Traveling Square Dancers: February in Cactus Gardens

Who We Are

We sold our home in June, 2007, and spent the next 7 1/2 years traveling full time in a Cross Roads Fifth Wheel. (We had been traveling during our summers for several years before going full time.) We loved the full-time lifestyle! Each summer we spent a month or two volunteering in State Parks, first in Indiana at McCormick's Creek State Park, near our family, then in later years as the grandchildren got older, at the Bluewater Lake State Park in New Mexico. We spent 6 months each winter at Cactus Gardens RV Resort in Yuma, AZ, where I worked mornings in the park office. The remaining months were spent on the road, seeing this great country of ours. Our favorite places are our National Parks. Anita loved photography and the freedom of digital photography, taking sometimes hundreds of photos in a day. We hiked as much as our legs will allow. We also really enjoyed square and round dancing as we travel across country, and meeting all the wonderful people who dance and/or travel.

But as in all things, there comes a time for change, and we decided it was time to create roots once more. In the fall of 2014, we purchased a home in Cactus Gardens, and in the spring of 2015, sold the 5th wheel. Anita also retired in the spring. We will continue to travel each summer, but for a shorter period of time. We hope to continue blogging about those trips, but it will obviously be on a more limited basis than in the past.

Please explore our past posts if you are interested in traveling this great country. You'll find an index in the left column. We hope you enjoy our blog, and appreciate all comments

Thursday, March 1, 2012

February in Cactus Gardens

The highlight of February each year for us is the Annual Square and Round Dance Festival. This year was special. Our Association was awarded the privilege of being one of Arizona’s Official Centennial Events. We had two very special festival events.

The California Heritage Dancers from San Diego provided demos of period dancing throughout our Festival. They were a huge hit with the crowd.

On Saturday, those dancer that wished to participate traveled across town to the Yuma Territorial Prison for a special dance. In the past decades, the Yuma dancers had danced there quite often.

Ron’s foot would not permit him to dance, so he took pictures when I had the chance to get into a tip. Here my partner is President, Tom Mannan.

Even though we couldn’t dance much at Festival, it was still a good time.

If you would like to see the complete write up with all the photos, it is here: Celebrate Arizona’s Centennial Festival.

Bernice’s two sisters, Beverly and Shirley came to Yuma for a week’s visit. We decided to have a Pizza party with them and our Thursday night pool group. The day of the pizza, the weather turned off cold, and got colder as the afternoon wore on.

It’s unusual to see pictures taken in Yuma with this many coats showing.

How cold was it? Cold enough that Bernice passed out blankets! :-)

Everyone forgot the cold when the pizzas arrived. We later introduced the sisters to Pool 101.

Ron has lunch waiting for me each day when I come home from work. This year he surprised me several times with a picnic lunch fixed, and a different city park in mind for lunch.

One took us to the Robert J. Moody Demonstration Garden. Run by the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, it is a delightful little garden filled with pathways, vegetable beds, artwork and more.

The second Can-Am games were held at Cactus Gardens in February. Several activities ran concurrently in the park to raise money for Special Olympics. At the end of the 2 day event, not only had it been a lot of fun, but more than $3,000 had been raised.