Doug & Gail Sweet finally kicked us out so we headed back east to spend some time with Ben and Bette Munger.
(Doug saying “You’re STILL here???) (Note: BLUE indicates video or music)
Ben and Bette live in Cave Creek, Az which is just north of Phoenix. Rather than back tracking we decided to go south to Parker and then east on “back” desert roads.
Parker Dam is what holds back the Colorado River to form Lake Havasu. Some pics of the dam. (These were taken from the California side so we weren’t technically in Arizona at the time…but don’t tell anybody.)
It is amazing to me that there can be all that water and yet it is desert right to the water’s edge. I understand climate zones and all that, but it is still amazing!!
After spending a few minutes talking to a couple from Colorado who are building a place in Lake Havasu, we continued our journey to Cave Creek. Strung out along the Colorado River are “oasis’s (oasii?) containing little settlements, mostly RV parks and at least one golf course. The golf course had holes on both sides of the road with tunnels under the road to play through. I wondered if you were supposed to hit over the road or try to hit the ball through the tunnels. I didn’t stick around to find out.
Our route took us through the La Paz Desert:
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Not much out there. We did, however, go through Hope.
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Then we were beyond hope.
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Some more desert:
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As we approached Cave Creek Mary became obsessed with Arizona’s State Tree. I had to edit hundreds of pictures of these things.
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Actually Arizona doesn’t have a State Tree as far as I know, but the State Flower is the Saguaro cactus flower. The Saguaro cactus is native to Arizona and is in abundance around Cave Creek. It grows to a height of forty to fifty feet and lives to an age of 150 to 200 years. So if it wants to be a tree, its OK with me.
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We arrive at Ben & Bette Mungers:
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This is Ben showing Mary some of the landscaping. They have a beautiful home surrounded by desert flora and fauna.
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I tried an experiment of doing more video at Ben & Betty’s:
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Front yard (remember blue =’s video)
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These are some pics of Ben & Bette’s back yard:
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Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes???
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B & B (Ben and Bette) took us in to Cave Creek/Carefree to see the sights. The first thing is the big pile of rocks just before town.
Not sure the significance of the rock pile but the locals paint themselves blue and sacrifice virgins there.. no wait that would be the Druids. Anyway the Cave Creek dwellers hold the pile sacred in some manner.
Hooked onto and intertwined with Cave Creek is the town of Carefree which has its origins in some sort of scuffle between the Cave dwellers back in the ’50s. So several of them moved across the road and established Carefree, Az.
Carefree has interesting street names and gives insight to the residents state of mind:
The first street sign pic is the corner of Nonchalant and Elbow Bend Rd in case you can’t make it out. There is also Ho Hum, Tranquil, Lucky, etc..
Stagecoach Village is a spot that highlights the economy right now. Built to take advantage of pre-collapse America it is like a modern day ghost town.
Stagecoach Village is sort of ‘tween Carefree and Cave Creek like a transition zone. Cave Creek is much more cowboy’d up.
Mary and horses videos: One, Two (Note the horse sunglasses.)
We had lunch at the Horny Toad, hot spot for the Cave dwellers:
Ben & I found these nice matching Zonie hats to make us look more Cowboy. Ben had been saying he was feeling a little out of place driving a Prius without a gun rack and having no hat. The hat we could fix. The Prius….
Some shots around Cave Creek:
I really can’t do Cave Creek justice with photos. You have to go there.
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Mary is seen here explaining to B & B that she would like to go to a real cowboy place to eat. So they took us to:
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Harold’s Corral, sorry no pictures from inside (not allowed) but I can tell you the food was very good and the table didn’t fall down after Ben fixed it. Just kidding about the “not allowed” thing. Not sure why I didn’t get any inside shots, it might have something to do with the friends B & B invited along Jeff & Jane (not real names) who were in the witness protection program.
Like all good things our time with Ben and Bette was nearing its end so Mary and I took a short walk around the neighborhood.
and watched the sun set one last time before hitting the road again.
Hey!! Wait!! That’s not how it happened! Ben & Bette LEFT us. Unlike the Sweets who finally had to throw us out, the Mungers just up and left, telling us to put the key under the rug when we decide to leave. I know we can be, maybe just a little, obnoxious and get on one’s nerves just a little but really are we that bad???
And away they go.
All kidding aside, we had a wonderful time with Ben & Bette and hope to look them up again next time we’re in Arizona. But we’re going to hide the keys.
Next stop Sedona and the GRAND Canyon.