Monday, February 2, 2015

Lots of rain and a gripe, but at least we are eating good…

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Super Bowl Downtown Happenings 009The last few days here in the Phoenix area have not been very nice as we have seen nearly solid rain. In fact it has been rainy off and on for the past week both here in Mesa and back in Yuma making it hard to believe we are in the desert. Mesa has an average rainfall of only 8.37 inches and on January 29th we received over 10% of that annual total. At least with all the rain we have been making a lot of culinary delights while cooped up…

With all the superbowl activities, travelers from the Pacific Northwest must have thought they never left home as it drizzled and rained on them for nearly 36 hours. But on Sunday, the day of the superbowl the sun broke out and the rain left the area. This was apparently an omen for the Seattle fans as their team fell short of winning the superbowl.

Since we didn't win superbowl tickets, we thought it would be fun to watch it amongst a crowd of polarized fans. We checked our park calendar (Sun Life RV Park) and were surprised to see nothing scheduled for superbowl Sunday. The only mention in the calendar was for some food specials at the on premises restaurant. We were shocked that the park had scheduled nothing especially since the superbowl was hosted in nearby Glendale Arizona!

More Superbowl Frenzy 002We were even more surprised since we had taken an earlier bike ride over to one of the larger Cal-Am parks (Mesa Regal) to check it out. Sun Life is also a Cal-Am park and a blog follower urged us to  visit wearing our Sun Life Cal- Am badges which would make us welcome at Mesa Regal .  We immediately noticed Regal has much nicer facilities than does Sun Life and when we walked around the pool area there was a lot of decorating going on as Mesa Regal was going all out for the superbowl. There were fans everywhere festively decked out in their team colors trying to reserve their seating early around the many TV's being readied for the big game. This sure made us wonder why this one was celebrating the big game and the other (ours) wasn’t doing anything. Worse is Sun Life even costs more to stay at than the nicer Mesa Regal just down the road.

imageWe almost decided to go back over to Mesa Regal to enjoy the game with their lively residents but later decided to just stay put in our own park. We ventured over to the bar by the pool and settled in with a beer while watching the pre-game activities. Unfortunately we soon realized the TV tuned in on the game had no sound so we wandered into the ballroom where there were tables and chairs set in front of a big screen TV (with sound).  There was a pot luck going on as well. Nowhere was any of this advertised so it was very poorly attended.

We only stayed for the first half of the game as the folk attending the unannounced pot luck were extremely cliquish and not nearly as friendly or welcoming as RV park folks as we have encountered in our past. We left at half time and enjoyed the rest of the game in our RV and what a game it was, exciting to the finish…

While not real happy with our selection for our month long stay here in Mesa we remind ourselves that we are only here for another 3 weeks and came here mainly for our medical appointments. Needless to say, unless things change, Sun Life RV Park won’t be a place we stay at in the future… That being said I feel sure we will enjoy our stay in Mesa as the weather looks like there will be an abundance of sunshine with temperatures in the 70's and 80's! The resorts pool and pickle ball courts better look out…

12 comments:

  1. Rain, rain go away....yea...it did!

    Wouldn't you just know that if you pick on of the Cal-Am parks, the other would be better. Seems to me that they should both be very similar. I did notice the price when I was looking at them both.

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    1. crazy that one is 35 bucks more and right beside it... with less amenities and apparently an activity director that does much less... doesn't matter though we will have fun on our own...

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  2. We stayed at Val-Vista and really liked that park. It's another Cal-Am. We complained about all the rain but yesterday certainly turned out nice.

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    1. The park itself is nice so I think it is just bad timing here... too late in the season as all the cliques are firmly set...

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  3. Go out to Valle Del Oro with your Cal Am badges and snoop around.... Everyone treated us nicely there and they have happy hour at the pool most nights... Also a biiiig swap meet on Thursday morning....

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    1. we heard we could attend other Cal-Am parks with our current badges and we plan to check a lot of them out... especially at happy hour ;)

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  4. Isn't it interesting how each park has its own personality? At least you can mark this one of your list for future stays.

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  5. We have stayed at Val Vista and Mesa Regal but now we just stay at Mesa Regal. Its a younger, pretty active crowd. There is always someone at the pools, hot tubs, gym and bar. In fact, if we ever decide to stay the season in Phoenix, it would be at Mesa Regal.
    If you stay for only a week, they accept Passport America.

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  6. We don't like the big parks like Mesa Regal but lots of people like all those activities. But even our small park had a super bowl party that everybody knew about. I am just so happy we finally had sunshine to enjoy. Going to be beautiful week so enjoy.

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  7. We enjoy small parks and don't need their activities, but like you sadi at least you are eating good.

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  8. We don't normally stay in one place that long, but I'd hate to be stuck in a place I didn't like.

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  9. FYI, we had some fantastic evenings at the "outdoor dance hall" that is Greaswood Flat up in Scottsdale. http://greasewoodflat.net/

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