There's no end to interesting cars...

As we were walking in our community (Venture Out) a few days ago, we saw this car in one of the driveways:

Impressive car!

A name on the back indicates "Zimmer". The license plate proclaims "My Candy"!

The car is parked on a corner lot which has a bit more parking space than other lots in the community.

And, we've done another thing!

On Wednesday, we closed on a park model in Venture Out in Mesa! 

You may recall that we purchased the park model next door to our RV lot in spring of 2024 (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2024/03/so-weve-done-thing.html). I mentioned then that, 

"We have also talked about eventually wanting to get a park model here for when (if ever) we decide we won't be RVing as much -- but we'd want a newer unit with a raised Arizona room -- well insulated and potential for being a year-round home."

We've been watching as properties come up for sale, looking for any property that met the criteria that we had considered as our "must haves" -- upper Arizona room, insulated for year-round living, 1.5-2 baths, facing north, east, or northeast, good-sized front deck, ideally on our current block. One came available in March that satisfied most of our criteria, though not on our block. We arranged to visit it and it "felt like home". We made an offer on it and so we are now owners of another park model. (This means that we now own 3 properties in Venture Out, one more and we can build a hotel by Monopoly rules!)

To clarify -- we're not giving up RVing; we're not selling Gracie. We *do* plan to move into the new-to-us park model for the season this fall/winter, just to see how we like it. We plan to continue traveling in Gracie during the late-spring/summer/early-fall months. We know that we'll miss our neighbors on our current block of 800 Douglas, but we're only a block and a half away on 900 Navajo, so we're hoping we'll still be invited to block parties!

It is a 2011 Cavco park model, and the Arizona room was built in 2012.

Pictures from the real estate listing:

Front of 911 Navajo -- the car belonged to previous owner -- from what we've heard, he gave it to a neighbor -- Carl thought he might like a Cadillac, but it was not included in the sale!

Another view of the front

Front deck

The front deck is not quite as large as we would have liked, but it is good enough to have 5-7 people on it, and we possibly could extend it.

One of the best features is the view out of the front of the house. There is an "island" as two streets make a "V" in front of us -- really pretty!

The park model has a front dining room -- we were thinking we wanted a front kitchen...

... but, in this floor plan, those windows in the front look out onto the street and the island, and we are thinking that we'll put our double computer desk there and have a view of all the folks going by in front of our house! Since it has a view of the outer street of our community, we think that a lot of people will pass by as many exercise by walking the outer ring.

The kitchen is in the middle of the park model...

... what is that next to the stove? Is it? Yes! It is! It's a dishwasher! Carl has said that he has had a dishwasher for as long as we've been married, and I honestly don't mind hand-washing the dishes, but it will be interesting to have a dishwasher (albeit a small one) again!

Beyond the refrigerator is a large (and very tall) pantry.

In the original format of the park model, there would have been a window over the sink, but since this unit was purchased with the plan to have an Arizona room added to it, the park model was probably built with the window closed in.

The bath in the park model (I guess this would be the master bath)

It has a stand-up shower

Bedroom. Our community only allows one bedroom units -- some have Murphy beds, and most have sofa beds.

Back wall of the park model 

Large closet. The bedroom seems smaller than even what we have in Gracie. It is big enough to walk around the bed, and we have space in other parts of the house.

Under-bed storage like an RV would have (and since there is no slide mechanism under there, there is a LOT of storage compared with Gracie!)

Moving to the Arizona room side of the unit -- living room in the front of the Arizona room.

Other side of the living room. Carl has his hopes set on a much larger TV with an electric fireplace underneath on that wall!

Looking toward the front -- the front window looks out on the front deck. Side window faces east (front of the unit faces north). You can see the edge of the front door on the left side of the picture.

Looking from living room toward the front into the dining room, you can see the front door on the right side of the picture.

The property listing identified this as a "craft" area. I am not certain how it would be used for crafts, but we're thinking that Carl's kombucha and fermentation can go onto the counter. And we're hoping for the ability to have places to store lots of things! Back door to outside is at the end of this hall room (barely seen on the left side of picture).

In the second bathroom, there is a full sized washer and dryer -- gorgeous!

Sink in second bath

Shower in second bath (doors for the washer/dryer to the left)

Back door (exits from the hall room / craft room). Small back deck. Door on the right side of the deck is into the shed / workshop. We are thinking that we will need to put a railing up on the edge of the deck above the steps.

Shed/workshop - nice worktable and deep sink. You might be able to see a step on the floor on the left side just where the door is opened -- if you open the door from the back deck, there are 3 steps that go down into the shed / workshop, and then there is this door through which the picture is being taken from the back yard. Having two doors into the shed area takes away storage capacity, so I suspect we will build shelving over the area where the back deck door is located.

This picture is from the back deck door -- you can see the steps going down. The only advantage that I can think of for this door is that, if it were raining, you could get from the house into the shed with most of the path being under a cover.

Back area between houses (back door of the shed is to the left). Yes, the houses are very close to each other!

Air conditioning unit

Post-closing staged pictures...

Unlocking the door...

... new-to-us unit

Ready to go in!

 

We have a few things that we want to move in before leaving Venture Out for the season. We're excited to own and live in our first house together!

Celebrity Solstice - day 18 - disembarkation day - Honolulu - part 2

We continued walking to Waikiki Beach...

Selfie with Diamond Head (and other tourists)

Selfie with surf at Waikiki Beach (and other tourists)

Another view of Diamond Head

Looking down the beach toward Diamond Head

All the colors of blue and blue-green!

We had walked down to the edge of the water to take those pictures -- we wanted to find a place where we could sit down and have a cold drink...

... but the view from the tables at the hotel were all of umbrellas and chairs!

We kept on walking down west down the beach...

... still lots of umbrellas!

We stopped at the Sheraton -- they have an infinity edge pool overlooking the ocean -- lots of people in the pool enjoying looking at the ocean.

There was a singer entertaining there, and we could enjoy the breeze and views of the ocean as we enjoyed a cold drink. He even played one of the songs that we line dance to: Wagon Wheel.

We saw the large catamaran, Mai Tai, come in with a group of visitors.

We decided that it was time to start heading toward the airport -- we decided to that The Bus to the Honolulu Scuba Company...

... so we walked to the stop where we could catch The Bus -- and saw these interesting buildings -- I think these were part of the Ritz Carlton Residences.

We successfully caught the bus and were able to get back to the Honolulu Scuba Company. We retrieved our luggage...

...and then ordered an Uber. He got us to the airport quickly and easily.

We re-packed some items from one suitcase to another so things would be well positioned for checked versus carry-on bags, and then got them checked in with the airline.

At the Honolulu airport, the terminal was not very busy and many of the shops were closed.

When I walked down the terminal, 

I saw this interesting structure that looked like a small camper trailer.

Up close -- it is identified as a place for mothers to do pumping or breastfeeding. I saw that it had a keypad, and I thought that would make it more secure, but it appears that the code is right there on the structure!

We made it onto our flight, and 6 hours later, arrived in Phoenix on Saturday morning...

...waiting for our luggage in Phoenix Sky Harbor.

What a great trip! Carl said that it was like having two separate vacations -- one to Sydney, and separately for the cruise. We enjoyed celebrating our 5 year anniversary!