Spring has sprung here in El Paso- the flowers are blooming everywhere! Today it is 70 out, tomorrow its supposed to hit 80!
Paul has been busy in his parent's back yard, fixing the sprinklers, digging trenches, etc. He likes projects.
He has not opened the "rock" to see what we have inside, so my curiosity has not been satisfied yet!!
Paul's mom is at the hospital with her husband Tom all day, most days. Tomorrow is their 59th wedding anniversary. A very difficult time. Tom has not improved at all since November, when he fell.
Next week we can go back to the gym, so I am looking forward to that. I am used to being more active. I went to a luncheon with Gerry, Paul's mom, last week and had a great time. We played Bunco, bought raffle tickets and had a great lunch, all for a good cause. Gerry is very involved with several community associations and charities.
We are settling in here for a month or so, and there won't be any traveling for us for at least that long, so my blog entries will not be frequent (or very interesting!).
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Al Capone's Vault-Deming, NM
More on Al Capone in a second. First, we didn't go to Silver City NM- as usual, the weather is really putting a kink in our plans. Silver City is at a higher elevation, and because of that, the forecast called for a low temperature of about 20-not something we are interested in experiencing on purpose. So, instead, we headed for Deming, NM, which is on the way to El Paso. We stayed at another Escapees Park, although if I had it to do again, I would have stayed at the State Park-the trains were very LOUD, and so was the highway noise. Our first day there I experienced my first major dust storm EVER (I still feel like I can taste it).
Dust storms are one of the things that we don't have back east- snow, yes, dust, no. They are one of the many differences between the eastern part of the country and the western states. I have also started to learn the names of some of the flowers and cactus that are prevalent in the west. I can now recognize plants such as Palo Verde, Prickly Pear, Ocotillo, and Mesquite.
Yesterday we spent the day rockhounding at Rock Hound State Park. Usually at the state and national parks you aren't allowed to take anything from the park, including rocks, flowers, even driftwood, but Rock Hound State Park is different. It is home to a wide assortment of stones, geodes, and quartz, and you are allowed to take them with you if you find anything you like.
Paul and I hiked several miles, digging, looking for geodes (a hollow rock sometimes filled with crystals). So here's where we get to the part that reminds me of Geraldo Rivera when he went on live TV searching for Al Capone's Vault. He had no idea what he was going to find when he dug, looking for the vault- he just hoped he was right, and the vault was where he thought it was. Geodes look like regular rocks on the outside, except they are usually pretty round. You have to cut them open to find out if there are any crystals inside. We found what we THINK is a geode, but we haven't cut it open yet, so we could easily find out that its just a rock! So now that I have said that, I am sure everyone is waiting with bated breath to find out if we have a beautiful geode, or a plain Jane rock. I am really curious myself. Oh, and Geraldo was wrong, so on National TV he dug a hole and found absolutely nothing.This morning we left for El Paso, put the Everest in storage for a month , and we are back at Paul's parents' house.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tombstone and Bisbee, AZ
Wednesday was a "Twofer"- we managed to make it to both Tombstone and Bisbee, but only because we didn't spend too much time in Bisbee. We packed a lunch to bring with us since the weather was awesome- in the low 70s and sunny. We went to Tombstone first, and the town did look like you would expect an old western town to look, complete with Stagecoaches. Tombstone was named by Ed Schieffelin , who set out to look for gold in this area, an area that was known to have Apaches and rattlesnakes. People told him that all he would find out here would be his tombstone. He discovered silver instead of gold, but he named his claim "tombstone".
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I have no idea how anyone could look at silver in its natural form and think it has any value! The process they used to extract the silver from the ore involved using mercury. It was a long (and unhealthy) process that began with them essentially smashing the rock into sand size pieces. The whole process was only effective in removing about 60% of the silver- it wasn't until much later that it was discovered that by using cyanide instead of mercury, about 90% of the silver could be extracted. In fact, when they discovered that, they went back to the waste product and re-processed it to extract more silver.
As soon as we arrived we bought tickets to see the "Shootout at the OK Corral", which, by the way, did not take place at the OK Corral- it took place down the street from it. I didn't fully remember how the story went, but basically Virgil Earp was the town policeman in 1881,, and he deputized his two brothers and Doc Holiday when he heard that the McLaury and Clanton brothers were in town to stir up trouble. In the few minutes that the gunfight took, over thirty shots were fired- both of the McLaury brothers were dead, along with Billy Clanton. Ike Clanton was supposedly unarmed and ran away. The show was ok, but too long as far as we were concerned (25 minutes). Once it was over, we walked back to the truck to eat lunch, then headed to the Good Enough Silver Mine for a tour.
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I have no idea how anyone could look at silver in its natural form and think it has any value! The process they used to extract the silver from the ore involved using mercury. It was a long (and unhealthy) process that began with them essentially smashing the rock into sand size pieces. The whole process was only effective in removing about 60% of the silver- it wasn't until much later that it was discovered that by using cyanide instead of mercury, about 90% of the silver could be extracted. In fact, when they discovered that, they went back to the waste product and re-processed it to extract more silver.
I was curious as to how similar the mining life was here, as compared to the coal mining back in PA. There was very little similarity actually. The silver miners were highly skilled and respected, and some of the highest paid workers in the area. They made $4 a day, whereas a cowboy would only have made $25 a month. Our tour guide informed us that no one had ever died working in that mine- a far cry from the coal mining life.
Later in the afternoon we headed to Bisbee AZ. Bisbee is an old copper mining town. The town was literally built into the side of the mountains. When we drove the streets, all of the side streets were really steep offshoots of the main street. Between the houses there were steep staircases up to the level behind.
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It was a nice town but we got the feeling of "been there, done that" in the sense that all of the stores seemed to be the same thing we have seen everywhere else. We did stop at the abandoned (as of 1975) open pit copper mine, just outside town. Its absolutely a huge hole in the earth.
Today we drove out to Kartchner Caverns State Park. This is a very young state park- its only about 10 years old, but it has an interesting history. In the 1970s, two avid cavers discovered an absolutely beautiful cavern. For a year they explored it without saying anything to anyone. They finally approached the owners of the land (the Kartchner family) to let them know what they had found, and managed to convince them that it was important to keep the cavern's existence a secret. They had seen the damage that had been done to other caves, not just from vandalism, but just from basic human contact, and didn't want that to happen to this beautiful cavern. For 14 years, the landowners worked with the state of Arizona, in secret, to sell the land to the state and turn it into a state park, racing to get it done before the public found out about the cave. They were finally successful, and the result is that no damage has been done to the cave and it remains in pristine condition. The state used state of the art technology to put in walkways (built inside plastic bubbles, to protect the cave from dust during construction) and get it ready for the public.
I can't say I know from first hand experience that the cave is beautiful, because I elected not to take the tour. I have been to several caves/caverns, and I am not a happy person when I am underground. Paul did go on a tour and he said that compared to Mammoth Cave, it was obvious that it was in much better condition-there was no grafiti, no soot, no broken stalagtites, etc. In fact, the tour of this cave is so state of the art, that people are put through a mister on the way in, to dampen all of the lint on their clothing, so that it doesn't fall off into the cave. While Paul toured, I soaked in the sun, and once he was out, we hiked the 2.5 mile Foothills loop trail, which was good exercise, fun, and had nice views but wasn't really unique in any way.
This evening we sat outside for a bit with a very confused and frustrated cat. Last night while we sat outside with the cat, within a 30 minute span, 3 rabbits approached us, and therefore, him. I have no idea why these rabbits thought it would be ok to wander within 10 feet of a CAT, but apparently they thought it was no big deal. Dozer had a great time stalking them, but I guess he knew he'd never catch them because he only tried to pounce once. The rest of the time he just stalked them, belly to the ground! He waited and waited tonight, but no bunnies showed up, so he was very disappointed.
Tomorrow we leave here, maybe headed to Silver City, NM.
Later in the afternoon we headed to Bisbee AZ. Bisbee is an old copper mining town. The town was literally built into the side of the mountains. When we drove the streets, all of the side streets were really steep offshoots of the main street. Between the houses there were steep staircases up to the level behind.
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Today we drove out to Kartchner Caverns State Park. This is a very young state park- its only about 10 years old, but it has an interesting history. In the 1970s, two avid cavers discovered an absolutely beautiful cavern. For a year they explored it without saying anything to anyone. They finally approached the owners of the land (the Kartchner family) to let them know what they had found, and managed to convince them that it was important to keep the cavern's existence a secret. They had seen the damage that had been done to other caves, not just from vandalism, but just from basic human contact, and didn't want that to happen to this beautiful cavern. For 14 years, the landowners worked with the state of Arizona, in secret, to sell the land to the state and turn it into a state park, racing to get it done before the public found out about the cave. They were finally successful, and the result is that no damage has been done to the cave and it remains in pristine condition. The state used state of the art technology to put in walkways (built inside plastic bubbles, to protect the cave from dust during construction) and get it ready for the public.
I can't say I know from first hand experience that the cave is beautiful, because I elected not to take the tour. I have been to several caves/caverns, and I am not a happy person when I am underground. Paul did go on a tour and he said that compared to Mammoth Cave, it was obvious that it was in much better condition-there was no grafiti, no soot, no broken stalagtites, etc. In fact, the tour of this cave is so state of the art, that people are put through a mister on the way in, to dampen all of the lint on their clothing, so that it doesn't fall off into the cave. While Paul toured, I soaked in the sun, and once he was out, we hiked the 2.5 mile Foothills loop trail, which was good exercise, fun, and had nice views but wasn't really unique in any way.
Tomorrow we leave here, maybe headed to Silver City, NM.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Las Vegas NV - Benson AZ
There's no getting around it. I take too many pictures. Its always been my philosophy that with digital cameras, you can always delete. Tonight, though, I am really tired, but I want to post an update as to where we are etc. Usually I upload my pictures at the same time, so I can use some if I want to....in the last 2 days I have taken about 300 pictures. Probably about 250 of them could be deleted, and probably only about 50 or so will actually get deleted. So now tonight I have to sort through all of the pictures and delete them.
Anyway, Sunday we dropped Jess off at the airport very early. We must have set about 4 alarm clocks since we usually use our cell phones but daylight savings time started Saturday night and we had no idea if our phones would automatically update the time or not- so we set other alarms as well. Her flight got off fine and she made it back to school with no problems. We drove straight back to Red Rock Canyon after dropping her off, determined to get some hiking done. The weather was much better this time around! It was mostly in the 60s. Our plan was to hike 3 trails- the first was Calico Hills trail- the rocks in this part of the park are really striped pink and white. In other areas of the park they are quite red. We walked about 2 miles or so, scrambling over boulders. That was a lot of fun for me. We saw people rock climbing, and we saw one guy hiking with his dog, and both he and his dog had backpacks. When I commented on it, he laughed and said he learned to let the dog carry his own when he noticed that at the end of a hike, he was breathing heavy and the dog wasn’t.
We drove to the next trail we wanted to hike, but after turning down a narrow dirt road to get to the trailhead, we were blocked by an official vehicle with its lights flashing. It turns out that they were in the process of rescuing 3 campers who had unintentionally spent the night on the mountain-apparently their ropes had tangled and they couldn’t get down and it was too windy to attempt the rescue the night before. We watched the helicopter fly back and forth for a bit before moving on.
We did hike Ice Box Canyon trail. This hike was about 2.6 miles, with not much elevation gain, but it was a very strenuous hike. It was along a river, and there were plenty of times we had to hop from boulder to boulder in the water. It ended in a canyon, known as Ice box because often in the winter there are icicles hanging from the waterfalls. Not this time, but there were two really cool pools and the whole hike was great, but not easy on our knees and ankles! Again we stopped along the way back to watch some rock climbers do their thing.
We ate lunch back at the truck and headed back to the trailer for the afternoon. We actually cleaned the “basement”. We took everything out of the storage area, and re-organized it.
Yesterday when we left Vegas, we had no idea where we were headed. We just started driving in the general direction that we wanted to go. About 40 miles outside of Vegas, we came to Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. I had never seen either one before. It was interesting to cross the dam, but it wasn’t as nerve wracking as I thought it would be. It was a windy road, but it didn’t have an open feel to it like a bridge does ( I hate bridges). We didn’t see anyplace to stop with the trailer attached, so we just kept going. While Paul drove, I did some research. One of the places we are interesting in seeing is Tonto National Forest in AZ. After taking a look at it though, it looks like it might still be a little too cold, so we decided to skip it and go a different way. We drove rte 93 and found a Federal campground (Burro Creek Campground) along the way that sounded like it would work for us for the night. I called to see if they had any availability, but the actual campground has no phone and the BLM office couldn’t say, although she did say that they are never full, and if they were full, we could stay in the group area.
When we arrived, naturally they were full, and the host wasn’t keen on letting us stay in the group area. He said he had gotten in trouble for doing that once, because he didn’t charge that person the group rate of $50. We had no intention of paying $50 instead of $7 but we finally convinced him that it made no sense for the campground to lose out on our $7.
We spent the afternoon walking along Burro Creek. This area attracts birders and people interested in geology. There are all kinds of different rocks here- several different color agates, etc. We found a couple of small interesting rocks, but nothing compared to what the camp host had at his site!
We had a peaceful fire that night, using driftwood we found by the creek. At dusk the skies became filled with bats. I spent a fair amount of time trying to get decent pictures of them, without much success.
This morning, once again we left without really having any idea where we were going. I have been wanting to go to Tombstone AZ, and after researching while driving, we decided to spend a few days in Benson, AZ. It’s about 25 miles from Tombstone and is also home to Kartchner Caverns, which will be fun to check out.
There is another reason we wanted to stay here though. The park we are staying in belongs to an organization of people who RV full time. They are called “Escapees”. I have been using their forum to chat and get information, for the last year. So, we wanted to stop at this park and meet some other “escapees”. Every year the Escapees have a class graduation for all of the members who “go fulltime” that year. We are members of the class of 2009.
We drove to the next trail we wanted to hike, but after turning down a narrow dirt road to get to the trailhead, we were blocked by an official vehicle with its lights flashing. It turns out that they were in the process of rescuing 3 campers who had unintentionally spent the night on the mountain-apparently their ropes had tangled and they couldn’t get down and it was too windy to attempt the rescue the night before. We watched the helicopter fly back and forth for a bit before moving on.
We did hike Ice Box Canyon trail. This hike was about 2.6 miles, with not much elevation gain, but it was a very strenuous hike. It was along a river, and there were plenty of times we had to hop from boulder to boulder in the water. It ended in a canyon, known as Ice box because often in the winter there are icicles hanging from the waterfalls. Not this time, but there were two really cool pools and the whole hike was great, but not easy on our knees and ankles! Again we stopped along the way back to watch some rock climbers do their thing.
We ate lunch back at the truck and headed back to the trailer for the afternoon. We actually cleaned the “basement”. We took everything out of the storage area, and re-organized it.
Yesterday when we left Vegas, we had no idea where we were headed. We just started driving in the general direction that we wanted to go. About 40 miles outside of Vegas, we came to Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. I had never seen either one before. It was interesting to cross the dam, but it wasn’t as nerve wracking as I thought it would be. It was a windy road, but it didn’t have an open feel to it like a bridge does ( I hate bridges). We didn’t see anyplace to stop with the trailer attached, so we just kept going. While Paul drove, I did some research. One of the places we are interesting in seeing is Tonto National Forest in AZ. After taking a look at it though, it looks like it might still be a little too cold, so we decided to skip it and go a different way. We drove rte 93 and found a Federal campground (Burro Creek Campground) along the way that sounded like it would work for us for the night. I called to see if they had any availability, but the actual campground has no phone and the BLM office couldn’t say, although she did say that they are never full, and if they were full, we could stay in the group area.
When we arrived, naturally they were full, and the host wasn’t keen on letting us stay in the group area. He said he had gotten in trouble for doing that once, because he didn’t charge that person the group rate of $50. We had no intention of paying $50 instead of $7 but we finally convinced him that it made no sense for the campground to lose out on our $7.
We spent the afternoon walking along Burro Creek. This area attracts birders and people interested in geology. There are all kinds of different rocks here- several different color agates, etc. We found a couple of small interesting rocks, but nothing compared to what the camp host had at his site!
We had a peaceful fire that night, using driftwood we found by the creek. At dusk the skies became filled with bats. I spent a fair amount of time trying to get decent pictures of them, without much success.
This morning, once again we left without really having any idea where we were going. I have been wanting to go to Tombstone AZ, and after researching while driving, we decided to spend a few days in Benson, AZ. It’s about 25 miles from Tombstone and is also home to Kartchner Caverns, which will be fun to check out.
There is another reason we wanted to stay here though. The park we are staying in belongs to an organization of people who RV full time. They are called “Escapees”. I have been using their forum to chat and get information, for the last year. So, we wanted to stop at this park and meet some other “escapees”. Every year the Escapees have a class graduation for all of the members who “go fulltime” that year. We are members of the class of 2009.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Las Vegas, NV
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Wow, time goes way too fast sometimes. Stephen left a few days ago to go back home to Boston. We are already trying to figure out when we can get together again, but life is a little too up in the air to figure it out right now. Jess went to her stepsister's wedding and had a great time. She spent Tuesday with them as well, so Paul and I tried to take advantage of her being busy and took off to go hiking Red Rock Canyon. The day was nice, so we brought lunch and wore light jackets. Unfortunately by the time we actually got to the canyon, it was 33 degreees out and snowing. hmmmm. It would have been smart to pack warmer jackets, but we weren't that clever. Actually, it wouldn't have mattered much. It was snowing QUITE a bit, and the wind was blowing. We just did the scenic drive instead, but we are interested enough that we will try to head back there tomorrow after we drop Jess off at the airport.
Wednesday Paul and I took the shuttle to the strip, wandered around for a bit, did some window shopping, and watched the fountain at the Bellagio. Later on in the day we met up with Jess, her stepsisters and the guys with them. We all met at Margaritaville, had some drinks and food, then wandered the strip some more. We saw the "Siren" show at Treasure Island and none of us were really sure why we actually stuck around to watch the whole thing. Its really silly. We also saw the fountains at Bellagio again, which was nice for me because I have never seen them at night before.
Also on our list of things to do was visit the Ethel M chocolate factory. We did that Friday, but they only operate Monday thru Thursday! We did get some free chocolate though, and since it was only a 2 mile drive, it was no big deal. We came back and decided to go see a movie. The RV Park we are staying in has a movie theater and bowling alley. Valentine's Day was starting soon, so thats what we went to see. It was actually a fun movie. Once we got back home we played another game of Phase 10, the game that Jess is apparently addicted to at the moment.
This afternoon Paul and Jess went to see Avatar. I had no interest in it, so I stayed behind to clean up, and make Jess's favorite dinner- Macaroni and Cheese.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Las Vegas, Part 1
Both kids have now arrived, and the last couple of days have been very busy! Actually, Stephen leaves to go home tomorrow, so the visit with him is flying by! Saturday we picked Jess up at the airport around lunch time, got her settled in, and then she took off to be with her stepsisters! Her stepsister Jocelyn is getting married here in Vegas, so their family is here too. So Jess took off with them to go ride the rollercoaster at NY NY, and Paul and I hung out for the afternoon- Paul put together some Chili Rellenos, one of Stephen's favorite meals. We left to go get him at about 7 pm, and picked Jess up on the way back. We had a late dinner, but it was really great for the 4 of us to be together for it. We walked Stephen over to the hotel later in the night- the hotel is attached to the RV Park, so its convenient.
Yesterday we had a great time with them. We did some shopping in the morning, then headed back to the trailer to get ready for our outing. We had tickets to Blue Man Group and we went to Margaritaville for an early dinner before the show. Its a good thing we left early, because we had quite a wait at Margaritaville.
Our RV Park has a shuttle that has stops at several places along the strip. We figured it would be easier than Paul having to drive the F350, so we took the 3 pm shuttle. A few minutes into the trip in the shuttle, Stephen was telling us a story about a customer (he is a computer tech at Staples) and a problem the guy was having with his hard drive. It was really quiet in the bus and his was the only discernible voice. It soon became apparent that the bus driver was trying to get Stephens attention. He told Stephen he was being too loud and he had to come up to the "Time out" seat (the Jump seat next to the driver). Luckily Stephen has a great sense of humor, so he went up there to sit, apologizing for talking to his parents too loud after not seeing us for almost a year. Then he said it was ok, he didn't mind hanging out with "the dude" for a while.
Turns out the guy had heard the conversation and was also having a problem with his hard drive, so he was picking Stephens brain to find out what he should do! Everyone was laughing- telling the driver he was lucky to get free advice, because probably people PAY to hear what Stephen has to say about their computer!
Lunch/Dinner at Margaritaville was great- the food was OK, but it's a fun place to be. The Margaritas packed quite a punch! Stephen was kind enough to order a drink his sister wanted and set it close enough to her for her to reach easily (she just turned 20- and has been bemoaning the fact that she has been to Vegas TWICE, before she even turned 21). People were coming around giving out small flowers for people who made a donation for Breast Cancer, so we all got a small flower and put it behind our ears.
After dinner we walked to the Venetian, where Blue Man Group performs. Paul has seen it before and has always wanted us to see it. We all thoroughly enjoyed it- me, partly because it was fun to see how much fun the kids were having. The show is somewhat interactive and at one point the Blue guys walked towards the back of the theatre, stepping on the backs of seats to get there. Our seats were in the first row behind the splash zone. One guy paused right over Jess and Stephen, and the kids handed him their flowers. It was really cool because once he got to the back and had picked out a volunteer to bring on stage, he presented her the flowers and she took them with her. The flowers were in the show for about the next 30 minutes. That really made the show great for us. There were other times it was interactive too, so it kept our interest.
After the show we took the last shuttle back home, and left Stephen at the hotel. Since it wasn't even midnight, he had no intentions of going to his room, except to freshen up, since as he said- he's 23 and on vacation in Las Vegas! I wonder if he ever made it to bed?
Yesterday we had a great time with them. We did some shopping in the morning, then headed back to the trailer to get ready for our outing. We had tickets to Blue Man Group and we went to Margaritaville for an early dinner before the show. Its a good thing we left early, because we had quite a wait at Margaritaville.
Our RV Park has a shuttle that has stops at several places along the strip. We figured it would be easier than Paul having to drive the F350, so we took the 3 pm shuttle. A few minutes into the trip in the shuttle, Stephen was telling us a story about a customer (he is a computer tech at Staples) and a problem the guy was having with his hard drive. It was really quiet in the bus and his was the only discernible voice. It soon became apparent that the bus driver was trying to get Stephens attention. He told Stephen he was being too loud and he had to come up to the "Time out" seat (the Jump seat next to the driver). Luckily Stephen has a great sense of humor, so he went up there to sit, apologizing for talking to his parents too loud after not seeing us for almost a year. Then he said it was ok, he didn't mind hanging out with "the dude" for a while.
Turns out the guy had heard the conversation and was also having a problem with his hard drive, so he was picking Stephens brain to find out what he should do! Everyone was laughing- telling the driver he was lucky to get free advice, because probably people PAY to hear what Stephen has to say about their computer!
Lunch/Dinner at Margaritaville was great- the food was OK, but it's a fun place to be. The Margaritas packed quite a punch! Stephen was kind enough to order a drink his sister wanted and set it close enough to her for her to reach easily (she just turned 20- and has been bemoaning the fact that she has been to Vegas TWICE, before she even turned 21). People were coming around giving out small flowers for people who made a donation for Breast Cancer, so we all got a small flower and put it behind our ears.
After dinner we walked to the Venetian, where Blue Man Group performs. Paul has seen it before and has always wanted us to see it. We all thoroughly enjoyed it- me, partly because it was fun to see how much fun the kids were having. The show is somewhat interactive and at one point the Blue guys walked towards the back of the theatre, stepping on the backs of seats to get there. Our seats were in the first row behind the splash zone. One guy paused right over Jess and Stephen, and the kids handed him their flowers. It was really cool because once he got to the back and had picked out a volunteer to bring on stage, he presented her the flowers and she took them with her. The flowers were in the show for about the next 30 minutes. That really made the show great for us. There were other times it was interactive too, so it kept our interest.
After the show we took the last shuttle back home, and left Stephen at the hotel. Since it wasn't even midnight, he had no intentions of going to his room, except to freshen up, since as he said- he's 23 and on vacation in Las Vegas! I wonder if he ever made it to bed?
Friday, March 5, 2010
Phoenix, AZ
Before we left Willcox, we grabbed another pie so we could bring it to my cousin Linda's house. After making the easy drive to Phoenix, we pulled in to Usery Mountain Regional Park. They have about 70 Rv spots but they were full, so we stayed that night in the overflow lot. It really wasn't too bad- it was gravel and there were picnic tables directly behind us. We didn't care much, since we were going to Linda and Michaels for dinner and would be back late. There was no electric hookup in the overflow. My only complaint is that $17 is a lot of money to pay for a parking lot.
I felt a little like a vulture. We knew they would probably have room for us in the regular campground the next night, so we drove through the campground scouting to see which spots would be opening up, and which ones were the best.
We had a great time at Linda's house. I was sorry that some other cousins couldn't make it, but we had a great dinner and a fun time with Linda and Michael.
The next morning we played vulture again, to make sure that people were actually leaving their sites( they always have the option to re-up)- if you want a site you have to be at the ranger station at 9 am because thats when they assign them. We did get a nice one, with plenty of room.
We set out to hike around the mountain- a 7+ mile hike (Pass Mountain trail). It was a meandering type of trail, not very difficult, and we were done by 1:30. We're getting so we can move pretty fast if we want. The scenery on the first half of the hike was great, but the second half was pretty boring, and pretty rocky, so we didn't stop too much along the way. At least we got some exercise.
The weather was really nice so we sat outside for a bit, then ate dinner outside at the picnic table.
Yesterday we took our time in the morning- we fueled up the truck and did some errands, then headed off towards Nevada. We split the trip into two days, since its about 425 miles, which is just a little too much to do in one day. Instead, we had another new adventure.
For the first time, we spent the night on BLM land. (Bureau of Land Management).
Basically it is federally owned land that you can park your RV on for free, and spend up to 2 weeks, if you want to. A lot of people use it for ATVing. I did a little research and found a spot that wasn't too far out of our way, that I knew was accessible because people had posted on forums that they stayed there.
I felt a little like a vulture. We knew they would probably have room for us in the regular campground the next night, so we drove through the campground scouting to see which spots would be opening up, and which ones were the best.
We had a great time at Linda's house. I was sorry that some other cousins couldn't make it, but we had a great dinner and a fun time with Linda and Michael.
The weather was really nice so we sat outside for a bit, then ate dinner outside at the picnic table.
Yesterday we took our time in the morning- we fueled up the truck and did some errands, then headed off towards Nevada. We split the trip into two days, since its about 425 miles, which is just a little too much to do in one day. Instead, we had another new adventure.
For the first time, we spent the night on BLM land. (Bureau of Land Management).
Basically it is federally owned land that you can park your RV on for free, and spend up to 2 weeks, if you want to. A lot of people use it for ATVing. I did a little research and found a spot that wasn't too far out of our way, that I knew was accessible because people had posted on forums that they stayed there.
We got there early in the day, which was great, because it meant we didn't get antsy or anything.
After an early night we left this morning and arrived in Vegas around lunchtime.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Chiricahua National Monument, Willcox, AZ
We were going to leave for Phoenix today, but we really want to see Chiricahua, so we postponed Phoenix for one more day. This area is known for its unusual rock formations. When we got up this morning, it was still in the 30s, so instead of leaving early, we relaxed over breakfast and left at about 8:30 for the 45 minute drive to the park. Once we got there, we were surprised with the news that the road through the park wasn't open yet because they have to plow it. Ooops. We wandered the exhibits at the Visitor Center until we were told it was ok to go. There are two basic trails through the area of the park that we wanted to see-one is 7.5 miles and the other is 3.5 miles. We didn't feel comfortable sticking to our original plan of doing the 7.5 mile loop, since there were still a lot of clouds around, it was cold, and we didn't know how slippery it would be in the snow. Although we didn't have any real issues, we're glad we kept it to the shorter loop. The rock formations were amazing, and as we have found with a lot of the natural beauty we have seen, pictures and descriptions hardly do it justice.
After eating lunch, we decided that it was early enough in the day that we could make the drive over to Fort Bowie (pronounced booee). It was a little nervewracking for a few minutes on the drive over there. We went down a long dirt road, and at one point, the mud was so deep and slick that the truck was fishtailing all over the road. Paul said it was similar to being on ice....you can't go too slow- you have to go the right speed. Trust me, sliding sideways down the road (in an F350 with dual rear wheels) was quite an experience.
It was another 3 miles of walking to get to the fort and back, but at least there was no snow on the ground at this elevation. I have to say, what impressed me wasn't the fort, it was the little information plaques that were along the trail. They did a great job of describing what it was like here, and what took place in the 1800s. I think what helped me visualize everything was the fact that not much has changed in this area since then. As I looked around me there were no houses, no people, no manmade structures at all, except what was here 100 years ago. The fort was built in the 1800s to protect the stage coaches and mail carriers as they passed through "Apache Pass", an area inhabited by Apache indians. At that time in history, Cochise was a leader of the Chiricahua Apaches. There was an uneasy civility between the indians and the settlers until Cochise was wrongly accused of stealing and kidnapping. That accusation resulted in an 11 year war between the Apache and the settlers.
Very little remains of the actual fort, but walking through the dry river bed and along the trail, I could really get a sense of the incredible history of this area.
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