Travel

My family and I recently took a break from Michigan’s cold and rainy early spring and vacationed in Arizona. We flew into Phoenix, rented a car, and set out for a number of destinations, all of which were great for R and R.

First we visited some good friends in Lake Havesu City. Matt and Tee showed us around Lake Havesu, and Matt particulary proved to be a fountainhead of knowledge about the town and it’s history. For example, Robert McCulloch of McCulloch Oil (think also, “Chainsaws”) basically founded the town, and he paid to move the London Bridge from London To Lake Havesu. Yes, the London Bridge. Matt and Tee were great hosts, and took us tooling around on the Colorado River and Lake Havesu in their boat. Most of us got our first glimps of California there.

After a few days we headed on down to Sierra Vista to visit my Dad and his two dogs, Bonnie and Lucky. We also met his friend (GF?) Marita. Sometimes we just lounged around and enjoyed the weather or swam in the pool, but we also went hiking in the neighboring mountains. Even though she is not a native to the territory, Marita proved to be delightfully knowledgable about the local flora, pointing out to us alligator cypress, manzanitas, prickly pear, and other species that grow there.

While we were staying with my Dad, we took a day trip to legendary Tombstone, where the gunfight at the OK Corral took place in 1881. The movies always portray the Earps and Doc Holliday as the good guys, standing up for law and order and trying to protect the town’s citizens from the outlaw gang known as the Cow-boys. The truth is, the Cow-boys (with the possible exception of Ike Clanton, an abrasive loud-mouth) were actually well liked by most of the towns’ people. They brought money into the town, whose principle business was saloon keeping, and they rarely carried out their lawbreaking in town.
On the other hand, the Earps were seen by many as opportunists, setting up gambling a establishment and using their connections with the law to play favorites. Nevertheless, the story is rich with drama, action, intrigue, and conflict that persists to this day. I was inspired to write an article, Surprising Facts About the Gunfight at the OK Corral. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Oh, and feel free to check out all the pix from the Arizona trip.

I haven’t written in a while, due in a large part to the fact that my family and I took our Christmas vacation in Florida, escaping for a couple of weeks from the Michigan winter. We stayed with my in laws, who own a mobile home in Lakeland in a park for retirees 55 and older. Now one might think that staying in a mobile home park surrounded by old folks would be boring, but in fact if one is willing to temporarily adopt the local lifestyle, nothing could be farther from the truth.

Every Monday night they play euchre. For money. For those of you unfamiliar with euchre, its a fast card game played with partners. Okay, it only cost a quarter to play, and you don’t stand to win much, but the game is fun and the players compete as if there were hundreds of dollars at stake. I won fifty cents.

Nearly every day there is competitive shuffle boarding. Sometimes it’s a “pin game,” where there is a modified bowling pin on each end of the court. It costs a dime to play, and a nickel every time you knock down the pin. I won seventy five cents. Some of the players are actual pros. I didn’t even know there was a such thing as a professional shuffleboard player, but there is and several of them live in that Lakeland park.

Wednesday morning is bowling. Most of the residents who participated bowled better than I did. Wednesday night is bingo. I think I’m the only one in my family who didn’t win a game. Again, the stakes are small - fifty cents gets you 6 cards, and you play 8 or 10 regular games plus a couple of specials.

Thursday nights is for playing bid euchre - a variation where each player has to bid for the right to name trump. I won a dime.

We didn’t go to Florida to go to any of the expensive theme parks - we’ve done all that before. We didn’t go for the night life or to mingle with the jet set, we went to relax and enjoy the weather. I didn’t get any writing done, but I did a lot of reading, made some friends among the Grandmas and Grandpas there, and came home relaxed and refreshed.