Antiques and Designer Discards

 

I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done.

I've always said the easiest way to keep track of what you've been doing is to take pictures. I've done just that. That's the good thing. The bad thing is I ended up deleting them on my iPhone by error and before I completed the pasting.  As you might guess I was not a happy camper. I couldn't retrieve because then I backed it up on iTunes before I recovered.  Stupid. Stupid.

While hanging out in Arizona we also drove out to Gold Canyon and Apache Junction.  We’re always looking for what we think might be that perfect RV park.  We did check out some parks but didn’t fall in love with any of them.  Well, we really like the Maricopa County Parks but they are short term parks.    The problem is that there is no weekly rate so you pay the per day rate of $25 and RVs are limited to 14 days. 

We didn’t just look at RV parks.  We also looked at several UTVs that just happened to be parked along Apache Highway.

Terry's father was a collector of antiques. He didn't collect glass, or furniture or stuff like that. He collected tools, wood planes, yokes. Sleds, irons ... And the list goes on and on and on. Over the years the kids have received some of the antiques. There were still lots left. His mother wanted most of them gone. With that in mind, Terry took his share. On Tuesday we wrapped and boxed and visited the local FedEx office. Tammi checked two big boxes on her flight to Portland. We were good FedEx customers as they double taped and took six more boxes off our hands for shipment to Washington. Terry carried a few items on the plane with him and our friends, the Dixons, allowed us to store a couple more items in their shed. Thank you Jim and Sandie. We will definitely pick up that "stuff" when we get back to Arizona in the motorhome.

It's not that we know much about antiques. We definitely do not. It would be nice to learn a little about what is in these boxes. I think the first thing we want to do is photograph and chart all of them along with price his folks paid on a spreadsheet.   

 

Terry had planned on heading back to Portland on Wednesday but after we got all the boxes shipped and current duties finished Tuesday  he decided he might just see if a flight was available out of Phoenix that night.  This was 5:00 PM so he didn’t have many options.  We checked schedules and he was lucky there was still a nonstop flight back to Portland at 9:00 PM. 

Me ?... Well, I hadn't really planned on heading back until Thursday. After all I still had things to do, places to go, people to see and a fabulous place in Scottsdale at the JW Marriott Spa and Resort.  I'm always amazed with these gorgeous resorts. I'm not so surprised at the rates they charge. What I am surprised at is that people actually pay the rates! I wasn't born into money and I’ve certainly never got to the place in my life that I could justify pending $349 a night for a place to sleep. Heck I even complain when the RV park rates are just 10% of that. 

Our casita setting

I know that most of the people who visit these places are on business but there are some who think nothing of dropping those $$$  for a nice week long vacation.  Oh well... It's a nice place and it sure beats a motel 6! 

The weather is still more than just a little warm in Scottsdale.  It’s hot.  Anything you want to do outside needs to be done in the morning or in the evening.  One morning I walked the grounds of the resort. It is nothing short of gorgeous. The pictures I snapped were of some of the outside areas. There was so much more to it. Inside the rooms were very spacious. . One of the downsides of resorts is the lack of reasonably priced menus. At one point I was starved and decided to settle just for a tuna sandwich.  The cost for the sandwich?  It was a mere $15 with tip.

 

The bathroom was almost as big as the bedroom side.

Bottled water in the room – $8.00

  

Even nightly  turn-down service was provided.

 

After Terry left I was mostly on my own. Tammi was working all the time but I rarely have trouble entertaining myself. There was one place (or was it two) I wanted to visit.  Ever been to Half Off Books? When we lived in Texas we used to frequent that store. We loved it. I spent a bit looking at titles and actually purchasing a couple. My luggage space going back was limited so I knew I had to be careful. 

Another place I wanted to stop was right down the road on Camelback. It was My Sister’s Closet. Ever been there? I discovered it a few years ago when they only had one store. Now they have several. It's a high end second hand clothing and furniture store. They advertise recycled designer clothes, jewelry, purses and many other items. They advertise designer and that's just what they mean ... Designer. They will not accept anything that isn't and nothing that hasn't been freshly cleaned. Many of the items are brand new. Folks apparently doled out lots of $$$ and then decided they didn't want it any longer. Other items were probably not new but certainly looked it. Some of the very popular names included Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Bally, Couch and even Tiffany's. Its a fun place to browse. You get to see what the other half discards. 

Interested in a used Chanel bag for a mere $2995? For a second or two I wondered what Terry would say if I told him I spent $3k on a purse!!!!   Actually, I think I know what he would say.

Used Louis Vuittano may be more to your liking.

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I didn’t want to end this post without attaching a picture of the bathtub with bubbles I mentioned the other day.  There is nothing like a warm tub with lots of bubbles. As you know, this isn’t a picture of the bathtub in our motorhome!!





‘Tis life on the road.