December 2014 - Picacho Peak SP, Phoenix, Gold Canyon, Queen Valley, Tucson, Casa Grande

 

December 1st - Leaving tomorrow for Phoenix

Ray and I took Freya on a short walk yesterday on the "children's cave trail". It was a short climb up the hill to a cave. It was a lovely view from there.

Great pic of the I10 and all its' traffic

A huge saguaro cactus.

After spending yesterday morning sourcing out power issues, we enjoyed a quiet afternoon and then watched the Grey Cup.  I did not try the inverter!!!! but will check it when we unplug tomorrow morning for our appointment in Phoenix at La Mesa RV. Since I had power I cooked a USDA Choice prime rib roast (bought at Walmart for 1/3 less the price than Costco.) which I had dry aged wrapped in cheesecloth in the fridge for 6 days. Yorkshire pudding and green beans were also on the menu. Yumm! Ray says it is the best prime rib he has ever ate. It was pretty good if I do say so myself. Lots of left-overs for tonight. With Ray having a bad few days he was "off his feed" so I had to come up with something he felt like eating. No problem with this menu!

Here are a couple more pictures of the campsite.

Picacho Peak

This cactus is right behind us.

Can you come out to play Dad?

I also used the park shower at the bathroom this morning and am happy to report it is clean, spacious lots of hot water and best of all free! As you only get 50 amp power for $25/night with no water hookup I guess that is why the shower is free. All in all a pleasant stay in spite of a few issues.

December 5th - Picacho Peak State Park to La Mesa RV

We left bright and early as we had a 2 hour drive to make our 9am appointment at La Mesa RV in Phoenix. We waited for just enough light to put up the jacks and make sure we were not leaving anything behind. A quick stop at the dump and off we went.

Ray had something keeping an eye on him!

Here comes the sun!

We made it to our appointment one minute late after driving through the morning rush hour of Phoenix traffic. Holy cow it's bad!!! Glad we do not have to do that every day. The people at La Mesa RV were awesome. They were efficient and knowledgeable. There was some delay though getting part information from Tiffin, so they could give it to our extended warranty carrier, so we were unable to get the coach back the same day.

I found a Best Western Hotel somewhat close by that had a hot tub for Ray. Here we go again!!! it was out of service and the woman who checked us in ... even though I told her we picked this hotel because of the hot tub neglected to tell us it was broken! As Ray says it always happens to him. We made sure we brought his zero gravity lounger and ice packs so he was mostly comfortable.

Here is a picture of our digs for the night! We did however have an awesome sushi dinner from a little place across the parking lot.

Freya would not settle after the day, so I finally put my towel on the bed to contain her hair and she settled right in. They did have lots of soft green grass around the hotel which she thoroughly enjoyed playing on as she has been missing it.

The next morning after all of the problems with the coach were diagnosed, approved so they could start the work and order parts (the mirror) things progressed. The insta-hot had burnt up a bunch of wires ... do not know why and had to be rewired. (under warranty yeah!). The 300 amp breaker that blew was replaced ... not covered but worth $53 plus 1 hour labour. The guys at La Mesa were sorry that we did not get our coach back the same day so they are going to "wave" our deductible for the warranty work. Very nice of them and unexpected. We will have to bring the coach back for the rest of the work (the IR module and mirror) when they get the parts in ... TBA. Until we find out an expected date I guess we will stay close to the Phoenix area.

So after another long day at 4pm with the inverter and hot water working we were back on the road, in our own digs and headed the short distance to the Pueblo El Mirage Golf and RV Resort. This is a 5 star resort but with Passport America for 5 days max we decided to go and enjoy their hot tub and full hook-up.

December 6th - Pueblo El Mirage Golf and RV Resort

Well I have finally got caught up on the laundry so we took a drive up to Lake Pleasant to see what the dry camping sites look like. Thanks to Steve and Diane for posting about this lovely area. Definitely something we would keep in mind if we were staying in this area. They have raised the rate to $10/night and you can pay $10 one time for your stay to be able access their pool and hot tub. The $10/night also includes a sani-dump with potable water and garbage. We preferred the spots up on Vista Point so Freya would have access to the water and she would not have to be tied.

This was our favorite spot with the view of the harbour.

We got back home for lunch and then sat outside for an hour or so. Time for a hot tub! Ray wandered around the resort and took some picture. They sure are decorated for Christmas. They must have at least 50 "elves" who help out around here.

Ray's favorite place! The temp about 104 F. Perfect.

Even the pool temps were lovely and warm so Ray could do his therapy.

Registration Building

Cabana's without the cabana boy :(

After dinner Ray went out to take a few pictures of the Christmas lights. Quite a few of the park model homeowners have decorated their small lots.

December 8th - Gold Canyon Golf and RV Resort 

We left Pueblo El Mirage, north Phoenix this morning and headed to Gold Canyon just south of Mesa for 5 days with Passport America. The drive is only less than an hour. Must say though, we preferred their sister resort Pueblo El Mirage, as there were more dog walking opportunities.  Here at Gold Canyon he drives to the front gate to be able to walk Freya off-leash. The hot tub and pool were nicer at Pueblo as well. Lots of park models here and used and new ones for sale. This resort has probably 50% Canadians here. On the up side .... 72 degrees, pool, hot tub and no rain! We really cannot complain.

First time seeing pickle ball courts

A lady behind us makes Christmas scarfs for all of the dogs so Freya is sporting hers.

View of the Superstition Mountains.

December 9th - Superstition Mountain via Peralta Road

The coach was all set up by 10:30 am so after a little shopping to restock the larder we decided to take a short drive up Peralta Road towards Superstition Mountain. It was a beautiful drive, lots of great rock formations and saguaro cacti covering the hills. Ray and I love exploring these little pieces of heaven. Freya loves getting out of the car and investigating all of the new smells.

A lovely golden sunset on the Superstitions

Time to go back to the coach and go for a hot tub! Another wonderful day.

December 9th - Apache Trail to view the other side of the Superstition Mountains

Today we decided to drive up the Apache Trail Road going through the Tonto National Forest as far as Tortilla Flats and view the other side of the Superstition Mountains. More amazing views. This road is very, very, curvy and goes way up and then way down. There is no way we would take the coach that way. After stopping at various points of interest we came upon Canyon Lake. What a gorgeous lake. Freya enjoyed a swim to get rid of all of the desert dust, which she enjoyed. After a couple of pictures of Tortilla Flats, which has a museum, general store and saloon it was back home for lunch and a hot tub.

Freya enjoying a swim.

There's even water in the river!

Museum

December 10th - Tonto National Forest Recreation Sites

Today we decided to drive up the north side of the Tonto National Forest past Usery Mountain and check out a few recreation sites we noticed on our Benchmark Arizona Atlas. Again, lovely blue skies, lovely views and 74 degrees. One large area is closed ... huge parking lots with lots of bathrooms taped off so do not know what is up with that.

The next pictures are from the Phon D Sutton Recreation Site next to the Salt River where you can drycamp in the parking lot with a Tonto National Forest pass or America the Beautiful which we have for 14 days. Beautiful. There are clean pit toilets, habachi and sun shelters around the picnic tables. There is a camp host on site. We timed the highway from there to "civilization" and shopping and it is only 10 minutes or less from Alberton's, Basha's etc so very convenient.

Further down the highway was the Coon Bluff picnic area. There was one old motorhome in the parking lot and a guy setting up a tent when we arrived ... did not see any no camping signs for that spot

Salt River

Time to go home, Stopped at Walmart and picked up some items for dinner ... yumm. Homemade Wor Wonton Soup with real barbequed pork.

December 12th - Joe's Farm Grill

We spent an hour or so this morning walking around the Mesa Market. Wow is that place ever big. It definitely is a lot like Tyson Wash at Quartszite. The mission was to get some laser Christmas lights that are the rage in the RV park we are at. One little box and a whole tree lights up from below.

Next it was off for lunch at a Triple D (Diners, Drive-ins and Dives) featured restaurant, Joe's Farm Grill. This guy grows all of his own produce in the back garden. The food was excellent, best fast food ever. Ray ordered the Ahi Tuna Sandwich and me the Fontina Burger with onion rings, both were featured on the show. It was the best hamburger I ever ate ... and Ray loved his Ahi Tuna as well.

The garden where good things grow.

December 13th - Queen Valley RV Resort Children's Party

We left Gold Canyon RV Resort Saturday morning in the rain and arrived half an hour later at Queen Valley RV Resort to spend some time with our good friends Malc and Kathy Warrington. After setting up we went up to Malc and Kath's for an afternoon bevie, then it was time to go to their annual Children's Christmas Party. The resort hosts the event every year for the kids in the Queen Valley community. There were 83 kids of all ages attended this year. For a couple of hours they get to eat popcorn and cookies, play games, and create some art and craft projects. Every child gets their picture with Santa who arrived on a decorated fire truck and at the end leave with a bag full of presents and stuffie, All this came from donated money from the residents at the resort.. This was our choice of donation this year as well. What a lovely way to start our Christmas spirit. Kathy was dressed as Snow White and greeted all of the kids as they arrived at the front of the clubhouse. All of the kids were dressed in their finest clothes, amazing as a lot of the parents were single mom's.

Most of the park models and RV's in the park have decorated for Christmas unlike Gold Canyon. Sure was nice to see. Here are a couple of pictures.

A lovely evening.

December 14th - Boyce Thompson Aboretum

Bright and early this morning at 8:30 am Malc came by and collected Freya for an 1 1/2 hour walk. You would think that she would come back tired ... not so ... just more wound up to play. A short while later we all piled into our car and I drove us to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Malc and Kathy have annual passes and had a couple of passes for friends. It sure is a lovely place seeing all of the different types of cacti, trees and flowering shrubs that grow in the desert. Although the sun was shining it was quite cool at about 54 degrees F.

Boojoo Trees

Euculyptus Trees

Crested Saguaro Cactus

After an hours walk, Freya too, it was time to go up the road to the small town of Superior for lunch at Porters cafe where we visited the last time here. Very eclectic place, great beer and great food.

After lunch Malc had me drive a little way up Highway 90 towards Globe to show us Apache Leap where we saw rock climbers and beautiful topography. We turned around at the Oak Flat Campground (noticed that RV Sue was there but did not approach) and headed back down the mountain to Queen Valley. Malcolm is very knowledgeable of this area, sharing with us the history of the mines etc. A very knowledgeable tour guide!

Apache Jump

Next pics are while travelling up the Queen's Creek Gorge on Highway 60. Very rugged through here.

Rock climbers above and below.

We all decided to jump into the hot tub for a half an hour when we got back and then went our separate ways for the rest of the afternoon. As Kathy invited us for dinner, she hurried off and was busy making homemade focaccia, salad and a lovely chicken and quinoa dish. Thanks a bunch, it was a great day.

Their fifth-wheel is the same model we once owned, so it definitely felt like home!

December 17th - Shopping with my best gal, Kathy.

It has been a busy few days here at Queen Valley so we just lazed around on Monday. Tuesday night we had Malc and Kathy over for homemade barbecued ribs and baked beans. Lots of laughs and a great visit.

Yesterday I left Ray at home with Freya and took Kathy for a shopping trip to town (thank god for my Rand McNally so I knew where to go!). It was our opportunity to stock up with stuff for Christmas as we are back on the road again tomorrow. After 3 hours of shopping, I took her to Joe's Farm Grill as we were so impressed from the last visit. I tried the chicken pizza, also featured on Diners Drive-ins and Dives and Kathy ordered one of their burgers. Again we were not disappointed and the left-overs were enjoyed by the guys when we got back from shopping. For dinner Kathy bought some roasted Costco chickens and invited us over to their place, Freya included. The five days here have gone by really quickly and we look forward to catching up with them again hopefully sometime this winter.

December 18th - Queen Valley to Catalina State Park, Tucson AZ

Thursday morning we left Queen Valley about 10 am and drove down AZ 79 to Catalina State Park.  For most of the drive the right side of the coach was in sunshine and the left side was very close to some ominous black clouds, so thick you could not see the mountains. The last 10 miles the skies opened up and we got drenched ... right where they were doing road work so the car was covered in muddy gravel. Oh well. We made it and as we set up the sun came out and the skies are clearing so hopefully no more rain. We're here for 4 days before we settle in for Christmas and New Years in Casa Grande with our friends Wayne and Karen.

There was some snow on the top peaks of the mountains here ... Ray spent all afternoon waiting for the clouds to lift to be able to take a good picture. It was cold overnight at 0 degrees C. Forecast is for sunny but cool for the next few days with highs of only 60 degrees F. but then it goes back to the 70's for Christmas yeah!

Baby it's cold outside!

Lucked out with the campsite at the end of a loop and plenty of room for Freya to run.

There's snow on them thar hills!

December 19th - Catalina State Park - Romero Ruins Trail

Yesterday started out with beautiful sun on the Catalina Mountain Range and table mountain.

More snow fell overnight.

Table Top Mountain

Ray took Freya for a short jaunt down the Romero Ruin's Trail. Turned out to be not very much in the way of ruin's. Here are a few pictures. It was a lovely sunny day and although only 60 degrees it felt much warmer in the sun.

Romero Mountain

It rained for 3 days before we arrived, so there is some water in the wash which Ray had to cross and ended up with wet feet.

View of the campsite from the trail

Romero Trail with Picacho Peak in the background

Below is the wash that crosses the road to enter the campsite. In July 2014 they had so much rain they have a picture of a car filled up to it's windows stuck in the water and mud. You could not get out of the campsite for 3 days! Malc and Kathy told us they were stuck in  the campsite for six days once.

Table Mountain when Ray got back.

We took a short drive out of the campsite to check out the mall just across the road with a Walmart just to see what was available for the next time we come here. There is a Keg Steakhouse, Petco and various other small stores and theatres.

December 20th - Sabino Canyon

Today we decided to go to Sabino Canyon and take the tram ride up the mountain, so Freya unfortunately had to stay home. Again with our America the Beautiful Pass, we got into the park for free. The tram ride is run by a local company and is $8 each, a bargain for not walking all the way up the mountain (3.8 miles)! The views are spectacular. The ride takes about an hour and is narrated on the way up. You can get off at any of the 9 stops and hike many of the trails and take another tram which at this time of year they run every 30 minutes. You can go to the top and walk down the 4 mile paved road back to the Visitor's Center. As there are 9 bridges, which all had some water on top of them from the 3 days of rain they had earlier in the week, we opted not to get off and get our feet wet. If they had the trams a little more often, we would've loved to get off and walk a bit and then pick up the next tram. However, as Ray cannot sit or stand for very long and my ankle is still somewhat problematic, we stayed on the tram so missed some other great photo opportunities. We will definitely come back another time and do this again and walk down at least from the top, stop 9, down to stop 6.

This picture we took on the way to Sabino Canyon

Yes Ray, I'll take one of those nice houses for Christmas!

This Cactus Wren was watching us before we left on the tram. This is Arizona's State Bird.  Also the white Saguaro flower is their State Flower. 

Ready to go.

Over the first bridge.

Arizona Sycamore with white bark.

Yup here we go through the water.

Winking Face Rock

The Beach

Saddleback Ridge

The bump on the far peak is Thimble Mtn and is a landmark for hikers all over the Catalina Mountains as it is very high in elevation,

McFall Crags 

The stripped rock is known here as Catalina Gneiss (nice) rock - ancient granite modified by heat and pressure and raised from deep in the earth. Bands of minerals in the re-melted rock create the layered look.

December 21st - East Saguaro National Park

 

Today we drove to the East Saguaro National Park. It took about an hour to drive there and then I drove us around the 8 mile loop, stopping at the view points. We had a picnic lunch there looking at the Catalina Mountains. The day was sunny and warm. Ray and I decided that we liked the West Saguaro Park better that we saw several weeks ago.

Looking across at the white line on the mountain in the distance ... this is the road to Mt. Lemmon.

Javelina Rock

Looking towards Tucson from Javelina Rock.

Tomorrow off to Casa Grande for Christmas.

December 25th - High Chaparral RV Park, Arizona City

Monday, December 22 - December 25.

We left Catalina State Park on Monday morning and arrived at High Chaparral RV Park at noon after fueling up with diesel and propane. Our friend Karen heard us pull in so she jumped out of the pool to give us directions to our spot for the next 10 days. It just happens to be right next door to her. Yeah! What a lovely little community here. We were introduced to lots of people and enjoyed a lovely happy hour sitting around their campfire in a can.

Tuesday we went to Casa Grande early to do a little shopping as I invited Karen and Wayne over for prime rib dinner, my version of Christmas Dinner this year, and wanted to have the day to cook all of the fixin's. Everything turned out great I was told. Not too many left-overs so it must have been okay! Karen graciously provided the dessert, pumpkin square with cool whip, yumm.

Wednesday, Christmas Eve, Ray took the car in because the brakes are feeling spongy. The rear brakes were worn so they were  replaced. Unfortunately the brake booster vacuum pump will need replacing so it will have to be done at a Ford Dealer as we have an extended warranty. We can drive it the way it is but will get it fixed when we get to Phoenix on Jan 2nd.  I spent the day getting my appetizers done for the crazy gift exchange tonight and prepared my dish for Christmas Dinner and Christmas Breakfast casserole for tomorrow so Christmas Day is just for relaxing. Got called outside to see the hot air balloon overhead and 4 guys jumped out with parachutes to land at the military base in Eloy. Missed the jumping pics but here is the balloon.

The gift exchange was fun ... where you steal someone else's gift if you wish so with about 50 people we had a few hours of laughing. A great way to spend Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning we woke up to clear skies, a lovely start to the day. Wayne and Carol came over to celebrate this morning and share my "Wife Saver Christmas Breakfast" and our traditional Carolan's and coffee with a champagne and orange juice chaser!

The RV park supplies turkey, ham, dressing and potatoes for Christmas Dinner and rest is pot luck. Everyone was assembled at their table by 12:30 and Christmas Dinner was served at 1 pm for about 75 people. We all ate tons.

Yup, lots of food. (apparently 5 turkeys and 2 hams)

The motley crew. Unfortunately Margaret's husband Chuck got his head cut out!

Everyone disbanded by 2pm and I think a lot of people went home to have their "turkey nap". Ray and I went to the hot tub instead. Wayne and Karen's is the gathering place for about 4 other couples so lots of fun. So you get the idea ... drink, eat, then drink some more. We will be waterlogged by Jan 1! A great Christmas Day even though our hearts were with our kids, the first Christmas without any family.  Wayne and Karen have spectacularly filled the void with their company and including us in everything they are doing.

Merry Christmas.

December 30th - Casa Grande Ruins

The last few days have been fairly quiet with everyone doing there own thin. Ray had a couple of bad days ... his leg giving out on him again, so spent some time laying down on ice and then alternating going into the hot tub. We had a vacuum pump for the brakes fail on the car so on Saturday Ray took it in to the Ford Dealer and had it fixed under warranty while he sat in his zero gravity lounger editing pictures. It sure is nice to have brakes back, we were not going anywhere until it was fixed. In the afternoon we all got together even though it was cold and had a few drinks and appies with the neighbours.

All bundled up ... see how close we all are to the fire!

Yesterday, Monday, we decided to take the short drive to see the Casa Grande Ruins in Coolidge. Very interesting. Again it was free to us as we have the America the Beautiful Pass.

This is the Casa Grande Ruin (great house) built by the Hohokum people, an agriculture based society, in the early 1400's.  This is one of the several structures that still remain.  In 1892, the site became America's first archaeological reserve.  In 1932 the roof was built over the structure to prevent further disintegration from the weather.

The construction material the Hohokum used is "caliche" (cuh-LEE-chee), a concrete-like mix of sand, clay and calcium carbonate (limestone) that existed right underfoot. It took 3000 tons to build the Great House.  The floors were made of interlaced juniper, fir and pine trees floated 60 miles down the Gila River.

Multi-room house backing onto the five foot high wall around the compound. 

Multi-room houses are numerous around the site.