We have been staying in a RV park in Mesa, AZ one of the many towns that have been absorbed into the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Mesa Spirit RV park, like many in this area, is primarily a 55+ community but the rules here are a little less strict than others. It is huge ,with about 1200 sites, which means there are probably about 2500 people staying here. This is only one of many sites around Mesa – it has a large itinerant population, a large percentage of which seem to be Canadian snow birds. The facilities are fabulous – 2 large pools, 4 spas, shuffle board courts, tennis courts and several halls. There is also a fantastic range of activities every day; such as bingo, crafts etc. Both of the grown-up Hoblets see the attractions of this in later life, a community of similar spirited people. ( Did Mark mean me here? I'd rather wither than be caught playing Bingo!!K)
Our time in Phoenix has not had as many agendas as previous places we have visited. We did find a dancing school for Mark & Karen; since leaving New York there has been little chance to carry on our dance education. So a number of private and group lessons are squeezed into the week. Another thing we had not managed to fit in was to keep Emily up with her soccer (football to the non-Americans reading this), but we managed to get her in a practise session with the Sereno soccer club girls team. This is one of the top soccer clubs in the country so it was great to pitch Emily in with one of their girls' teams. They have a number of professional coaches, Emily’s coach for the session is an ex-Bosnian under-18 international and we getting talking to another coach who is Scotsman called David Robertson who played for Glasgow Rangers and Leeds United in the 1990s. As you do is these circumstances, we talk to the other parents watching and get talking to one of the mothers who has a British husband who used to be a sports psychologist for UEFA and now provides services to the club! This is a really professional set-up but being in this club comes with a pretty hefty price – but you get the feeling most parents are looking at this as an investment as Sereno has a good records of getting girls onto soccer scholarships with colleges.Now you know our stance....football is for fun!Too much pressure and expectations can only hurt kids!
One thing that we missed doing in Wisconsin was to visit the home of the famous architect Frank Lloyd-Wright, Taliesin. Lloyd-Wright shared his time between his summer home in his native Wisconsin and his winter home in Scottsdale, Arizona. He built himself another home down here – which is imaginatively called Taliesin West. Karen has always had a passion for Lloyd-Wright’s work and Jack loves architecture so we decided to they should do the tour of Taliesin (which is pricey at $32 for and adult and $20 for a child), whilst Mark and Emily went off for some bonding time in the shops.
The tour lasts around 90 minutes and Karen and Jack see some wonderful things, try out some original FLWfurniture and discover a whole host of fascinating facts about FLW. Did you know he 'invented' aisle lighting? ..and recessed lighting? ...and built a small home theatre that was so well designed in a hexagonal shape that he and his wife could hear people whisper in the front row when they were seated at the back! He loved to hear the latest and greatest news and no-one knew they were being indiscreet!Jack loved the whole tour and at the end talked to our hostess to find out how he could apply to study at Taliesin. He would have to camp out for a year and undertake back breaking building schemes alongside his studies....but he thought all of this was a great idea! After Arcosanti and this trip...watch this space!
No comments:
Post a Comment