After having such a great time on Siesta Key I needed to quickly get recharged so that I would be fresh and ready to go on the final leg of my retirement tour. I returned home from Siesta Key on Saturday, March 10th and I was going to leave again on the following Sunday, March 18th. Needless to say it was a quick turn around....but that's the way I like it. I base my life on the old law of inertia...."a body in motion tends to stay in motion and a body at rest tends to stay at rest"....therefore I don't plan to ever stop moving. I'm always afraid that if I ever stop to rest it will be all over for me.
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| My bags are packed....I'm ready to go......but where am I going??? |
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| Not going here.....just left this type of place |
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| You are going here.....the desert |
Yes, I was going to the desert in Scottsdale, AZ to stay with some very good friends of mine, Mike and Judy Ripley. Mike is a life long friend of mine from my hometown of Zumbrota and he owns a place in Scottsdale. For the last several years I have also been making an annual fall golf trip to Mike's place in Scottsdale with some other friends. (see Prattles #19 and #34 for the report on a couple of those trips). I'm sure it has become quite apparent that I have mastered the art of freeloading on this retirement tour.
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| One simple request....please don't fuss over me |
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| My hosts....Judy and Mike Ripley...they took excellent care of me |
I have one very good "Fun Fact" to report and it happened on the day that I arrived in Scottsdale. I'll call this nugget a "Ripley's Believe It or Not" fact (I know, I know, way too easy). Here it is......
On Sunday, March 18th the temperature in Scottsdale, AZ was 48 degrees and the temperature in Minneapolis 78 degrees.....hard to believe but it's true....this could only happen to me.
In order to provide an orderly recap of my week's stay at the Ripley Ranch, I have divided this prattle into the 4 sections listed below.
Sections
1. Hiking in the mountains
2. Baseball games
3. Golf
4. Miscellaneous news and notes
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HIKING IN THE MOUNTAINS
Mike had a full week of activities planned for me and the first one on the list called for a hike up the mountain called "Dreamy Draw"....don't you just love that name. I had never really done anything quite like this before so I was really looking forward to it....(unless you call the bluffs in Red Wing, MN mountains).
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| Palmer, just follow me and everything will be fine |
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| Hey Palmer....you've got to try and keep up with me |
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| Oh my.....this really is a mountain....we're going all the way up there? |
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| Hmmm....I'm not sure how we are going to get up there |
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| I still can't believe we lost that basketball game in 1972 |
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| If I would have only made that last second shot back in high school.... |
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| Climbing this mountain is a piece of cake....I own this mountain! |
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| This sure beats working....who ever said I would be bored? |
Hiking up "Dreamy Draw" was really just a warm up session for me because Mike had a much tougher climb in store for me a few days later. The next hike was going to be up the very famous Camelback mountain that is located in Scottsdale. It should also be noted that the day before we hiked to the top of Camelback a man in his mid 50's had died on the trail. I guess this was not necessarily surprising news because Mike told me that they have to haul someone off the mountain just about every day due to some type of injury or health problem....but they don't usually die which was somewhat encouraging.
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| There it is...old Camelback....I will conquer you tomorrow! |
It didn't take me long to see why people get hurt on this hike. It proved to be much harder than I thought it would be once we got about half way up the mountain. I also couldn't believe how many people were on the trail and how many of them didn't appear to be physically prepared to do it.
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| This is only the half way mark?.....you're kidding me, right? |
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| Fun Fact #1 - Camelback's peak is 2,500 feet above sea level |
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| Fun Fact #2 - 300,000 people climb Cameback every year |
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| Fun Fact # 3 - 1.5 mile hike to the top.....1,500 feet gain in elevation |
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| I made it to the top alive and well...do I get a plaque or something? |
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| I'm already dreading the hike back down |
We did make it back down safely but it was not that easy. There was a guy we met on the trail who has become somewhat of legend at Camelback. This person has become well known because he goes up and down Camelback 3 times in row every day but Sunday. He must be like a mountain goat because he can do his 3 climbs in 3 hours. Normal people like Mike and I take 3 hours just to go up down the mountain once.
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BASEBALL GAMES
Mike had also put 3 baseball games on our schedule for the week. We are both big baseball fans so 3 games in a week was just wetting our appetite for the upcoming season. The first game we attended was a spring training game between the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds. The White Sox were now playing their games at a huge new spring training complex that they share with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was quite a place to see.
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| What's with this weather?.....it's a very raw 50 degrees....aren't we in the desert? |
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| At least we had great seats.....most people stayed home...it was too darn cold |
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| Game # 2.....College Baseball.....ASU vs UNLV.....night game |
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| At least it finally warmed up....gorgeous night at the ballpark....ASU wins |
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| Bonus Baseball....Minor League game....SF vs Chicago Cubs |
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| This is as close as I will ever get to playing major league baseball |
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| Game # 3 - Colorado vs Chicago Cubs.....beautiful day...I'm cheatin' life |
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| Baseball...great seats...gorgeous day.....I'm now sucking the marrow out of life |
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| This is why I'm here....to see my main man, Cuddy |
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| In the small world category....I ran into an old college buddy...we call him Stork |
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GOLF
There were 2 days of golf on the itinerary and we were fortunate to have fantastic weather for both of the rounds we played. The first day we played we were paired with a father and his son. The son was around 13 years old and he was very serious about his game...slow...deliberate to a fault....all business...petulant...quick to anger...wouldn't talk to us....pretty good player. Mike and I called him Mini-Tiger. He definitely kept us entertained with his play and his many antics.
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| I always feel good on the first tee because I haven't hit a bad shot yet |
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| Palmer, do you have any idea where my ball landed? |
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| Nice set up....good golf posture....too bad I have to ruin it all by swinging |
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| I'll just take a wild guess and say I missed the putt |
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| Mini-Tiger just had a melt down after he missed a putt |
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MISCELLANEOUS NEWS AND NOTES
In between the golf, baseball and hiking we did manage to fit in several miscellaneous activities. Most evenings we went to a very nice place for happy hour specials. One especially nice place was the Camelback Inn Resort.
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| Now I could get used to this life style in hurry |
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| Mike and Judy know where all the good happy hours are located |
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| I couldn't get any cute servers to pose for a picture so I had to settle for Mike |
We were able to also squeeze in some bike riding on a few great trails that ran right by Mike's place. One of these trails took us right to ASU's beautiful campus in Tempe.
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| I thought you said it was a short ride to the ASU campus |
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| I wonder if ASU would hire me to teach my "Banter 101" class |
An unforeseen bonus was that the NCAA West Regional Basketball Finals were being played in Phoenix during my stay. I just couldn't pass up that opportunity...I am a sports junkie you know.
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| Game #1 - Louisville beats Michigan State (nose bleed seats) |
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| Game # 2 - Florida beats Marquette (moved down into great seats) |
As I stated earlier on the day I arrived the weather was wet and cold. Seeing we couldn't do anything outside the plan for the day was to go to a museum in Phoenix. This museum was packed with art work, jewelry and hand made items that came from the many tribes of American Indians who live in the the southwestern United States.
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| So much "stuff"......they're hoarders |
One item that caught our attention was the bolo tie. It's called Arizona's official neck ware. It was interesting to learn about the history of bolo ties and see all of the types that are now available. I just remember seeing guys wearing these bolo ties in all those old westerns that I watched in my youth.
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| I wanted to buy one but $130 was out of my price range |
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| Roy Rogers, my boyhood hero, made the bolo tie famous |
One thing I like to do on these trips is to ask servers and bartenders to tell me their life story. It's amazing the stories that you will hear from these type of people. To close out this prattle I will provide a few miscellaneous fun facts that came out of the stories that I heard during the week.
FUN FACTS
- A server we at breakfast had just become a US citizen the day before....she was also a competitive bicycle rider....she said she had just been hired and her first day was to be Monday, yet she was waiting on us on Sunday..huh?....she refused to tell me her name....so posing for a picture was obviously out of the question.
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| I..........sorry, I won't say my name |
-A very attractive server named Tori was about to turn 21 and in order to properly celebrate she was renting a party bus so that she and her friends could go and party in Mexico for the weekend....all she could talk about was how drunk she was going to get on her birthday....she said that she gets the "goosies" just thinking about it...she was absolutely giddy....she was bouncing aroundway too much to even take a picture....never seen anything like it.
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| If I was 21 I would have followed this party bus to Mexico |
-At the Camelback Inn we had two servers who just moved here from Bulgaria...they were roommates....we heard about life in Bulgaria...doesn't sound too great........they said they were too busy to pose for a picture....I heard that old excuse before.
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| Hmmm...let's see....Bulgaria or Scottsdale, AZ? |
-A sever named Michelle at one of our happy hour spots was starting a new business where she was going to be a "Life Coach"....where have you heard that term before?....that's who I claim I am....and it's who I claim I need.
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| Michelle, you can coach me all day long |
As you can see it was a very active and fun week. Mike and Judy did a great job entertaining me. I would have to say they "fussed"....something I don't want but yet I still love it when people do.
In conclusion I'm very sad to say that my Retirement Tour is now officially over. Freddie is going to have fend for himself now, no more freeloading. I guess it's time to start planning my trips for next winter. Who else do I know who lives in a warm weather climate?
