El Mirage (Pheonix area), AZ

Miles of flowers and agriculture in and around Bakersfield en route to Arizona.

Covered grapes; hot labour

Arriving at Pueblo El Mirage to experience once again (after a few years of staying in smaller resorts and a private property).   A warm welcome and the sites are large, the resort is quiet with a mix of park models, double wides and RVs.

The resort is north of Phoenix, ten minutes from Surpise; Sun City Grande, Sun City, Sun City West, Peoria and Glendale all in close proximity.

Pueblo El Mirage is family owned, one of several Roberts Resorts located on 310 acres with an 18-hole golf course, fitness centre, recreation halls, pool, tennis, pickleball - all the amenities and no lack of shopping five minutes away.

412 RV sites and over 1400 sites overall with park model and manufactured homes; five styles and over 20 floor plans and square footage options to chose from.









  TURKEY BOWL OFF


2nd Annual Turkey Bowl at the Resort.   

Dress up, do a Turkey Strutt and toss a frozen turkey at the pop bottle pins to win a gift certificate for a turkey and other prizes.

Turkey with full plumage

Two tries allowed  - part way through the competition, no more bags so people were bowling with a discus throw.

Judges give points for the best strut and costume.

Resetting the pins

Monarchs hanging out on the grounds of the resort everyday.

Resident bunnies (which in turn, attract coyotes).  Walking the dogs in the dark (6 pm) and started to cut across an open emergency road near a fairway.  Tazz growled, I shone the flashlight and saw two pale eyes.   So, backtracked and went around.   The ambulances went screaming by on the highway and there must have been 20+ coyotes howling….. from the area we had just left.   A gated park and three main wrought iron gateways entering/exiting the park and somehow, they get in.

Quail everywhere - they're very shy and scurry away from you as soon as you look at them.

Apparently (although we haven't seen any yet) scorpions hide out in the tough leafy section at the base of the palms and snakes have recently been spotted - sometimes coiled up on the pavement in the evening, to keep warm.

ARIZONA MARKET

An afternoon of touring around Mesa with Harold & Judy (a few detours with Marc navigating from he passenger seat).  

T-Shirts Galore

The Market is immense with over 1 1/4 miles of covered shopping, 1600 booth spaces - not all of them occupied at this time. 


Overheard one vendor stating he thought with the increase in the economy things would pick up a lot more than it has, with Christmas just around the corner.    It certainly wasn't as busy as we've seen in previous years.



Bought some things, did some taste testing and while Judy & I were checking out the Russian Lab-made diamond section, Marc stepped into a shop about three sections down (remember - no doors or windows, all under tents but otherwise, open)….. he couldn't find us and now he's lost!  No cell phones amongst us.   Every aisle looks the same and its very hard to see someone in the crowd.   Fifteen minutes later Harold found him and brought him back.

 Judy, Harold and Marc

Off to Organ Stop Pizza by 4 pm.    A line up for the 4:00 opening.   Good entertainment and pizza - Phantom of the Opera being the most dramatic song played while we were there.   (For anyone who has not seen my blog until now, I have previously posted info on this place with detail … Jan 19, 2012).  A very interesting history and incredible talent these musicians have.


Just minutes from the resort are fields and fields of cotton.   This entire area surrounding Phoenix was at one time, agricultural.

PICKLEBALL CENTRAL

This area is Pickleball Heaven.  All the resorts in and around Surprise have pickleball courts and 16 new courts have been established in the past several months in the Pueblo El Mirage Resort.

The Nationals Tournament this year in Sun City Festival, Buckeye (35 mins from here) is the largest event to date for the Buckeye Resort and so far, the largest in the U.S.

Nov 11-17 the USAPA Nationals are on; 640 sign-ups this year; players from as far away as Netherlands, players from 39 states and Canada.  

Steve Wong/Ryan O'Toole against
Jim Hackenburg/Scott Lennon

A tournament prior to the Nationals brought out some of the best to the Surprise courts just ten minutes from us.   We went to watch but also to cheer on some locals from Vancouver Island.

Steve Wong (moved from Seattle, WA 3 yrs ago to pursue his passion for pickleball).   He now is one of the top players and owns  the pickleball pro store ONIX just around the corner in Peoria.

WATCHING THE NATIONALS

Have gone for a few short periods to watch the women's doubles and men's doubles (age categories).    The level of play is amazing to watch and to see the top players battle it out is great to watch.

Jennifer Lucore/Alex Hamner

Heidi Hancock/Adina Jones (win the Gold in 35+)

Mona Burnett and Lydia Willis win gold in the 50+

Chile Chilelli and Tim Nelson win Silver (19+ age category) against . . . . 

Team Canteloupe ("Poach" shirts); Aspen Kern and Wesley Gabrielsen











Well, fashion on courts has certainly changed . . . the brighter the better.   

Went shopping for another pair of my favorite court shoes (Asics) - only color(s) they had were black with shiny silver or multi-multi colored brightness.   Bought the multi-colored!   Gotta get with the times!

That's it for sights and happenings so far.