Kastle's Journey: A Week at Lost Dutchman State Park, AZ

Not a lot of pictures this week as we stayed mostly at camp enjoying the warm weather outside and doing much needed maintenance chores.

Nice and warm out to barbecue our dinner in shorts! What a view of the Superstition Mountains.

A little different weather back home. Larny put up a Christmas tree for Dad. Notice the snow out the window.

Most of this post is to remind me next year what we actually did this year!

Tuesday morning we were packed up by 9:30 and on our way to the Lost Dutchman State Park for the week. It sure was a long drive .... 1/2 hour! lol. (Good thing I reserved 2 weeks ago, the place is packed and there were only a couple of sites then to book that were open for a whole week.)

This week should be a more restful week so Ray can recover from all of the walking we have been doing, he is pretty sore. It did not take too long for us to get set-up with the Christmas stuff. Inside stuff for me and Ray has our outside pop-up Christmas trees up and the strobe light for the bushes. By 11:00 am we were done. Our Santa Hats on the mirrors were attracting lots of action from the hummingbirds so I put up two feeders to keep them happy. There is usually lots of quail here as well so the birdseed feeder went up too with a dish of water. (By Friday have not seen any quail but all sorts of other birds are enjoying the bird seed.)

The rest of the day, other than a few short walks with Freya, we spent outside on the shady side of the coach reading. The dog is pretty sore too and is limping. I think that the gravel at the "relief station" from Good Life RV Park may have contributed to her soreness. She will need to rest this week as well although her attitude says run ... her body says no. Ray and I finished off the day with a lovely campfire watching the gorgeous Arizona sunset while I BBQ'd a steak for dinner. Another great day in the Arizona warmth.

Wednesday, another quiet day doing a few chores and relaxing outside in the warmth.

Thursday morning I sent a quick Thank You to Gerry and FranCeen for our lovely dinner a few days ago. I suggested maybe they could come and visit us here for dinner and a campfire. Before I knew it they said yes and what time tonight should they come. (I wasn't really thinking today ... lol) As tonight was the last warm night for a while it all worked out and I got my butt in gear to come up with a plan for dinner. We ended up having grilled shrimp and pineapple skewers to start and then pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw. FranCeen brought a cherry pie for dessert. Yummm. As it was so warm we were able to sit outside with a nice campfire for the rest of the evening. Another great visit. The only downside was that the Lost Dutchman Park charged them $7.00 (day pass) to come and see us for dinner. I have never had to pay for guests to come visit before at any park, Provincial or State when they are not using any trails or park services.

Overnight the forecast rain began and it continued into early in the morning. When we got up at 6 am it had mostly stopped. Went outside to make sure things were not blowing away and noticed that it was a pretty warm wind. I guess tomorrow is the day that the temperatures will drop to the high 50's.

Our longtime friends Derek and Laurel contacted us last week and are going to stay in Casa Grande the same time as us to enjoy Christmas with us. So looking forward to that. When they left Palm Springs we suggested that they might like Fountain of Youth Spa and to check in with some other friends of ours staying there. Just received an email from Elke and Bill Marriott that Laurel and Derek indeed checked in with them and Elke and Bill graciously took them to Slab City and Bombay Beach for a drive. Thanks guys for showing them around. It was quite an experience for them I am sure.

Friday we took a trip into Mesa Market ... kind of like Tyson Wells at Quartszite but all under tents. Nothing too interesting, came home with our money still in our pocket. After that it was time to dig out my small carpet cleaner, the "Spotbot"for it's first trial. Somehow our little fryer got tipped in the basement 2 days ago so I had a bunch of peanut oil to deal with so everything had to come out of that tray to clean it. Fortunately the oil did not travel all the way under Ray's boat. Once I had that dealt with I figured since it was out of its hiding spot to tackle a bunch of the carpet areas inside. Started all of this project at 11 am and did not turn the machine off until 5:30 pm. How time flies when you are having fun! Not! Anyways the carpet areas I did sure look like brand new so it was worth it. I wanted to get it done, especially the basement tray, while it was still warm (70 F) as the weather after today is forecast to only be high 50's for the next week.

As the weather report indicated overnight we had quite a bit of rain and it blew all night with all of awning toppers happily flapping in the wind. I was so tired I barely noticed anything.:) Saturday morning we woke to clearing skies but still breezy. A freeze warning has been issued for Casa Grande for temps dipping overnight to the high 20's. Fortunately when we get there the lows will only be the low 40's. I am pretty sore this morning from all my crawling around on the floor yesterday so probably stay pretty quiet, maybe make some cookies for Ray.

Change of plan .... went to Safeway to pick up a few things and saw this!!!! $200 off Choice bone-in Strip Loin. $3.97 /lb. Total price $74.00 for all of that meat. All of our friends will get a roast beef dinner for Christmas when I entertain them! Beef is usually so expensive down here plus exchange so we do not usually buy it. Trying out a small one rib roast tonight to see how tender it is. Took Ray a little while to process it into smaller portions.

and turn it into this!

Take this

The carpet cleaning took a toll on my back. I think I tweaked it crawling under the bed to reach an area of old drink spills from Ray having to stay lying on his back after surgery. I was pretty sore today and spent the afternoon sitting or laying on our bed. On a good note though the roast beast turned out beautiful, tender and moist and we will have leftovers tomorrow.

Sunday morning woke up to clear sunny skies but cold. Temps down to 34 F. This is the coldest day forecast for the next week or so. My back is still real touchy so I think I will be real careful of what I do today as we are going to the Arizona Oprey tomorrow for their dinner and show. Freya appears to be feeling better as we have been only taking her for short walks (basically because she only goes so far and refuses to go any further. She continues to go banana's in the coach running back and forth from the bedroom to the front with her toy in her mouth to burn off her excess energy however. It always amazes me that she never hits anything.

Monday morning was much warmer. We putted about, went into Apache Junction for a little shopping. Today was the Arizona Opry. We heard nothing but good things from other friends that have gone there. This was their holiday show. It was fabulous. for $40 a person you receive a huge dinner and 2 hours of entertainment. They played a wonderful selection of new and old Christmas favorites, including Ray's song about THE GRINCH. It is a definite do again next year and see one of their other shows, Rock'n Roll and Country. A very talented family.

Tuesday we had a late start packing up as we were only going 40 minutes further to Queen Valley for the next three days to visit with our friends Malcolm and Kathy from Victoria, BC. It definitely feels more like Christmas this year with attending events and visiting friends.

Here are some pictures that Ray took with my camera, of the Barleen's Arizona Opry. Hopefully they turned out okay in the dark environment.