Arizona! Pine, Cottonwood, Sedona, Phoenix

Our search to find the perfect place to eventually settle down brought us to the mountains of Arizona. Last year we spent some time in Prescott and this year we wanted to check out the town of Payson, AZ. We wanted to see if it could compare to the perfectness of Durango and Bayfield, Colorado. Payson didn’t feel just right, but the nearby town of Pine (pop. 2500, elev. 5000) with its tall pine trees got our attention. We saw beautiful and affordable homes with gorgeous views of the Mogollon (pronounced muggy-own) Rim, the 7,000 ft. rock monster that stretches 200 miles across Arizona and serves as a boundary between the cool high country above it and the burning deserts below. We had lunch at a local brewery in Pine and toured the historical monument Tonto Natural Bridge.

What About Me??

The jury is still out, but the vote is still leaning toward Colorado. I have created a spreadsheet to compare and analyze every detail I can think of (something I love to do). But this decision goes beyond analysis. It needs to include the ‘feeling’. Now if our decision was based on pure ‘feeling’ alone we would be settling in Southern California near our loved ones, but the analysis part rules that out. However, we do plan to visit a lot!

Our next stop was in Cottonwood at the Dead Horse State Park. Last year when we drove this way I missed connecting with a favorite person in my life. I was so happy that John and Nancy were in town so we could reconnect. I hadn’t seen them since my wedding 22 years ago! I first met John in 1970 at the beginning of my career. He was a manager who demonstrated more integrity, fairness, honesty, and insight than I had ever known. Plus he cared about people AND had a great sense of humor. It was such fun to work for John and he left a profound impression on me that set the bar pretty high for me as a person and for all future employers. John retired and moved to Cottonwood over 20 years ago. It was so good to see him and Nancy again! We were treated to happy hour on the deck of their beautiful home and dinner at The Tavern in Historic Old Cottonwood. It was a wonderful evening.

Mike, Linda, Nancy, and John

View from John’s deck – beautiful!

Our campsite at Dead Horse State Park was spacious and we took several good hikes in the park. I’m trying to burn off a few pounds by hiking, but I’m afraid that I’ll actually have to stop eating so much if I really want to lose those lbs. Sigh.

Dead Horse State Park Campsite

Hiking at Dead Horse Park

Several really unique places are within minutes of Cottonwood. One of them is the cool little historic copper mining town of Jerome. It it’s heyday in the 1920’s, it had a population of more than 10,000 people. In the mid-1950’s, the mines closed and the population dwindled to less than 100. Jerome became a National Historic Landmark in 1967 and now has art galleries, coffee houses, restaurants, and a museum devoted to mining history which have built the population back up to 444. We went there to walk around, shop and eat (of course).

Strolling Around Jerome

View from Jerome

Mike getting his chocolate fix

Of course, Sedona is a mandatory visit. It’s so beautiful and special. Those red rocks are amazing. We definitely love the vibe in Sedona. We spent one day just walking around and shopping. On another day we went there to hike one of the vortex areas. I’ve got to admit it was magical!

Hiking in Sedona

Circling the Bell Rock Vortex

Driving into Sedona

Our next stops were in the Phoenix area where we got to visit Mike’s sister Diane and his sweetheart Mom.

Mike, Mom, Linda, Diane, and Glen

Glen is really into geocaching, so we were forced to were able to participate in this activity on our way to dinner one evening. OK, I admit, …. It was fun.

Geocaching with Glen

Diane loves dogs (as do we) and a visit to her home includes visiting with her many four-legged children. I took this picture of Diane and her eldest, 17-year-old Talie, one week before Talie’s passing. She was a loyal and beautiful dog.

Diane with Talie

Our first morning in Cave Creek Regional Park campground, Mike woke me up and said “You might want to see this .. Bring your camera”. Multiple hot air balloons were ascending … déjà vu!

Balloons over Cave Creek

Following is another one of our hike photos. This hike is called the Go John Trail at Cave Creek Regional Park. It is about 6 miles long and has a fairly steep elevation climb. We did this one without Lucy so we could move really fast and I felt like I got a pretty good calorie burning hike.

Go John Trail at Cave Creek Regional Park

Next we moved to the Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction (near Phoenix). The state park is located at the foot of the Superstition Mountains. We enjoyed tough hikes and beautiful sunsets right from our front door. The Green Boulder Trail took us up to 2580’ for a good view and a worthy hike. A very serious hike called Siphon Draw Trail goes all the way to The Flatiron at 4861’. We didn’t make it to the top, but we gave it a serious try for a great workout.

Lost Dutchman State Park at the foot of the Superstition Mountains

A very tough hike up the mountain!

 

 

As you all probably know by now, Mike LOVES the old west, old western movie locations and old west legends. Arizona has plenty to offer a guy like that. Just down the road from our campground, we visited the Superstition Mountain Museum which is home to the leftovers from Apacheland. Apacheland was a movie set where hundreds of those old western movies and TV shows were made. A fire wiped out most of Apacheland, but several of the buildings and props were spared and moved to this Museum. The list of movies made here and photos of the movie stars is impressive and brought back a lot of memories for Mike. It’s scary how many details he can recite about this stuff.

Hundreds of old western movies were made at Apacheland

The buggy used by Doc in Gunsmoke

A trip to the Goldfield Ghost Town in Apache Junction just had to be scheduled. We drove by this picturesque little town on our way to and from the campground, so it was calling out to us every time we drove by. The town was so cute that it was hard to imagine that it was actually a real gold mining town in the 1890‘s. Today train rides, mine tours, panning for gold, and bordello tours are scheduled throughout the day. The old buildings are now unique shops, a steak house and saloon, and two museums. It was very picturesque, but touristy.

Goldfield Ghost Town

Goldfield Ghost Town

Another day we took a scenic drive out to Canyon Lake and Tortilla Flat (pop. 6), the last surviving stagecoach stop along the Apache Trail nestled in the Superstition Mountain Wilderness.

Tortilla Flat 1932 Schoolhouse – now a museum

 

Canyon Lake

While in the Phoenix area, we enjoyed lunch with some fellow full-timers that we met through our RV blogs. It was such fun to compare notes and experiences! We found that we have a lot in common and plan to meet again when our paths cross in the future. We look forward to it!

Sunset from our Campsite

After our final sunset in the Phoenix area, we broke camp and headed to Tucson. We’re enjoying exploring this area and my next update will cover our experiences here. Cheers!

 

 

 

They Are All Full of Hot Air!!

And I’m not talking about Congress.  It’s the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico, of course!

Our campsight is in the Coronado Campground in Bernalillo, New Mexico.  It makes sense for us to go to one of the Park-N-Ride lots around Albuquerque and take the shuttle to Balloon Fiesta Park to avoid the massive traffic jams.  Anybody who knows me is aware that getting up before 9 a.m. is the exception to the rule for me.  I can’t believe I had to get up at 4 a.m. for this event!!  Plus, the cold front had the early morning temperatures in the 30s!!  Mike coaxed me out of bed with a big cup of coffee and dug out our cold weather clothes.  We drove to the shuttle pickup and hopped on the school bus.  I think it was a bus for elementary school-aged children.  It was defintiely a challenge for Mike to get in the seat with his long legs, but it was fun .. we were relishing this adventure.

Opening day of the annual event was a minute by minute affair this year because of the high winds predominating this week.  With fingers crossed, and fair weather forecasts, we braved the cold and headed out to Balloon Fiesta Park.  The dawn patrol (early balloons that go up to determine the wind speed and direction for the “mass ascension”) was a bit delayed.  We were there to watch the early inflations (after making our investment at the Krispy Creme booth for hot chocolate and donuts).

 

Then, among all the people, balloons started to inflate, the sun came up, and the Mass Ascension was underway.  It was fantastic!  We were right in the middle of all this activity.  Spectators can walk among the balloons as they are going through the set-up and launch process.  It was so fantastic!

 

Almost 100 of the balloons have special shapes or themes.  Such fun!

Darth Vader

 

Frog

 

Parrot

Not sure what this is.

 

In the evening, the balloons on the field inflated and “lit up” for the evening “glow”.  This was followed by an incredible fireworks show that seemed to go on forever!  It was very impressive.  We’re so glad we got to experience this special annual event, up close and personal!

 

Next stop Arizona.  Cheers!

 

 

We will live here someday

Good Vibrations in Colorado

It just feels right.  Always has.  This beautiful corner of southwest Colorado.  Many years ago we bought 15 acres here with tall pine trees, a well, and a view that went on forever.  Our intention was to build on it someday as we looked to our retirement.  Somewhere along the way, we changed course.  We sold the land, bought a sailboat and set out to see the world when we retired.  And we loved every minute of it (except the storms).  Now that we are back on terra firma, our original warm fuzzy feelings for Durango have returned.  There is just something very special about this place.  We feel quite certain that we will return to this area in the future.  Maybe even plant some roots.

Driving the Million Dollar Hwy

A Beautiful Drive to Silverton

Overlooking Silverton

Remembering our 2007 lunch here with our grandkids!

We had days and days of thunderstorms and heavy rain, dipping down to freezing a couple of times.  Several hail storms left us with ice on the ground in the morning.  This picture looks pretty, but the heavy rain resulted in flooding for some areas and some road damage.  (We still love it here)

Lucy is wondering why we are making her stand on ice. She doesn’t appreciate the photo op.

The cute little town of Pagosa Springs with many natural hot springs.

Love walking in Durango

Love hiking in Durango!

Hiked to the top of Animas Mountain Trail

The Animas River runs through Durango

Hiked the Horse Gulch Trail

Loved kicking back at our campsite at Vallecito Lake

The Bayfield Heritage Days Festival took place on our last weekend in town.   Over 2,000 sheep were trailed into town for the start of the parade, followed by a full day of music, food, local artisans, and a classic car show.  The day was capped off with the 4th of July fireworks show that didn’t take place on the 4th because of fire restrictions in effect at that time.  It was great!

We got caught in the sheep trailing for the Heritage Days Festival

We were surrounded!

We actually drove through them, very slowly, but they did move out of the way when the car got right up to their rear ends.  It was such a hoot listening to 2,000 sheep baa’ing with the clanging of bells on many of them.  I took video with my window down to capture the full experience.  What fun!

We also shared the road with a bike race

Kiddy train at Bayfield Heritage Days

It was quite a show for such a little town!

It’s such a peaceful place

The Hot Air Balloon Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is waiting for us.  So off we go.  The weather forecast is calling for some windy days this weekend.  Keeping our fingers crossed that the wind doesn’t cause any delays or cancellations.   Hopefully we will be able to see the morning balloon glow and mass ascension Saturday morning at the opening ceremony, the Twilight Twinkle balloon glow at dusk, and the post balloon glow fireworks show in the evening.

Cheers!