ORGAN STOP PIZZA, PRO BOWL PRACTICE AND AZ CAPITOL BUILDING

       ORGAN STOP PIZZA, PRO BOWL PRACTICE AND AZ CAPITOL BUILDING

I know it’s been a while since my last post, but January was a time to kick back, rest and relax. Unfortunately, for me that did not happen. I had a long “honey do list” of small fixes to the inside and outside of our RV. For some reason, that list is still getting longer every day. With a weak Wi-Fi single to the RV I have to move all my internet actives to the community room. Along with Arizona having more rain fall in one month then we have in six months last year put a dapper on our adventures too. We did however squeeze in some adventures including a RV park trip to Organ Stop Pizza, Pro Bowl practice held at Luck AFB and added another State Capitol Building to our growing list.

Ever year Leaf Verde makes a trip to Organ Stop Pizza, this year was no different. Organs like this one were made for the silent movies to give the audience a feeling of what was going on. To try and make it as easy as I can to explain, it’s an all you can eat pizza place with a musician playing the organ. However, you must stop and get a taste of it first hand, as it’s an experience I cannot fully explain in words alone. The wife said the pizza tasted better this year and I thought that the performance was a little shorter than last year, but we still had a good time. If you want a recap from last year’s visit, click here.

With the Pro Bowl being played in Arizona the NFL had the first practice held at Luke AFB. Practice was open to 1,500 military personnel to watch. Each team practiced for an hour and after the players signed autographs for about 30 minutes before returning to the team bus and heading back to their hotel. The only down side was the media. They were allowed on the field to interview players taking up their time to interact with the military fans. The media can talk to them whenever they want, but today they were on base for the military and all the military fans got shafted in the end. I did however make out pretty nice with a NFL sign football where I got Andrew Luck, TY Hilton, Joe Thomas, Calais Campbell Kyle Williams, Tamba Hali, Justin Houston, Patrick Peterson and Antoine Bethea to autograph.

Since I’m talking about football and the season has officially came to an end I finished the regular season at 172-83 and the postseason at 8-3. I had a 67.6% correct pick season alone with picking the Super Bowl Champs. I would take those odd to Vegas any season.

We put another State Capitol Building in our books as we took a half day trip to Phoenix. The Arizona Capitol Building is the smallest we have seen so far, but full of stuff to see and learn. The first floor is dedicated to the USS Arizona. A sad time in American History and the starting point for the US in WWII.

Rooms that use to be office spaces are full of exhibits. One cool thing was the Arizona State flag made from Legos and I was shocked how small the House Chamber was. One of the exhibits I found interested was the one on Ira Hayes. He was an Arizona Native and one of the men in the Historical Military Icon in raising the American Flag on the Island of Iwo Jima.  

The Capitol Building construction began in 1898 and began operation in 1901 before Arizona even became a State in 1912. Their dome roof was known as the copper dome, but was made of wood just painted copper. Later copper was donated to make the dome. Also a cool fun fact is the lights throughout the building. On each light there are two sets, one pointing up and the other set pointing down. The set pointing up was lit from oil and the set pointing down was lit from electric. Today, all the lights are electric.  

The Capitol Building might be small, but everywhere I have been so far their Memorial Plaza is second only to Washington DC National Monuments. It honors Arizonans who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in protecting Freedom. There is a Korean War, Vietnam, Endure Freedom, 9-11 remembrance and even a K9 to dogs who have lost their lives in the line of duty. At the front of this Memorial stand an anchor along with two 14” gun barrels and the mast all coming from the USS Arizona. Any veteran from any state will be proud of what stands in front of them. I know, because I felt it.