St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery

A group of Sunscape RV Resort residents went to St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery. As you can see by the clothing, the dress code is a little strict. Hopefully my skirt wasn't too flashy. Now for the story of the monastery straight from their brochure. "In the summer of 1995, six monks arrived in the southern Arizona desert to establish St. Anthony's Monastery, carrying with them the sacred thousand-year heritage of the Holy Mountain, Athos. Since early Chrisian history, this steep and rocky peninsula in northern Greec maintained a direct link with the greatest monastic establishments of ancient Christianity in Egypt, Cappadocia, and Constantinople, thus preserving intact the wisdom of the Holy Fathers and the sacred tradition of the ancient Church. Today, the Holy Mountain consists of 20 independent monasteries and numerous sketes and hermitages, housing a few thousand Orthodox Christian monks from all over the world.
Elder Ephraim, a disciple of Elder Joseph the Hesychast, having restored and repopulated four Mt. Athos monasteries and having established several monastic communities in Greece and North America, transferred six Athonite monks to the Sonoran Desert in American to start a new monastery. Upon their arrival, the fathers began the necessary construction: building first the main church, living quarters for monks, a dining hall, and guest facilities. As the monastery expanded, more chapels were built; a vegetable garden, a small vineyard, citrus orchards, and an olive grove were soon to follow. An elaborate system of gardens, pathways, gazebo and Spanish fountains truly render the monastery and its extensive grounds an oasis in the desert."
This is the main entrance gate. Now to continue with the brochure. "The monastery is named after St. Anthony the Great, the renowned third-century ascetic of Egypt, "the father of monasticism". The main church, the catholicon, is dedicated to Saints Anthony and Nectarios the Wonder-worker, who is especially popular amoungst the Greeks. The monastery follows the coenobitic rule of monastic life. The brotherhood of over 40 monks and novices holds all things in common and follows a daily schedule of prayer and work under obedience to the abbot, their spiritual father. The monks daily program begins an hour or two before midnight with personal prayer time and spiriual reading, followed by the cycle of morning prayers and the Divine Liturgy. After a light breakfast and rest period, the monks begin their work day, attending to prayer and their tasks until evening. Tasks include, amoung others, grounds keeping, tending the various gardens, orchards, and the vineyard, construction, woodworking, publishing, food preparation and offering hospiality. The day ends with Vespers flowed by dinner and Compline."
Our first stop was outside the bookstore where one woman in our group was offered a skirt and scarf because she wasn't "properly" dressed. They have a supply of skirts and scarves for that reason. We were given some candy and water. This is the traditional kerasma (water and something sweet). A very young father lead us to St. Anthony's Church and told us about the monastery.
Although the largest of all the churches in the complex, it has the plainest exterior. You'll see what I mean as you scroll down through all the photos. During his talk, the father told us there are presently 100 Orthodox visitors staying there. Some of the visitors are families with children.


This is the top of St. Anthony's church. From the brochure: "Our daily services are conducted in this traditional Byzantine style, domed basilica church. "

An elaborate chandelier with a circular surround hangs from the church tower. Now back to the brochure, "Almost everything that you can see in here was brought in from Greece. No electric lights are used in the church except for the two fixtures over the round chanters' stands. The candles on the big brass chandelier, which represents the Heavenly Church, are lit on major feast days. The alter is located behind the curtain. "

"The hand-carved throne on the right is the Bishop's Throne." Just look at that beautiful piece of work! Notice the lion base.

Closeup of some of the wood workings.

This is the chandelier.

There are no pews in the church as the monks stand during services in these tall seats called stasidia. These can actually be used to stand or sit in two different positions. The seat, as shown, is in the high seating position. It folds forward for a lower seating position. The high arms help support the monks during the three to five hour services.
We continued our tour by walking through the main courtyard. From the brochure, 'The main monastery courtyard is formed by the monks' cells on the right, the women's guesthouse on the left and the adjoining housing complexes for visiting bishops, priests and men."

Across the courtyard is St. Nicholas' Chapel. We're just starting to see it here.

The back side of St. Nicholas' Chapel. "St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the patron saint of the sailors, is one of the most beloved saints of orthodoxy. The Divine Liturgy is sometimes held at St. Nicholas'."

The front entry. Notice the tiling on the floor and the beautiful brickwork of the arch.

The front of St. Nicholas' Chapel.

This building is a monk's house.

The orange grove was covered with netting.

Walking toward The Chapel of St. George. "The architecture of this chapel is typical of Romannia but again all the furnishings inside and all the icons were brought from Greece. Please take the time to appreciate the hand-carved iconostasis with its intricate, detailed story-telling figures."

The brick border and tiled pathways were very pretty.

Outside the Chapel of St. George.

Inside the ceilings were a work of art.

Another elaborate chandelier above a beautiful brick arch though which you can see the main section of the chapel. The first section is for non-orthodox visitors. The next room is for orthodox visitors and the front is for the monks and visiting clergy.

The chandelier in the main section of the chapel.

Some of the wood ceiling with stained-glass windows.

More of the beautiful wood ceiling.

Standing in the middle section looking toward the alter. You can see how intricate the carving is on the iconotasis.

Some of the detailed tile flooring.

The Bishops' Chair is just beautiful.

Closeup of the details.

Details of the seat.

The arm rests.

More of the multi-use chairs. There were many different carvings on the backs.

Here's what the seat looks like in the lower position.

Guesthouses.

We walked around the chapel and found this tower. We don't know if it is a bell tower or not.
More brickwork and gardens as we continued our walk.

St. Demetrios' Chapel is really small. Maybe 10 people can fit inside.

But the inside was pretty. Not as intricately carved as the other iconostatis but still pretty.

The woodwork on the outside was spectacular.

From the brochure; "Now let us answer the most frequently asked question: the significance of the three-bar cross. This is a traditional Orthodox cross, also called the Russian cross; the top small bar is the sign that was placed on the cross with the inscription "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews"; the second bar is for the hands. The bottom bar is the footrest; the reason it is slanted is this: the thief crucified on the right of Christ was saved, he went up to Heaven; the other thief went down to hell. Therefore, the right end of the bar points up to heaven and the left end down to Hell. "

More of the walk through the gardens.

Spanish fountain by St. Seraphim's Chapel.

There were even some rose bushes.

Occassionally we would see fake deer around as you can see by those at the foot of this cross. We thought they were tacky.

Bougainvillea is the most prominent flower in this area and it is beautiful. You can see me strolling along here.

Pinal County Historical Museum

Nolan and I visited the Pinal County Historical Museum that I had led a group of residents to a week before. I had told Nolan about it and he wanted to go.

.. Of course the displays of county history started with the pottery from 500 A.D. but we didn't start taking photos until the more current items. These intricately woven baskets were amazing.

Vases made of cholla (pronouced choy-a) cactus skeletons.

Three-legged table made of cholla skeleton.

Bookcase of cholla with stuffed gila monster.

Water fountain from an old school.

The two red boxes on the bottom were interesting. Chill Tonic and Swamp Root.

During Prohibition you could get a prescription for medicinal liquor.

Oh the elusive cure for fatness!

This is a combination high chair, potty chair, stroller and play table.

Read this for a chuckle.

Old office furniture and machines from the old courthouse.

There some very interesting things here. Like this Ediphone, precursor to the Dictaphone.

What wrong with this typewriter?

It has a regular QUERTY keyboard but it has two instead of one. There wasn't a shift key so the upper set is for upper case letters and the lower set is for lower case letters.

Now that's a different arrangement.

Then there were the times when you needed a portable. Just like a laptop today.

Another portable.

Sorry for the glare.

Just like today, if you have a famous name, it gets put on everything.

The museum has an extensive collection of bullets including some wooden ones.

Personal property in a home was taxed and this was one way to hide your radio. The electric cord ran up inside a leg and the speakers faced downward.

Notice the rolls of music.

No this isn't some torture devise. It's a hair curler from a beauty salon.

What this museum is most noted for is its Arizona State Prison Collection.

But before the gas chamber came the hangings. The rope from each hanging was kept and is displayed with a photo of the person hung.

These four guys wanted to be hung with the same rope.

I never saw this in the movies.

This is interesting.

Barbed wire collection.

WW II stories.

Yes POWs were brought to Arizona.

Cotton Pickin'

So we've posted photos of cotton bales along the roads before but today we saw more of the process.

I made a wrong turn but look what we found... a cotton field being harvested.

This is one of the cotton compactors that form the bales. The box is lowered to the ground before they start.

A belt inside the hopper moves the cotton to the edge where it drops into one of the compactors. The blue rail on tops of the red box is the actual compacting parts. It moves up and down plus pushes the cotton to the rear of the box.

Up close of the picker.

Here you can see the compactor in a different position. The hopper is being dumped in front of it.

The hopper operator sure dumped a lot of cotton on the ground. You can just make out the guy beside the compactor throwing some back into the box.

October Happenings

We had a Halloween party at the park but had poor attendance due to so many other things happening. Anyway here's some of the spooks out that night.

I planned to be a full bunch of grapes instead of a half of a bunch but this is all the coverage I got with 38 balloons. There were enough balloons there to make it hard to sit or do much of anything.

We put an entry into a Relay for Life fundraiser called "Dress your Banana Split". Creative people, huh? Do you understand the Addressed Banana? Addressed - a dressed. LOL We just thought we would take some bananas for kicks and all we used was a marker for our "costume". Yeap, the Siamese Twins were our contribution. Maybe next year we'll have triples.

Winter Destination

We got to Sunscape RV Resort by Casa Grande, AZ on October 1st. We were getting all set up and this is what I spot. Yep, a nail in the tire. Nolan was taking it off the next day so he could take it into town and he notices the tire across the way looks low. He pulls out the tire pressure gauge and it reads 30 psi. As usual we had checked them the morning of the 1st before we hit the road. The one with the nail in it was at 102 psi so we aired it up to 110 psi like it is supposed to be. All the rest were fine. Nolan took the one with the nail into town and they said it couldn't be patched or plugged so he bought a new one. Only $375! Yep these tires are expensive.
Once we got the second tire off, we found a nail in it. This one the shop was able to patch. During five years of living in our RV full-time, these are the only nails we've gotten in our tires.

Last spring we stayed on this RV site for two weeks and liked it so we rented it for six months this winter season. I didn't get the Activities Director job here until fall but it worked into our plans. As you can see, the site is on a corner.

Nolan got on top of the trailer and took some photos. We're in a lot that backs up to the outside so there's no one behind us. This is looking south.
This is just to the left of the previous photo. People walk their dogs around the outside of the fence.

This is the view to the west... in front of the trailer.
This is the front gate. Most residents have a card they swipe to open the gate but as an employee, I received a clicker. So much easier.

...As you drive past the Welcome Center, you can see the west side of the Clubhouse. Didn't take a photo of the front side so you'll just have to imagine it. LOL The saquaro cactus is a replacement. The much older, armed one that was there was toppled by wind last spring.

This is the east side of the clubhouse where a small separate building housed the post office.
Next to the Clubhouse is the Community Center. This is where events that need a sound system are held.
The pool sits behind the Clubhouse and beside the Community Center.

View of the pool from the road. Still seeing the back side of the clubhouse.

Inside the Clubhouse is seating for meals and card games. The kitchen is in the clubhouse and meals are served from it three times a week during the season.

One side room has a fireplace.

My office is also located in the Clubhouse. This photo is from my first day at work and I am in training. The air conditioning isn't working so it's probaby 80° or more in there. The a/c was repaired on 10/8/09.

This building is the Activities Center. Most card playing is done here. It also holds a library, a billards room, a weight room, a laundry room and a conference room.

Hoover Dam

...We crossed the Hoover Dam and hoped to get a good parking spot so we would walk back across it but parking for such a large rig was hard to come by and when we did find a spot, it was on quite an angle. So we just took some photos from where were were.

There's a clock for Nevada on one side and a clock for Arizona on the other side.

We were in parking lot #14 at the top of the hill.

Las Vegas, NV

..Due to the size of our vehicles, we didn't fit in the cheaper parks by Las Vegas so we had to stay at the Las Vegas KOA at Circus Circus. Even then we either didn't fit on their regular sized sites or their regular sites didn't have 50 amp electric. Since it was 100° when we rolled into town, we wanted the 50 amps so we could run both air conditioners.
Their sites are obscenely expensive but at least we had water pressure again.
The RV park we stayed at by Bryce Canyon National Park had this kind of water pressure. Showers were almost an ordeal when trying to get the shampoo out of the hair and the soap off of the skin.
After getting set up and waiting for the temperature to drop a couple degrees, we walked out to the Strip, bought some bus tickets and went out in search of free stuff. This photo was taken from the front top seat of the Deuce, a double decker bus that operates exclusively on the Strip.

....I really wondered how many gardeners are employed in this town after seeing the lavish gardens and landscaping at these casinos.

..We took the Deuce all the way to the end of the Strip to see the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. Erected in 1959, it was designed by a local resident.

Then we started walking back north on the Strip. Our first objective was to see the registration lobby aquarium at the Mandalay Bay. The walkway to the front of the casino led us by this waterfall,

and these elephants.

..The aquarium was easy to find but hard to take a photo of because of the windows behind it.

Notice the railed tram on the overhead tracks. It ran between the Mandalay Bay, the Luxor and the Excalibur.

..The Sphinx's body is the covered entry way into the Luxor. It's so hard to get a good photo of the neat stuff because of the cramped area it is all stuff into. We went inside the Luxor thinking we could see the slanted elevators but they are enclosed. We never did get back to it at night to see the World's Largest Light Beam that shines from its apex at night.

Some of the interesting architecture at the Excalibur. We were too early to see the dragons that appeared in the moats after dusk.

The New York, New York casino and hotel is supposed to resemble the New York City skyline.

Right down to a small scale replica of the Statue of Liberty.

...I think this is supposed to be a replica of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Two of my favorite guys! Well really only the red one because I'm not a peanut M&M fan.
There was an elevator inside the Coca-Cola bottle.

..Now that's a big bike!

The Eiffel Tower replica at the Paris Casino actually straddles the casino floor. Since the time was approaching for some of the nightly free events, we didn't go into it until the next day so those photos are later in this post.

Next stop was the Dancing fountains at the Bellagio. It was getting dark so most of the photos didn't come out but this one gives you some idea of how the fountains sprayed.

..You can just make out the higher shots of water. I bet they went up 50 foot! We also stopped to see the volcano at the Mirage and the pirate show at Treasure Island but our camera didn't like the dark and we didn't get any good shots.

.. The one show in Vegas that Nolan and I would really like to see. Just a couple nights before we got there, we saw a special on CMT that showed portions of his show.

..The Deuce's visual display of the route was wildly inacurate and I wasn't listening well enough to the announcements so we missed our stop at Circus Circus. We had to walk four or five blocks back to it. That wouldn't have been a big deal but we had already put on a few miles seeing the sites so our feet were hurting and we were hot. This is the Circus Circus portico. I'm surprised this photo came out so good. It was still 90° when we got back to the trailer.

..The next day we got up early to beat the heat. But that made us too early for some of the daytime free stuff. Oh well. Someday when we are rich (ha,ha,ha) we'll go back to see some of the shows. This is just another view from the front top of the Deuce.

This is the Conservatory at the Bellagio. At 14,000 sf atrium under a 55' ceiling, the displays change on a seasonal basis. This one was for Halloween and Thanksgiving all rolled into one. Lots of mums. The trees on the right had water falling from their upper leaves onto their lower leaves in a waterfall effect.

This is another water feature where water pours from the top, falls into the next cupped leave before overflowing to the next leaf. Very neat.
...Too bad this is so dark. This stump had an interesting face.

We really wanted a photo of the talking tree but the photos came out either too dark or washed out like this.

...We saw quite a few motor cops and a few bike cops. I had never seen motorcycles like this used by the police but they probably don't go off the Strip and out on the freeway.

Fountain in front of the Paris Casino.

Notice the details around the top of the building.

..We went inside the Paris Casino this time to see the hallways done up like the streets of Paris. All the shops looked like buildings and the ceiling was painted like the sky.

Nolan took this shot and I don't remember seeing this. I think it was by the Caesar's Palace Forum Shops.

This sculpture was definitely on the front of the Caesar's Palace Forum Shops.

There were lots of these portable billboards on the Strip. I really don't think the trucks hauled anything. They were pointed in the front and got wider toward the back.

This is what the Deuce buses looked like. They were all painted differently with advertisements for shows.

....I have several photos here of the Venetian's waterway and gondolas. You could buy a ride on a gondola but they weren't operating when we were there.

Look at the interesting driveway to the Venetian.

Must take some work to get these bushes to look like this.

...We went inside the Venetian to check out the painted ceiling. Very interesting murals but it was too dark inside for our camera.

Exotic cars for rent. I bet those were pricy.

Nolan found another show he would like to see. I say those bronze buns have been rubbed a lot!

Not really a Las Vegas thing but as we were leaving town, one of the enclosure doors came open on the highway. I think I must have noticed it shortly after it opened and, luckily, it wasn't damaged and no one was struck by it. There was a large area in the "V" area at an exit, so we stopped there to shut the door. From now on, those doors will be double checked before we hit the road.

Losee Canyon Trail

Since we had a day to spare, we went hiking in Dixie National Forest. We choose the Losee Canyon Trail that starts about three miles from where our trailer is parked. Two of that was gravel.

Map of trails in the area. Losee Canyon Trail is the one with the largest lettering. It's 2.9 miles and graded moderate. It's a multi-use trail open to bicyclists, horses and hikers.

Here's what the trail looked like as we started hiking. Notice how the trail is a little rutted here.

The trail crossed the wash 13 times. Looking up the wash.

Looking down the wash.

Here you can see how rutted the trail was for most of the way. It was coated in fine sand so, by the time we got done hiking, we were covered in it too.

There were a few colorful trees in the wash.

Sometimes the trail ran in the wash.

...We did meet three horses on the way back. Course after meeting them, there was new horse droppings on the trail.

Pink Ledges Trail

After having passed it six times, we finally stopped at the Red Canyon Visitors Center. We really just stopped to get some information about trails in the area since we had two days without plans. These two hoodoos are behind the visitor center. The brochure mentions them as, "Red Canyon's famous totems."

..The ranger suggested we walk the Pink Ledges Trail only he said we should start at the end and gave us an interpretive guide. The first stop was the Podunk Guard Station. The guide says stations like it were "once the seasonal residence of Forest Service Rangers. The winters were spent in town, but once the snow melted and work could be done in the field, the ranger or other employees would move into the guard station. The ranger's family might also spend the summer at the station." HOLY COW!!!! It's only about 10' square! That's tight quarters.

Info sign in front of the station

Inside of the station was a solitary bunk and chair,

with a stove for heat and cooking. Such a big table too.

...So we started up the trail and read the guide at every marker.

Different view of the totems.

Once we zoomed in on the totems, you could see trees were growing on that platform too. I wonder how long the one on the left has been sitting like that. It looks like it could fall any day.

What I loved most about the interpretive guide was the information about the different trees. It identified two needle pinyon pine, Douglas fir, Limber Pine and Ponderosa pine. I was trying to learn how to differentiate between them going by the clues in the guide. The coolest thing I learned is that Ponderosa Pine smells like butterscotch. It smelled so good I just couldn't quit sniffing.

Off in the distance is the Markagunt Plateau and cinder cones, the remnants of ancient volcanoes, which erupted within the last 10,000 years.

The guide says, "you will notice the black rock capping the distant red and white layers of sedimentary rock. The black rock is an igneous rock known as "basalt" and is evidence of a volcanic eruption event that occurred in the geologic past."

Looks like this hoodoo has an arm.

Ok, another interesting fact I've learned while visiting Bryce Canyon is that the yellow flowered bush in the foreground is called Rubber Rabbitbrush. Yep, you read that right. I guess Indians made gum from its pulverized wood and bark but livestock and wildlife only eat it as an alternative to starving in the winter. I guess you can make rubber from it too.