Zion National Park.  It is a very scenic drive to the park entrance and just inside the park there is a tunnel that has restrictions on height and width.  Vehicles sized 11' 4" in height and/or  7' 10" in width or larger (maximum 13' 1" high and 40' long) are required to purchase a permit to pass through the 1.1 mile Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel. The tunnel is lit only by a few window type openings cut into the wall sides.  Pretty amazing, the tunnel was completed in 1930 and was built to create direct access from the park to Bryce and Grand Canyon National Parks.  Once in the park, signage told us the shuttle parking areas were already full, so we followed the signs into Springdale and found a parking spot along the main street.  You can only drive in the park if you are staying at the hotel or campgrounds.  There was a shuttle stop nearby that took us from Springdale to the park shuttle area. There we caught the free shuttle which goes up and back to the top of the park, with eight choices of stops to look at the museums and many hiking trailheads.  On the ride, you listen to recorded information as you travel and the shuttle drivers also share information.  We rode to the Zion Lodge stop and then hiked the trail up to the Lower, Middle and Upper Emerald Pools.  The most popular and prettiest part of the hike was walking under the falls on the lower pool trail.  It was a beautiful day and a good workout for us.  We caught the shuttle again and rode to the end of the park.  On the way, the driver pointed out three rock climbers to us - they were climbing straight up in the center of a cliff formation!  The driver told us the climbers would most likely sleep on small platforms hanging from their ropes. Not me!  We got off the shuttle at the top last stop, the Temple of Sinawava, and as we took pictures of that beautiful area, we saw another rock climber.  The red rock formations throughout the park are so amazing.  Next time, we want to hike the Angel's Landing trail, which goes up on the ridge and they say has incredible views.  Back at the visitor's center, we looked through the shop and then caught the Springdale shuttle back to our car.  We stopped at the Zion Canyon Brew Pub there for a late lunch and then went home.  
As fate would have it, we had written the day before to our friends, Leslie and Chris, who we worked with in Oregon last year.  We knew they would be heading to northeast Utah for their summer job and wanted to see if they would be in the area for us to meet.  They wrote back and said it would be easy to meet, because they were staying at the RV park we were in and arriving that night!  They got in after we got back to our rig, I fixed a pot of soup for all of us and we had a great visit that night. They had a friend from Florida staying there at the motel, so Gail joined us as well.  What fun to spend time with the precious friends we have met in our travels!

Checker board hill

Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel

Zion Canyon cliffs

Waterfall on the Emerald Pools trail

Another waterfall shot

Handsome hiking partner

Zion Park beauty

Lone cliff climber

Middle Emerald Pool

Looking up at God's beauty

Saturday - Leslie, Chris and Gail were going in to hike at Zion that day, so we said our goodbyes to them that morning and then we continued north.  After almost not finding a place to stay when we arrived in the Zion area, we called ahead and reserved a spot outside of Bryce Canyon, in Panquitch, UT. It was less than a two hours drive, we found the park in Panquitch, set up and took the car over to explore Bryce Canyon.  On the drive between Panquitch and Bryce Canyon we drove through a part of the Red Canyon, a small introduction to the massive views at Bryce.  Arriving at Bryce, we stopped at the visitor's center, then drove clear to the top of the park and made stops at the viewpoints on the way back down.  Unlike Zion, the numbers of visitors at Bryce were much less. You are allowed to drive yourself through Bryce Canyon, although there are shuttles that run during the busy summer season.  From the visitor center to the top viewpoint we rose from an elevation of 7894 feet to 9115 at Rainbow Point. Unlike Zion where you look up at the beauty of the cliffs, we were looking down at the canyon formations in Bryce and the visitors present in the park were much less. We saw different formations and views at each stop, the hoodoos, the canyon wall fins and the arches and windows.  We did not hike up above, it was quite chilly and it was late in the day, so we did not hike the lower trails.  As we headed back to Panquitch for the night, we saw the late sun views on the Red Canyon walls.

Chris, Gail and Leslie

            

Pronghorn on the way to Bryce Canyon              

Red Canyon view

Bryce Canyon- high elevation view

           

Canyon views from the top

Beautiful with the sun hitting the formations

New views every stop we made

What a view with the sun hitting the ridges!

Natural Bridge view

Hundreds of hoodoos

Magnificent!

Thank you Lord, for this beauty

Thor's Hammer

Sunday - We are in Utah (Mormon country), so we found in our search that we could attend Mass in Panquitch at 1:30 PM.  That morning, we went over and hiked the trails in Red Canyon.  Our RV park manager had told us it was a great place to hike, without the crowds in the national parks.  New views with the morning light as we hiked. The red soil really has a beauty, especially against the fresh green colors of spring.  We enjoyed the morning, then back to clean up and we went to 1:30 Mass at St. Gertrude's. A small crowd at church, but very welcoming.  

Red Canyon hike

Red ridges

         

Across the valley

The dirt was so orange red!

Puppy dogs?

Afterward, we drove out to see Panquitch Lake. Water areas are hard to find in Utah, so the locals enjoy having the lake nearby. It really was not much to look at with the level way down because of drought, but we saw interesting rock formations that looked like lava and learned about the area. The entire town of Panquitch is listed on the National Register of Historic Places because it has the largest collection of brick homes left in Utah.  The brick homes were built because the town had a large brick factory and the workers were paid with bricks!

The valley floor in the distance, you could see for miles

The House Project

Late January - We closed on the house with the seller late Saturday afternoon and spent the rest of the day looking it over.  Sunday morning we went to Mass at 9:00 and then went back to Dan's to change into our work clothes.  Our goal this day was to clean the kitchen (the cabinets and appliances were covered with years of grease - the elderly owner just did not keep it clean).  Our seller had cleaned off the first layers.  Jan came over with her cleaning supplies and helped out.  We wanted to get all the grease off before the next day's project - scraping off the dirty popcorn ceilings throughout the house. We had decided that this was the only time we would ever have the time (and an empty house) to get it done.
Monday we taped and plastic covered everything, walls and floors and I started with the guest bathroom.  I found that spraying water on the ceiling only made it goopy, so we put on our goggles and face masks and dry scraped it.  Monday we got the two bathrooms and guest bedroom scraped. Tuesday we scraped the master bedroom and kitchen/living room area.  Wednesday morning we cleaned up a lot of the ceiling dust before we had to leave. That day we met some of Gary's cousins for lunch in Florence.  Dan and Joe joined us, we had a great meal at the Greek restaurant, Mt. Athos and a nice visit.  We headed back to Good Life and unpacked.  After scraping ceilings for a couple days, we were stiff and sore, so we made a visit to the park's hot tub that night before bed.

A clean kitchen, until.......

Dirty, ugly popcorn ceiling

After scraping, before painting

Cleaning up ceiling dust

Sieverding boys and McMahon girls

The next weekend we headed back to the "Junction" to continue our remodeling.  With the ceilings scraped, we now had to put drywall primer on them before we could paint. First we caulked the opening between the walls and ceilings, then painted the ceilings in the smaller rooms.  That night we finished working and we got to Dan's in time to watch the last fifteen minutes of the Super Bowl. Monday we finished putting on primer and then painted all the ceilings, except for the kitchen/living room.  Jan helped and then she and Wally made supper for us.  Tuesday we painted the ceiling in the big area and then installed indoor/outdoor carpet on the deck.  That night W&J had us over for supper with another couple from the park.
Wednesday - Gary stayed at the casa and did outside work, caulking and painting the back of the house, weed control in the yard and put flashing on the deck and deck ramp. I had a ticket to go with the girls from Saddlebrooke (Deb, Lisa, Doris, & Krista) on the bus to the infamous Tucson Gem Show. This show is held throughout the city, vendors come in to all the event centers and hotels with their stones and gems, and jewelry for sale.  We spent the day looking and learning about all the different gems and the beautiful jewelry.  I had never been to the Gem Show, the others knew what and where they wanted to shop and what to look for.  When the bus returned to Saddlebrooke, Gary and I headed home to Mesa.

Fresh painted ceiling, our own version of orange peel texture

Deck surface before waterproofing and carpet

Feb. 7-8, we did not leave the park to work on the house.  We stayed in town and I went thrift store shopping  and Gary enjoyed the pool. Sunday we went to Mass at the St. Brigid Church, the parish some of our neighbors in the park.  The Mass was so full we sat in folding chairs in the back. The priest celebrating was visiting from Iowa and had been at parishes in West Des Moines and was currently pastor in Bellevue, IA.  He said he knew many of the people that were snowbirds there in Mesa and had them stand up.  There were quite a few! The people sitting next to us were from Bellevue, where Gary's Dad's family had come from.  We ran more house errands that afternoon.  Monday morning I went to the water aerobics class at the park and we enjoyed the pool in the afternoon. Tuesday afternoon we drove down to Gilbert to meet our friends from South Dakota, John and Wendy. They have a house in Queen Creek, so we met in Gilbert for supper.  It was great to catch up with them and hear about their family.  Wednesday we went to the weekly Country Store event at the park, then back home to catch up on the computer and mending.  We went to our block Happy Hour gathering that afternoon and got ready for our work days.

Mid February - it is Valentine's Day!  We went back to the house after working at the park on Saturday.  A little more of a challenge to drive back to the "Junction", the Tucson Renaissance occurs in February and March and takes place along our highway route from Mesa, before we reached Florence.  A bottleneck traffic jam occurred each weekend, our waiting time ranged from fifteen to thirty-five minutes on some of the weekends.  We had bought a queen air mattress and stayed at the house for the first time that night.  Saturday night and Sunday we cleaned up and prepared for priming the yellow and green walls in the house.  Sunday we took out the vent over the stove and installed a microwave.  We went to Deb & Joe's Sunday night for their holiday barbeque with our group of friends.  Monday and Tuesday, we primed all the walls and then the kitchen was the first room to get painted.  Tuesday night we went to Brian and Krista's to play dominoes.  We enjoy playing cards, dice and dominoes with them.  Wednesday AM, Gary helped Joe and Deb with some furniture moves and then we went to noon Mass at Santa Catalina for Ash Wednesday before returning to Mesa.  We enjoyed the pool and hot tub that night.

Stove vent and kitchen walls before

Microwave installed and painting completed

Looks much better

Feb. 21 - This weekend we drove down via Queen Creek to avoid the traffic jams. After Mass that afternoon we had supper with W&J. We stayed at the house now, since we had a clean bedroom and the airbed. Sunday - we took a day off and went on a hike with Deb & Joe on the Pima Canyon trail.  We had hiked it in early December, they had never been there.  It was a beautiful day, we enjoyed hiking in the desert again.  Afterward, we had a "recovery" refreshement and lunch at the San Carlos Grill. That night Wally made lamb chislic - I had not had that since I was in grade school and lived next to the auction barn on Hwy 16. Yumm! We also shared a bottle of champagne to celebrate our anniversary.  Monday we deep cleaned the refrigerator and dishwasher to get rid of all the sheetrock dust and then removed all the mobile home wall strips in all the rooms. (Because of the necessity to transport mobile homes, they put wall strips over the wallboard seams in mobile homes, because of the movement of transport.) Joe had experience sheetrock taping in South Dakota and was willing to do the job for us. Tuesday morning we packed up and went back to Mesa - we had to work that night for the February Manager's party.

Pima Canyon Hikers

Strips removed in the living room

Wall strips off in master bedroom

Feb. 28 - we worked at the park longer than planned because of Party Wagon deliveries.  We headed south to Gilbert, planning to buy a dining room set, only to find out someone beat us by 1/2 hour. We picked up Papa Murphy's pizzas (our first since October) and went to the house.  With a real oven there, we can bake the large pizzas and so we introduced W&J to the deliciousness of Papa Murphy's. Ah, Classic Italian - we love you!  Sunday afternoon I stripped paint off door jams, Gary worked on outside projects and we had steak supper with W&J.  (They were so gracious to feed us all those weekends!)  Monday we had to scrape and sand all the seam areas to have them smooth for drywall taping. Then we had to prime each seam area to be ready for Joe to tape. Tuesday we finished those projects, put our airbed away and covered all the floors so Joe could do the taping and sanding.  We went back to Mesa Tuesday afternoon and Gary went to a meeting with the RVIC RV Inspectors that night in a nearby RV park.  Wednesday we did laundry, caught up on book work, enjoyed the pool and visited with our neighbors.

Our agave and its little pup

Sunset on the Catalinas

Another amazing sunset

March - we waited until after Mass on Sunday to go back to the house.  When we arrived, Joe was there working on the taping.  That night, we had a wonderful evening at Krista and Brian's home - her sister and husband were there visiting from Winnipeg. We had met them the year before, it was great to catch up.  Monday I finished stripping all the door frames, luckily they were laminate material that the paint came right off of, when we scrubbed them with TSP.  Gary and Jan worked outside stripping the paint off all the room doors.  Tuesday, Gary primed and painted the doors while Jan and I went thrift store shopping.  Back at the house, I primed most of the inner door jams.  Dan made supper for us that night.  Wednesday we went back to Mesa in the morning and went to our dentist appointments in the afternoon in Mesa.  That night we went to a gathering at Greg & Linda's, a barbeque with all the other workampers. It was fun to visit with the couples that worked on the Mon-Wed shift.

Paint washing off door trim

The green paint is almost gone!

Mar. 14 - When we arrived at the house, Joe was just finishing the final work on the walls.  Thank you Joe! Sunday I did some touch up sanding and then we primed the repaired areas.  Monday and Tuesday we primed and painted the walls in the main rooms.  I started in the master bedroom experimenting with the texture application I was hoping to use throughout the house.   It was a powdered fine texture mixture added to the paint, but when I used it in the master bedroom it dried as a sand texture and we were looking for more texture than that.  Scrapped that idea, so then we painted all the rooms except the big room area, with a first and second coat.

Master bedroom - before

Master bedroom - after

Living room all seams done and walls primed

Mar. 21 - After work, we went to one of the patio sales at the park. Another workamper had this sale and we bought a queen sized air mattress stand!  Got our bed up off the floor.  We drove to the house, unpacked and then went to 4:00 Mass at Santa Catalina.  As the house was still covered with plastic and the bed was not set up, we stayed with Deb & Joe the first two nights.  We had a pizza supper and a great visit with them.  Saturday I had seen a bathroom vanity including a banjo countertop and sink just the right size for our master bath.  I contacted the seller Sunday morning and we drove to west Tucson to pick it up.  A great find, giving us more storage in the vanity and more countertop space.  Luckily it fit in our car and we headed home.  So, the project that day was to take out the old vanity - a bigger project that we thought because we had to clean up under it and buy and install supplies to pack rat proof the large hole around the pipes.  We got the vanity in and set the countertop on - then realized that with the banjo shape countertop, the new high toilet the seller had installed was too high - the countertop cleared it, but we would not be able to get the tank cover off. Darn!  Enough for the day, that night we had a great evening at Lisa & Jeff's house, delicious lasagna! The next morning we called the ReStore in Tucson and found out they had some low profile toilets - Gary determined that was our solution.  I headed into Tucson and picked up the toilet, (they were half price that day!) then made stops at Home Depot and the grocery store.  Gary worked on painting the dining/living room area and then installed the toilet when I got back.  Tuesday and Wednesday we finished all the second coats of paint, and cleaned up all the plastic, finally!

Master bath before

Master bathroom done!

End of March - We had determined that we would replace the guest bath vanity, so that week after work we looked around the Mesa area for a different one.  Not finding anything at the resale places, we stopped at Home Depot on our way out of town and found the vanity/sink combo and a tri-door medicine cabinet for the master bath.  We installed the medicine cabinet that afternoon and went for supper to the Ells and another couple staying at the park.  Sunday we went to early Mass and then after lunch installed the guest bathroom vanity, a smaller job this time and it worked out really well. I spent part of the day caulking around our showers and the new countertops.  Our Canadian friends, Krista and Brian came over to see our place and brought refreshments to share.  They were leaving on Thursday to return to their home in Kelowna, British Columbia for the summer months.  Monday Gary worked in the yard before packing up to return to Mesa.  He had been assigned his first RV Inspection in Mesa for Tuesday.  He went back to pick up supplies and get ready for his 9:00 appointment.  I finished caulking and did touch up painting.  That night W&J had me over for supper. Tuesday I sanded and painted some of the laminated door trim that we had stripped the yellow and green paint off of.  Gary spent the morning doing the motorhome inspection and then drove back to the house to finish his reports.  We have very strong Internet signal at the "Junction", better than we did at the park in Mesa. The next morning we mailed the oil and fluid samples from the inspection, packed up and went back to Mesa.

Guest Bathroom - before

Before - purple bead curtains!

Guest Bathroom - After

Holy Week/Easter - Saturday we got to the house and just relaxed before going to the Vigil Mass at Santa Catalina.  Easter morning we went to the 7:30 Mass at St. Mark's Parish, a little further away for us.  They have a new church we had not seen, we had been to the smaller building in the years before with Dan and Joyce.  Back home, we had breakfast and read the Sunday paper.  We each did a couple small jobs in the house, before getting ready to go to Easter lunch with family and friends at 2:00 PM in Saddlebrooke.  We went to the Easter buffet at the Mountain View clubhouse, good food and a big selection of brunch, lunch and dessert :) items to choose from. Afterward, Leo and Doris came to see our new place.  Wally and Jan came over too and we had a fun afternoon together. Monday I finished painting the remaining door trim and Gary fixed the leak under our kitchen sink. W&J brought tacos and we had supper on the deck.  Tuesday we ran errands, went to the Goose, the estate sale place, the grocery store and hardware store.  Back home I prepared food for our evening party and we cleaned the house.  That night, Lisa & Jeff, Deb & Joe, W&J, and Dan and Connie came over to see the house and for munchies and pizza supper on the deck. An open house/sunset viewing party!  Wednesday morning, we packed up everything we wanted to go back in the motorhome because this was our last four days stay at the house.  The next week we would leave Mesa and head north.  We stopped and said goodbye to Wally & Jan, they were leaving for a trip to Hawaii that week.  We would not see them again until the summer when they plan to stop at our park in Montana.  On the way back to Mesa, we stopped in Coolidge to pay our electric bill at the office there and then did a Sam's stop in Gilbert.

Easter Lunch Bunch

Before - Dining/living room

After

After all the work - clean and ready for furniture!

Saturday, after our last shift of work at the park, we packed up everything we wanted to take from the motorhome and leave at the house until fall.  At the house we put things away and did a little touch up painting. That night Dan had Joe & Deb and us over for a farewell supper.  Connie was in Wisconsin visiting her family.  Monday morning, we took the air bed down and put everything away in the house until we return in the fall. Then we went back to Mesa and unpacked.  That night our friends, Chris and Kirsten came by for refreshments and light supper.  They had been staying and working in the area with their new business, Island Noodles.  It is a food trailer franchise they take to events and sell fresh stir fry vegetable dishes. We had met them with RVillage last February and they worked the Sugar Beet harvest in North Dakota with us last October. It was great to see them and get caught up with each other!!

Bed deflated - leaving the house for the season

Spring flowers in the desert

As we looked back, we were amazed at how fast our time went in Mesa, but after writing this we realized how much we did working on the house on our days off.  But what an improvement we made and we know we will enjoy the house much more when we return in the fall.  The project and fun then will be to furnish it and make it ready for us and ready to have guests.

Our mulberry tree in late January - every fall the branches are cut way back.

Starting to leaf out - mid-March

April 13th, our last day, it will give us great shade after growing out

This is how the branches will grow out.

Workamping at Good Life - Winter 2015

Because I am months behind on the blog, this will be a summary of our park job in Mesa.  Our work schedule days were Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Thursdays -  Gary and I cleaned the shuffleboard courts each week at 7:30 AM, then went to help the others set up the meeting rooms for IPad and watercolor painting classes.  We would take down tables & chairs in the card room for an exercise class and then set up the social hall for a quilting class.  Then we were off for an hour, coming back at noon to change the setups in the rooms for bunco, ping pong and setups for the afternoon Happy Hour.  After 5:00, one couple would change the card room setups for the evening Pinochle and Texas Holdem games and clean up after Happy Hour.

Breezeway to pool

Breezeway area for patio parties

Fridays – We would start at 8:00.  The card room was reset for the morning Blue Grass Jam session, chairs for the musicians and chairs for the audience members.  We would reset the Saguaro Room for the EMS ladies, who gave blood pressure checks each week.  We would set the social hall for workshops or for special lunches the groups or park would be having that day.  At 12:30 we were back to reset for social bridge, Euchre, and the Patio party for Happy Hour.  Then we would do the big Bingo setup in the ballroom.  All three couples worked on that.  (By the end of January, the other workampers that started on our shift were reassigned to other needs, so it was just the six of us.)  After the Patio party, one couple would come back in for ½ hour to clean up and setup for the duplicate bridge group for Saturday morning.

Bingo setup in the ballroom

Saturdays – Our shift was usually 8:00 – 10:30 or 11:00.  We would work together with the other couples to clear the card room for another exercise class, set up the Saguaro Room for a Weight Watchers meeting, and then at 9:30 we could begin taking down the Bingo/Pancake Breakfast setup in the ballroom and set up for the Saturday night dance.

Each of our three days, one or two couples would go and make the Party Wagon deliveries.  The Party Wagon was a nice amenity the park provided.  A resident could fill out a request form to have 6’ tables, folding chairs, garbage cans, coffee makers and lawn games delivered to their site when they wanted to entertain.  We would deliver the order on the morning requested and then pick up the items on the day requested.  The Party Wagon was a trailer pulled by a Good Life pickup truck and was filled with folding 6’ tables, composite folding chairs and the other items.  On really busy weekends (or days), we would get more chairs and tables from the sports complex supply.  There was a day or two that all the chairs were used and also we had to take 8’ tables from the ballroom.  The Party Wagon deliveries usually took longer then our scheduled hours, but was part of our duties.

The Party Wagon

Every day, one of the couples checked the sports complex area every morning to clean up tables and empty the garbage cans.  The sports complex was a very nice outside area for small groups and events and next to the pickle ball and bocce courts. All the tables had umbrellas and three gas firepits for the residents to use. The park hosted the happy hour patio parties there on Mondays and Thursdays.  Many residents used the complex in the afternoons and evenings for gatherings.

Bocce ball court/Pickle ball courts at the end

Sports complex & stage

Relaxing at the fire pit

The big event we worked for each month was the Manager’s Happy Hour.  The park hosted an evening each month and provided live bands, free appetizers, wine and beer as a thank you to the residents for staying at the park.  It was a ticketed event and held in three different areas of the park, the ballroom, the breezeway and the sports complex.  In January and March, this event was held on Thursdays, which was our work day.  In February it was on a Tuesday and we were required to be there to help serve the event.  Special setup, special decorating and we had to wear our white shirts and black pants to help serve that night.  After the three hour event, we helped clean up and the next morning took it all down.  The March party was called the “Going Away Party”, as most residents left at the end of March or the first week of April.

The Cal-Am parks have about six entertainment evenings throughout their parks and this year the concert held at our Good Life park was The Little River Band.  We set up for it that day and the park gave us comp tickets to attend that evening.  There were two shows, one at 4:00 and the other at 7:00.  Great music and a great time – we were part of the very few during the concert that stood and even danced!

We were the last workamper couple on our shift to leave.  Regina and Mike left mid-March and Marty and Mary left the end of March.  The events really slowed down in April, we spent our last days doing cleanup projects for the park and had a few Party Wagon deliveries those two weeks. 

We spent time with one workamper couple, Greg and Linda.  This was their second year at the park. Greg worked on security and Linda worked at the Activities desk.  We found we were members of the same club - they had lost their 16 year old son in an accident, as we had.  We went out to eat one night with them to The Organ Stop, a pizza parlor in Mesa that has one of the largest pipe organs in the country.  The organist could play anything, the lights and the instruments hanging throughout the building were amazing to watch.  The pizza was very good as well, it is a great place for any age group.  The young were requesting Disney songs, we heard the theme from Frozen, show tunes and patriotic arrangements.  We heard him play Happy Birthday about 20 times while we were there.
On April 14, Mike's birthday, Greg and Linda celebrated Mike with us and introduced us to In N' Out Burger, a great burger place with fresh cut fries. We shared our stories and grew from sharing with each other.

The Organ Stop - Mesa, AZ

We enjoyed our months at the park.  We met great couples, both residents and the other workampers.  Many of them we will keep in contact with and will plan to see next year when we return to Arizona.  Our boss was great to work with and the amenities at the park were awesome.  We learned more about the Mesa/Phoenix area and will explore more next year.

Our home on Hummingbird Lane

Love the palm trees!

Blooming cactus in early April

Working at Good Life