2013-03-03, 04, 05, 06

We moved the house 109 miles today, to Usery Mountain Park, a county park in Mesa, AZ.  We are boondocking in Group Area A.  For lunch, we went to McDonald’s with Denny and Susie.  Social at 4pm, followed by dinner at Sweet Tomato’s. 

03-04.  This morning, Marilyn and I walked for 2 miles.  Then I caught up on some chapter treasurer entries for Chapters 16 and 57.  Heavy hors d’oevres for happy hour. Enjoyed sitting around the fire in the evening.

03-05.  Potluck breakfast – excellent as they all are.  Marilyn went to the craft, and the men talked.  We had dinner at Chick-fil-A, and played a penny game around the fire when we got back.  Each person was given a penny, and they were required to say something about what they were doing during the year the penny was dated –fun.

03-06.  Continental breeakfast, followed by a group walk on the Merkle Trail in the Usery Mountain Park near Mesa, AZ.    We could even see Phoenix while we hiked.

After the hike, several of us went to see the free Basha’s Art Museum.    The museum is full of Western paintings, sculptures, etc. of cowboys, indians, and so on.  Basha’s is an Arizona grocery chain that was started by the Basha family.  It grew from a family dry goods store that had been started in the late 1800s when the Basha family came to the US from Lebanon.

For dinner and our evening pleasure, we attended the Arizona Opry run by the Barleen family.  The family, along with some non-family members, cooked, served dinner, and starred in the show.  Not only did they sing, but they played numerous musical instruments which can be seen in the pictures of the stage. The “Alabama Jubilee” was played on a double necked guitar – 12 string top neck and 6 string bottom neck.  A comedian kept us laughing.  One of the Barleen twin ladies sang, and the other played the drums.  George (from  the “Tokens”) married into the family, and he sang “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” just like he did when the song first came out.  We had impersonations of Sonny & Cher, , Willie Nelson, etc.  All in all, it was a wonderful evening of good food, entertainment, a good crowd and good friends to go with.  It is more than worth the $33 per person, and I would go back because they do different shows each night of the week that they are open.