Wrapping Up 2015

Seems we've been busy or working, I've had good intentions of catching up the blog but then something comes along and I don't get to it. So here's the highlights from December 2015.

One evening we headed into Phoenix with Mary and Michael who also volunteer here and live next door to us. After a wonderful Thai dinner we headed to the Desert Botanical Garden to enjoy the Las Noches de las Luminarias. An evening of strolling along garden paths lit by thousand of luminaries, which were lit with actual candles, volunteers  go out and change the candles every day then light them then they have to light them all.

One of the sculptures in the Bruce Munro Sonoran Light Display.

Our friends MonaLiza and Steve of  The Lowe's RV Adventures went one evening, you can read more about the displays and see more pictures at their blog here, you can also read about our visit with them at McDowell Regional Park when MonaLiza and Steve invited us for a delicious ham dinner...once again no camera but Mona had hers going.

These last two displays were made with recycled 1liter water bottles, fiber optics were inserted into the bottles and supported by wooden shelves between each layer, the displays continually changed colors.

We've been out hiking quite a bit, enjoying all the desert has to offer. We are enjoying our day hosting volunteer job and even head there on our days off to hike a bit. Our Christmas Day hike was wonderful, so much nicer than spending Christmas in snow and cold.

                                                          

One of the benefits of our job is being able to hike with our ranger Kevin and other volunteers as they prepped a new trail. The following petroglyphs are not on a main trail. We've been given the privilege of knowing their location.

                                                 

                                                                 

One of the hikes offered at Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area is the moonlight hike, usually on the night of the full moon but since that was Christmas it was held a few days later. Lots of people this month probably because of the holidays...we're planning on going again.

Our bird feeders are emptied frequently by the numerous visitors.

 

New friends Mark & Janell invited us to a Christmas party. We always have so much fun with them, they will be at Quartzsite and we are talking about going to Mexico with our RV's for a few days. Great new friends :)

We enjoyed a Christmas dinner at our son David and daughter-in-law Laura's home, how nice to have dinner prepared for us...again forgot the camera :(. Needless to say it was a wonderful meal and an enjoyable evening.

Dave has been busy working on improving our battery capacity. In a week we are headed to Quartzsite AZ (think Sturgis but for RV's) where
 we will be dry camping for 5 days. Of course I was too busy helping to take pictures but needless to say we are in a much better position for this than we were. Dave added some batteries, ran wires and generally upgraded our capabilities. We are attending a Grand Design Owners Rally prior to the start of The Quartzsite RV Show.

A few of the sites here at Cave Creek Regional Park have a corral.

 The sunsets here continue to be spectacular.

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and we'd like to wish all a Happy New Year.
Now to catch up on my blog reading.

Until next time...