On the Road Again

We spent June on the Oregon coast in the cold and wet. July and August we spent in western Washungton visiting family and friends. July was a bit cold and wet, but August was dry everyday and finally warmer. Sure enjoyed our time with the grand daughters and we were still there for the arrival of the new one the end of August. September found us in eastern Washington enjoying the hot sun and dry climate. The middle of the month our youngest daughter, husband and 2 of the grand daughters moved to southern Italy for at least 6 months and could be there for up to 2 years. Her husband works for Boeing as an engineer on the 787. We already miss them, but will have Skype once we get home to Arizona and that will help. Phone calls are hard with the time difference, but e-mail is working along with Facebook and her blog. We have started a short trip east and south with 3 friends and will be meeting more later in our trip. We have done 4 states in 4 days and are now in Ogden Utah for some sightseeing. We have had lots of smoke with falling ash since eastern Washington. The whole west is on fire! We have a beautiful view of the Wasatch Mountains from our rig, but they are hazy with so much smoke. It is warm, sunny and dry though.

Hot Hot and Hotter

Yep, it is HOT!  Triple digits, records broken and 4% humidity - why? - we are here!  It will be a shock from this to the Oregon coast - damp and cold.  In the mornings the heat comes on since it gets down to 50 at night.  We get out early and enjoy our coffee, walks and bike rides and then again after sunset.  By Saturday it will be in the low 80's and then right back to triple digits!

For those of you in parts of the country where you did not see the recent eclipse, here are some pictures from where we were.  We were just a little far south to get the ring of fire, but it was still impressive.

They are getting the fires under control, but depending on the wind we get a lot of smoke - another reason we stay inside.  Yesterday afternoon it was a haze over us of smoke.

We had a fun day yesterday with our friends Paul and Sue and a delicious lunch at their house.  They were our tailgunners on some of our caravans that we did so we had a great time talking about that and just catching up from several years of not seeing each other. They had done a caravan to the Maritime Provinces and have traveled in New England plus some other places that we haven't seen yet.  We have lots of information and great notes from Sue for our trip next summer!  Thanks you guys for everything.

That's it from the HOT southwest!

Last Two Weeks

We left Casa Grande May 3 and moved three hours north to Verde Valley AZ at a higher altitude and 10 degree cooler temps during the day and really cool at night.  It is high desert and we have the winds to prove that.  Today we are getting the smoke smell from the wild fire that is closest to us.  There are several burning right now in Arizona.  We are scheduled to be here until the end of the month unless we are forced out by the fires.

We went horseback riding for 1 1/2 hours in a state park here.  It was just us and the guide.  We had a great time and could even walk the next day!  Beautiful high desert scenery and a few creeks to cross. Even the horses were not your typical trail horses with one speed until they see the barn.  These actually had several speeds depending on the terrain and could have cared less about the barn.  They really wanted to stay out so they could eat the mesquite which they apparently love, but are not supposed to have too much.  They were really quick though at sneaking a bite along the trail. Yes, Sarah, Dad really does get on a horse and here is the picture to prove it!

Today, we had the sheep run through the park.  They run them through a wash in the middle of the park, but unfortunately they did it before sunrise and no one knew about it.  They were resting them by the river until after lunch, so we walked down to the river to see them.  These come from southern Arizona and go up to Williams AZ.  There were 5 pack donkeys to carry the gear. Here are two of them grazing.

There were 5 herding dogs to do all the work and all of them were very soundly sleeping when we were there.  And there are 3 Latino gentlemen that spoke a little English and they walk the whole way!  This is hundreds of miles that they travel in very hot and dry conditions.  And then of course there were the sheep and lots of them.  They were going to cross the river after lunch and head further north.  This is an annual event. That is one of two black sheep in the herd and this was just one small part of the herd.

We had a great Mexican dinner with our friends Paul and Sue that live in the area.  We are meeting them again tonight for BBQ.  There is always food involved when friends meet on the road!

We don't have much else planned for our time here.  Just relax, walk and ride bikes!

Travel Plans

We have our travel schedule done for the summer and fall. We are excited to have two friends traveling with us from Washington to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and will be joined there with friends from Las Vegas. What a fun time we will have!!!

Those friends in Las Vegas take note of our new time to be there.  A week there will give us more time to spend with everyone there and go to some of our favorite places. Jerry and Laura, we are on for that Monday night get together! And we even have more time now and we love Sam's Town!

Weather here is warming up. Now, if we can just get the bath remodel done we will have much more pool time!

Spring

The weather is turning warmer each day, but with that comes the spring winds. Soon will be in the 80's and back to the pool!

We have been to Organ Stop Pizza twice. What an experience with a theater organ that is unlike any we have ever seen or heard. And the pizza is pretty darn good too! The building was built for this organ and the acoustics are outstanding. It has 6000 pipes with many instrument attachments and it all can be seen including the air bellows.

Our Tubac trip was cancelled and we were sure disappointed, but maybe next year! Instead we went on a boat trip on Lake Saguaro. It is one in a series of lakes formed by dams. This one is a very narrow 10 mile lake. The boat covers 5 miles. After that is is to narrow for a large boat. Beautiful desert scenery.



Mountains and very deep water right up to the edge of the cliffs.



Some Saguaro cactus grow an unusual top and are very rare. Here is one of those cactus called a Crested Saguaro.


And, yes we have Bald Eagles here!
It was a beautiful sunny day, but with the narrow lake the wind really comes through the canyon so it was a bit cool - alright downright cold! The warm shore and the even warmer car were really appreciated this time.

We spent three Mondays going to Phoenix for minor laser surgery on Pam's eyes. At least we enjoyed great lunches thanks to our daughters Christmas gift of restaurant cards. These are restaurants we would not normally go to, but boy were they good and we might just go back now! We sure love those food gift cards!

There is a 3 day park party with activities, food and a street dance right now. Today we will be watching the golf cart races - yea it is a retired peoples park with lots of golf carts! Tonight we will be selling the pop and ice cream for the street dance. Lots of other games for those that wish to play!

The season is winding down and people are heading north already - mostly Canadians that have to get across the border and those with homes. Our travel schedule is now updated for our summer trip. Things are slowing down and our calendar now has empty days on it! Good thing, cause we are ready for pool time!

Time Flies By

We have had great weather here in the desert - cold, crisp mornings, warm afternoons, spectacular sunsets and stars shining brightly! Enjoying walks and bike rides.

We have become involved with changing the park from an illegal 40+ park to a legal 55+ park. We started just a couple of weeks ago and tomorrow is the community meeting, followed by surveying all the occupants and a lot of other paperwork to comply with the laws. That has kept us busy everyday and looks like it will be that way until March when it will be finalized and we will be done!

We took a day to go with a group to the Mystery House in Phoenix. It was built by an eccentric man in the 1920's from recycled materials. After his death, his daughter came to live there until her death in Nov. 2010. Three employees that had worked for her for 30+ years conduct tours.
The daughters bedroom is not on the tour because her cat still lives there. After the tour you are free to wander about the sprawling home.




It sits on a hill south of Phoenix and what a view from every patio and every window.



It is filled with art work, some of it very unusual. There is "stuff" everywhere. Every room is full! And with all this stuff filling every surface, piece of furniture and the floor, there was no dust or dirt anywhere! And this place is really big- lots of rooms!



There are lots of outdoor patios and fireplaces connecting different parts of the house. The only heat anywhere is fireplaces.





After, we all met at Applebees for a fun time and very good lunch. We can highly recommend the unlimited soup and salad, especially the french onion soup and the shrimp, spinach salad!

Next up is Organ Stop Pizza and Tubac!