Vegetation in Arizona varies from desert landscape to pine forest on certain mountains.

Phoenix just happens to be in the Sonoran Desert where the plants are most interesting and unique!

The prickly pear cactus (front) is easily identified by its broad, flat, green pads.

When you see something new in a supermarket, are you tempted to try it? We tried to cook these ‘pads’…not recommended lol
The ocotillo is a large shrub with long cane-like unbranched spiny stem.

Can you guess why this shrub is called the Palo Verde? It can grow up to 400 years…

Quite easy to guess this guy’s name… the golden barrel!

The saguaro cactus is one of the defining plants of the Sonoran Desert. It is a large, tree-like cactus that develops arms…

The birds love the Saguaro and nest in the little holes made by the woodpeckers.

Sometimes, it is hard to decipher what is what lol

Norm did not want to visit the Botanical garden…Too bad, he could have received this wise advice from a saguaro cactus lol

One thing is for certain…

The show last night, Barleens Dinner & Show was fantastic. Great food! Great family entertainment! Well it helps if you are approximately our age lol

Surprisingly, when you sit at the table, your desert awaits you. As they say at Barleens’: Life is short, Eat desert first.

Signs on the road this Thanksgiving read : Wobbling after Gobbling, take a cab!

We are being ‘wise’ and besides, no one wants to drive in the dark and they are forecasting rain,

so we pre-order UBER. Great way to find out if the new ‘schedule in advance’ feature works. 5* Uber driver! He tells us we should have no problems coming  back…

Well, we did! So, we take a cab. The show was well worth it!

What an adventure! First, our driver tells us he just had a huge meal, turkey, steak, desert etc. etc. Needless to say he yawned more than a few times on the way… Then he says he is nervous driving in all this traffic. Finally, he does not stop talking.  Poor Yolande. It is past her bedtime and she is hoping to take a nap on the way home 😊

But wait… after paying him, the cab driver says :’maybe I will find a cheap motel instead of driving home!!!’  At least it is not raining… YET Maybe he had a crystal ball…

Then…

Oh What a Night!  (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons).

First song that comes to mind this morning… Well, they did interpret Frankie Valli songs at the show, and very well at that.  Context not quite the same. (Roger and I just did not get any sleep! Norm and Yolande, they slept like babies. How blessed are they!) lol

When we are about to retire, the rain starts, and the wind… Norm says : There are white caps in the street … We have never experienced this type of weather before. Norm and Yolande will have experienced just about every possible scenario in Arizona…

 

 

 

Last night :

Are these palm trees native to Arizona??

This morning :

Walk around the park. How else can you decorate for Christmas lol

This afternoon :

Shuffleboard + another walk around the park

Well maybe there is another way…

Tonight, Entertainment and Thanksgiving supper.

Let’s  remember to give thanks every day of the year!

No stay in a city is complete without a visit to Walmart and Costco lol.

Well, Walmart is on our way today and we need groceries…
In the store, we find a robot roaming the aisles. His name is Stanley and apparently his job is to take perpetual inventory!

When an annoyed man approaches him and says: ‘Get away Stanley’ the robot changes direction…

What will this world be in 10, 20 years from now???

We visit Costco mainly because we are looking for 100% cotton socks. Do you know how almost impossible it is to find some? Even at this boutique, Lost In Socks in downtown Scottsdale, no sock has more than 80% cotton!

Now, none of us enjoy shopping…so we decide to go back to the motorhome to…play the card game 500.

So far ladies are winning 6 series (10 games) to 4. 😊

 

Frommer’s Guidebooks states the Apache Trail as being the ‘The best scenic drive in Arizona’.
It would take many visits to Arizona to agree or disagree… but even after the Grand Canyon drive, the Petrified Forest Drive, the Jerome to Sedona Drive etc., we have to say it is hard to judge. (especially since the most scenic and dangerous part of the Apache Trail is closed, maybe to never reopen to motor vehicles again…)

The museum at the base of Superstition Mountain, the start of the trail, is quite informative,

the walking trails as well…

Sets from movies filmed nearby are on display. Elvis, not Yolande is the famous actor here lol.

The winding road leads to Tonto National Forest and Canyon Lake ….What a view!

Then on to Tortilla Flats, (the end of the trail for now) and the last surviving stagecoach stop on Apache trail. Population, 6.

The few buildings standing offer a lot of history (or legends).

And some are very entertaining…What did this person do to deserve this??

With these rules, who knows…

Who’s who who’ve been through…Tortilla Flats of course…

On our way back, on those winding roads…

Roger says, look, we could drive this road with the motorhome… 14 ft clearance. ha! ha!

We stop at Goldfield Ghost Town.  Again history,

and fun…

and ice cream to top off the day 😊

Thank you Roger for bringing us back home safely!

So, eventually, everyone needs a haircut 🙂 Roger wanted an extension but Yolande convinced him it was not a good idea lol

Decided to drive to Old Town Scottsdale, a must if you visit Phoenix.

Norm and Roger were very enthusiastic 🙂

Until we found a few special boutiques…

Nothing to see here, Denise…Move along…

See Roger, you non-believer…

Then back at the park, we look for a sunset… and we decide we miss home, because this is a sunset at 2981 Valleyview Rd. Ah well, soon enough we will be 😊

 

 

The morning after…someone has to do the dishes 🙂

We do have to walk or bike to spend those calories. 😊

More signs in the park catch our attention.

Then, off to the movies. Everyone agrees that we should see A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Nothing to add except that everyone should see the movie.

The AMC theatre just happens to be at the Desert Ridge Mall, very family oriented. Even if you do not like to shop (like Roger and Norm),

you can easily spend a day admiring decorations,

and keeping busy watching sport events or being active.

There are numerous restaurants to choose from, but the one we select just happens to have 121 different draft beers and a very well equipped kitchen… What a treat!

Tomorrow is Haircut day 🙂 Can you think of a song??

 

For our last treck to Phoenix, we picked up two hitchhikers (We had vowed not to pick up anymore lol, remember the lady bugs?)

The drive from Verde Valley to Phoenix is very scenic

but when we get to Sunset Point Rest Area, we are in awe!

We are happy to see the paved paths lol.

But aren’t snakes suppose to be hibernating at this time of the year lol?

Going down the road, we see electronic signs :

Cher the road

I Got You Babe

Then, we learn that Cher is performing in Chandler AZ tonight. Unfortunately, we do not have tickets…

Now, you must vote…

Who chose the best song of the day?

Norm and Roger : Hitching a Ride

or

Yolande and Denise : I Got You Babe

When we arrive at Desert Shadows in Phoenix, we see more signs lol

And then…to top the day, Norm’s nachos 🙂 Aren’t we lucky!

 

Yeah sunny day. Off we go to Jerome. But first, we visit the copper museum in Clarksdale.

It is housed in the recently restored Clarksdale High school that closed in the early 60’s.

‘Starting in towns like Clarkdale, copper leaves, and then blossoms into an amazing story of the world’s most beautiful metal. It is told through a wonderful idea of combining history and stunning artifacts into truly enjoyable exhibits.’

And what a wonderful idea! A visitor can admire the creative skill and imagination of mankind through the use of copper from the early civilisations to the present.

Now why did we pick the title of the song today? This still (supposedly used to make moonshine) is part of an extensive distillery and winery collection…

All collections are impressive but one is especially moving, the military art collection.

Imagine a soldier from WWI spending time in a trench transforming these expended shell casings into art to send home as gifts or to share memories…

Just a short TRUE or FALSE quiz to lighten things up…

1. Only 2 minerals actually have color, copper and gold.
2. Copper was discovered about 9,000 B.C.
3. The percentage of copper in your red blood cells is over 50%.
4. Dark chocolate is a good source of copper for human life.
5. It takes 250 fifty pounds of ore, 70% of it copper, to blow your trumpet. Zinc is the other ore needed?

Read on to see the answers😊

Jerome is Jerome. Such a one of a kind town… Population 15,000 when the mines opened in the late 1800’s, to a ghost town, to a favorite tourist destination thanks to dedicated business men and women and of course, the artists.
Of course, the road to get to this mountain town is quite memorable.

Then, the streets! To get from one to the other, you either drive switchbacks or use stairs…

The shops contain incredible art and well, the Mile High Restaurant, incredible food, worth the wait, even in Roger’s opinion lol

Now why would a restaurant select such a name, serve mile high burgers and mile high clubs??

Read on to see the answer 😊

A favorite store is Nellie Bly, the world famous kaleidoscope store. Can you see who is in this picture taken through a kaleidoscope?

Finally, we return to our motorhome. Again, the view is incredible.

 

Good thing we have a reliable chauffeur ha! ha!

Answers:

All the affirmations are TRUE

 

The restaurant is at 5,280 ft., 1 mile in elevation 🙂

Because of the fog last night, we do not go to the Qi-gong class. Instead, we reinvent the Sticks game, new rules being voted in by all.

Roger and Norm do  make a delicious beef stir-fry. Yum!

But then, card rage not road rage sets in lol A few arguments over a 500 game of cards. All fun:)

This morning, the sun peeps through the clouds. Then it plays hide and seek all day…

9:23 a m

 

So we decide not to visit Jerome. It is raining there, almost freezing in the early hours.  At an elevation of 5,000 ft, it is almost 2,000 ft higher than Camp Verde.

At the height of a copper mining boom at the end of the 1800’s, the population of this mountain town reached 15,000. Because of the mine closures, it would have become a ghost town if it were not for the artists who made Jerome their home.

Tomorrow, hopefully we can visit this vibrant community…