Dec 5th to 8th - Mesa

Dec 5th – Sun – Mesa
We were lazy this morning and enjoyed sleeping in and relaxing with coffee outside as the weather continues to warm back up. After doing laundry, I caught up the blog & emails while Terry rode his bike, visited with friends and went to the pool for a bit.
We watched golf on the outside TV and had an early dinner so Terry could BBQ in the daylight. Dennis & Gloria came over to watch what we thought was the finale of Amazing Race but it turned out to be the second to last show.
I spent time on the computer making a score sheet for Arizona Rummy rather than ruling lines like Dianne did the last time we played.

Dec 6th -Mon – Mesa
We went on a day trip to casinos at Prescott today. Two full buses left the park at 8:30 for the almost 2 hour drive north. We were on #1 bus with Dennis & Gloria while Garry & Stephane and Ernie & Dianne were on bus #2. The trip was very well organized with player cards ready for most people. We signed up later so we had to get ours at the player’s club which turned out OK since Terry scratched a ticket for $25 free play in addition to the $10 that everyone got. The trip included a box lunch with a sandwich, chips, cookies, an apple and a bottle of water. After lunch, we took the shuttle to the 2nd little casino. At 3:15, the bus picked up anyone who wanted to go downtown to Whiskey Row. We shopped a bit with Dennis & Gloria and then had dinner. At 6, the bus picked us up again, returned to the casino for the few who did not go downtown and then took us through the Valley of Lights which was a very impressive display of Christmas lights – but not on houses. A road was lined with rope lights and included 3 “tunnels” made with metal arches decorated with lights – holly & berries, candy canes and snowflakes. There were animated figures and a western town complete with a stagecoach and running horses.
We got home at 9 – pleasantly tired and $102 richer.

Dec 7th – Tues – Mesa
This morning we took back the wrong size baskets and got a small black table for guests seated on the couch. It is the type where the base slides under the couch so it takes up very little room. The line at Hobby Lobby to return items was ridiculous because of slow checkers so this chore took a long time. The bad news is that I do love shopping in this store.
We went to Music in the Courtyard from 3 to 5. The female singer was not very good. When we were done there, we went to Julie & Larry’s for dinner. Long time friends of Billy & Lauri – Neil & Judy – just arrived for a month so we got to meet them at dinner. We had to eat & run again in order to go to line dancing lessons. They went over dances that we have already “learned” so we got necessary practice without having to confuse our poor brains with another new dance.
On the way back, we stopped for coffee with Dennis & Gloria.

Dec 8th – Wed – Mesa
There was a large group for bocce ball this morning and the weather was perfect. I tried a Zumba exercise class which Lauri has been going to for a few weeks. It is an hour long workout to mostly Latin music & moves – fun and gets your heart rate up.
After a light lunch we went shopping – 99 cent store, Bealls Outlet, produce market & groceries. We had time to put away our purchases before getting together with 10 other people for an outing. First we went for dinner. Someone had picked Village Inn since it was “free pie Wednesday”. There was one close but Ernie & Dianne found another one that they thought was on the way to our next destination which was the zoo. After driving further from the zoo for 45 minutes (!!), they finally pulled over and we found another Village Inn just a couple of miles back towards the zoo.
The reason we were going to the zoo at night was to see the Zoolights display. Most of the zoo is decorated with lights and is well worth seeing. One stretch had several trees with different colored lights that went on & off with music – lots of “oohs & aahs” there.