Return to the Lost Dutchman State Park

Dec 10th - Buckeye Hills Regional Park.

This morning, it's wheels up again to head back to Lost Dutchman State Park. Not too much of a rush  to get going as it is only a 1 1/2 hour drive to the State Park and being Sunday the traffic should be good.  We took the I17 to Highway 60, missing the downtown Phoenix I10 crawl, what a slick way to do it. It was really warm overnight and windy. Unfortunately it is now cloudy for the next 2 days. Good thing we do not have any of our "adventures" planned until later in the week. We had reserved site #51 in the main campground as there were not many to choose from at the time of the booking ... not a great view of the mountains from the coach as there is a tree in the way, but otherwise a good site. We are in this one only for 3 days and then we move to another one for a week.

With the wind all day yesterday it was an inside day.  I managed to get all of my Christmas baking done and a couple of loads of laundry, so I am well set up for a couple of relaxing days before the fun begins with Dianne and Steve arriving on the 13th. (Since the generator was running for the oven anyways, it made sense to use up the water etc and do the laundry before dumping tomorrow. Gotta love having a motorhome. eh Dianne lol) I sent Ray over with a plate of cookies to an older gentleman with 2 dogs in a camper van who was camping the closest to us. This was to apologize for all my noise running the generator for quite a few hours.  Ray said he was very grateful for the cookies.

Here are some vintage car pictures we forgot to post a week ago when we were here at the Lost Dutchman. Pretty cool. These were in their showroom.

1914 Model T

1914 Model T

1929 Model A

1929 Model A

There are many collectible cars that drive the streets here in Apache Junction. This one was in the ACE parking lot.

GTO

Monday the only commitment we have, is to drive to the San Tan Valley to have dinner with our friends Gerry and Franceen from Surrey. They have a beautiful house at a golf resort that they spend their winter at. They stay in their motorhome in the summer in BC and come back to their principal residence down here for the winter. Looking forward to catching up with them.

Once parked in our site, we decided to go out to lunch at the "Hitchin Post Saloon" a short ways down the highway from Lost Dutchman. Great atmosphere, funky decor and the order of wings Ray and I shared were really good. We spoke a little bit with the owner ... everything is made in house including any sauces, etc. Beer was reasonable at $5/pint and they have live music quite a few days of the week. Definitely a place to hang out at.

Although this bar looks to be something out of the early 1900's, the owners refurbished this space in the 1970's to look like something from Tombstone after their tenants moved out of the building and decided to open a bar and grill.  It certainly looks like one of Tombstones Saloons.

After a quick bite it was back to camp ... I continued the inside setup and Ray had a bit of a "toes up". I only sat outside for about an hour with Freya as the wind picked up again and became not so pleasant. Easy night for me as it is left over prime rib that I made last night.

Monday, December 11th

A little grocery shopping and then spent the day relaxing ... waiting to go out to dinner at Franceen and Gerry's. Visitors at our bird feeder today.

Arizona Cardinal. He is very shy and does not stick around for very long.

Cactus Wren trying his best not to fall off.

This quail knocks the seed down to his flock. They obviously know about feeders.

Gambel's Quail

Who knows who will show up tomorrow.

At 3 pm after walking Freya, we were out the door to San Tan Valley, for dinner at Gerry and Franceen's. Ironwood drive unfortunately had a ton of road construction going on as they are expanding to 4 lanes all the way to San Tan Valley. I'm sure this is because of all the growth of subdivisions along the road. There seems to be very little bare desert left going in that direction. We still made it pretty much on time though.

Ray and I were greeted with "the guest arrival squeal" mostly by their 2 miniature pincher's, Hunter and Chase. Shortly after arrival, a wonderful margarita was placed in my hand.  They have a beautiful house and Gerry's done an awesome job on the gardens!  The rest of the evening passed with lots of laughs and catching up since we last saw each other in August. They fed us a lovely dinner of smoked chicken that Jerry cooked up on his new Treager Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker. Wow, it sure does a fabulous job. Might have to keep that in mind when we get back to the bricks and sticks idea sometime down the road.

Deb, Franceen and Gerry (not sure which pooch is posing)

Their outdoor patio, beautiful.

Thanks for a great dinner guys and see ya in January for another one of your amazing dinners.

Tuesday, December 12th

Today is our daughter Kristi's 35th birthday. We are so proud of her. Happy Birthday Kristi, may all your dreams come true. You still look today as young and beautiful as you did on your wedding day, 7 1/2 years ago.



When Ray took the dog out for her first walk he noticed a beautiful sunrise over the Superstition Mountains.

A food frenzy is happening at the bird feeder this morning, especially since Ray put out some water for the wildlife. We had Quail, Arizona Cardinal, a Phainopepla, 2 bunnies and various finches all taking turns at the feeder. So this morning I watched "bird TV" for about an hour.

Everyone at the party!

Arizona Cardinal

Cactus Wren and finch

Phainopepla  
This is the culprit of spreading mistletoe throught the desert trees. It eats the berries from the mistletoe and spreads the seeds through is "discharge" into other trees.

Desert Cottontail rabbit

Another breezy morning but hopefully it warms up for the afternoon. Today is a "toes up" day mostly to rest up for the start of our busy week when Steve and Dianne arrive tomorrow and we also have to move campsites.