thinking about Arizona next year

You guys are making me laugh!

Well, they'll be making fun of us some day. Hopefully.
:)

fulltimedaniel wrote:
This is the second year I have spent part of the winter in AZ. I have spent time in both the Phoenix area and Tucson and prefer Tucson far and away over Phoenix area.

Florida is really just one big tacky tourist strip mall.(oh yes there are nice areas but bring serious money)It is crowded and don't be there at Spring Break. People drive their Golf Carts to water their plants.

Deliver me from all of those planned "Activities" so many parks think are so wonderful. I'll take my bike on a ride or go hiking or do a project on my trailer.

I think many parks just are stuck in the "Lawrence Welk" generation mindset. (All those Ice Cream Colored suits and dresses and all that Big hair! All sprayed into concrete submission) That was my Grandmothers idea of a good time...not mine.

I'm, with the OP. My brother goes to Fla every year rides his golf cart and basically does nothing...I told him the other day on the phone if he wants to see his next birthday (81) He'd better get out of that GC and Walk to get the mail.

I couldn't agree more. We've stayed in a few of those "Lawrence Welk" type parks because of location to hiking, ATVing or Jeeping. We're not young by any means, but it seems that most parks are a generation behind us. Yes, we are old hippies that went straight for a few decades and led respectable lives. We are sometimes greeted with interesting looks as we load backpacks and lace up our hiking boots. We really get some strange looks when we don our riding tights and take off out the back gate for a ride in the desert. My replaced knee and the wife's soon to be replaced one is the result of thousands of miles of running and hiking rather than overweight and lack of activity.

We get more than a few laughs watching some of the women parade around in full war paint, dressed to the nines, bedecked in jewelry, smelling to high heaven of perfume and sporting lavishly quaffed hair. The highlight of the day is some parks is the parade of golf cars just before happy hour. Hubby loads the wife and rat dog up a takes a tour of the park. Oh well, to each their own.

This is the second year I have spent part of the winter in AZ. I have spent time in both the Phoenix area and Tucson and prefer Tucson far and away over Phoenix area.

Florida is really just one big tacky tourist strip mall.(oh yes there are nice areas but bring serious money)It is crowded and don't be there at Spring Break. People drive their Golf Carts to water their plants.

Deliver me from all of those planned "Activities" so many parks think are so wonderful. I'll take my bike on a ride or go hiking or do a project on my trailer.

I think many parks just are stuck in the "Lawrence Welk" generation mindset. (All those Ice Cream Colored suits and dresses and all that Big hair! All sprayed into concrete submission) That was my Grandmothers idea of a good time...not mine.

I'm, with the OP. My brother goes to Fla every year rides his golf cart and basically does nothing...I told him the other day on the phone if he wants to see his next birthday (81) He'd better get out of that GC and Walk to get the mail.

Paleo Ron wrote:
Well, to each his own. I stayed in Yuma for 3 nights in a "Resort", which didn't even offer a picnic table, just a gravel parking lot with big B busses on either side. A younger crowd?? Most of the people there were, I'm sorry to say, bordering on senility. Driving around in their golf carts. I hope they don't think they were camping. I couldn't wait to get out of there. And the only trails were to the washrooms at Walmart.

Travel around the state, do a scouting mission, and make up your mind. Good luck. (OK now I'll have a beer and calm down.)

This is what a closed mind looks like. Having spent 4 years in the Yuma area, every comment he made outside the actual conditions of the park he stayed in, is false. The average age of the folks in our park and surrounding area is in the low 60's and they are far from senile. There is hiking galore within a 20 mile radius, jeep trails for many thousands of miles, A simple 2± hour drive can take you to the best of anything you want and Mexico is at our doorstep. The BEST thing is that we do NOT have the hordes of people and the traffic you will have to deal with in any of the metro locations he is touting.

Any location is what you make of it and painting false info is what gives people a negative attitude before they arrive.

Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort in Casa Grande , AZ. Check out their website for the dozens of activities available.

Gee Ron, maybe Snowbirding isn't your thing. Glad to know you will never age. When staying for long term, we don't want a rickety picnic table, we have our own table and chairs for entertaining where everyone is comfortable. Our motor home isn't for camping, we RV. You don't like it, ok go do your thing, just don't cast dispersions on a style you don't understand. SMH

Well, to each his own. I stayed in Yuma for 3 nights in a "Resort", which didn't even offer a picnic table, just a gravel parking lot with big B busses on either side. A younger crowd?? Most of the people there were, I'm sorry to say, bordering on senility. Driving around in their golf carts. I hope they don't think they were camping. I couldn't wait to get out of there. And the only trails were to the washrooms at Walmart.

Travel around the state, do a scouting mission, and make up your mind. Good luck. (OK now I'll have a beer and calm down.)

The last three posts revived a more than two year old thread from which the OP has obviously moved on. Thank you for your input.

I wouldn't recommend Yuma or Casa Grande for the younger, active crowd. It would either be Tucson or the greater Phoenix/Mesa/Apache Junction area.

Hey OP... Your tastes are similar to ours. No Bingo, line dancing etc. We've spent the last five winters sampling various places. The Apache Junction are has lots of easy to moderate hiking in the Lost Dutchman State Park and in the Superstition Wilderness. It is close to lots of movies and shopping at the Signal Butte shopping center. Can't comment on the breweries.

Justin's Diamond J backs up to lots of very easy walking. Negative, it is lousy for shopping, movies, etc. in the vicinity of Justin's. Lots of things to see and do in Tucson. Great museums etc.

Yuma has very little in the way of hiking. Lots of sight seeing. Have to drive a bit for shopping and movies. If you have a car with moderate ground clearance there is a ton of easy desert drives. If you have Jeep, the possibilities are endless. California is just down the road with more sightseeing and some hiking. Again, can't comment on the breweries.

Very little hiking in Casa Grande. They all come to AJ.