Day Two The Ponderosa II

Wow, life does have a way of derailing one's intentions.  So much for blogging as our trip progressed! Two days before we took off, I had a scratchy throat and was coughing.  I imagine a day breathing 'airplane-air' did little to help my oncoming cold, and by the time we landed and got to our hotel I was congested and slightly feverish.  However, being a true Little Joe fan and following the example of my hero - I pushed on until I nearly killed myself!  LOL  Thanks to a steady regimen of modern Doc Martin remedies (Advil, Tylenol3, Cepacol cough drops and throat spray, and the 21st century equivalent of Laudanum, namely Nyquil) I soldiered on, enjoying and thoroughly wearing myself out the first day.

NOTHING was going to stop me getting to the Ponderosa.  Hey, I knew Hop Sing would have some herbal tea waiting.

Photo of Hop Sing from the Ponderosa II

Our hacienda

The resort

Anyhow, we gathered in front of the main lobby of the hotel the next morning - immediately meeting other fans - and were on our way - but not before we had breakfast on the terrace, Sonya freaked about some bird's following nature on the awning above us (that's what you get for traveling with a city girl!), and she had to be reassured that if she plucked an orange the Arizona Golf Resort police wouldn't come cart her away.  (I lied, of course, I had no idea whether they would or not!  LOL  Though I doubted they were going to miss an orange and she was so excited.)  

The Ponderosa-mobile.  LOL

And then it was off to the Ponderosa!  

It is hard to describe the moment when we pulled up to Lorne Greene's home.  So many emotions - childish and adult!  What a dream come true for that little girl who wanted to visit the Cartwrights, as well as for the adult fan - and the historian.  Not only is this house a replica in part of the Cartwrights' home, it was a vacation home for Lorne Greene and his wife.  It was also visited by Dan Blocker and Michael Landon.  There was just so much rolled up into one moment.  

Louise Swann

Stepping through the door took me back to being a little kid.  There it was - the HUGE fireplace, the settee Little Joe so often bled on (no blood stains, though, I checked!), the staircase to nowhere, Ben's office, and the dining room.  Lorne Greene built the front part of the house as an exact replica of the Cartwright's home and then decorated it the same.  Louise and Tom Swann, our wonderful hosts, are the perfect custodians of Lorne's dream.  They have restored the Ponderosa II to its former glory and have done so in honor of the Greene's and their fans.  We walked in the door and Louise said, in so many words, "The house is yours!"  We were able to go almost anywhere at any time and made to feel as if we were at home.  

Talk about this 1950s/60s little kid's dream coming true! 

The ten ton fireplace (almost literally!) 

The gun rack

Ben's office

The dining room

The well out back

The view toward the staircase to nowhere

Cheryl Robb from Australia - how cool is this!???

On the Cartwrights' porch, geraniums and all

Sonya in Ben's chair

Marla in Adam's

At the dinner table.

During the day there were introductions, old friends found and new ones made, watching of episodes in Lorne Greene's sun room, steer roping contests (yes, that's me roping a steer - I got two horns!), supper and more.  We had an absolute blast!  Our hosts made certain everyone had the time of their lives! 

Lorne's sun room where we watched - what else? - Bonanza! 

 Roping that steer

Relaxing at supper

This was also the day we were introduced to the auction room and found Little Joe waiting for us.  More on his journey soon. 

After supper it was back to the room for my first night of 'paying the piper' which included a high fever and a heck of a lot of coughing.  We chose to stay in the hotel what morning so I could rest up, and then it was back to the Ponderosa. 

Next time: Going to the dance with Joe! 

Little Joe, we are here!

Yesterday was a long, tiring day.  We left Troy at 2:00 in the afternoon, headed for the Dayton Airport.  One plus was that it was a very slow afternoon there, so we were able to move pretty quickly.  I say 'pretty' because Sonya had to go through the slow check-in and because the girl has to curl her hair and brought along a curling iron, she got frisked!  The TSA agent thought it was a gun.  Now, mind you, HOW many curling irons must go through that baggage check?

Makes you wonder....

And due to that luxuriant curled hair, the TSA agent pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and went through her curls.  Really.

Sonya was afraid she was planning on looking elsewhere. 

And of course, Marla had to have a cup of coffee.  Boston Stoker, yea!  My favorite. 

Next we boarded at Dayton for the first leg of the journey, which took us to Dallas International, the second largest airport in the country, covering 29 plus square miles! 

And here's Sonya in her seat assuring that Marla will never have a dull minute.  LOL

And this is Eric, our flight attendant . Sonya kept checking in with him to see if he was okay.  (I bet he went home last night and told his wife about those crazy ladies from Ohio.)

The Dallas airport was a world unto itself.  Shops, food, books, candy, and we ate a TGI Fridays.  We had a 2 1/2 hour layover, so we had a  nice leisurely supper - and no, Sonya did not check on the waiter to see if he was okay. I bet he felt neglected.

Then back on the plane to head to Phoenix. This was a really nice plane.  Very smooth ride.  

We finally rolled into Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport around 10:00 MT, or midnight our time.  We hired an Uber driver to take us to the hotel.  His name was La Quon and he was absolutely wonderful!  We had a great trip over and got into the hotel about 1:00 a.m. our time. Boy, were we wiped out!  We were told upon gaining possession of our keys (which by the way are blank white cards - Stare Trek, we are here!) that we had been upgraded to a hacienda of our own.  Mi casa es Su Casa.

And here's the outside as it looked this morning.  

That's about it for yesterday.  We will begin our Bonanza adventure in app. 45 minutes.  

Those Cartwrights had better be ready!!  

Go West, er...Young (?) Women!

Tomorrow is the day.

Sonya and I will be heading out on our great Wild West adventure!  We are flying into Phoenix and then heading to Mesa Arizona for the Bonanza Reunion.  You can see details of where we will be and what we'll be doing here:  http://www.ponderosa2.com/program.html

The main attraction (besides being with dozens of other Bonanza fanatics!) at the Arizona Golf Resort is Lorne Greene's (Ben Cartwright's) house, which we will tour and spend a lot of time in.  After we finish with the Reunion, we city girls are gonna explore the Goldfield Ghost town and take in Tombstone.

Of course both of us are hoping for at least one life-size cut-out of Little Joe to pose with while we are there.  <G>

As a precursor to take-off, I have been sending Sonya a countdown each day.  I thought you might enjoy seeing a few of the highlights of that.

  

  

Starting tomorrow, I will document our Little Joe Cartwright - er - Wild West adventure here.  Saddle up, pardners.  Yeehaw!