Visit to Sedona AZ

We are spending a week at a timeshare in Sedona AZ this week. One of the places I really wanted to see was the Tlaquepaqe Arts and Crafts Village. This is a very large complex right next to our resort, Los Abrigados. There are several restaurants and many galleries and specialty shops in the complex as well as some wonderful outdoor art. Roger was very patient as I wandered in and out, fingering all the gorgeous items that are available. That took up a good part of Tues. Today, Wed. we took a drive to Tuzigoot Nat'l Monument near Cottonwood, AZ. This site was home over a period of 400 yrs, from about 1000 ad to 1400 ad to a large community of some 220 people, as well as a larger group in adjacent areas. It is not known why these people finally left the area, and no trace has been found of them elsewhere. The Verde River runs through the valley here and provided irrigation and water year round. I've also included a couple of the traditional "Red Rock Country" type photos. I took lots of these photos and photos of the wildflowers too. We've had perfect weather so it's been a delight to be out and about. There are a few more "have to see" before we leave. And I am so happy to have found a watercolor one day workshop being offered here at the resort on Friday. You KNOW I'm gonna be there!

too much fun...

Happy Trails...

new adventures 4/17/10

We met with Bruce and Ronda from the Baja trip in Valley Verde Thousand Trails park on Thurs. They have their Airstream back from repairs required after the trip, and we admired it's shiney new appearance. Then we took the short drive to Montezuma's Castle and Montezuma's Well. The cliff dwellings were impressive. Bruce and Ronda have been fulling timing just about a year now. We hope to meet up later this summer, perhaps at the La Conner TT park in WA. Today Roger and I went to Mesa and rented small kayaks, in our efforts to learn the specifics of this activity. We knew we wanted 'sit on top" Kayaks, rather than 'sit in" type. These boats (in photos) were about 9'2". I think the next time we go, we will try a slightly longer boat, maybe up to 12' just to experience the difference. We've already learned that there is a big difference in the seats, in the paddles, etc. The owner of the place we rented was very helpful today. After 2 hours on this little lake, I was bushed. My arms were ready to fall off, and we called it a day. Also, it was a direct-sun 86 deg, so thank goodness for sun block! We managed to stay on top of the water, not in it, so we call it all good!
Happy trails.....

the new look inside

Well, here is our final set up inside the coach for now at least. You can see the table set up against the windows, with the chairs facing the windows....along the slider. The new recliners are super comfy. The rocker and smaller footstool complete the seating arrangement for now. Today we moved the coach into storage as we will stay in park model probably until the middle of May sometime. I am really tickled with how the idea worked out. We seem to have more space now and the floor is such an improvement! Now we have started looking at tv's and how to set one up across from the two recliners, somewhat below the middle of the window across from them. What to set the tv on is the challenge. Tomorrow we visit friends from the Baja trip... they are staying at the Verde Valley Thousand Trails park. It will only be a one day trip, but we are looking forward to hearing their travel tales. They have just this year started the full-timers life!

just so you don't think we have just a lazy life here in Casa Grande, I spent most of yesterday afternoon giving our two prickly pear cactus a good soapy scrubing with bucket and long handled broom to rid them of white mess. Cochiniel (?) was used by native Americans for red dye, even though it is a white gunk. Had red water all over the ground and only a few stickers in my hand. The broom was a big help to staying away from them! So, it's not just one big holiday... meanwhile, happy trails.....

new floor and chairs

We took the coach into County RV in Yuma 4/6 to have carpet and couch replaced. At the same time, we took out the dining room table. It just was inefficient and a waste of space. We returned to the park model in Casa Grande, expecting this project to be finished on Fri. This company had come highly recommended and have done a lot of this kind of work. They sent us to BigBob's flooring in Yuma and we found a wonderful match for our cherry wood woodwork. I didn't want anything too dark, and this flooring is just shades lighter of the same hue.

As you can see from the photos, we had the stairwell done as well. We will leave the brush carpet on the steps to help keep sand, gravel and etc out of the coach. The step cover was also done. They had some challenges in doing the slider but we are happy with the results. The chairs will be much more comfortable than the couch. We have a separate swivel/rocker that will return to it's place by the front door for awhile. Eventually we will replace the tv on the overhead with one across from the recliners. I don' have a good photo of the kitchen tile, but perhaps you can see it in that one shot. Tile in front of the sink was removed all the way back to the slider door into the bathroom/dressing area. The dining area is another project. I would like to have a bar/table across the windows, with the two dining chairs facing the windows. Meanwhile we will use a foldup rectangle table in that space. It turns out the Navajo rug in front of the chairs also fits perfectly in the dining space.. so that may be a change in the decorating scheme. Now it is time to clear out some of the accumulation of 'stuff' we've been holding on to again. Shoud do the same in the shed of the park model.... well, that's for another day. We are really happy with the new floor and chairs. I know we gave County Rv a challenge, but they came through and I am finally rid of that horrible, "velcro-like" carpet that would not come clean for anything! yipeeeeeee....

happy trails....

End of Baja journey...3/19/10

Well, here is the end of the big Baja adventure. Our valiant wagonmasters met us at Mulege' on 3/16/10 for the 4 day trip north. Spring had come to Baja Norte and wild flowers were beautiful along the road. This was just the final leg of an awesome trip for us. Danny and Linda Peterson stayed in Los Barriles, dropping off the main tour in Jan., as we did. We had a great time exploring the east cape with them, and made lists of the 'toys' we want to bring back in Dec. Jack and Myrna Freeborn (I hope I've spelled that correctly) are from Canada, and coming back again too. Marcia Stiers has been coming down to Loreto for several years. I won't go into our return through the Otay border crossing, ugly memories there, but you can tell from the photos, that it is a madness, and believe me, it just got worse... at least for us. But after 2 hous, much frustration, we did cross over into the USof A. We stayed at the Chula Vista KOA for a couple of days and then moved on to the Thousand Trails park in Jamul, CA, not far from our original crossing at Tecate.

We are now in Yuma, have arranged to have flooring and couch replaced with laminate and two nice recliner chairs. Our beautiful but ungainly dining table is going away at the same time. I am doing the Happy Dance about getting this all done at once. Everything just fell into place! We return to Yuma 4/5 to get all the work done and will pick up the coach 4/9 if all goes well.

After this adventure, I would say to everyone, never stop dreaming, never stop planning, dare to have some fun! Now, I may have a different story to tell if I actually DO get a kayak, and end up in the deep, BUT, for now, it's my mantra! Happy trails...

Baja Wildflowers

Well, I just had to put up some photos of the wildflowers we saw on our return trip from Baja. These flowers were in the "bad lands" of Baja. The carpets of purple and yellow flowers were just amazing. After the sandy desert of southern Baja, to come onto these flowers and the green trees, and bushes, it was like turning on a technicolor movie. I liken it to the scenes from Over the Rainbow, where Dorothy comes into OZ which is in color, from Kansas, which was all in black and white. Of course, the other side of the rain which made the flowers, were the washed out access roads to the bridges that were under repair. On another note, I included 2 photos of "toys", ala Baja. As you've seen from other pages here, water is beautiful and all around in Baja. We are dreaming of some 'toys', maybe sea kayaks or "zodia" type boat with small motor. There are many kinds of both of these boats, and part of the summer will be spent checking it all out.

Meanwhile, happy trails....

Baja-heading north

Well, we are on the road again, heading north this time. I've included a photo of road traffic when road work is being done. Usually you drive on some part of the road WHILE it's being worked on. This can lead to some harrowingly narrow roads.... We were diverted around at least two bridges today while repairs are being done to the access parts. Our wagonmaster told us the bridges usually hold up fine during a flood, it is the dirt access part to the bridge that fails. We certainly saw evidence of that today. I've also included a photo of Roger at leisure at Santispac, under a frayed palapa, looking out at the Sea of Cortez. We took a drive to nearby Coyote beach and El Burro beach. These are sheltered beaches w/ almost no facilities, except turquois water, white sand beaches and a few palm trees.
The photo of Roger and I dancing is a fun Baja story. With folks who are returning with Baja Winters to the states and parked at Santispac, we decided to go to Anna's on the beach for dinner. We somehow had missed this place on the way down. So we troop in, and find out it is dance night, along with dinner specials. Seems most of Mulege' gringos turn out for these nights at Anna's. The previous Sat. night (this happened to be Sat. night, but we have long ago lost track of the days) had been a "Prom night" and everyone came dressed up for proms and had their photos taken etc. Well, this group of folks our age (more and Less) had a rocking good time, a good meal, and all was sort of a 'surprise' for us, who had not even known this place was there! We are just outside Ensenada tonight. We'll go to the hotel restaurant for our last group dinner. I can hardly believe this adventure is almost over. We expect to cross the border about noon tomorrow. We have had such a great time, made such great friends, and had some serious adventure.... everything we hoped for and much much mas!

I'll have more photos after we get back to states and have reliable wifi, along with hot water laundry, cell phone coverage, tv etc. Guess we will be able to cope....
Meanwhile, happy trails....