Various Hummingbirds

Many species of Hummingbirds (wrens & woodpeckers) Winter in Arizona. Some seem to be a little larger than the average hummer as the pics will indicate. Must be something about the desert air:) The red headed hummer has been a very regular visitor. At first, I thought it was a Ruby Throat like we see in Spokane (in the summer). However, the whole head and neck is a beautiful and flashy red. The woodpeckers are quite a sight to see through the window as they crash land onto the feeder. The cold temps in the AM really get their feeding habits generated. They share the feeder better in the cold Am and late afternoon but during the day are very territorial about "their" spot.

Happy Thanksgiving

We have had a great Thanksgiving meal among some really nice people that were nice enough to include us in there family gathering. Our nephew, Mike Burns, and his wife Eva invited us to join them at Eva's sister's house for dinner. The company and the food were awesome! Our sincere thanks to them for sharing.
Yesterday, we took a drive up to the Salt River Canyon about 75 miles East of AJ. It is truly a scenic route and the canyon was spectacular. Not as big as the Grand Canyon but beautiful in it's own right. It is 5 miles across and up to 2000' deep. The pics are various views from a viewpoint on the edge of the West (South?) ridge.
On the way back, we searched out what quilt shops we could find that were still open. The best of them was Julie's in Miami. Miami AZ of course.
Last night, we went out for our 45th Anniversary dinner to the Mining Camp Restaurant up towards Superstition Mountain. The restaurant is at the base of the mountain. As imposing as the mountain is from a distance, it is dramatically more so at the base. The Indians had good reason to think it a special place.
We are here in AJ until the 2nd of Dec and will begin migrating around once again. We will visit with Mike and Eva for a few days and then work our way down to the Casa Grande area for a time before we head out to Yuma.
There is Fall foilage still on display in the countryside here. The Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park on the way was advertising a Fall Foilage Festival Nov 27-28. We did not have time to stop but the colors in the park as we drove by were beautiful.
There are LOTS of various hummingbirds in the RV park here. This one is a very regular visitor. It has a ruby throat and head and in the sun sort of "explodes" with color. The feeder is occasionally visited by other birds like small wrens and a woodpecker or 2. The woodpeckers are as big as the feeder and it looks really strange to look out the window and see one draped over the feeder trying to get a drink. It is the desert for real!

Live from Apache Junction

After a nice 1/2" rain last night, the day started out cool and sunny. I did some polishing on the RV and Lou worked on her Drunkard's Path quilt project sewing small pieces into larger pieces. This afternoon, we took a trip up to Tortilla Flats near Canyon Lake NW of AJ. The scenery in AZ is stunning! Going by Superstition Mountain on the way gives a different perspective of its size and appeal to the area. Lots of hills of varied colors and shapes abound in the area. Here we were, driving along in the desert mountain beauty enjoying the vastness of the country with so few people around and then... a large marina on Canyon Lake with hundreds of boats in their slips! It really seemed out of place. Especially since the road up there is very windy and narrow with a 25 MPH speed limit most of the way. I can't imagine what it looks like in the summer when everyone is heading for the lake:(
I took lots of pics on the way so here's a few of them. Hard to choose the best ones so I'll just guess. If its blue, its the lake. If a boulder or hillside has a slight green tint, it fresh lichens growing on the rocks. BTW, I'm sitting outside in the cool air so the modem will work.
And we got an ice cream cone at the Goldberg Mining Ghost Town on the way back. Cherry Chocolate Chunk was pretty good:)

Jet Airplanes!!!!

Sitting outside in the cool 60 degrees to keep the Aircard cool so I can do the blog. Replacement arrives this week. A little cloud overcast with the cold front coming in. Possible showers today but not likely. Hummingbird keeps buzzing me to get at the feeder. Tough life on the road:) Went to the local flying field yesterday which was only a couple of miles away. Great facilities with an 800x85 foot paved runway and 250 feet overrun areas. The local club was having a Jet Fly-in with over 60 planes in action. The planes were of all types including scale warbirds (my favorites) and many factory special hotrods doing 200 MPH and maneuvers to match. Large turnout of spectators as well as the parking lot was quite full at $6 per car. Amazing what you can do with a large population and money:) I took lots of pics but will only bore you with a few. The scenery around here is really pretty with the foothills and Superstition Mountain in the distance.

Apache Junction

Lots of RV Parks in this area including the one we are in, the Santa Fe RV Park. We can stay here at Passport America rates for 2 weeks... so we will do just that. It will allow us to visit with our nephews and friends in the area and replenish our "wanderlust" for moving on to "somewhere else". We are waiting for a new Verizon aircard to arrive which will, hopefully, correct the issue we have been having about the premature disconnects.

Some more random pics attached. I'll quit now so the modem doesn't die before I can publish.

SEDONA, AZ At Last!

While in Camp Verde, we went up to Sedona. As pretty as everyone said it would be. Lou went to the Quilt Shop & Gallery and had a great time looking (and shopping) for some different and really neat fabrics for future projects. I, however, just sat around and enjoyed the scenery:) Sedona is an artsy, eclectic community of rich, spiritual (lots of crystal shops) and art shops from the lower "class" to the "upper class" of art offerings. Many of the sculptures were really beautiful and amazing. From Sedona, we went back toward Camp Verde which is near the Montezuma Castle. This was built in the early 1100's by the Sinagua Indians. Really amazing what they could do with what was provided by the land without destroying the land. We should have learned something from them but sadly did not.

Made it to Apache Junction

I'll keep this one short. Having issues with my Verizon Aircard. It thinks I'm on-line too long I guess as it keeps turning off before I can publish.

Fallon was cold in the AM so we went down to Pahrump,NV West of Vegas and spent 2 nights there so I could rest up. We visited a "boutique" winery and I was able to wash the deicer off the truck and RV. They both look much better. We then set sail for Flagstaff, AZ with the intent of stopping overnight in Williams just short of Flagstaff. However, after a tough climb up to the 7,300 foot elev. we decided that it would be too cold at night. Upper teens means that it will be VERY cold in the RV when we wake up. So, we continued on down to Camp Verde, AZ which made it a LONG 350 mile day. More in the next post.

Making Progress

We have made it to Fallon, NV in good shape. The driving was much easier with no major mountain passes to contend with. The scenery is not as good as the mountains which made the mountain passes well worth the effort. Most of the mountains around us were dusted with snow but the roads were clear and dry:) High desert scenery has it's own beauty but not much in the way of variety. Tonight, or tomorrow AM, we will plan the next leg of the journey. Lou did find a nice quilt shop here in Fallon. Lots of unique fabrics to peruse. We know that we will be in Arizona for Thanksgiving and it will most likely be in the Phoenix area. First, we have to get past Vegas:( We will do a "short stop" before we get there so we can get through, or around, our least favorite town the next day. After that, we have the world to ourselves at Quartzite if the other 50,000 or so visitors there will let us in. We'll see:)

Crystal Crane Hot Springs, OR

Here we sit after a pretty long day driving through several mountain passes at the Crystal Crane Springs campground. Water and electric included at $9 per night. (Passport America rate) Plus, an 88 degree pond to swim or float in. Really cool place. It's in the upper 30's now and going down to the mid 20's tonight. But NO SNOW! We did see some up at the top of several passes above the 4500' levels. The highest pass we crossed was 5400'. A really pretty drive but with LOTS of twists and turns and ups and downs. The RV handled it all quite well:) Fortunately, both Lou and I feel that the "journey" is worth a little more effort driving. I'm tired but still happy we decided to come down from Hermiston via US395. Tomorrow we will continue our travels toward the South. We may stop in Winnemucca or go on to Fallon,NV. We'll see how we feel when we get to Winnemucca, NV to decide the next stop. We may just stop overnight at both of them. We are NOT in a big hurry now that we have left SNOW country:)

One More Time!!!

All Right! Here we go again:) We have departed Spokane without seeing any snow and have arrived in beautiful (well, convenient) Hermiston, OR. We will be watching for any weather systems that may cause a variation of our travel route. Nothing worth photos so far so none posted. As we progress, we will be going through some very pretty country and I will try to get some pics worthy of posting. For now, it's time to light up the BBQ to finish killing a chicken breast for dinner.