His good friend, a prior bandmate, is a full-time musician and plays in Scottsdale and other towns in Arizona.  His name is Steve Kostakes and he is a piano man and a one-man band.  He plays at the Ocean Club in Scottsdale and just got a new gig in Chandler and somewhere else.  He was a regular at Maggiano’s in Scottsdale but due to the current recession they dropped their live entertainment. 

Steve, me and Jimmy at the Ocean Club

My husband has joined him in the past for several New Year’s Eve gigs including a local drummer and bass player and a sax player from California.  It’s always been fun and several times other friends and family came to the gigs.  Steve set up a New Year’s Eve gig at Maggiano’s this past holiday so we planned on that week to finally start looking at places.

It gave us a reason to commit to our search and also gave us a timeline to get ready for and plan on buying during our short stay.  The closer we got to the New Year’s gig, the more exciting things got.  I started really doing my homeword, trying to pare the listings down to a manageable amount that we could view during our trip.

And we had a great time at the gig as my brother, sister-in-law and niece came in from California and their friends own a Scottsdale condo so they made it out, too. We had a great time at the gig and we all got together for some fun dining, drinking and shopping experiences.   I’ve never had a bad time in Scottsdale!

We’re animal lovers

My son Chad and I (and his wife Jeanette) are true animal lovers.  My Mom had mentioned Out of Africa Wildlife Park so without knowing what it was all about, Chad and I decided to make a day trip.  It was 110 degrees that day and although the sweat was dripping down my back, I turned to Chad and casually mentioned, “It’s a little hot today.”  This coming from a Chicago native.  By the way, we were there in June or July, so it was summertime in Arizona – and we loved it.

It looked like a dump

When we pulled up my heart sank and I almost turned around and left.  We sat in the car a minute and asked each other if we wanted to go in.  As animal lovers we decided to give it a try.  We’re both so glad we did.

We have a couple of great zoos in the Chicago area, Brookfield Zoo and Lincoln Park Zoo.  But nothing prepared us for the closeness to the animals at Out of Africa.  I swear, we were separated from wolves with a heavy duty chicken wire looking fence.  You could feel the breeze as they walked past and I swear you could feel their breath!  It was amazing!

Cougars and bears and college students – all in the same cage!

As soon as we arrived we were told a show was beginning so we hustled over to a large caged-in area with a pool in the middle.  There we witnessed a show combining bears, cougars and some college kids playing with them.  The kids would run around with a toy dangling from a stick and a bear or cougar would be behind them.  They would make it around the pool and throw the toy in the pool and the animal would dive in after the toy.  We sat there with our mouths open, and I was wondering what kind of rider these kids had to sign to work there.  I also wondered how many mishaps occurred over the years.  These were full grown animals.

During the show we were told a story explaining that the bears and cougars actually shared an enclosure.  They used to share it with wolves but it was discovered that the wolves would scare the bears and the cougars into the trees.  So they removed the wolves and the other two species got along OK.

A very interactive place

We were able to feed the giraffes and there was a tiger feeding time slot – but unfortunately we spent so much time there and knew my Mom was making dinner for us and had to leave before the next tiger feeding time.  Darn!

Another “show” was watching a humongous snake put out in a fenced area get fed.  They had a dead rabbit and the snake wasn’t hungry.  As we watched this not hungry snake just kind of lay around, it started to feel like watching water boil so we left and viewed the rest of the animals.

We didn’t want to leave

We were having such a good time we did not want to leave.  Time flew by and we knew Mom would be upset if we didn’t make it home for dinner.  We could see we were going to be late and I guess we didn’t bring our cell phones with as the staff let us use their phone to call home.  We reluctantly left to make it home before the food got too cold.  I figured Mom would be upset but she wasn’t.

As hot as it was that day, Chad and I decided to take a dip in the pool after dinner.  We got into our suits but when we went outside and dipped our toes in, we both thought the water was too cold.  We didn’t go in.  Mom couldn’t believe it.  Remember, it had hit 110 degrees that day.  We do not represent Chicago very well, do we?

They had to move

Unfortunately, we caught them at their last year at that location.  My Mom told me it was on Indian land and Out of Africa had to move.  They moved around an hour and a half away to Camp Verde.  But they were closed for some time before the move, so we never saw them at their original spot again.

My photos of this trip must be on our external hard drive so I’ll have to hook it up one of these days to get them on here.  This photo is of the original Out of Africa location in Fountain Hills, AZ and is courtesy of j klo.

I told him I’d stay outside and finish my ice cream and that I didn’t want to accompany my son into an adult store.  I finished my dessert and was waiting on a bench.  I see a disheveled man walking toward me.  He was pretty scary looking. 

So I ran into the adult store.  I was greeted with “I.D. please.”  I said, “You’ve got to be kidding.  I’m in here looking for my 20 something year old son.”  The store worker replied, “Sorry, those are the rules.”  I had to dig out my driver’s license.  You know, following rules are fine, but I was in my late 40′s, early 50′s at the time.  Give me a break!

Anyway, I reluctantly helped my son pick out a cute black nighty for my daughter-in-law, who I knew could care less about lingerie.  I couldn’t wait to get outta there.  That’s just not a place to be with your kid, even if he’s married with children.  Ick! I haven’t been in that store since.

Photo courtesy of docKaos

We visited a couple different bars and I was even carded at one of them.  I don’t remember who was playing but the music was good.

I loved the area so much that my husband and I went back during the day for some shopping and dining.  It’s a real fun place with plenty of college kids.

In fact, I loved Tempe so much that when I first started thinking of becoming a snowbird I thought Tempe would be my destination.  I did check out some condos while in the “Arizona dream stage” but didn’t find anything at that time that interested me.  I really think that for us it will be a better place to visit than live.

And I was finally excited to be going.  After departing the airplane I noticed that the Phoenix Airport seemed small and more congested than our two Illinois airports.  Not impressed yet.

Driving from the airport to my parent’s house didn’t instill much excitement in me, either.  I did note that things seemed “cleaner” from my highway view.  I enjoyed the highway “wall decor.”

I don’t remember the exact moment when I saw a mountain.  But I do remember my Mom pointing out Camelback Mountain to me.  This was the first time I had ever seen a mountain!  That was a “Wow!” moment.

My next memory of that first visit was when my Dad insisted we go to Tortilla Flats.  I was kind of afraid of the winding roads to get there and the little restaurant joint we ended up at after that trek.  But it was fun and this was my other exciting moment.  I realized that I had never seen a real saguaro cactus.  And here they were, lined up on hillsides like an army ascending.  I was mesmerized and realized that I had only seen this kind of landscape on television and at the movies.

Hmmmm, Arizona was kind of cool!

It’s downright cold here in Oak Lawn, IL, with a temp of 24 degrees and a windchill factor of 12.  Brrrrrrrrr!  On the bright side, it is much warmer than last week and is a very sunny day.  It’s 73 degrees in Scottsdale but feels like 80.  I can’t wait to return!

Photo by atridem