Thursday, March 31, 2016

This 'N That From Scottsdale Arizona

Playing grandpa with grandchildren, three of the little critters under age nine, is special. Today, we visited The Railroad Park. What a beautiful place. There is a ground area with swings and slides. It's theme of being a railroad park is more than appropriate. A train, miniature of course, runs the grounds giving us a ten minute ride.

On the west side of the park is a 1300 square foot building containing a variety of HO gauge trains and adorned with many towns, vistas, mountainous scenery and interesting settings for all ages. For an old trainman such as I it brought back wonderful memories of when I was a brakeman on the Ft. Dodge, Des Moines and Southern Railroad working my way through college. If you're in the Phoenix area mark it as a place to visit.

Scottsdale is in itself unique. We have yet to see slum housing or buildings in disrepair. In other words it's more than upscale. As a dad I feel comfortable knowing my daughter and son in law are taking very good care of their offspring without fear of being victims of horrendous crime aka scumbags.

One more thing about Scottsdale. There are virtually no obese women in the City; zero, zip, nada. It makes lady watching a 'must do' activity. I have seen thirty overweight women and they were all pregnant.

One of my former teaching pals from our days in Rock Island, Ill. circa 1985 met us in a quaint community 60 miles NW of Phoenix with a name that sounds like Wickenburg but I know it's not because my brain has gone into hibernation. They now live in Parker, Az. on the Colorado River across from the most liberal state in America, California. Regardless, they happen to be the best of Christians and very conservative. The husband and wife have taught in the school district since migrating some thirty years ago. We had the opportunity to reminisce about the good old days when we were young, virile and handsome(or so we thought)

We, over nachos, were in a conversation about discrimination. The husband stated that with a school make-up in their school of 600 high school students they wasn't a problem. One third were Navaho, one third Hispanic and one third Caucasian. Everyone one of the kids got along famously. Doesn't this tell us all something? Remember when the government had forced busing? Idiots! Why not let human nature take it's course?

We leave for Dublin, Ohio on Tuesday of next week. As much fun as it is to get away it's a relief to sleep on one's own bed. Tuesday cannot get her soon enough. Besides, whoever came up with this idea of Pacific Coast Time should be drawn and quartered.

No comments: