Monday.
Weather was again beautiful on Monday, so after allowing Sandy to do some washing we packed our lunch and drove off to the McLintock and Stillman Railroad Museum in Scottsdale, East Phoenix.
We had visited there Easter 2013, but were happy to return as we had enjoyed it so much. Sandy was ecstatic. We investigated the Forty and Eight Merci Train Boxcar, we rode on the small train round the park, we visited the railway museum and stood in the Presidential Pullman railcar (one of only six ever made).
We then spent some time looking at the three enormous model railroad layouts on display. Sandy rushing from one scene to another oohing! and aahing! like a little kid (which I suppose we all did), marvelling at all the little model cars, trains, houses and scenery that were on show.
All too soon it was time to go home, so we drove with the drive time traffic, stopping at Denny's on Camelback for dinner. We had all had a lovely day, which we hoped was especially good for Sandy.
Tuesday
Today we had to take Sandy to the airport and bid farewell, though none of us were prepared to say it was for the last time as we are sure that we will meet up again some time in the future, somewhere.
Thanks for a great, but short, week with us, which we will treasure for a long time.
Monday, November 17, 2014
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Day 71: Wickenburg Bluegrass Festival
Wickenburg is a small town that lies to the North West of Phoenix, also just East of Quartzite, it doesn't appear to have any natural attractions, but it fights hard to get people to come to the town. This weekend it has its 35th annual bluegrass festival. It is housed on the rodeo ground, which has a lot of sand. We are placed just outside the main arena, which is where performances take place. The festival is a combination of professional acts and competition for instruments and singers. Top of the list this year is the Dry Branch Fire Squad, sort of hokey band from Kentucky, interesting lead vocalist/mandolin player who has lots of homespun humour and stories.
We have spent sometime playing music with our friend Sandy, who is staying with us, but not felt like joining in jams on the campground - maybe tonight.
We have spent sometime playing music with our friend Sandy, who is staying with us, but not felt like joining in jams on the campground - maybe tonight.
Day 70: The Girl with the Lemon Lift
Thursday
Today we moved on to Wickenburg from our very pleasant stay at Lake Pleasant. Our friend Sandy joined us on Tuesday and on Wednesday we relaxed. We went back out on to the marina on the lake, to Dillon's, for our mid morning (12.00) drink. Sandy had tea, I had coffee and Sally would have had earl Gray tea, but they had none. The only thing the very pretty waitress had was a Lemon Lift, which I thought was quite impressive. In the afternoon we sat in the shade of our trailer and played some music, which was a lot of fun, though we are all very rusty.
As we are packing up today I noticed the arrival of a couple of single engine planes, they look like second world war Mustangs (P81's?), they converged in the air space over our campground and proceeded to chase each other in what looked like a mock dog fight. After a while it was obvious that there were more than two, in fact four of them were chasing around the skies. I thought it was quite impressive and managed to get a couple of photos.
Today we moved on to Wickenburg from our very pleasant stay at Lake Pleasant. Our friend Sandy joined us on Tuesday and on Wednesday we relaxed. We went back out on to the marina on the lake, to Dillon's, for our mid morning (12.00) drink. Sandy had tea, I had coffee and Sally would have had earl Gray tea, but they had none. The only thing the very pretty waitress had was a Lemon Lift, which I thought was quite impressive. In the afternoon we sat in the shade of our trailer and played some music, which was a lot of fun, though we are all very rusty.
As we are packing up today I noticed the arrival of a couple of single engine planes, they look like second world war Mustangs (P81's?), they converged in the air space over our campground and proceeded to chase each other in what looked like a mock dog fight. After a while it was obvious that there were more than two, in fact four of them were chasing around the skies. I thought it was quite impressive and managed to get a couple of photos.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Day 68: Grrr! and Great
Tuesday
I guess you can't expect everything to always go exactly to plan, especially when you are living a sort of nomadic life and your environment is constantly changing as you move around. So I suppose we have become used to being fairly flexible, in fact I try to build flexibility into the decisions we make. Sometimes this drive Sally mad, as I say, "Well we could do this, or we could do this, or if we want we could do that", however sticking to a plan can be disastrous. So when changes to your bedrock activities happen it can throw you. Having said that the change that happened today was not dramatic, but very frustrating. Since we started travelling in 2007 I have tried to keep a blog going, and found that Google Maps has been the best way to show where we have been, or where we are. In 2011 Google, in it's wisdom introduced changes to the mapping programme, far from being an improvement it made showing a route, with a number of stops, quite difficult to do. It also limited the number of stops you could enter onto one map, unless you purchased the 'Pro' version, which considering my background philosophy towards the Internet and the fact that it didn't do what I wanted it to do in the first place, meant that there was no way that I would BUY into the mapping programme. Fortunately they left the old mapping system running, calling it the 'Classic Maps', so I was able to keep the maps going. UNTIL TODAY!!!! I went to modify the map for our current blog only to find that it had been changed to the now mapping system, and looked awful, and I couldn't edit it, and kept getting the message that the map was too big and I needed to switch (buy,at $5 per month) to 'Pro Maps'. Not only that but all the maps I had drawn over the years had all been switched to this new system. There was no explanation for this, it just happened. After a frustrating hour I tracked down that this was actually a change made by Google, not some error on my or their part. Well I just did not cope with this and found that I was repeating Sally's mantra of 'Why do they keep changing things, why can't they leave these things alone?'
So I am still continuing to discover that my views are not at all important to a business like Google, that having something work quite well (not perfectly) is not good enough, they have to be able to monetize it(as though they don't make enough money anyway).
So what have I learned from this, First I now need to find another mapping system that will do the job that I want done and secondly to reconfirm that while we have the illusion that we are in control of our lives (destiny) very small changes in the tide of world affairs can make that illusion painfully ephemeral and remove that control. In this case it was a small change in Google's business plan, but it could just as easily be change in policy for say American Visas, travel insurance (this will happen next year, when we hit 66 years old). A small fall, a drift across the white line on the road. All the time these things don't happen we are fine, but round every corner, at every turn is the potential that will change our lives completely and ultimately .............
So final thought on that is to give grateful thanks that we have remained in sufficient control of our lives to be able to do so much.
The GREAT part is that despite a small hitch with the planes our friend Sandy had arrived and we have collected her from the Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix and we have returned safely to the trailer, so we are looking forward to a great week together.
I guess you can't expect everything to always go exactly to plan, especially when you are living a sort of nomadic life and your environment is constantly changing as you move around. So I suppose we have become used to being fairly flexible, in fact I try to build flexibility into the decisions we make. Sometimes this drive Sally mad, as I say, "Well we could do this, or we could do this, or if we want we could do that", however sticking to a plan can be disastrous. So when changes to your bedrock activities happen it can throw you. Having said that the change that happened today was not dramatic, but very frustrating. Since we started travelling in 2007 I have tried to keep a blog going, and found that Google Maps has been the best way to show where we have been, or where we are. In 2011 Google, in it's wisdom introduced changes to the mapping programme, far from being an improvement it made showing a route, with a number of stops, quite difficult to do. It also limited the number of stops you could enter onto one map, unless you purchased the 'Pro' version, which considering my background philosophy towards the Internet and the fact that it didn't do what I wanted it to do in the first place, meant that there was no way that I would BUY into the mapping programme. Fortunately they left the old mapping system running, calling it the 'Classic Maps', so I was able to keep the maps going. UNTIL TODAY!!!! I went to modify the map for our current blog only to find that it had been changed to the now mapping system, and looked awful, and I couldn't edit it, and kept getting the message that the map was too big and I needed to switch (buy,at $5 per month) to 'Pro Maps'. Not only that but all the maps I had drawn over the years had all been switched to this new system. There was no explanation for this, it just happened. After a frustrating hour I tracked down that this was actually a change made by Google, not some error on my or their part. Well I just did not cope with this and found that I was repeating Sally's mantra of 'Why do they keep changing things, why can't they leave these things alone?'
So I am still continuing to discover that my views are not at all important to a business like Google, that having something work quite well (not perfectly) is not good enough, they have to be able to monetize it(as though they don't make enough money anyway).
So what have I learned from this, First I now need to find another mapping system that will do the job that I want done and secondly to reconfirm that while we have the illusion that we are in control of our lives (destiny) very small changes in the tide of world affairs can make that illusion painfully ephemeral and remove that control. In this case it was a small change in Google's business plan, but it could just as easily be change in policy for say American Visas, travel insurance (this will happen next year, when we hit 66 years old). A small fall, a drift across the white line on the road. All the time these things don't happen we are fine, but round every corner, at every turn is the potential that will change our lives completely and ultimately .............
So final thought on that is to give grateful thanks that we have remained in sufficient control of our lives to be able to do so much.
The GREAT part is that despite a small hitch with the planes our friend Sandy had arrived and we have collected her from the Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix and we have returned safely to the trailer, so we are looking forward to a great week together.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Day 66: Lake Pleasant
Sunday
We packed up from Krazy K and took a gentle ride (mostly downhill) to the outskirts of Phoenix, where we took a turn to the West on to R 74 to get to Lake Pleasant, a Maricopa County Regional Park, based round a reservoir in the middle of the desert.
At the junction of R74 and I17 we stopped to pick up supplies and have a cuppa. we had the choice of Starbucks inside Albertsons, a nice posh coffee shop, or a donut place. Inexplicably drawn to the donut place we had a look in - it looked kind of basic, but on asking they did Earl Gray Tea, so in we went. So this donut place worked a bit like Subway - except with donuts. They cook your donut from scratch, while you wait, they add all the toppings and fillings you want, then you can eat it with your drink. Possibly the best donuts we have had since coming to America!!!!
A quick shop in Albertsons then off to our prebooked campsite, which we were relieved to find was big enough, not overlooked, had a shelter over the picnic bench and also had a view of the lake. Hope it will be a nice place to be for a few days.
We packed up from Krazy K and took a gentle ride (mostly downhill) to the outskirts of Phoenix, where we took a turn to the West on to R 74 to get to Lake Pleasant, a Maricopa County Regional Park, based round a reservoir in the middle of the desert.
At the junction of R74 and I17 we stopped to pick up supplies and have a cuppa. we had the choice of Starbucks inside Albertsons, a nice posh coffee shop, or a donut place. Inexplicably drawn to the donut place we had a look in - it looked kind of basic, but on asking they did Earl Gray Tea, so in we went. So this donut place worked a bit like Subway - except with donuts. They cook your donut from scratch, while you wait, they add all the toppings and fillings you want, then you can eat it with your drink. Possibly the best donuts we have had since coming to America!!!!
A quick shop in Albertsons then off to our prebooked campsite, which we were relieved to find was big enough, not overlooked, had a shelter over the picnic bench and also had a view of the lake. Hope it will be a nice place to be for a few days.
Day 65: Montezuma's Castle
Saturday
We are staying at Krazy K RV park in Camp Verde, just off I17. It is one of the nicest RV parks we have stayed in. Plenty of space, nice grounds, laundry room (yes we have done laundry today). Yesterday we had a great day in Sedona, today is chillout day. SO having done the laundry we had a visit to Montezuam's Castle, which is just about 3 miles up the road.
N.B. Montezuma's Castle has nothing to do with Montezuma -by an Aztec Ruler in the 16th Century, who was defeated in battle by Hernan Cortes, a Spanish conquistador. This has given rise to the colloquial name for tourists to mexico who contract diarrhea - Montezuma's Revenge.
Montezuma's Castle is an Anasazi cliff dwelling built in around 1200 A.D. when this area was an important trade route crossroads. The buildings are similar to those found in a number of places round here, as well as the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings 250 miles to the North East. They indicate that the people who lived there were relatively advanced, but like Mesa Verde they had disappeared completly by around 1400 A.D.
We had a very pleasant time wandering round the area, talking to a few people, we found a guy called Harry, who was a whizz on the Indian flute. After talking for a while we found out that he lived in a trailer about 6 sites up from us at Krazy K!
After our visit to Montezuma's Castle we returned to Cliff Castle Casino as Saturday night is their $15, all you can eat, Prime Rib Night, where we had another excellent meal.
We are staying at Krazy K RV park in Camp Verde, just off I17. It is one of the nicest RV parks we have stayed in. Plenty of space, nice grounds, laundry room (yes we have done laundry today). Yesterday we had a great day in Sedona, today is chillout day. SO having done the laundry we had a visit to Montezuam's Castle, which is just about 3 miles up the road.
N.B. Montezuma's Castle has nothing to do with Montezuma -by an Aztec Ruler in the 16th Century, who was defeated in battle by Hernan Cortes, a Spanish conquistador. This has given rise to the colloquial name for tourists to mexico who contract diarrhea - Montezuma's Revenge.
Montezuma's Castle is an Anasazi cliff dwelling built in around 1200 A.D. when this area was an important trade route crossroads. The buildings are similar to those found in a number of places round here, as well as the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings 250 miles to the North East. They indicate that the people who lived there were relatively advanced, but like Mesa Verde they had disappeared completly by around 1400 A.D.
We had a very pleasant time wandering round the area, talking to a few people, we found a guy called Harry, who was a whizz on the Indian flute. After talking for a while we found out that he lived in a trailer about 6 sites up from us at Krazy K!
After our visit to Montezuma's Castle we returned to Cliff Castle Casino as Saturday night is their $15, all you can eat, Prime Rib Night, where we had another excellent meal.
Friday, November 7, 2014
Day 64: Day trip to Sedona
Friday
From where we are staying in Camp Verde it is about a 30 minute drive back North to Sedona. Sedona has been on our visit list since we first drove through it in 2010, back then we didn't have time to stop and visit it, so now was the time.
We drove North up State Route 179, which is s scenic highway, pretty soon we could see why as we started to drive between the red rock cliffs, once again we were in awe of the splendour of the landscape around us. we stopped at a couple of view points before turning off the main road to visit the Chapel of the Holy Cross. This is a chapel that has been built into the cliff side. Designed by a scupltor, its vision is to be a building which demonstrates the presence of God through its architecture. From a distance it is obviously an iconic building, but on approaching it and entering it it is immediately an inspirational space, almost demanding an acknowledgment of the presence of God within it, although of course it is its place within its surrounding that gives it that characteristic. Without the dramatic scenery that it is built in to its statement would be considerably diminished.
After spending some time at the chapel we then drove into and straight away drove out of the other side as we explored one of Sedona's View Points, which is just by one of its famous Vortexes (vorteci?). The vortexes are four small conical hills which have an energy field around/in them. Not quite sure what they are supposed to do, but a great many people ern their living by ensuring that others can live in a good energy regime. I saw a sign in one shop which offered 'energy balancing', similar to the body what 'wheel balancing' does to the car I suppose, but did not inquire further.
Near to the Vortex was a wonderful view of Sedona and its Red Rock Canyons, so we stopped there for our packed lunch before descending back to Sedona to stroll down its 'Uptown' area (tourist section), where we managed to by a lovely little Christmas tree ornament made from a gourd, it was made in Peru, very relevant. Following another cup of coffee on a beautifully placed veranda we turned for home, en route we stopped at the Castle Cliff Casino for a buffet dinner, $13, all you can eat, New York Strip steak was on offer tonight, that was very nice. Since we had joined the casino club we also had to get rid of $10 each into their slot machines, it took me about 2 minutes, while Sally took about 15 minutes to get rid of hers.
What a lovely day we have had, we feel so blessed that we can be in a lovely part of the country like Sedona.
From where we are staying in Camp Verde it is about a 30 minute drive back North to Sedona. Sedona has been on our visit list since we first drove through it in 2010, back then we didn't have time to stop and visit it, so now was the time.
We drove North up State Route 179, which is s scenic highway, pretty soon we could see why as we started to drive between the red rock cliffs, once again we were in awe of the splendour of the landscape around us. we stopped at a couple of view points before turning off the main road to visit the Chapel of the Holy Cross. This is a chapel that has been built into the cliff side. Designed by a scupltor, its vision is to be a building which demonstrates the presence of God through its architecture. From a distance it is obviously an iconic building, but on approaching it and entering it it is immediately an inspirational space, almost demanding an acknowledgment of the presence of God within it, although of course it is its place within its surrounding that gives it that characteristic. Without the dramatic scenery that it is built in to its statement would be considerably diminished.
After spending some time at the chapel we then drove into and straight away drove out of the other side as we explored one of Sedona's View Points, which is just by one of its famous Vortexes (vorteci?). The vortexes are four small conical hills which have an energy field around/in them. Not quite sure what they are supposed to do, but a great many people ern their living by ensuring that others can live in a good energy regime. I saw a sign in one shop which offered 'energy balancing', similar to the body what 'wheel balancing' does to the car I suppose, but did not inquire further.
Near to the Vortex was a wonderful view of Sedona and its Red Rock Canyons, so we stopped there for our packed lunch before descending back to Sedona to stroll down its 'Uptown' area (tourist section), where we managed to by a lovely little Christmas tree ornament made from a gourd, it was made in Peru, very relevant. Following another cup of coffee on a beautifully placed veranda we turned for home, en route we stopped at the Castle Cliff Casino for a buffet dinner, $13, all you can eat, New York Strip steak was on offer tonight, that was very nice. Since we had joined the casino club we also had to get rid of $10 each into their slot machines, it took me about 2 minutes, while Sally took about 15 minutes to get rid of hers.
What a lovely day we have had, we feel so blessed that we can be in a lovely part of the country like Sedona.
Day 60 to 62: Moab to Page
The weather having improved, we hitched up the wagon and started South. We drove through the red desert to one of our favourite campgrounds - Goosenecks State Park, with its fabulous 1200ft overlook to the San Juan River. This park used to be free, Utah have now added picnic benches and a fire ring, but now charge $10 a night to camp there. Next morning, with bright sunshine, we headed South again to pass through Monument Valley, where the light was just right to get some lovely pictures as we drove through. After a stop in Kayenta for gas and a cuppa we continued towards Page. At this point it is worth mentioning that more or less from Goosenecks to Page, which is some 150 miles, we were travelling on the Navajo reservation, more aptly named Navajo Nation. So our stop in Kayenta was deep into the Navajo Nation. we stopped at the Blue Coffee Pot and noticed several things: First the name Blue Coffee Pot - On the menu it mentioned that the blue pot is a traditional sign of welcome and hospitality to the Indian, we had noticed a number of enamel coffeee pots for sale in various shops, now we knew why the are popular. Second the cafe was a large round open plan building, much like their Hogan, to maintain that theme the entrance was also traditionally facing East, to welcome the sun and for good fortune. Third, there were quite a few Indian groups in there eating, almost every group was multi-generational, not just children, but parents, grandparents and children. In our culture you often see groups of the same generation, but not so often across the generations, interesting.
Page was interesting, but not excessively so, many of the activities revolve around Lake Powell, for which you need a boat, or the wonderful rock formations, for which you need a 4X4, so we were unable to access much of the scenery there, the most famous of which are Antelope Canyon and dead Horse Bend.
We left Page on Thursday and headed South again, making it to Camp Verde, which is about 20 miles south of Sedona.
Page was interesting, but not excessively so, many of the activities revolve around Lake Powell, for which you need a boat, or the wonderful rock formations, for which you need a 4X4, so we were unable to access much of the scenery there, the most famous of which are Antelope Canyon and dead Horse Bend.
We left Page on Thursday and headed South again, making it to Camp Verde, which is about 20 miles south of Sedona.
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Day 59: We Don't Move On
Saturday
Update: Because of high winds here and to the South we decided against moving on and instead drove the scenic byway 128 loop road up the Colorado and over the LaSal Mounts. Wonderful views.
The Rectory
Update: Because of high winds here and to the South we decided against moving on and instead drove the scenic byway 128 loop road up the Colorado and over the LaSal Mounts. Wonderful views.
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| The Colorado River |
Looking Back: The Rectory and Castle rock
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| LaSal Mtd |
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