Out of Africa Wildlife Park in Arizona

lioness at Out of Africa Wildlife ParkI have mentioned my fun trip to Arizona to visit my Mom with my son Chad (my middle child who was in his 20′s during our visit).  One of our most memorable trips was to visit Out of Africa that was located in Fountain Hills, before its move to Camp Verde.  At the time they were much closer to my Mom’s house in Mesa, AZ.

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

feeding a big snake at out of africa at Fountain Hills, ArizonaWe 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.

Posted in Fun Things To Do, Out of Africa by judyo     

Girl’s Weekend Away in Laveen, Arizona

I hang out with a large group of girlfriends, some from as far back as 5th grade. We like to have fun. A couple of our friends were at a benefit and were feeling no pain when they bid on a 5 day rental in Laveen, AZ. In their somewhat inebriated state, they kept bidding it up until they won. I had never heard of this town and wondered where it was located. It was in the Phoenix area and ended up being close enough to places like Scottsdale, Tempe, etc. that it was OK for us.

So eight girls ordered our airfare together one night and waited for our trip. On the flight, we were actually approached by a flight attendant who smilingly told us to keep it down. We were spread out over a couple of aisles and some innocent people had to sit with us. One of our social butterflies struck up a conversation with a gentleman and we found out that we knew his ex-wife and her new beau.

Needless to say, there was a lot of storytelling and laughter. Even the flight attendant who chastised us joined in at one point. The funniest thing was when we landed, I overhead two people being pushed in wheelchairs telling the story about us perfect strangers knowing the ex-wife of another passenger. He and his ladyfriend were laughing as they were being pushed through the airport. We left our mark on that flight.

Our Abode

I brought my portable GPS with and it brought us to our destination, a gated golf community located in Laveen, Arizona.  We rented a van and a sedan so we could have one car that would fit us all (once the luggage was out) and another car in case people wanted to do different things.  Eight girls isn’t our biggest group, but it’s difficult getting everyone to agree on one destination all the time.

The house was newer and nice with a pool and a view of the golf course.  It was decorated very nicely and we all fit in well.  Normally, on our weekends it’s first-come, first-served with bedrooms.  That works when we’re driving and coming in at different times of the day.  But we had to figure out a more diplomatic way to assign bedrooms so we pulled names.  There’s usually nicer bedrooms and with our group someone had to sleep on the sofabed in the loft area.  I got a bedroom.

One of the girls in our group was a runner and would go out in the morning to do her run.  She said she ran into an area that she didn’t feel very safe in so she stayed away from that area on subsequent days.  Otherwise, we felt comfortable and safe in our rented house.

Having fun at the pool

Having fun at the pool

We Had Fun Visiting Surrounding Towns

We took a trip to Sedona (I had been there once before), a night trip to Tempe (a bunch of older broads mixed in with the college kids), a day and evening trip to Scottsdale (shopping, dining and drinking) and one of the girls even visited a friend of her late mother’s who had retired to AZ many years ago.  That was a trip in itself as her Mom’s friend lived with her sister and husband in a house that was full of French provincial furniture with sofas and chairs covered in plastic!  I mentioned it in my Bringin’ the 70′s to Arizona post.  These sisters were better than most stand-up comedy acts I’ve seen.  Three of us went together to drop off our friend that was spending the afternoon with them and we went in the house to meet them.  It was non-stop laughter.  I hope I can keep my sense of humor into my 80′s and 90′s.

One of my good friends and I drove to the new location for Out of Africa, which I will write a separate post on.  I’ve been there before with my son and I’m not sure if I like the new venue better or not.

Old and new friends in a Scottsdale bar

Old and new friends in a Scottsdale bar

Friends, Fun and Food

Just like most of our other girl’s weekend aways, but IMO a much better area.  We normally go to Michigan, Wisconsin and have gone twice to Galena, IL.  We even traveled as a group to Key West, FL to surprise my friend on her 50th birthday (that was probably the best but I ended up getting the flu really bad and was sick most of the time, although I never stayed in my room).

This had to be a close second to Key West and is probably only 2nd because I didn’t know everyone in this group.  I always like meeting new people but there was a little tension sometimes about where we were going to go and how to split the cars up. 

My First Sand Storm

I’ve been to Arizona many times and have never been in a sand storm until this visit.  We were coming home from Sedona and all of a sudden were in the middle of a bad sand storm.  Kudos to our driver who didn’t panic and got us through it.  There was no visibility!  I have since been told we should have pulled over and stopped, but we ended up being OK.  That was scary.

Laveen?

Several people we met were kind of surprised we were staying in Laveen.  I guess it’s kind of out there and doesn’t offer much to do.   So I have no reason to ever go back there but it worked out fine for an inexpensive trip that was close enough to other towns that we didn’t feel like we were too far away from everything.

Posted in Laveen by judyo     

Visting Mill Ave. in Tempe with My Son

During our trip to Arizona, my son Chad and I visited Tempe, AZ as I thought he’d love Mill Ave., which I alwaysMill Avenue in Tempe AZ thought was Mill St.  We went window shopping and stopped in a few stores.  I got ice cream and we passed by an adult store.  My son wanted to go in to get something for his wife (just what she wanted – LOL)!

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

Posted in Exploring Arizona, Mill Avenue in Tempe, Tempe, AZ by judyo  1 comment   

Tempe, Arizona

My first visit to Tempe was made during my first trip to Arizona with my husband (to be at the time).  His friend lives in Gilbert and one of his other friend’s parents live in AZ and he was visiting.  So the four of us went to Mill St. in Tempe one night to listen to some music.

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.

Posted in Exploring Arizona, Fun Things To Do, Tempe, AZ by judyo  1 comment   

Bringin’ the 70′s to Arizona

welcome matWhen my parents moved to Mesa, Arizona, I could only try to imagine what kind of house they owned and what kind of subdivision it was in.  Was it surrounded by desert?  Did they see any scorpions or rattlesnakes?  Why the heck did they decide to move to Arizona!!!

They bought a newly constructed house that had 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a formal dining room and living room plus a family room and eat-in kitchen.  There was an enclosed patio and a pool in back.

My daughter visited them by herself at the age of 10 or 11.  My Mom sent me pictures of her by the pool.  It looked nice and they also sent me a photo of the front of the house, which looked cute.

When I finally took the leap to visit them (after more than 10 years of them living there), I was excited to see how a home in Arizona is decorated.  I’m not a fan of mock southwest decor.  I like rustic, but not the phoney stuff like couches we saw here in the Midwest for awhile with the zig zaggy southwest patterns on them.  That’s what I expected to find at my parent’s house.

But I was a bit let down

As I stepped into their nice foyer, I couldn’t believe my eyes.  There was the same couch they brought with them from Oak Lawn, IL.  At least the plastic seat covers were removed.  But this was not what I expected.  You can’t move old 70′s midwest furniture to a brand new house in Mesa, AZ, no matter how good the condition is.

And even though I wasn’t into home decorating as a child or teenager, I always thought our light wood dining room set was ugly.  Yet there it was, in all it’s unglory, in the formal dining room of this newer Arizona house.  I wouldn’t have known I was in the southwest once I stepped inside this house.  I guess I was expecting adobe and rounded archways and something of a bit of southwest architecture.  But what I got was a deja vu moment.

The family room was a little better.  Although I think they originally had the couch from the family room back home in IL, they eventually replaced it.  But they did have one of those southwest “paintings” hanging over the couch.  The nice brick/stone fireplace was the only real architectural delight inside.

Don’t get me wrong, the house was cute and I would have loved it.  The backyard gave me a taste of Arizona living with some nice big palm trees, stones and the pool, all surrounded by a brick and block fence.

Another thing my Dad couldn’t give up, besides the old furniture, was grass.  He had grass in the front of the house.  I was prepared for this since my Mom told me about it.

But my favorite memory was my introduction to their big, beautiful bougainvillea.  What a beautiful flowering shrub.  And this one flourished with my Dad’s loving care.

All in all, I was pleased with the exterior of their home as it brought a tiny sense of what I expected living in Arizona to be, but the old furniture had to go!  And it didn’t until Mom finally moved after Dad passed away.

But it wasn’t just my parents

After my parents moved to Arizona one of my Mom’s cousins moved there too.  When we visited their house I felt the same thing.  Old fasioned midwest decor in a new Arizona house.

Not too long ago when I had a Girl’s Weekend Away in AZ we stopped in at the house of elderly sisters that used to work with my friend’s Mom many years ago.  They actually had plastic covers on their heavy French provincial furniture.  Not a hint of southwest decor in that house!  It was like a museum!

So I guess you can take the old people out of IL, but you also get their furniture.

Note:  photo of bougainvillea provided by v.plessky

Posted in Intro by judyo  1 comment   

Driving in Arizona

One of the things I worried about in Arizona was the idea that Arizona was flooded with senior citizens driving the streets.  It’s funny how I was actually worried a bit after being picked up at the airport during my first visit.  I figured the drive to my parent’s house would be like trying to avoid a bumper car situation.

Visiting Mom with my son

My Dad was already gone.  Mom was alone, so it was always nice when family and friends would visit her.  My oldest son was almost as apprehensive about flying as I was, so the two of us were a good match.  Unfortunately, I needed an aisle seat and he preferred a window.  On the flight in we sat together.  On the flight back we chose our preferred seats and a poor gentleman sat between us, sometimes having to be part of our conversation.

Prior to the trip, we discussed our fear of flying and joked about it.  Everything went fine and we arrived at Mom’s with no problems.  Mom had bad knees and we knew we wanted to do some things without her and she understood.  She let us borrow her big caddy.  She thought I was driving it.

But as soon as we turned the corner in her cul-de-sac, we swtiched seats.  I hate to drive and my son loves to, so it worked out.  I just don’t think Mom would understand as he was still her “little grandson.”  He was about 25 at the time.

I’ll go into our travels in later posts.  I wouldn’t have thought traveling with my son could be so much fun, but we have a lot in common.

When all three of us would go out together, Mom would drive.  As we’re driving somewhere, Mom makes a left turn in front of an oncoming truck!  I screamed, “What are you doing?!”  She slammed on the breaks and screamed back, “I don’t know!”

My son and I joked about how we couldn’t wait to get back on a plane – because it was so safe!  The jokes kept coming about how smooth the flight was and that we didn’t have to worry about a geriatric flying in the sky.

My fears of seniors driving in AZ were validated, by my own mother.  I was able to order my first senior citizen meal over my New Year’s Eve trip to Scottsdale this year.  I better stop making jokes about “us.”

Posted in Intro by judyo     

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