Thursday February 6, 2020
Some of you are probably wondering about Arid-Zona’s weather this time of year. When we first arrived earlier this month we had ice on the car’s windshield in the morning. High temperatures were in the 50’s. That’s pretty much changed as the temps have gone up at night to near 40 degrees and highs approaching 70 degrees. We’ve had a good rain and a couple of showers. The weather is by in large pleasant but the wind can be chilling.
I took the liberty of copying the blurb below from Palm Creek Golf & RV Resort’s web page. The amenities here are impressive. Unlike many self proclaimed RV “resorts” this park truly is. With so many far ranging amenities one can stay busy what seems like forever. Like many have said “If you are bored it’s your fault”.
OUR AMENITIES
Resort living means golf and so much more at Palm Creek. There is a vast array of wonderful amenities to tempt you. Centrally located in the heart of the community is Guest Services, the Activities Center, the Ballroom, the Billiards Room, Fitness Center, the Arts and Crafts Building, the main Swimming Pool with a jumbo-sized Jacuzzi, The Bistro, Pro Shop, Fireside Patio and Laundry.
A new Sports Complex complete with a beautifully manicured softball field, sports pool, Jacuzzi, pickleball courts, and Sport Grill await your use in the east end of the resort.
Our onsite Activities Manager is available daily to help you join in the fun. You’ll find shuffleboard, billiards, horseshoes, water volleyball, softball, tennis and a putting green as well as water exercise, weight room, Yoga and Pilates.
Craft classes include pottery, sewing, quilting, oil and watercolor painting, woodshop and carving, lapidary, silversmith, stained glass, computer, crafts, monthly craft fairs featuring vendors from around the state. Palm Creek sponsors all kinds of dancing from Saturday night variety dancing to line dancing and pattern dancing.
Special parties, BBQ’s, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinners, New Year’s Eve party, special entertainment and the Palm Creek Chorus and Drama Club will entertain you and spice up your social life!
If you like to play games, we have bridge, pinochle, cribbage, poker, euchre, dominoes, hand and foot, and, of course, Monday night Bingo, just to name a few.
We’ve taken advantage of some of the amenities, namely joining the pickleball club and participating in round robins. One signs up online to play. Sometimes the courts are so busy the club managers ask that a person only sign up for one round robin a day which means that all 32 courts are booked all day long. The 1001 club members are grouped by skill level with 2.0 being beginners and 5.0 highly skilled. Here’s a Youtube video that explains the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqLRRNOpe8U
Jil has taken advantage of the exercise room. We walk the dogs a minimum of 5 miles a day. It’s easy walking- it’s flat as a billiard table here. During those walks we will visit one or two small fenced dog parks and let the dogs romp. We attended a spaghetti dinner put on by the resort- a fund raiser for the Casa Grande Fire Department. The dinner was very good, we met new friends and was serenaded by a bagpiper- all for a good cause. Attendance= 400 folks.
Speaking of dogs, Megan our Lab and Ollie our adopted Boxer are getting along swimmingly. They sleep together, walk together and play roughly together. Mr. Ollie is a terror. The longer we have him the more rough he plays. I guess it’s a young Boxer thing. We have to intercede occasionally to prevent an accidental injury.
We’ve met a lot of nice people. Most are from the colder climes of the midwest or northwest, some from Canada and a few are from the east or Kali-fornia. Some midwestern state’s folk have distinctive speech mannerisms. It’s a hoot when speaking with a neighbor and guessing correctly that they are from say Wisconsin or Minnesota. No matter where folks are from everyone we’ve met are very nice. Heck, who wouldn’t be especially if one were a Minnesotan spending the winter in a relatively warm climate as compared to their home that has 3 feet of snow on the ground and minus 40 degree temps?
The golf course is central to this huge park. The older section has more amenities, i.e. wood shop, car wash, dog wash, tennis courts, etc. but the RV sites are narrower- sort of cozy. Over the years manufactured homes have taken the place of RV sites and most are of the single wide smaller variety that fit the narrow lots. It makes that part of the park feel a little cramped compared to the newer side of the park.
The newer side of the park where our site is located has 40′-50′ wide sites so it feels very roomy. That’s where we are located. Almost every site has a cement patio surrounded by crushed rock. The amenities over here are more sports related than the older side and the flora is not as well developed. We only have two smaller swimming pools, (only he says) with spas, a regulation sized softball field, 32 pickleball courts, a small meeting room with a laundromat incorporated in the same building- smile!!!
There are many permanent manufactured homes on our side of the park with more to come. All of them at least double the size of those in the older portion. There are a few new ones for sale and they are not cheap considering one does not own the land that they sit on. Expenses include paying a hefty association assessment and property taxes. Considering all of that they still are selling pretty well and those folks that own them are very satisfied.
We’ve had thoughts of purchasing either a home or an RV site in the sunbelt. Those thoughts quickly vanish. We don’t want to feel obligated to go anyplace that isn’t home because we have money invested. We’d rather stay loose and fancy free, travel when we want and where we want.
I’ll be updating the blog fairly soon. Lots going on here with a few surprises…….
Travel With Jil and Mike 