Up, Up and Away - Finally

Yes, I know I haven't written a blog in almost a month. I have been surprised at the agitation for another entry and, let's be truthful here, a little flattered.

I must admit that Sun City is a mixed bag. The facilities are fabulous. This is the sunset from our front door. There are half a dozen recreation centers all within 15 minutes of this house, and some within biking distance. The centers have weight rooms with both free weights and machines. Plus, there are cardio machines and these wonderful, wonderful heated pools and whirlpool spas. We are back on our exercise program - going six days a week for at least an hour. I'm teaching a 2 person water aerobics class 3 times a week (That would be me and Drake.) Additionally, this part of Sun City is 50 years old although you'd never know it since everything is manicured and painted within an inch of its life. They have a really efficient property police here. The landscaping is beautiful - in that weird desert way. The palm trees and cactus' are all huge, the fruit trees all mature, and we have a roving population of quails and rabbits that hang out here. All of this is really, really good. On the down side, in the older part of Sun City where we are everyone is 20+ years older than we are. We have met no one who is within 10 years of our age. We stand out like sore thumbs (hmmmmm - wonder what the origin of that phrase is), and everyone 'watches' us wherever we go. No, I'm not being paranoid. It's like being on stage.

We've loved being with Drake's mother, and we are trying to help her consider a move to a place with some additional services. Now, I love Merilyn. I lucked out in the mother-in-law market. I have to laugh, though. Her house is always wonderfully tidy and clean..........until you open any drawer. Then it's a really fun treasure hunt. Sound familiar anybody out there? I'm going to show restraint; I'm not going to name any names. You all know who you are. In Merilyn's defense, she hasn't moved since 1985. We were talking the other day and she told us that she has moved 34 times and is shocked that she's actually lived in the same place so many years.

HOWEVER, after going someplace different 3 or 4 times a week in Washington, staying in one place and being in a daily routine is so boring. As Merilyn told me, SOME people like that life. Anyway, we finally went somewhere! I was so ready. We went to Lake Havasu City which is on the mighty Colorado River to attend their first annual Hot Air Balloon Festival.

The drive was through the Mojave Desert which is just as bleak as it sounds with 50 miles or so between exits on the freeway since there is so little out there even in the 21st century. One hilarious place was called Quartzsite. Ever been in a town with no houses? Well, we didn't see a single one in Quartzsite. What we did see were thousands of RV's. There was every configuration from the newest to ones held together with duct tape. There was every type of RV park including the impromptu ones out in the desert. The entire town is RV snowbird heaven. There are gas stations, RV dump stations, laundromats, places to buy well water, places to buy, sell and get an RV repaired. Even the two restaurants in town are in those type of steel buildings you can buy out of the parking lot of the Home Depot. There were no parks, no houses, and virtually no permanent buildings of any type. It was startlingly original.

Lake Havasu is a man made lake created by a dam on the Colorado River. The interesting thing is that 320 feet of this dam is underwater. The river and the lake are a finger of blue fringed with green in an otherwise brown landscape. The contrast is so noticeable that the river and lake seem prettier than they really are. Lake Havasu City is an up scale retirement community that is trying to market itself so as to cash in on vacationers and retirees during the six months of the year that it's not 120 degrees. It reminded me of Fredricksburg and other towns in the Hill Country of Texas 30 years ago. I can just see the city boosters getting together and hatching plans to create 'festivals' and entertainments to draw people into town who would then spend money. Thus was born the First Annual Hot Air Balloon Festival of Lake Havasu City.

Now, one would think that the weather would not be an issue in the middle of the desert in January. Well, it didn't rain, and the sunshine was constant, but so was the 15 mph wind. That was a pleasant breeze to the spectators, but to the balloons that was a gale. Here we are on Friday afternoon expecting to see the 4pm ascension of 20 balloons followed by the 6pm evening glow during which the 20 balloons are supposed to be inflated sitting on the ground and 'glowing'. Total bust. It was too windy for the balloons to even inflate.

In the picture to the left, you can see a few tried to inflate, but actually blew into one another. It took about 25 minutes to take in the other offerings of the festival which consisted of people selling me stuff I didn't want, a very rinky dink midway and carnival, and various types of grease fried into food. The only thing that saved this day was the pair of balloon sox I bought. They are absolutely hideous and I love them.

We trudged back to our hotel - and I do mean trudge. The parking and getting of spectators to the balloon field really needs to be worked on for next year. We were pretty down Friday with Drake being exasperated at waiting around for a complete fizzle.

We debated as to whether we were even going to go back to the festival on Saturday morning and chance whether the Saturday ascension was going to take place since the parking situation was such a nightmare. We got up Saturday morning to discover the balcony outside our hotel room was front row center for the ascensions. We spent two hours watching the balloons inflate and take off, a couple of which went right over us. The day was saved. This little quick weekend get away was just the boost I needed.