Fun Times

February 12-March 8, 2018

 Mid February was cooler and cloudier, so Dave got busy washing and waxing the rv, just the kind of days he wanted. As soon as he got the house washed and waxed of course the rainy days rolled in, our walking was curtailed for a few days. After the rains though we were back walking and hiking.

One of the places we wanted to visit this winter was the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. It just so happens our friends Curt and Glenda of Camp Lowry: That's How We Roll have a membership and invited us to join them. Our first stop was in Superior at Porter's Café where we all enjoyed a delicious lunch, of course no one got pictures. We then walked off our lunch at the Arboretum where Dave did get a few great shots despite not having a blue sky.

We've been doing a lot of hiking near our park.  One day we got the Lowry's and McCormacks, of Down The Road  to join us for an easy 6 mile hike on the Apache Wash Trail. Curt, Steve and I did a lot of geocaching, I finally reached 100 finds, and Dave entertained Glenda and Debbie with his knowledge of the desert. Afterwards we headed back to our place where Dave had a pork shoulder in the smoker.  Another great day with good friends.

A great ending to another great day with friends

We decided to check out a new hiking area, this time we met the Lowry's at the Marcus Landslide Trail in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. This was marked as a moderate trail but we all felt it was an easy trail, doesn't matter as we had a good time with our friends. After our hike we headed to the Adobe Grill for a nice Mexican late lunch early dinner, good food that none of us got pictures of.

Don't do it Glenda

The Phoenix area has received very little rain since we've been here, the wildflowers haven't had enough water so they are nowhere to be found.

March rolled around and with it came our friends DuWayne and Jackie, they are our neighbors in Port Aransas TX. They decided to venture west for a month, DuWayne has an aunt locally and with it being spring training season, baseball games were in order.

One of the best pictures of myself and this lovely lady.

But first we had to have lunch with more friends we've all made from our place in Port Aransas. It has been over 4 years since we allhad a meal together. Great to see you again Jean Marc and Nancy. 

Game day at Surprise Stadium, Milwaukee Brewers vs Kansas City Royals. Of course Jackie's Brewers one.

Of course when we heard our friends Ingrid and Al were going to be in town for a weekend we had to catch up. Lunch at their favorite place, a girls day out shopping and then a visit to the Scottsdale Farmers Market made for some fun outings with them. Thanks guys for the fun times.

Flowers do bloom out here when they get water. These were taken in the Old Town area of Scottsdale.

One Sunday afternoon we had a great visit with our friend Ranger Mark, from Cave Creek Regional Park and his wife Jill. Of course none of us got any pictures, too busy talking. Hopefully we'll see them again before we leave. Another day a girlfriend lunch with our friend Debbie, who was a coworker of ours when we volunteered at Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area, was just what was needed. We caught up on what each other had been up to and where our travels would be taking each of us for the next year. Once again no pictures. We have also seen our son and daughter in law on various weekends but no one was taking pictures. We'll have to remedy that before we leave.

While I was busy having lunch with girlfriends Dave stayed home, he ended up doing some hiking from our RV park. He made some friends while hiking.

Looking back over my posts I realized I hadn't shared our summer plans. We will be workamping in Durango CO at Alpen Rose RV Park, we had been approached by them in October 2016 for their 2017 summer season. Since we had already accepted another position we couldn't make 2017 summer but left the door open for 2018. Last October I reached out to them, they were in need of office\maintenance help for the summer of 2018.. As it turns out this is a much better year to go to CO, our niece is getting married in August in Colorado Springs.  We'll be there by April 15th and stay through October 15 then head to TX. If your travels are going to be by way of Durango this summer, look us up.

So for a winter that had a bumpy start it's turned out to be another great one. The location of Pioneer RV Park has worked well for us and I wouldn't be surprised if we stay here again when we're in the area. Don't think I've posted any pictures of our site, #81 which backs up to a wash so affords us a but of space.

We have just a few more weeks before we leave on March 26, of course the days are already getting planned. Hikes, meet ups, tourist stuff...what a fun winter it's been.

Until next time...

Part 3 Getting Caught Up-All Caught Up

February 1-11 , 2018

If you missed my catch up posts yesterday here's the links
Part 1
Part 2

Hiking continues in February, love this area for all the different hiking opportunities it has. We recently purchased a small GPS for Dave to use with geocaching and hiking. It seems to have worked in getting Dave involved in geocaching. Just a few miles from where we grocery shop, at the best Fry's ever, is part of the Sonoran Preserve. We decided to try out the gps geocaching, we had a great 7 mile hike and found plenty of caches. We took the Ocotillo, Sidewinder and Apache Wash trails to form the loop. This is a great place to get some exercise but the views leave a lot to be desired, city views as far as the eye could see. Think I've got Dave interested in geocaching now, give the man a toy and he's happy.

One day we took a ride out to Prescott Valley to hike the Watson Lake Loop Trail, on All Trails it was called Watson Lake and Flume Trail. Beautiful trail once you get away from the parking area. Small lake, no motors allowed, with a diverse landscape.  The north part is what Dave photographed, the southern area was a riparian area with dormant Cottonwood trees and bridges across dry river beds. We parked in a free parking area just off of AZ 89, then hiked clockwise around the lake. We did find a few geocaches on the trail but if we come back we need our canoe, lots of them are only accessed by water.

One morning we met up with our friends, Marv & Alice, whom we hosted with at Cave Creek. We headed to Usery Mountain Regional Park where Marv had picked out the Wind Cave trail for us to do. This is an in and out trail, 1.5 miles up hill with a 761' elevation gain, good cardio. Wonderful hike with some nice views but the company was the best. After our hiking challenge we ended up at BJ's Brewhouse, part of chain we had visited just last year in our brief visit to Colorado. Couldn't ask for a better day. 

Pioneer RV "Resort" is located just off of exit 225 on I17 on the west side, on the west side is a parking area with a "trail" up to a flag. One morning instead of walking the park we decided to hike to the flag. Great cardio, just a couple of miles but nice to be doing something different, think we might add it to our regular walks a couple of times a week.

Visitors

Friends and former Grand Design owners Laurie & JP stopped in for a visit. We were able to get a few meals in together including a stop at the Four Peaks Brewery, talking too much to remember to get the phone out and take a picture, but then most of my phone pictures turn out terrible.

Our friends Alex and Paul came and stayed at a local hotel for a weekend, it just happened to be Alex's birthday weekend. He wanted to celebrate at his favorite restaurant which is Aunt Enchilada's in Tempe. There were about 10 of us there to help him age another year. As usual the time flew by and soon the weekend was over but more great memories were made. 

We had to keep an eye on these two

Happy Birthday Alex!!!

We're always finding tourist things to do. Some how when looking for things to do around Phoenix I came across a Carnival of Illusion which looked interesting. We invited Curt and Glenda to join us. We met them in Tempe at Cornish Pasty near  the Tempe Center for the Arts. Cornish Pasty on Mill St in Tempe is not for those coming in to sit down as they only have 2 inside tables and stools set up around a bar that is open to the sidewalk. This is college town center, coming at 3 for a meal though we had no trouble getting one of the tables. We talked until it was time to leave for the show which was just a mile away. Carnival of Illusion bills itself as an evening of old world magic. Our audience was just around 100 people which allowed for the audience and setting to take place onstage, up close and personal. A great show, so glad I stumbled across it. My phone photos didn't come out so I've borrowed Curt's photos from the evening, thanks Curt I think you need to give me tips on photo phone taking.

When we came out of the show the bridge at the arts center was lit up. Another great time with some special friends.

We have been in this park for 2 months already, I don't know where the time has gone. It surely has flown by. This park has served us well, while we not taken advantage of the amenities nor joined in any of the activities we've not been bored.  The location gives us access to so much, we have the big city when we want it but yet we're outside the city itself. The best of both worlds. The outlook for the rest of February is just as busy as the first part has been. In March our neighbors from Gulf Waters in TX will in the area, the park they are staying in is 11 miles away. Looking forward to seeing them, maybe we can even get DuWayne to play tourist at least once. 

All caught up now!!!

Until next time...