February 25, 2011

Friday 25~~~~Kent has been studying on the computer all the things we should do while we are in this area. We picked up Mel and Linda about 10AM and we drove to see the Mystery Castle, we got there and it was closed so we went to the next place on his list, the "Heard Museum". We didn't go through the museum as it was quite expensive to go into. The Heard Museum collects and exhibits American Indian art from centuries-old drawings and pottery to contemporary paintings, sculpture, ceramics and photography and jewelry. They have more than 40,000 objects, the Heard is nationally and internationally recognized for the quality of its exhibits. There were Indian sculptures from the various tribes around this area all over the large court yards at the museum. We enjoyed the sculptures that were all over outside, I took a few pictures of some of the neat ones that I liked for the blog. There was one Indian tribe that we have never heard of, called the "Dine" Indians, which are a part of the Navajo tribe. (pictures) From here we went to a unique Taco place we found on the droid, it had seating inside and out. We chose to eat outside in the beautiful sunshine, there were a lot of locals who worked at the Vet's Hospital near by and others who said they eat there a lot. Kent and I ordered a Mexican sandwich (torta) what the regulars ate and it was so good, especially the bread. Next we drove t Next we drove to look at one of "Frank Lloyd Wright's houses that is here in Scottsdale, Arizona named Taliesin West. We have gone through a couple of his houses in other states and they are beautiful, very unusual with every inch of the house usable with all kinds of built ins, you don't need much furniture. He was way ahead of his time with his designs and ideas, his homes are very interesting, very plain, but very elaborate. (picture) Certainly not my style of architecture. We finished up our day in Fountain Hills where we watched the second largest water fountain in the world It used to run all day, but they now have it on every hour on the hour and it runs for 15 minutes. The water shoots 560 feet in the air, it was getting dark when we dropped off my cousin and when we arrived at our place, I took a pretty picture of the sunset. We sure find a lot of things to go to with Kent in care of entertainment.

February 25, 2011 (Part two)

Friday 25~~~~Boyce Luther Gulley, his wife and daughter, Mary Lou lived in Seattle, Washington, spending time at the beach building sand castles. How Mary Lou would cry when the tide washed them away. "Please, Daddy build me a big and strong castle someday, that I can live in. Maybe you ought to build it in the desert where there is no water." The reality of dying was thrust upon him in his prime. Choosing not to live a life of quiet desperation awaiting the end, he ran away from home and his family and friends. He was diagnosed with tuberculous and he didn't want his Mary Lou and wife to suffer with the pain of his illness and dying. He migrated to Arizona, where he gradually regained his health and he built her a native stone castle: eighteen rooms with thirteen fireplaces, parapets and many charming nooks and crannies, furnishing it with southeastern antiques. Boyce Gulley lived longer than he thought he would, he spent 15 years building his dream house. (castle) He built it near the north side of South Mountain, near the site what was then the town dump. Gulley used salvaged materials, auto parts, junk and other artifacts he found in the Southwest and Mexico in the building of the house. There are actual petroglyphs in the walls that he cut out of the rocks. The King died in 1945, before he could send for his wife and his daughter. After his death, Gulleys wife and daughter were contacted by an attorney in Phoenix and they were told about the house. They moved to Phoenix to live in it, the little girl was now a middle- aged "princess" who dwells in her "sand" castle and is living the last fairytale. The house was very large and it was costly to live in it, so Mrs. Gulley wrote to the editors of "Life" magazine, and they wrote a feature story about the castle ; they received so much attention from the article that she and her daughter Mary Lou gave tours and they made a good living doing it. Mrs. Gulley died in 1970 and Mary Lou continued conducting tours and living in her castle until her death November 10, 2010. Mystery Castle is on the Phoenix Property Register insuring that it will be preserved and maintained. The family who does the tours worked for Mary Lou when he was 20 years ago and his daughter was a baby, she grew up around Mary Lou and the castle that her father worked in. They really tell great stories about the castle and its history, so if you are in Phoenix, be sure and take a tour, it is only $5.00 and you can spend hours there and not see everything. The pictures of the glass walls are old refrigerator dishes and their lids from the dump, the round window is the wheel from a Stutz Bear cat car. Most of the bricks were from the dump because they were not perfect in shape and he used a lot of rail road ties also. The brick oval frame outside is his picture view of Phoenix.

February 23, 2011

Wednesday 23~~~~~Kent has been studying on the computer all the things we should do while we are in this area. The weather is so nice and warm, perfect day to go sight seeing. We picked up Mel and Linda about 10AM and we drove to see the Mystery Castle, we got there and it was closed so we went to the next place on his list, the "Heard Museum". We didn't go through the museum as it was quite expensive to go into, it was very large to go through and we didn't want to take that much time to do it. The Heard Museum collects and exhibits American Indian art from centuries-old drawings and pottery to contemporary paintings, sculpture, ceramics and photography and jewelry. They have more than 40,000 objects, the Heard museum is nationally and internationally recognized for the quality of its exhibits. There were Indian sculptures from the various tribes around this area all over the large court yards at the museum which we enjoyed. I took a few pictures of some of the neat ones that I liked for the blog. There was one Indian tribe that we have never heard of, called the "Dine" Indians, which are a part of the Navajo tribe. They had a gift shop with a lot of beautiful things for sale. I looked at a small pendant (no chain) and it cost over $900 the bigger pieces of jewelry were several thousand for a piece. We enjoyed looking at the beautiful things for sale and we left for lunch. From here we went to a unique Taco place we found on the droid, it had seating inside and out. We chose to eat outside in the beautiful sunshine, there were a lot of locals who worked at the Vet's Hospital near by and others who said they eat there a lot. Kent and I ordered a Mexican sandwich (torta) that the regulars ate and it was so good, especially the bread. Next we drove to the "Wells Fargo History Museum" where we had a great time learning all about the Pony Express; In April 1860, daring riders carried mail on horseback 1,966 miles between Missouri and California in a lightening fast 10 days. Each rider rode 75 miles, up to 20 miles per hour, changing horses 5 or 6 times. Since speed was vital and weight a factor, riders 18 to 20 years old were preferred. They received $50 a month plus board and room for this dangerous job. Riders arrived at relay stations at full gallop, vaulted off their horses, quickly flinging the mochilla (special made mail bag) onto a fresh pony, remounted and rode off. In October 1861 the transcontinental telegraph was completed, making communications almost instantaneous, the Pony Express was no longer needed, but its legacy still lives on. They had a stage coach and the story of the gold it carried, the stage rocked when you were in it like it would if you were riding in it on the prairie with robbers chasing you. We had fun taking pictures of everything. Kent was more interested in the weight of the gold nugget they had locked in a case. with a phony one to hold. (picture) They had a saddle and cowboy hat for you to sit on and a machine to take your picture with a printer that printed it for you free. When it printed out, it was like a poster of you riding for the Pony Express and it had all the info about the job. We took several of those pictures. After a frapiccino break for our tour driver Kent, we stopped at St. Mary's Basilica where they had things for sale made by the local Indians.

February 15, 17, 18, 19, 2011

Tuesday 15~~~~~ Kent went over to the Kessler's this morning and did our laundry, I stayed home and cleaned and wrote on the blog. Linda went to the church to play Bridge, she invited me to go and play, I declined as it has been many years since I have played and some Bridge players take the game too serious for me to refresh my playing with them. LOL We had them over to our house for Chile dogs and salad tonight. Kent got some real good bun s at the store today while he was out doing our laundry. Thursday 17~~~~ The four of us went to Mesa for lunch at the taco place Kent and I ate at few days ago. (picture) We drove all over, stopping at some thrift stores where us girls always find some sort of treasure we can't live with out. I bought a real old VHS movie called "The Kidnappers" with Charlton Heston, it looks real good and it was only $1.oo. Friday 18~~~~~Today was the annual Park patio sale, we put out our cute patio table and chair set hoping to sell it. I really like it, but I would rather buy a small freezer and keep it in the space the table is in. Every time we go to Costco we want to buy some frozen food items and we can't because our freezer is always full, the ice maker takes up quite a bit of the space. The park didn't have a lot of shoppers in it, so we didn't get it sold, but we tried. Mel and Linda came over and I walked around the whole park with Linda so she could see what they had. I had already did my looking two hours ago. I came home with more things walking around it with her, I told Mel and Kent that she takes so long to look at stuff, I saw things I missed the first time around. LOL I was telling this lady who had a sale going about some of my vintage jewelry I have and she said she had some in the house and had never thought to put it out. She went in the house and brought out a jewelry box with the jewelry and we bought most of it. LOL The good stuff anyway. I bought a couple of old ice cream dishes and 3 vintage rings that are huge and very colorful. I will have to have Kent take a picture of them and post them on the blog. We sure had fun at that sale. My daughter Lisa called me in the evening and told me my grandson Ray's basket ball team won their first game in the tournament in Eugene today.
Saturday 19~~~~The weather sure has taken a turn for the bad, it is so cold, windy and rainy today. Kent and I stayed in all day watching TV and I am reading a book I bought at the patio sale yesterday called "Orphan Train West." It is good and I find it is hard to put it down and do anything. They have Saturday Mass at 3 and at 4:45 today, plus two Masses on Sunday. I told Kent we should go to the 3 o'clock one, as I might be asleep for the later Mass. It is so dark outside and the rain is coming down so hard and it is so warm and cozy inside the trailer and I love the sound of the rain. After Mass, Kent picked up some pizza and we ate dinner at home tonight watching television. Ray won his game again today, now they will be in the finals tomorrow.

February 12, 13,14, 2011

Saturday 12~~~~We drove to Apache Junction today, I packed us a lunch and read to Kent most of the way. I am reading the "Covered Wagon Woman's Journal and Letters". Kent likes this book and every time we go over a mountain range, he comments, "how did they ever get over or around this mountain". LOL It really tells from their actual journals and letters how strong these woman really were. After walking 16 to 21 miles a day behind a dusty covered wagon or driving one if their husband had died on the way, they had to milk a cow, (if they were lucky enough to have one) gather wood or cow chips for a fire, gather water and cook dinner. Modern day wives often go out for dinner or get take out after they have had a busy day at work. These woman had no luxury of this type of pampering. When we stopped for diesel, there was a man in a uniform emptying his sewer tank and putting trash from this big truck he was driving in the can where I was sitting looking out the window. Being the curious lady that I am, I asked him if he was a corrections officer and If that long truck he was driving was transporting prisoners. He was very friendly and told me yes, they had just dropped off 24 prisoners at a pen in some town near there and they were dumping their tanks and cleaning out the truck before they picked up a load. He was telling me how they had 2 bunks in the rig, 2 toilets, a microwave, TV and refriderator. There are 4 guards, two to drive and two in the back of the cab sleeping and resting for their turn to drive. I asked if I could look inside the truck and he said I could walk by and look but I couldn't go inside. Then he turned his back and moved away so I could get a good look inside. LOL The bunks looked large and very comfortable, I took a couple of pictures of the big truck as they were leaving. (picture) What a job they have!!!! We stopped at McDonald's so Kent could get his his frappacino and me an ice water when we finally found a McDonald's in Wickenburg. (picture of Kent with his drink) We arrived in Apache Junction too late to go to Saturday night Mass, Mel and Linda invited us to their new home for dinner and to check out their home. Dinner was so good after driving all day, we enjoyed some visiting before heading home to feed Pepsi his late dinner. Sunday 13~~~~We stopped and picked up Linda on our way to Mass this morning and after church, the four of us drove quite a distance to find a "Cracker Barrel" restaurant to eat breakfast at. I always have the grits and fried apples with eggs, sausage and biscuits and gravy. Kent always get the French Toast and I give him my sausage. We did some shopping and touring around before heading home for the day. Monday 14~~~~ Kent and I drove to Mesa so I could get a couple of books at Border's Book store with a gift certificate from Christmas. Kent has been following their possible bankruptcy on the computer and said I needed to spend it before it was too late. We stopped and ate the best fish tacos we have ever ate before we went to Borders to buy my books. When we got to Borders, I spent 45 minutes finding my books and when I went up to pay for them, I found I had forgotten my gift certificate in my other purse, I had my rewards card, but no certificate. Darn!!!! We had to go back home to get it and then back to the store. What a day!!!!!!!!!!

February 10 &11, 2011

Thursday 10~~~~~ We slept until after nine this morning, as we got home from seeing Bob and Jan rather late and then we stayed up awhile longer talking and watching some TV. We ate a late breakfast and we walked over to the casino where we went to the movie "The Company Men". It had Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Affleck, Kevin Koestner in it and we sure liked it. We enjoy going to the movies at the casinos, there is hardly anyone in them, I don't know how they afford to run them. We went home after the movie ate dinner and watched another movie on TV. What a lazy day we had today. I guess that is what you sometimes do when you are retired. LOL We are going back to the casino for breakfast in the morning, you buy one and get one free, they are really good breakfasts and we don't usually eat lunch after that big of a breakfast. Saturday we are leaving for Apache Junction, Arizona. It will be real warm there and we can hardly wait.

February 9, 2011

Wednesday 9~~~~The week has gone by so fast it seems, Kent and I picked up Jan at the casino and we took her shopping. She wanted to go to the "Lady Locker" shoe store to buy a pair of shoes she wanted. the clerks don't help you try them on anymore, so I played the part of the shoe man, putting the shoes on Jan and tying them for her as she couldn't reach her feet from the high bench she had to sit on. Next we stopped and Jan had a fish taco in the Mall before heading to another shoe store to for Jan to buy another pair of shoes. I tried on a cheetah print pair of high heeled short boots that were so cute, I almost bought them, but I didn't. I will probably regret it like I still do the cowboy boots in Sisters Oregon back in 2002 that I didn't buy. That evening we took Bob and Jan out for dinner at their favorite king crab restaurant. They are leaving at 6AM in the morning, saying good bye was hard to do as usual as we won't see each other again for another year probably. (I miss you already Jan)

February 6, 2011

Sunday 6~~~~~We slept in until 9AM and we had plenty of time to get ready before time to meet my sister. Our friend Gary drove up from Mesquite to spend a few days in Vegas with all of us, he got here early and we had coffee and visited until time to go to meet them at the Lu xor Casino where they will be staying. Kent and Gary left for the Red Rock Casino where they went to watch the Super Bowl game and play live Keno. I went to lurch with Bob, Jan and there friends from Nebraska at the Mandalay Bay casino buffet. They serve fresh king crab legs on all their buffets and these Nebraska people really love the sea food. I finished eating before my sister did, so I cleaned a bunch of crab legs for her putting the crab meat in the melted butter for her to eat. (picture) Bob went with their friends to their suite to watch the Super Bowl game, Jan and I stayed in the Luxor and played a few slots and watched part of the game in the casino. We found some Cheese Head hats, so we borrowed them to take our picture wearing our teams logo. (pictures) Then we went up to Bob and Jan's room where we watched the game. Bob joined us there and the three of us cheered our team to victory. Kent and Gary called and they did pretty good at the Red Rock Casino at the sports room, betting different bets on the game. The Nebraska People like to gamble in the same casino all the time, so Jan and I spent time in the star bucks coffee shop drinking coffee, visiting, in the shops looking and in their room watching television. We had fun playing the slot machines together part of the time also, we never won enough to take any home, but we racked up a lot of points for their card.

February 3 &5, 2011

Thursday 3~~~~We left Laughlin this morning for Las Vegas, it has been so windy and cold in Laughlin the last few days, we are glad to be leaving for more sunshine. We arrived in Vegas early afternoon at Sam's Town RV park, after we got set up, we walked over to the Casino where we played the slots for awhile and then we came home and I fixed dinner and we watched television the rest of the evening. Saturday 5~~~~We got up early this morning and drove to Mesquite where our friends Dan, Gail and Gary live, Kent is playing in a Keno tournament with them. I have a good book I am taking with me to finish reading. I sat with the Keno players until I finished my book, then I went to the floor for some serious slot playing. LOL I found three machines I like and I kept rotating back and forth on them until the Keno players finished the tournament and we went to the buffet for dinner. I actually did real good at the buffet, I did one helping and a small dessert, these buffets really kill a diet. You have good intentions when you go in and loose them before you get through the salad bar, Kent loves buffets and he never gains a pound. After our wonderful lunch we all went bowling in the casino, Kent was doing real good the first 5 frames and then he couldn't do anything, I had 27 points after the five frames. I got better and Kent got worse, so we did about the same, no one did very good, but we sure had fun. Kent drove me to Mass and he went to Gary's place and did our laundry. After Mass Kent picked me up and we had dinner at the casino before heading home to Vegas. It was pretty late when we got home. My sister and her husband are flying into Vegas at noon tomorrow, here we are burning the candle at both ends. LOL Wednesday 8~~~~The week has gone by so fast it seems, Kent and I picked up Jan at the casino and we took her shopping. She wanted to go to the "Lady Locker" shoe store to buy a pair of shoes she wanted. the clerks don't help you try them on anymore, so I played the part of the shoe man, putting the shoes on Jan and tying them for her as she couldn't reach her feet from the high bench she had to sit on. Next we stopped and Jan had a fish taco in the Mall before heading to another shoe store to for Jan to buy another pair of shoes. I tried on a cheetah print pair of high heeled short boots that were so cute, I almost bought them, but I didn't. I will probably regret it like I still do the cowboy boots in Sisters Oregon back in 2002 that I didn't buy. That evening we took Bob and Jan out for dinner at their favorite king crab restaurant. They are leaving at 6AM in the morning, saying good bye was hard to do as usual as we won't see each other again for another year probably. (I miss you already Jan)

January 31, 2011

Monday 31~~~~~We have been on the road a month already, the time goes so fast and yet in someways it seems like we have been gone forever. It is windy this morning and we are wearing our blue jeans, it will be sunny this afternoon. We drove over to the Golden Nugget casino where we signed up for the Keno tournament and we had breakfast there. We didn't do very good in the tournament, there was a lot of scores already posted that were bigger than ours, I did win second place one time though, so you never know if you are going to get a good machine with lady luck to help you. LOL We had fun playing their slots for quite awhile, Kent started with $5.oo and lost $2 right away, so he gave me his ticket and I played with his $3 for about an hour. I would get it up to $12 and then down to a dollar fifty and then back up and then finally I spent it right down to the last penny. Kent got quite a chuckle out of me how long I played that three dollars!!!!! Next we went home and parked the truck and we walked down the hill to the Riverside where we went to the movies. We went to "True Grit" first and it was OK, the part of the young girl was done very well, compared to the old True Grit, but we thought it was a little slow moving. The next movie was "Country Song" and we really liked it a lot. The singing was so good and the storyline was good to. Kent was so disappointed that Tim McGraw didn't sing in it. We walked back up the hill with the wind still blowing home, I fixed us chicken burritos for dinner and we watched a movie we had recorded after dinner. It was a day of doing nothing for the Mosher's, just watching movies and enjoying each other. I talked to my sister Jan on the phone yesterday and she said she is sure tired of the cold weather they are having and can't wait to get to Vegas and some sunshine. From what she told me about Bob's stew he made and the pop corn balls and goodies he bakes while they are staying inside with the cold weather, I would pray for more cold days. (its a good thing we aren't there Sharon's trying to lose weight).