Oh What a Night!

We had quite an exciting evening Sunday for us old folks.

I'm happy to report that we are all okay.

But let me start at the beginning.

Six couples boarded the Metra train in Mesa.

"The Victims"

We were headed to the Symphony Hall in Phoenix. It was just a half a block away from the train stop.

This lady was standing outside of the Hall, singing her heart out, trying to earn a little money on the side. I'm surprised the dogs weren't howling.

We were at the symphony hall to hear "Feelin' Groovy",  a concert of the 60's and Simon and Garfunkel music. A four piece band, called "The Piano Men", led by Jim Witter, (lead vocalist, guitar, piano)

played, backed up by the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra.

Ian Tanner, (guitar, piano and vocals), arranged ALL the music for the orchestra AND the band.

The conductor, Joseph Young, was only 28 years old!

It was a wonderful concert. Both Jim and Ian have great voices, and when they harmonized, they sounded just like Simon/Garfunkel. Sometimes Jim would start singing a song, just strumming the guitar, and the pureness and richness of his voice echoed off the great walls of the hall. Then the orchestra would start up and the music was so powerful; it gave me goose bumps and brought tears to my eyes.

If you ever have a chance to see these guys perform, I would highly recommend them. They also do a show called, "The Piano Men" and play songs by Elton John and Billy Joel. Click here for their website.

Watch this video showing clips from a recent concert; of course, without a full orchestra backing them up, and without being there in PERSON, you don't quite get the FULL effect, but I think you'll enjoy it.



After the concert we ate dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory.

The food was pretty good. So with our bellies full, our mood pleasant from that wonderful concert, we were all set to go home and relax. We walked right across the street from the restaurant and hopped back on the train towards home.

Four stops later is where the trouble began.

The train had stopped at a station, but then waited for an extra few minutes before leaving.

The female conductor apologized for the delay but said that "we had to wait here for a few minutes."

We waited.

And waited some more.

The conductor again apologized for the inconvenience of the delay.

We waited.

I figured that something had happened to a train in front of us on the line.

Then the conductor announced that the police informed her to hold our train.

Oookay.

With that announcement, a handful of people got off. They looked like students from the local college (ASU) Arizona State University. Hmmm.....I wondered if they had any pot in their backpacks!

All of a sudden several police boarded the train and walked through the three cars, looking at everyone and saying hello.


Then they got off.

Then they came back on, looked around and got off again.

We looked out the windows and noticed that the street was blocked off with squad cars on both sides. Something was certainly up.

Then they came back and announced, "Okay. Everyone has to get off the train. You must leave EVERYTHING here. Your purses, bags, whatever. Do NOT take anything with you. Do not worry about them. They will be okay. The only people on the train will be police officers. Please exit now."

We exited the train, and a couple of officers led us across the street.

But that wasn't far enough AWAY.

We had to walk down the block and into a parking lot.

It seems that a "suspicious package" was reported on the train, and the police were taking it VERY SERIOUSLY and EVERY PRECAUTION.

There was a handful of police trying to keep the crowd together in the parking lot so that no one would wonder off, because, conceivably, we were all suspects, right?

The Sargent  announced that they were bringing in a (bomb-sniffing) dog from another town, and it would take 10 minutes or so to get there. So there was more waiting.

I don't think the general mood of the crowd was overall fear. I mean, don't get me wrong, I was scared at times, but once we were away from the train I figured we would be okay. Until my friend said, "Sure, they're checking our items on the bus, but what if one of us has an explosive strapped to them?"

Well, that got me to thinking!

There were many young people who I assumed were from ASU; a few talked to us old folks. It's funny when strangers are thrown into a situation and how you start to feel a camaraderie, right?

This one young man had boarded the train at the airport stop with a large suitcase and backpack. He sat directly across from us and smiled a few times at us. He ended up standing near us in the parking lot and I struck up a conversation with him. He had just returned from going home to New Jersey from spring break. He seemed like a nice guy.

Some of my friends were talking to other students, too.

But I noticed this one guy who kind of gave me the creeps. He was tall, thin, black and stood real close to us, but didn't say a word. Didn't join in the conversation, didn't smile, laugh, nod his head, NOTHING. Just stood there with a sour look on his face. He had on a sweatshirt that was zipped up. It wasn't baggy, but there were a few bumps underneath.....and my imagination went wild. I thought....could he have something strapped to his body? (It was probably an i-Pod!) Was he waiting for the right moment? Why was he standing so close to us?

An officer announced that he wanted us to stand in line, and they were going to take down information about us. Three officers stood ready and waiting. Some people lined up right away, while others milled around. One young black man, whom I assumed was also a student since he was wearing an ASU T-shirt, a cool fedora hat, and jeans, left the paved parking lot and walked up on the gravel and sat on this low wall that ran along one side of the parking lot. He was talking to a couple of kids that weren't part of our group.

All of a sudden one of the police officers spotted him and yelled, "Hey, you! On the wall! I see you trying to ESCAPE! Get over here! NOW!"

The kid jumped down off the wall and immediately came over to the officer.

Again the officer said, "I see you trying to escape! What part of  'Stand over here' don't you understand?!"

The young man protested, "I wasn't trying to ESCAPE! I was just talking to those kids."

The policeman went on to say, "I'm trying to do my job here and I need you to listen. Now let's see your ID."

The kid was smart enough to keep his mouth shut and showed his ID. I was pretty tense at this point because I could see this easily escalating into something ugly.

I don't know if the cop was coming down on the kid extra hard because he was black, or was he really just doing his job in a serious situation?

The police wanted to see some ID from all of us, which was ironic since half of us left our ID's on the train. We didn't know if they were going to run our names through the police computers or what. We couldn't imagine how long THAT would take.

Some of us women had to go to the bathroom so bad, and when we told the officer he informed us that there were NO BATHROOMS around. I suggested that we make a big circle facing out, and one of us stand in the middle and do our business. It was going to have to come to that pretty soon.

Finally an officer said he would escort some of us to the nearby movie theater, but right then we got the all clear to get back on the train.  I was feeling better as we walked back down the block - that is, until I saw a policeman with a MACHINE GUN on a tripod, aiming towards a four-story parking garage across from the train - just in case something happened!

We were told to line up outside of the train car we had been sitting in; then the police would let us in one by one. I stood next to Jim in line by our appropriate car. I turned to my left, and standing THISCLOSE to me was that tall black guy.

Geez! My heart skipped a beat. I thought, "Why is he standing so close to me?" I pictured him throwing his arm around my neck and yelling that he had a bomb, and that I was going to be a hostage or something. Plus, he sat in the front of the car, so why was he coming in the back door by us? I immediately scooted over to the other side of Jim and whispered I was scared of that guy.

The police monitored each of us as we got on the train.

We checked our belongings and everyone said that everything was there.

FINALLY, we got the go ahead to pull out of the station.

A few stops later, the young student from New Jersey stood up to leave. He turned and gave us a big smile. "Goodbye!," he called out.

"Have a good night!" I said.

We finally made it back to the park at around 9:00 pm. We were SO happy to be home!

I found out the next morning that someone on our train had texted a friend and used the word "explosion". The friend misunderstood the text and called the police thinking there were explosives on the train. The police had to treat it like a real threat.

It was a night I won't soon forget!

A Windy Day in Fountain Hills Part Two

In my last post, I left you at Fountain Hills, AZ, where my sisters and I were walking around the lake on a WINDY day. Unfortunately the fountain was turned off due to the high winds. The flags were really flapping at the Veteran's Memorial as we passed by.

This mural ran along the wall on the other side of this building.

There were some shops along the path and we stopped in for some ice cream. We were delighted to find that they only had gelato. Just look at how gorgeous AND delicious this looks:

And believe me, it tasted as good as it looked!

We browsed through a gift shop and I noticed a picture of this horse statue that we had passed on the way into town that I had wanted to get a picture of.

I asked the man at the register, "Can you tell me where this horse is located?"

He looked at me a little oddly and said, "Yes, it's go right out that door and it's in the parking lot!"

He pointed to the door opposite the one we had come in.

I let out an embarrassing laugh and said, "Thanks!"

Here is "The Horse", made out of recycled material.

Now I will show you close up of sections of the horse. You will be amazed at what you will find!

Let's start at the head, shall we?

I see a bell, metal hinges and knives. I read somewhere that there are actually 20 hairs from an old lady's chin on the horse's chin. I wish I knew about that BEFORE I went there! There's an old road sign.

The two wheels and metal frame are from an old baby buggy. The large white piece is an old washing machine. Is that an old vacuum piece?

This is the belly of the horse. You can get a better look at the washing machine. Underneath and to the left is a faucet and metal soap dish. Above and to the right are three bells.

The back end was quite interesting with a hand mixer, coffee pot, tractor seat, ladle and pot lid.

The tail is a fender from a car with forks attached on the bottom.

I only took one picture of the other side of the horse.

There is a tea kettle, shoe stretcher, bedpan, toaster, another hand mixer, safety pins and faucet. I found the more I stood there and stared, the more items I found.

Here's another gem.

I thought this horse was quite a wonderful addition to all the sculptures in the town. It really WAS a piece of art. Here it is again in one piece.

By the way, here is a picture of the fountain when it is working. This was taken a couple of years ago when we had visited Fountain Hills Park.


I'm hoping to post on the Variety Show within a few days. I was waiting to get a video tape from Jim's act so I could post it. Believe me....the wait is worth it!

A Windy Day in Fountain Hills

One day I wanted to take my sisters to the nearby town of Fountain Hills. It is famous for it's huge man-made fountain. We decided that we would go out to breakfast, see the fountain and walk around, then make it back in time to grab some rays by the pool.

I searched on the internet for restaurants in Fountain Hills, and found one with great reviews, including breakfast. I wrote down the directions to the restaurant and then drove to pick up my sisters. They were staying just a few blocks from me.

It was cool that morning, maybe in the high 60's, and very, very WINDY (forecast of gusts of wind up to 28 mph), but the sun was shining and I was spending time with my sisters, so all was good.

We got to the town of Fountain Hills, no problem. I was following my written directions to the restaurant, but I thought maybe I had passed the street I was supposed to turn on because we were talking. I felt I had driven too far, so I made a U-turn with Big Blue into a side street (not an easy feat in itself), and my sister, Linda, whipped out her i-Phone, got up the GPS, and reassured me that I really didn't pass up the street. In fact, it was only a couple blocks away! I headed back in the same direction I was originally going and we found the restaurant right away.

Only one problem.

It was closed.

Yep. I made sure that the restaurant served breakfast, but I didn't make sure they were OPEN. It was a MONDAY and they were closed. Say what?

Back to square one.

Linda again searched on her phone and found another restaurant. She guided me there. It was located in a shopping center. I pulled into the lot and parked. We walked up to the restaurant and noticed......it was CLOSED. ON MONDAYS. Agrrrr!

Was Fountain Hills closed on Mondays?

Linda called two other restaurants and it sounded like their phones were out of service.

We were really getting discouraged. We KNEW there was a Denny's Restaurant in town, but we were hoping to try something different.

I saw a man walking across the parking lot so I quick jumped out of the truck and approached him. I asked him if he was from the area (eyebrows wiggling!) and he assured me he was (although he spoke in a heavy Scottish brogue!). I told him our dilemma of finding a restaurant for breakfast and he pointed to one just down the road called Phil's Filling Station. I thanked him and climbed back in the truck.

We found Phil's AND IT WAS OPEN!

SCORE!

The food was delicious and the coffee mugs were large. Our waitress was sweet, efficient and I loved her New York accent!

She told us, though, that if the wind was more that 10 mph that the fountain would NOT be turned on.

It just didn't seem to be our day!

We went to Fountain Park, anyway. I parked the truck on the street, grabbed my camera and the bread for the ducks and we got out and battled the wind.

Fountain Park was built in 1970 and includes 35 acres of turf, 33 acres and 1 million gallon lake, a world famous fountain, 18 hole Frisbee golf course, children's playground, restrooms, and picnic area with tables.

The fountain usually runs every hour on the hour for 15 minutes and shoots 330 feet in the air with only two pumps working. On special occasions with all three pumps running, the fountain can reach the height of 560 feet!

Despite the winds, my sisters and I decided to walk the path that circled the lake. There are many sculptures around. This one is called "An All Day Job".

Here is that same sculpture, but with my sister, Ann, attached. I didn't realize when I took the picture that it actually was the back of the statue. I just knew it was better light. Look at Ann's hair standing straight up - that's how windy it was!

We fed some of the ducks. There seemed to be an abundance of American Coots. Talk about an "odd duck"! These little guys have white bills, red eyes, and very weird feet. Not webbed like most ducks, but "scalloped", looked like they were made from scales or shells.

Some other ducks got mixed into the group

What kind of ducks are these?

Some more sculptures around the lake:

"Lovers"

I love this one of a little boy feeding crackers to the ducks, with one hand in front and one hand in back. This one is called, "Quackers".

Various views of the park:

The mountain with the "square" rock on top is called Red Mountain.

McDowell Mountains in background

Along the path were these two metal columns. You must be able to purchase a "leaf" and have it engraved.

TO BE CONTINUED.......

Views from a Mountain

Another place that we took my sisters was South Mountain Park. According to Wikipedia, "South Mountain Park, in Phoenix, Arizona, is the largest city park in the United States, one of the largest urban parks in North America and IN THE WORLD."

The park covers a mountainous area of over 16,000 acres of land, with 58 miles of trails for cycling, hiking and horseback riding. The park was originally called Phoenix Mountain Park when President Calvin Coolidge sold 13,000 acres of land for $17,000 to the city of Phoenix back in 1924. It has expanded since the 1970's and 1980's.

On the drive into the park we saw this sign. I always love these, being that we drive in Big Blue.

 
I'm not sure what this building was originally used for (I think administration), but it was built by the CCC, Civil Conservation Core back in the 1930's. I love the texture of the brick and how this building was built.

The restrooms were right next door to this building. We continued on our way up Summit Drive to get to the top of the mountain.

We could easily see all the towers for the radio and TV stations and cell towers sitting at the highest point.

This is Dobbins Lookout, at the top of one of the peaks of South Mountain.

That tall metal structure in the middle of the lookout shows the various points of interest like mountains and cities.

This is the city of Phoenix through my zoom lens. That is a combination of haze and smog hanging low over the mountains in the background. It used to be that people came to Arizona because of the clean, dry air. Well, not anymore! The air is still pretty dry, but there is a lot of pollution!

Another view from Dobbins Point.

The airport was in the distance and we could see the planes taking off. A little to the left of this picture was this cool shelter made of rock.

Inside the shelter

Looking out from the shelter

Another view

Couldn't you just sit here for hours and just soak up the sun and scenery?

We drove to another viewpoint.

My sister, Ann, and Jim decided to walk a little bit down the path.

They didn't venture too far, because it was already getting hot. Here are my sisters and me:

Ann (l), me (c), Linda, (r)

We started the drive down the mountain and saw this ambitious bicyclist riding downhill at a good clip. The one white arrow is pointing to the curvy road that we had just driven on.

Now here's a REAL trooper. He's riding his bike UP the hill!

We also saw a paraglider coming over the mountain while we drove on by. Now that has to take a lot of talent, landing perfectly with all those saguaro, cholla, prickly pear, and barrel cacti around!

We got to the bottom of the mountain and had a wonderful picnic in the shade. The afternoon was spent in the pool.