Settled in for the Winter

Casa Grande, AZ      (Click on Pictures to Enlarge)

We left the SKP Co-Op in Benson, AZ last Friday and drove two hours to Casa Grande to the Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort.  We made a reservation (sight unseen, I might add) last July while we were visiting Yellowstone Park.  A woman working the information desk for the NPS suggested we give this park a try after we told her that we'd like to "winter over" in AZ this year.  She has a permanent residence at Palm Creek and we found out later that they were running a "first time visitor" promotion which gave both the referring party and us a $100 per month discount during our stay.

We originally made a reservation for November 1st thru February 1st, but after only 4 days we've already decided to extend our stay for another month.  Although we haven't stayed in a lot of the really "high end" RV resorts across the county, we both agreed that this is the nicest one we've stayed in to date.

The maintenance is first rate and the landscaping here is beautiful.

I'm not going to list all of the amenities here (you can visit their website if interested), but I'll show a few pictures of the areas we've visited around the resort so far.

I know a few of our readers are golfers (sorry, I've never picked up a club), but I do love the looks of a golf course. The resort has an 18-hole course (which is also open to the public) and a pro shop.

There is literally an activity calendar which has events scheduled every day of the week.  The resort is a 55-plus community and I honestly don't know how us "old folks" can muster up the stamina.

Our first dealings with the resort, after passing through the gate, was check-in. There is plenty of space to stop, unhook our toad, and complete the very well choreographed check-in procedures.

We had a "ranger" lead us to our site via golf cart. Usually, I'm not too thrilled by this, but this resort is so large that it turned out to be very helpful.  I'll have to post pictures of our site and the variety of properties within the resort on a future blog (sorry, no pictures taken yet).

After getting the rig set up, we took a ride around the park on our bicycles. These will come in very handy over the next few months I'm sure.  For tennis players, there are 8 very nice courts.

Sixteen shuffleboard courts.

Ten horseshoe pits.

A lawn bowling green. I will admit that I know absolutely nothing about lawn bowling, except that the "diehards" here apparently take it very seriously and dress in a whole lot of white clothing.  I just like to look at the beautiful grass.

For dog lovers and owners there are four separate areas throughout the park to take the dogs for exercise and to do their "business".

The resort has a softball league during the winter months and outside teams also come in to play in tournaments.  The field is in better shape than any field I ever played on throughout high school. This view is looking toward home plate from extreme left field.

Main Swimming Pool

The central activity complex houses one of the two swimming pools and hot tubs (hear that, Paul?) plus a bistro, the resort's activity office, registration desk, and mail room.

Hot Tub



Registration Desk

Also in the area is a mail room, billiard room, and library.

Mail Room

Billiard Room

Library



 

I've saved the best for last.  Karen and I have found a new "addiction".  For those of you who have tried this activity, I think you'll agree.  The new activity is PICKLEBALL!  I had seen this played a bit at other RV places we'd stayed, but neither of us had even picked up a paddle, much less played.

 

Let me say that pickleball at Palm Creek is very big.  They recently built a beautiful complex (in 2012, I believe) that consists of 24 top notch courts. 

 

We've already taken a beginner's class (this past Monday) and purchased our own paddles. Yeah, we're sucked in! Many of the pickleballers haven't returned to the resort yet for the winter, so any type of organized playing doesn't begin until mid-November.  The good thing is that we'll get a chance to practice at our leisure without looking too uncoordinated when we begin playing in a few of the structured events.  WARNING!  Do not begin playing pickleball. Most who do, really enjoy it.  It is not only a great physical workout, but a great social event as well. Everyone we've met are anxious to help the "newbies".  There are people in their mid-80s playing pickleball here.  I say good for them!   Sorry, just realized that I was doing a PSA for pickleball. I'll climb down off my box now.

 

Casa Grande is located approximately midway between Phoenix and Tucson.  We haven't even begun to explore all of the sights we'd like to visit in these areas yet.  I guess it's a good thing we decided to add another month here.

 

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!