A Mini Road Trip (04-27-15)

We left Havasu with the bed of the truck completely empty- it felt very strange not to have the camper or trailer with us- even the tailgate was gone, because one of the stops on our road trip is to pick up the camper in Fresno.








 But that’s getting ahead of myself.   Our 4 day trip took us through 3 states and over 1000 miles. 










Our first stop was Laughlin Nevada where we met with Mike and Julie to attend a ZZ Top concert….












  which just happened to take place on Mike and Julie’s 39th wedding anniversary!

We were very happy to celebrate with them, and we all enjoyed the concert.

These band members have been together since 1969 are the original members of  ZZ Top, so they are old- like us- and the concert was over by 10 pm- just Perfect!

We sadly said goodbye to Mike and Julie, and took off the next morning for Seal Beach CA, where we met up with more friends to celebrate a 60th birthday. We arrived in town early enough to have lunch with friends and still have time to take a short nap before the big party.

The birthday girl, Margie, has been friends with Paul since their college days.

Margie’s kids’ went all out,  hiring a DJ for dancing and serving a full dinner at a local country club.











We had a great time dancing, and took advantage of the photo booth in between songs.  I didn’t have my camera with me so my pictures are pretty much non-existent.

The next morning the weather was perfect for a long chat over breakfast.  As we said our goodbyes we all realized that we should continue the tradition of these types of celebrations. So many of us are used to seeing friends and family only at wakes and funerals, and it was so much fun to get together for a happy occasion.

Everyone knows Paul likes to have a good time, and on his 50th birthday, we had his party in Las Vegas, and most of his family and lots of his friends flew in for a 3 day celebration.  We had an awesome time and he is already mentioning that he is turning 60 on his next birthday……it could work out to be our first blowout party in our new house…..we’ll see!

Our final stop on our mini road trip was Fresno, where we picked up our truck camper.

 

Once again we had dinner with friends, and as much as we enjoy their company, we can’t stick around.  With no camper or trailer attached to us, we have been staying in hotels, so we left Dozer in the trailer in Havasu.

4 days is the longest I like to leave him, so we really need to get back. 

So, if this is what a mini road trip looks like, what does a MAJOR road trip look like?  You’ll have to wait for my next post for the answer to that question!

Short Stop-in Havasu (04-23-15)

Life is quite busy right now, and our stop in Lake Havasu was a brief one. We arrived in town just in time to meet up with our friends Kirk and Karen, who were on their way back to California from Mexico.

We showed them around town, and of course stopped by the model home to show off what our new house will sort of look like.

One of the things we like about Havasu is that there always seems to be something going on. 





  After Kirk and Karen went on their way, we realized that the coming weekend there was going to be a Poker Run, featuring  boats that attain speeds in excess of 160 mph. {Update; This year's Shoot Out  Race winner topped out at 182 mph}

Although we wouldn't be in town for the actual races (Next year!), we heard about the Desert Storm Street Party.  The main road in Havasu was closed to traffic, and many of the race boats were on display.

These boats represent some serious money….

and as Paul said “some serious testosterone”.

Many of the “players” showed off their cars and trucks as well-

We saw a Maserati, a Ferrari and a GT, among others.

As I said, we would have loved to have been here for the races, but that’s OK- we have some awesome plans for the weekend and were quite happy to head out on our mini road trip.

House Update

When we were last in town, the grading of the lot had been started but not finished.  It is now done and here are the before and after pictures.  What a huge difference!  We weren't completely satisfied with the job the grader did, so we asked Wes to meet us at the lot. 

 He explained that a few areas will have to be finished later, once the house is started, but also agreed with us that they stopped short of the lot line, and need to bring in some more fill to finish the job.

Here’s the view looking towards the lake-before-

and after-

Here is looking towards the street- before-

and after.

While we were in Vegas we looked at granite, and once we got to Havasu we started trying to narrow down some other items.  We have chosen the exterior color ( a very light sandy looking color):




And we have also chosen the roof color. The company we are working with sent us around town to look at houses that are the same color as the ones we were interested in, so it was easier to make a decision.

We looked at a lot of floor tiles and think we have a decision made, but we will revisit it some other time.  We really need to look a the granite, floor tile, wall color and back splash all together to see if it works for us, but we don’t have the time right now.  At least the basic exterior colors are chosen!

Scenes From Sedona (04-19-15)

Still hanging out with Mike and Julie, the four of us made our way to the Elks Club in Sedona- a comfortable central location for exploring the area.

Either Dozer is getting confused, or he wants to see what kind of treats Mike and Julie have, because this is not our rig- its theirs!















 

The view from our site was pretty spectacular, but then, most of Sedona is pretty spectacular.

There are several trails within walking distance, and we took advantage of that to walk part of the Airport Loop Trail, and got the you know what scared out of us when a huge plane seemed to come out of nowhere and flew right over our heads.







Spring time in the desert is beautiful and there was no shortage of gorgeous flowers along the trails.
















After a few days of hiking, we decided to give our legs a break and take a ROAD TRIP :


We packed a lunch and all piled in Mike’s truck for a drive up Oak Creek Canyon. Our first major stop was Slide Rock State Park, a place that Paul and I have never been to before.  The last time we came through here, there were wildfires in the area and we weren’t allowed to stop.



 











We enjoyed watching other people take their turn sliding down the natural water slide, but with the water probably being about 50 degrees, we were content to be spectators.






Continuing on our way, we reached the tip of the canyon where the view was pretty awesome and we stopped to enjoy our picnic lunch.

The next segment of our adventure took us off the road, as we explored the forest for future boon docking spots for the truck camper.  This is a great area to escape to in the heat of the summer, due to it’s high elevation.

It also allowed us the opportunity to get out and stretch our legs before returning to Sedona.

  Our last day in Sedona was spent hiking Courthouse Loop Trail- we thought it was going to be an 8 mile trail, so Mike and Julie opted out, but it turned out to be only about 4.5 miles long.

There are so many trails in the Sedona area, it would take months to hike them all.  Unfortunately they will all have to wait until our next visit, as it was time for us to scoot back to Havasu.

We are usually sad to say goodbye to Mike and Julie, but this time we know we will see them in a few days, when we all head to a ZZ Top Concert in Laughlin!

Cottonwood, AZ (04-16-15)

The town of Cottonwood is about 30 minutes from Sedona, which makes it a great spot to hang out and do some hiking.

After giving ourselves a day or so to recuperate from our 9 mile hike, we took to the trail again, but on a shorter trail.  We hiked about 2 miles into Boynton Canyon Trail, and then decided it was enough, and turned ourselves around to head back out.

Sedona is a very spiritual place and we were serenaded on our hike by someone playing a flute on top of one of the sandstone formations.

Even spiritual places want to stay in the 21st century, which requires cell phone towers.  If you look at this picture for a few seconds, you will be able to pick out the tower, but overall, they did a pretty good job of blending it in.

Mike and Julie soon joined us in Cottonwood and after an evening of Margaritas and camaraderie, we hit the trail the next day. 

This time we did a 3.5 mile loop (Bell/Bail/Llama/Little Horse) with a little elevation gain, but not much.

We rewarded ourselves with a night out on the town.  Dinner at the Tavern Grille, followed by drinks and live music at the R.I.O.T. Bar.  The “Blues Cousins”  had a great time listening to Llory McDonald sing some of our favorite songs.

Granite Mountain Basin (04-13-15)

Paul and I don’t have to be back in Havasu for a while so we were on the look out for some hiking to do- preferably at a higher elevation, where it’s cooler.  We’ve decided to head towards Sedona where we will kill two birds with one stone.  We’ll have some great hiking, and also get to hang out with our friends Mike and Julie. 

Our first stop along the way was Prescott, where I had found a trail we were interested in hiking- and where our friends Dave and Nancy happen to be staying.



Granite Mountain Basin is part of the Prescott National Forest.  The trail we hiked was Granite Mountain Trail #261.  It was an ambitious undertaking at 9 miles round trip, and 1600 feet of elevation gain.  We were in the mood to push ourselves, and boy did we.  We were pretty darn tired when we were done.

We knew from the reviews of the trail that there had been a fire here about 2 years ago, but it wasn’t until we met another couple along the trail that we learned how devastating that fire was.

In June of 2013 a fire, known now as the Yarnell Hill Fire, broke out in the small, nearby town of Yarnell.  In the midst of a severe drought, and with winds whipping, the fire grew out of control.










For weeks the fire raged, and more and more firefighters were brought in to try and contain it.  Eventually the services of more than 600 firefighters were utilized, including the 20 men who comprised the elite team known as the Granite Mountain Hotshots. 

On June 30th, the fire suddenly changed direction, and 19 of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were overcome by flames, and died in the fire, resulting in the highest firefighter death toll in a fire since 1933.

Hearing about that while on the trail changed our mood a little bit, making it more somber and reflective.

Eventually we made it to the top of the hill, where we found a nice flat boulder where we could sit and enjoy lunch.  We didn’t get to relax for long though.

 

As I took a bite from my sandwich, I heard them.  Before I saw them, I actually heard them.  Swarming towards us.  Bees.  Thousands of them.

I now know what the term “scared spitless” means, as tried to swallow, and with my sandwich lodged in my throat, I scrambled down below the boulders to try and get out of their way.

Paul, of course, was calm and unconcerned, trying unsuccessfully to keep me from freaking out.  As soon as they moved away, I declared that lunch was over and we were moving.  Now.  A few minutes later we came upon another hiker who had had to walk through the swarm on his way to the peak.




Apparently bees swarm at this time of year while looking for a new location for a hive. When not swarming, they rest in clusters in tree branches.  We passed 3 clusters on the way back down the hill.


On the news that night we heard that several people had been attacked by swarming bees, and one woman is in the hospital with over 50 bee stings.









Once we were back down the hill I started to relax again, and started looking forward to our dinner with Dave and Nancy.  It’s been a while since we’ve seen them so we had a great dinner, and hope to see them again next week before we head off in different directions for the summer.  Of course, I never got my camera out, so I have no pictures of our reunion.