Dunfey Alaska Journey

We competed in the Star Valley Pickleball Tournament over the last 3 days. It was held at the Star Valley Ranch RV Resort.

Milly and Fred refereed for the women’s doubles matches on Tuesday. Milly also refereed for Men’s Matches on Thursday. Milly has decided she cannot compete in two straight tournament events because of the stress to her ankles.

The tournament was all round robin format where you played all teams with your bracket or pool.

On Wednesday, Milly and Fred lost their last match for the Gold Medal by a score of 15-14. They earned a silver medal in level 3.5 Mixed Doubles. They won 7 matches while losing one.

Fred and his partner from Thayne, WY (Art Bernhard) ended up with Bronze Medals in the 3.5 Men’s Doubles where only 3 points separated all the medal winners.  Fred and Art  gave the Gold medal winners their only loss.  They won 6 matches and lost two but one of those losses was by 15-14 score.

The all round robin tournament was interesting since everyone got to play the same number of matches.

Over 80 competitors played in this mid week tournament. It was fun and we made a lot of new friends.

Milly and I feel we are now playing better as a team.

On Sunday night July 13th, we arrived at Star Valley Ranch RV Park. This is a lovely RV resort park nestled between mountains. It will be our home for the next 3 weeks until August 1st. When we leave here, we will spent quality time in Yellowstone and maybe Grand Tetons. We will visit Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks on our way back to our home inVail, AZ.

Start Valley Pickleball

Every morning from 9 – 11 am, between 20 to 40 players gather to play Pickleball. The Pickleball Club now numbers about 75 members. The Pickleball Club has raised the funds to finish off 4 Pickleball Courts on a former concrete tennis court. They plan to finish 4 more courts in the near future. This is an all volunteer effort by the members with support from the ranch management.

The quality of play is very good. They use a system of paddles lined up along the fence to determine who goes out next to play. Two Paddles grouped together indicate that these players are playing as a team. Each player  typically puts his first name on his paddle. The novice players usually avoid playing with the “team” players.

Other Star Valley RV Park comments

We have joined a group to kayak on Mondays. They go to different places each week. We are excited about kayaking the rivers in the region.

Yesterday, we did take our Kayaks about 15 miles into Idaho to paddle the Palisades Reservoir. Again, everything here seems nestled in the mountains. Wonderful views all around!

Milly has been invited to go horseback riding in the mountains. I’ll pass on that.

This place is located about an hours drive from Jackson, WY. If you drive a little further, you are in Grand Tetons. Drive still further up the road and you are in Yellowstone National Park

This might just make a good place to spent summers! Day temperatures are in high 80’s and the nights are cool. The people live outside a lot so you meet them. There is an 18 hole executive golf course with free green’s fees to lot owners. I might get tempted to give it a try.

We are tempted to buy a RV lot here. Seems like a great place!

Show Low, AZ in White Mountains

Milly and I left Vail, AZ on the morning of June 29th heading for our 1st stop Show Low, AZ in the White Mountains.

We are staying at Fools Hollow Campground run by AZ State. Here are the pictures we took on the way to Show Low AZ:

Pickleball and Kayaking at Lakeside-Pinetop 7/1/2014

After our arrival at Fools Hollow Campground in Show Low,  Bob and Barb Merow came over after supper. They are friends from Vail. They frequently stay in Lakeside-Pinetop near Show Low. They are new to Pickleball but invited us up to Show Low to show us the local Pickleball scene.

We played Pickleball the next morning starting with a group of A-level players at 7:30 AM in a Lakeside-Pinetop Gym. There were three quality courts. We were welcomed and introduced to their open play board signup rotation system. The Pickleball Club there in Lakeside-Pinetop had renovated an abandoned gym. The Gym was now used primarily just for Pickleball.

We had a good time playing Pickleball with players of various skill levels.

We went to lunch with a bunch of Pickleball players at a Taco “Palace” up the street from the gym. After lunch, we kayaked on Rainbow Lake with Bob and Barb. Then, we visited with several of Bob’s friends on the shores of Rainbow Lake.

Kayaking at Show Low Lake 7/2/2014

On our last full day in Show Low, we went to Show Low Lake to Kayak. We met Bob and Barb there. They planned on taking their sailboat out for a spin.

Show Low Lake is a deep water lake. It is fairly large. It took us about an hour and a half to paddle around it. There are no homes on it. It is nestled in the pine forest.

When we unloaded the kayaks at the boat ramp, a fish and game truck loaded with rainbow trout  arrived. They dumped about 900 trout into the lake. These poor fish were clearly stunned by the processed of being flushed into the lake. We saw people in fishing boats scooping up some of the stunned fish with nets, We also saw a heron swoop down to snatch one of the newly arrived fish.

We stayed at the Fools Hollow Campground last year. We loved both our stays here. The camp sites are nicely set in the woods and rocky terrain with lots of privacy. There is a man made lake and “river” that almost surrounds the public beach and campsite areas affording many camp sites with excellent water views. On this trip, we spent most of our time appreciating what the local towns in the area had to offer for recreation.