Hey there Emily. What about casino trips? Take the free bus that leaves from Bell Rec. Get $10 when you arrive. Wander around. You don't have to gamble but a little bit is fun. Spend the $10 on the buffet. The one at Harrah's is fantastic. Here are some of the RCSC bus trips I have taken. It's nice to have someone do the driving so you can sightsee. Verde Canyon Railroad Dolly Steamboat Pizza Place Horse race Track
Hey Emily, Great thread. We have made some good decisions, worked hard, stuck to a plan, had some luck to get to this point. So we are looking at "giving back" once we "retire". By the year 2020 the U.S will have over 1,000,000 technology jobs that we cannot fill. That equates to more than $500 BILLION (over the life of these jobs) that our kids, our economy, will not be getting. There is an organization called code.org (start here in Seattle , offices are just up the street) that I have been working with to help prepare our kids to get those jobs. Code.org already has a relationship with schools in the Phoenix area, so I can continue doing this when we move. OK, now you know...preparing OUR kids to do OUR high skilled, high paying jobs is something I feel very strongly about. I have a monumental speech I could give on overseas contract workers, H1B visas, and everything else that takes jobs from American workers...don't get me started, and no I do not identify as a Republican (not that there is anything wrong with that). ANYWAY - when I am not on my soapbox about American jobs, I really want to: learn to play the piano workout like I used to start a radio controlled (RC) drone or airplane club meet a ton of new people have a lot of dinner parties go to Vietnam go to Australia start a wine and food club ride my bike golf learn to speak another language I'm sure there is more, I need to start writing this stuff down.
I want to travel, volunteer for meals on wheels, hike, go to the gym a few times a week, and be a sun city Pom. My husband wants to continue playing softball and fish.
Interesting question, and one I suspect changes the longer you live here. As a newbie I wanted to do a hundred different things, now I find myself identifying singular items and trying to focus on that one item. Curious.
Below is a link to all of the casinos in Arizona. You have to call and make a reservation to ride the bus. I have been to Harrah's (my favorite) and several others. http://www.arizona-leisure.com/arizona-casinos.html
Maybe my husband will join the car club. We have two classic cars and love to look at all those beauties when they are at shows. Right now we are finishing a pottery class in phoenix and it won't end until August.
I'm licking my chops thinking about all the available options. We'll have to be careful not to overextend. Traveling and volunteering are definitely in our future. I enjoy lapidary and would like to get into metalsmithing. I also like to bicycle and can't wait to try pickleball if my knees will allow it. My wife is drooling over the pools, in particular the walking course in the Bell Center pool.
Is it the lure of believing you finally have the time to do what you want, is it the lure of so many options, or is it that we have to learn to downshift from our current work environment?
It's not having to get up at 7 every morning and go to work. Now I get up at 8 and usually don't go out until nearly noon. But I do go some place every day of the week. Two volunteer times, 3 pool times, 1 church, and then ? There are also a couple of meetings and several gettogethers. Today the Handi-capable Club is having a potluck lunch. Being retired does not mean being lazy. You just get to pick & choose what you want to do and when you want to do it.
I do spend a lot of time on the computer. Check out my webpage. http://www.pegmih.webs.com/ Please let me know if there is a subject you would like me to add. I am always looking for new ideas.
I was a library media technician at an elementary school in the state of Washington. The second grade studied whales. I was friends with one of the teachers and suggested that we try to have the Orca named the State Mammal. The hierarchy thought it was too political but we persevered. Eastern Washington did not like the idea so we renamed it State Marine Mammal. The first attempt failed. The following year we/I became more aggressive. Every Native American Tribe was contacted as was nearly every senator and many, many cities, counties, etc. All done over the internet. A senator agreed to sponsor us and when it finally came up for a vote, we won! Below is a newspaper article about the event. Hope link works. http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/passion-for-orcas-turned-the-tide/
What does my SC retirement look like... A partial possibles list: - Not having to get up @ 05:15 every weekday morning - Riding the motorcycle more - Walking more - Sportsman's club (target shooting) - Learn leather working - Possibly the woodworking club - Spring Training, gotta love baseball - Finding creative ways to fix up an older home and do most the work myself. - Volunteering (will figure out where) - Road trips to visit grand kids - And sitting on my bum doing nothing once in a while and feel OK about it.
As a retiree, I most like not having to get up early and go to work. Mornings are "MY TIME". If you like Spring Training, you might consider signing up to be an usher at one of the sites. A couple of my neighbors do it and it's a paid job. Please consider the Sun City Posse and the Sun City Visitor Center as possible volunteer opportunities. You have to live in SC for a year before volunteering at Posse but you can go to work as a volunteer at the Visitor Center immediately. Today at the Visitor Center several people came in. Some moving or considering moving here and some already moved in. It is so much fun telling them about all we have to offer in Sun City.
