Scottsdale

What to do today?  After reading the 2012 Official Visitors Guide we decided on Mesa Grande Ruins Cultural Park, where you can see 700 year old pueblo ruins.  These ruins have been under preservation and development for the last several years and the guide said visitors should be able to walk the interpretive trail on Fridays and Saturdays Feb 11 - May 15 from 10am to 3pm.

Mesa Grande Pueblo Ruins

 When we arrived there we found the gates locked, nobody around, and no signs identifying the place (other than a plaque saying that it is listed in the National Register of Historic Places).   So we walked around the outside and took a few pictures through the fence.

Gates Closed

Well, where to next?  Hole-in-the-Rock at Papago Park.  People like to climb up and stand in the hole.  There are hiking trails taking you up the back side and into the little hole.  We hiked up to the hole but after that we decided it was too hot to continue hiking so we left.

Hole-in-the Rock

View Through the Hole

People Hanging Out Inside the Hole

Old Town Scottsdale was just a few miles away, so we went there.  It's a very clean, well-kept-up old town.    We were impressed with the amount of FREE parking, not something we are used to finding in these places.  We walked about and enjoyed the souvenir and some rather upscale gift shops.

Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona

We stopped for a $5 scoop of spumoni Gelato.  It was good, a mixture of vanilla, almonds, cherries, berries, pistachio nuts, and chocolate...yum. 

Spumoni Gelato

Street performer, posing as a cowboy statue.

Scottsdale also has a courtesy trolley, free to riders, that takes you around Old Town as well as around the rest of the Scottsdale downtown area.  It's not the usual "tour trolley", so there is no narration.  We hopped on for a free ride around the entire route and back to Old Town.

Courtesy Trolley at Scottsdale

It was getting pretty hot, so we thought we should head back to make sure Marble was ok. She was fine, but we did run the air conditioner for a while when we got there.

 We have moved to Mesa Regal RV Resort in Mesa.  It's right next door to the Towerpoint Resort where Shirley lives.  Mesa Regal offered a discount, while Towerpoint did not offer it for January, February, or March or we would have gone there.

Mesa Regal
Our RV is on the left side,
you can see some of it under the first orange tree.