Music on the Patio in Mesa AZ…

One of the best things about staying at these Cal-Am parks for the winter in Arizona is that we are allowed to go to other parks as a guests. Why we like this policy is that we love that each park has live music 5 or 6 days a week.

As a result Sharon and I can attend whichever band we enjoy the most. Our strategy is simple because of timing when figuring out which one to attend. The strategy works because most days the music at Mesa Regal Resort is from 3-5 pm, at Towerpoint Resort music is from 3-6 pm and at Sun Life resort music is at 3-6 pm or 4-7pm depending on the day of the week.

Since we are staying at Towerpoint we can walk over to either of the other parks.from ours in about ten minutes. Whenever we don’t know anything about any of the bands playing we walk over to Mesa Regal at 2 pm and listen to their band for 30 minutes. If we don’t like them we walk back to our park and listen to the band which starts at 3 pm. Again if we don’t like them we can go over to Sun Life and listen to their band.

Over time we have compiled a list of the bands we really like and those that we don’t care much for. We have been here almost a month so our list is getting long however, they don’t overlap bands a lot between the parks We do expect that over time we will have heard nearly all the bands who play these parks.

Best of all we can go listen to the music outside no matter how cold it gets. Why? Because these parks all have these fabulous outdoor heaters that make you warm n matter how low the temperatures go.

As for now we have been enjoying music on the patio at one resort or the other six nights a week. If there are no bands we like playing on one of the nights we usually will choose to go to downtown Gilbert and enjoy happy hour at one of the many establishments in the town.

While I tend to prefer mostly listening to the bands Sharon will often hit the dance floor. She has no problem dancing by herself and as often happens at these parks several other people will join her. These dance groups can often become large groups and as a result Sharon has made lots of fellow dancing friends at the various parks.

Obviously our days do not completely revolve around the music as we are also occupied going to the gym, playing cornhole, putt putt golf or pickleball. I have also been busy doing lots of minor/major repairs around the RV. With my list of repairs slowly dwindling down it will allow us “more time to have too much fun” as our friend and fellow blogger Barney often says…

Things to Do in and Around Sioux Falls South Dakota…

Leaving the Badlands National Park we headed for a little R&R, (rest and relaxation). We drove over to central South Dakota to a Corps of Engineer Park called Left Trailrace where we stayed two nights. Its a bit off the beaten path as its about a 15-20 minute drive north off of Interstate 90 up the Missouri River Valley onto the Crow Creek Indian Reservation.

It had nice large campsites near the Lake Francis Case in a quiet and very scenic part of South Dakota. Here we simply walked a lot, rested a lot and played a little disc golf. We also used this slowdown to start planning our route further east. There has been no solid plans as we always keep our eyes on the weather when we are in the Midwest and have many alternative plans should the weather turn bad within our path.

We left Fort Thompson SD and drove the rest of the way east on Interstate 90 until we arrived at the Grand Falls Casino RV Resort in Larchwood, IA.  Once the park was within sight our GPS said welcome to Iowa but as we turned into the RV park it said welcome to South Dakota so while the Casino is in Iowa we are still in SD. Funny…

We chose this location in order to check out South Dakota’s largest city, Sioux Falls and our first stop was to visit the park where the town earned its namesake from, Falls Park. There had been a lot of recent rain so the falls were in full force. What a show they put on… There were also some trails in Falls Park winding by some historical mill remains which we also enjoyed.

We needed to do some grocery shopping but as we were shopping we noticed a bunch of tents up in a park. After searching the web we discovered it was the annual Jazz fest and better yet it was free to enter and free to park!!! So we spent the rest of the day chilling in the park and listening to a lot of eclectic (though not jazz) music. What luck we had on this day!

The next day we chose to do a walk to see the sculptures in downtown Sioux Falls SD. Wow, lots and lots of cool sculptures could be found by wandering around the main street in Sioux Falls. There were ballots to vote for the “people’s choice” award and the one that won was not the one I would have picked but it was pretty cool as well. What a beautiful downtown area which was alive and energetic.

That afternoon we headed over to a park to play some Disc Golf. Man it was crowded as there was a tournament also going on. When we talked with some of the participants they told us we could go ahead and play as the tournament couldn’t actually take over the course since it was public. They were all so friendly and helped as we were at a loss at times in locating the next hole on the somewhat challenging course. It was a long but beautiful course and one we were glad we played.

On the way home we stopped at a small arboretum which was a work in progress. it will be spectacular when finished as even in its infancy it was a nice stop. There are big plans for a garden expansion and a wedding area. There we saw a little waterfall and pond,  beautiful trees, flowers and a little leopard frog. Fun!

We ended the day by stopping at the Attic to pick up n order of Chislic, a unique South Dakotan dish made of chunks of beef (sirloin) or lamb/mutton then seasoned and fried. We paired it with some fried jalapeno cheese curds… decadent? Yes, but an outstanding little splurge… Yum, yum!

NOTE: We left Sioux Falls SD and made several one night stops to where we will be today in Cedar Rapids Iowa…

Betty’s Birthday Bash and Time to Say Goodbye…

Yep, we are still having so much fun here at Betty’s in Abbeville. One of our favorite things to do while we are here is to eat some of the best Cajun food around and we started with what we think is the best poorboy in the entire country – Olde Tyme Grocery, a true Road Treat! They have the best Shrimp Poorboy imaginable! Chase it down with a cold beer brewed in Louisiana by Abita Brewing and one will have a truly excellent lunch!

Another eating event was attended by 21 of the people who were staying at Betty’s as we took over the small Abshire’s Corner Store. This local store offers up some delicious Cajun Food and we pretty much overwhelmed the proprietors Leshea and George. It was great food but it was kind of funny as we discovered they only had 20 chairs but there were 21 of us. Even funnier was Leshea had to ask the first people she served to bring their plates back ASAP because she only had 19 plates and needed two more to serve all of us. What a fun event this turned our to be.

The food is great in Acadiana but the culture and people of the region draw us back to the area annually. Abbeville can lay it’s claim to being one of the friendliest towns anywhere. Another thing we noticed is that Acadians have a way of escaping father time as people around here are off the charts when it comes to longevity. One of Betty’s aunts will turn 101 next week and she is such a lively person you would never guess her age. One of the local musicians, Joe, is in his 80’s and his mother is still alive in her 100’s. Yes, these folks sure know how to live…

We also took some time to take a few hikes at the beautiful Palmetto Island State Park. It has a nice campground as well which if we didn’t stay at Betty’s we would certainly enjoy camping at. The trails are very nice and include a small pond where we saw a huge alligator. One of the highlights on the trail is a small boardwalk taking visitors into a swamp where the rare Red Iris grows. We were very lucky to see them on our last walk in the park.

It’s not just food and people that beckon us back, it is the music too. Local jams at places like the Museum Café in Erath LA and the cool little bar called Touchet’s near Maurice LA are two of the best jams to attend. Local musicians from all around crank out some great Cajun Music and Swamp Pop. We really love the music in Acadiana…

As we are wrapping up our stay at Betty’s RV Park there was one final event scheduled which was Betty’s Birthday Party! Betty will be the first to say she really didn’t want anyone to do anything special for her birthday but Betty doesn’t always get her wish. We celebrated Betty’s birthday in typical Cajun fashion with a feast, music and a collection of friends and family. Happy Birthday Betty! We love you and can’t wait to come back!

NOTE: We left Betty’s RV Park in Abbeville LA on April 1st and stop moved over to College Station, Texas for the month of April…

Carolina Beach Last Day and Shrimp Fest in Little River SC…

Our last day at Carolina Beach we walked over to a nearby Brewery to play their 9 hole disc golf course. It was a nice short course which we played twice and of course it had the added benefit of  the ability to stop at the brewery for an after golf treat. To end our stay we drove over to Carolina Beach to have a beer an an eclectic dive bar called The Fat Pelican.

It is a quirky dive bar with an 18 wheeler refrigerated truck attached to it.  Patrons go past the bar upon entering to walk up and into the truck to pick from over 400 bottled beers.  Once the beer is selected, it is opened and paid for at the bar.  This bar is chocked full of funny signs and beachy knick knacks. We found an outdoor area with cornhole boards and ended our day chatting with a very nice fellow in town on business from Richmond, Va. 

The next morning we headed south through Myrtle Beach and Charleston SC to our next stop at Wishing Well Campground in Sunset Beach, NC. It was a small mom and pop Passport America park where we stayed 3 nights. The location is just south of Myrtle Beach so we were able to explore the area a bit before moving further south.

Before going to our overnight accommodations we stopped at Black's Tire and Service center. As I mentioned before we had a Goodyear G670 RV tire shipped there from the website Simpletire.com. I elected after calling for some quotes to use then because they sell tires cheap!!! I bought the tire online for hundreds of dollars less that what I had been quoted ($970 installed). Black's came highly recommended and when I called to verify that morning, sure enough my tire was there.

We pulled around to an outside bay as instructed and didn’t even have to unhitch the CRV. They replaced our tire with the newly balanced one in less than an hour. Our total bill for removal of old tire, balancing and installation of new tire was under $60. My total savings by doing everything myself was more than $300. Yep, I will surely do this again for our next set of tires!!!

After setting up in Wishing Well campground the day was pretty shot so we spent a quiet day at home. The next day we drove into Myrtle Beach to check out the beaches from South Myrtle Beach to North Myrtle Beach. It is always nice to spend some time on the beach listening to the waves crash in…

Our last bit of excitement was attending the Shrimp Fest in Little River SC. The main reason I wanted to attend it was there was a Zydeco band named Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas playing. The fest itself was mostly just a bunch of vendors but the music we heard for a measly $5 admission was fantastic.

First we heard a solo one man band dude who explained to the crowd that he had spent a lot of time in volunteering with his wife in Africa.He wrote and sang songs raising money for the people of Africa. Brian Ernst was pretty amazing and has an interesting story! The next band we head was a brass band called The Empire Strikes Brass. They were a very eclectic band that mostly resembled the band Chicago but had elements of Country and Western and even Hip Hop making for a very entertaining afternoon.

However, the cream of the crop was indeed Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas. The place was up and dancing by the third song as Zydeco so often makes even the person who doesn’t like to dance (like me)… well, dance!!!! The mixture of sounds from the lead, the squeezebox, spoons and keyboards had everyone in the audience moving and gyrating. What a fantastic ending to our stay before moving on…

NOTE: We are now south of Charleston but leave on Thursday to head to Brunswick Georgia for three nights.