March in Mesa and the Aloha Festival in Tempe

In December my son, Sam, came out to Phoenix to relocate from Oklahoma.  He was staying with me until he could get situated.  Well, he ended up getting a 25 ft, 1985 Mobile Traveler Class C motorhome.  Not in the best of shape, but the Ford Econoline chassis passed the Arizona emissions, and the price was right.  He got moved in just in time, since his brother and kids were headed our way for Spring Break (next blog).

It needed some cleaning and a little work, but all the appliances worked.  And he found it was the cheapest way to live in the Mesa area.  If you rent a space at the rv park for a year lease, the price is only $100 a month.  Can't beat that.

My grandson, Joshua, (2nd from the left) is looking at Grand Canyon University.  While he was checking out the school, Sam, (far left) and myself were able to meet Joshua and his mom, Donna, (far right) for dinner.

We had dinner at Los Reyes de la Torte, where Adam from Man vs. Food came to eat their famous Torte del Rey.  

• Del Rey - $9.50
Ham, melted cheese, pork sirloin, breaded beef, with refried beans, hot dog meat & chorizo omelet, tomato, onion, avocado,& chipotle sauce. Served with chopped onion & cilantro with garnished salad.

Donna and I shared one of the sandwiches and neither of us could finish the thing.  It was terrible.  The description of the sandwich above is what I copied from the internet, but I question whether that was what we read on the menu when we were there.  Neither of us remember seeing 'hot dog meat' on the list of ingredients.  And we did not get the garnished salad and when I asked was told, "It's on the sandwich."  The ham was a slice of lunch meat and there was some kind of shredded meat.  The others ordered more traditional mexican dishes and they enjoyed them, but beware the Torte del Rey.  BTW, Sam ordered the del Reyna, which was almost the same except for chicken, but both our sandwiches seemed to have exactly the same ingredients because I would have sworn mine had chicken or turkey on it.  If you didn't get the drift, I won't be going back.

With all the rain and moisture this winter, the cactus were blooming early.  Usually I don't get to see this because I am out of the area before they bloom.

One of my favorite places to go on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon is Filly's, a nice little Arizona style honky-tonk.  In the back parking lot, not only will you see horses tied up to the hitching post, but we watched a couple drive in on their matching tractors, 1950s era tractors to be exact.

When the weather is nice, which it usually is in the winters in Apache Junction, the outside area is filled with people and a band is playing with a small, concrete dance floor in front of the band.  (I have to admit, I stole this picture from Diana's Blog, Life on the Open Road, from back in March, 2011.)

Looking for something to do one Sunday afternoon, we headed to Tempe, where the Aloha Festival was going on.  The festival is put on by the Arizona Aloha Festival Organization, a non-profit created for the purpose of providing awareness and education about Hawaiian and other South Pacific Island cultures.  Since I had just finished reading Mitchner's book, Hawaii, this was quite interesting.

Much of the entertainment is local, but they do have guests from the South Pacific to come entertain, too.  I believe this group was from Samoa.