Valle del Oro, Mesa AZ

Wednesday was our last day in Tucson so we cleaned and packed up; yesterday was a travel day to Mesa where we will be staying at Valle del Oro which is “an age qualified community” for which John qualifies. We enjoyed our stay in Tucson and at the Beaudry RV Resort and we hope to return there someday.

The 130 mile drive from Tucson to Mesa was uneventful but there was a lot of traffic on I-10. When we arrived at Valle del Oro there was a block long string of traffic waiting to go out the main entrance, there is a ”Country Store” (flea market), here every Thursday and as one person put it “they come from all over the county”, when we arrived at the office to check in there were more people and cars and we were met by an employee who showed us to our site and asked that we come back later to register.

This park is very large with about 1,700 sites, if each site averages two occupants there are more people in this park than there are in our hometown back in Wisconsin; the park has it’s own Post Office in the main building. The good thing about a park this size is that there are a lot of amenities and activities; another nice thing about this park is that everyone is very friendly,  we have spent a lot of time yesterday and today talking to people and getting to know the park. We have learned that a person who works at our former employer just purchased a park-model home at Valle del Oro.

 

Our site at Valle del Oro.

 

Our street (77th Street).

 

A typical neighborhood is primarily park model homes.

 

Grounds near the activity center.

 

As mentioned above there are a lot of activities and amenities here, if you can’t find something to do you are not trying very hard. There is an activities buildings with rooms for leather craft, lapidary, a print shop, billiards, sewing, fitness center with machines and free weights, silversmith & lost wax room, music room, craft room, computer room, library, a beauty salon and massage spa, jewelry making, games rooms, an RC plane club and a wood shop. There is an activities director and something is planned each day including live music and entertainment, special meals, hiking, baseball, tennis, shuffle board and horseshoe tournaments. The famous Sheriff of Maricopa County Joe Arpaio is scheduled to speak here in the main ballroom on February 24 and we already have our tickets.

 

Today there was a baseball tournament, games all day at the ball diamond.

 

Two of the tennis courts.

 

The patio is used for special events and meals.

 

Pool and hot tub.

 

Separate lap pool.

 

Shuffle board park.

 

Horseshoe area.

 

A small portion of the garden railroad layout, a club maintains it and runs the trains.

 

Bocce ball courts, John and Sandy stopped for a quick game.

 

A small portion of the wood shop, there are separate rooms for the laths, finishing and wood storage. There is a lot of help available (in red aprons), users are certified before they are allowed to do any projects.

 

The main reason we chose Valle del Oro was to visit some of John’s family that live in Mesa. Unfortunately John’s aunt had been ill and couldn’t travel, we hope that they will arrive a few days before we leave in two weeks. We also wanted to visit a cousin who owns a house in Mesa but they have sold their house back in Wisconsin and will be there to empty the house and close the sale, Barbara stopped and visited last night but flew out today, they also plan to return to Mesa before we move on.