Fri - Mar 9/12

Friday - time to head to Mesa Market Place Swap Meet.

This is a huge marketplace with 4 covered walkways and 1600 vendors. The parking area holds thousands of cars. From open to close there is a steady line of cars - often a quarter mile long, turning off Signal Butte Road onto Baseline Road and into the "Meet". One soon learns to get over to the right most of the three lanes as soon as you turn off US-60 onto Signal Butte Road. If not, getting  into the turning lane will only occur if you come upon a courteous driver. It is always packed.

We have been so often that we mostly go for specific items at specific booths. A mandatory visit is to the booth that sells bakery items. Here we pick up our weekly supply of Carrot, German Chocolate, Brownie, Lemon or Blueberry Cake (for dessert) and Raisin/Cinnamon, Apple/Cinnamon or Cranberry/Spice Whole Wheat bread (for morning toast). Today, being Catherine is here, we will do the whole market. If you do one side of an aisle at a time the walk will total about 2 1/2 miles. No matter - we always find something we didn't know we needed.

We arrived at the meet mid-morning. By the time we finished it was early afternoon. Time to eat. Catherine wanted to treat us to lunch so we took her to The Cheesecake Factory at Superstition Springs Center (Mall). This is one of our favourite eateries. Think of a type of food and major restaurant chain name and you will find it within a mile of  the Power Road Exit (188) on both sides of US-60 and all within 15 minutes of the Canyon Vistas RV Park.

Don't make the same mistake we made! For a long time we didn't go to The Cheesecake Factory because we thought it was a bakery where you could pick up a cheesecake as a take-out. This may have been the origins; however, today The Cheesecake Factory menu features more than 200 menu selections made fresh from scratch each day — using only the highest quality ingredients — which are combined to create our remarkable tastes. This is not a frozen, deep-fried menu! They will also modify your order to suit specific health or dietary needs.

Their generous portions are well presented in a welcoming atmosphere. The unique interior decor adds to the experience. The girls each had the "Thai Lettuce Wrap". They got to create their own Thai Lettuce Rolls using Satay Chicken Strips, Carrots, Bean Sprouts, Coconut Curry Noodles and Lettuce Leaves with

Three Delicious Spicy Thai Sauces – Peanut, Sweet Red Chili and Tamarind-Cashew which they thoroughly enjoyed. I had my usual - Steak Diane (Medium Rare) - Medallions of Certified Angus Beef Steak Covered with Black Peppercorns and a Rich Mushroom Wine Sauce. Served with Mashed Potatoes and Grilled Onions. This, as usual, was also excellent. We were sure to save a little room for dessert. Choosing one of 50 legendary cheesecakes and specialty desserts was difficult - we finally decided to share a Key Lime and a Tiramisu Cheesecake....Sinful!

A quick stop at Basha's across US-60 from the park entrance to pick up a few items on our grocery list that we somehow forgot to buy the other day.

We then relaxed in the RV. Needless to say supper was just a light snack - Ritz with cheese, pepperoni and pickle slices.

Tonight was "Variety Night" at the park. Each presentation in the eclectic mix of songs, instrumentals, dances, skits, anecdotes and humour received resounding applause and cheers from the audience. As usual the event was excellent! The show started a 7 pm and ended 2 1/2 hours later.

The emcee, who co-ordinated the event for the "umteenth" year, did an excellent job. Each participant was introduced with a small personal profile that included their hometown, the number of children, grandchildren and years married, years in the park and an anecdote or two. She sang well too!

The energy of the "Cloggers" made me tired just watching! Wow!

What "Cultural Event" would be complete without a "Poetic" reading. Another regular show participant related, in rhyme, the trials and tribulations of travelling in the winter from the "Cold North" to the "Valley of the Sun" - something all the RVers could relate to.

There were "Guest Performers" from another Cal-Am Park. Their lovely "regular" song was followed by a "comedy" song that put a hilarious take on the reality of ageing which all of the 55+ park residents could relate.

"Jerry",  the park's "Postmaster", began with poignant anecdotes of moments of "fear" in life (car accident, health issues, etc,) that all could relate to and ended with a humuorous rendition of Cinderella as read by a
person suffering from Dyslexia (impairs a person's reading fluency and spelling ability - the letters may all be there; but in the wrong order). "Rindecella and the Pransome Hince" was hilarious! Yes, There is a DOG!

The park's Activity Director joined the festivities with a humuorous ditty - excellently accompanied on the piano by another park regular who adds her musical talent to each Sunday's Ecumenical Church Service.

Another hilarious act was performed by "Grandma". The emcee acted as the "straight man" by posing questions to Grandma who was really a "2 person" act in which the "arms" (of the hidden person)  tried to perform the tasks of guiding food and drink to "Grandma's mouth. The "arms" also applying makeup, lipstick, etc to Grandma's face to demonstrate the beauty tips she would give to the audience. This picture depicts how to remove the "facial fuzz" that ladies seem to acquire with age.

Another perennial performer in the show is a long-time park resident from Utah who was dressed in attire traditional to his "Lakota" tribe. As most park members, he belies his age (80) and years of marriage (52). His presentation mixed information regarding his attire, the acquisition of the historic "Breastplate" and humuorous anecdotes and jokes with playing (self-taught) of a Native American flute. His music was hauntingly beautiful!

The show's "Canadian" content included a Vancouver, BC resident who's "Saxxy" music put us "In The Mood" (grin) with "Big Band" sounds of the 40's.

Another Canadian musician is also a park regular from Haliburton, ON. He not only entertained us with his accordian music; but had us laughing to his jokes and anecdotes.

They "Canadian Content" joined forces as the closing act of the Variety show!

Then all participants joined on stage for a bow. A thoroughly enjoyable show. What a busy. fun day!