Arizona (mostly 80-90 degrees, beautiful blue skies)
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| Cathedral Rock Sedona |
After volunteering or workamping we always get a bad case of "hitch itch". Staying in one place has it's advantages and we certainly love volunteering, however, we enjoy exploring A LOT! So, after leaving Bosque del Apache we headed to Arizona and attended three rallies. Previous posts detailed the FMCA rally in Chandler and Escapade rally in Tucson. We have also attended a rally for Newmar owners and I'll talk about a in our next post.
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| White Tank Mountain Regional Par |
The warmer weather has been a delightful and seeing the Arizona desert in bloom is is an added bonus. After the FMCA rally my brother, Harry, flew into Phoenix and joined us for week. We stayed at a beautiful regional park called White Tank Mountain. The desert there was in full bloom and just gorgeous. It's a beautiful campground which definitely has the "it" factor. Reservations are a must. We also saw lots and lots of Saguaro cactus and my brother had a fun time naming the unusual ones as we traveled or hiked a trail.
One day was spent traveling the Apache Trail out of Apache Junction. It's definitely a jeep worthy trip and we had a blast. As you travel past Tortilla Flats it becomes a narrow dirt road. Our jeep handled it well. We really loved our hike at the Lost Dutchman State Park. That is certainly a place we would love to spend more time in the future.There are lots of places to stop along the way. Plan on it being a long day and have a full tank of gas before heading out.
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| Lost Dutchman State Park |
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| Pink Jeep Tour |
One of the highlights of my brothers visit was going to Sedona for two days. We left the motorhome at the park and stayed at a lovely hotel overlooking the beautiful red rock canyons. We splurged and took a pink jeep tour which is a "must do" in our opinion It was a thrill and our guide/driver was great.
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| John, me, Chris, and Bill |
A Cubs spring training game was also planned. We had a sudden jeep breakdown which resulted in having to drop off the jeep with a mechanic and renting a car. Surprisingly we made it to the game in time and joined one of my bestie friends Chris and her husband Bill. We are all Cubs fans except my brother. He is a White Sox fan. We had fun telling him all about being World Series Champions of the World as often as possible. Chris and Bill where here to see several Cub games and it was nice to see them.
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| John, Cathie, and Avi |
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| Chiricahus National Monutment |
After the Escapade rally we stayed a little longer at the fairgrounds and met up with our friend Kathy and Avi. We met Cathie years ago at a resort while on vacation in Mexico. She lives in Phoenix and it was so good to see her. She planned a fun adventure to Bisbee and to
Chiricahua National Monument (click link for more info) near Sierra Vista. Bisbee is an old gold mining town with lots of character. And, our trip the next day to Chiricahua was spectacular with a nice picnic lunch while there. It's been several years since we last saw each other and great to catch up with each others lives.
We enjoyed the Sierra Vista area so much we decided to return for an additional week. There is a huge Army Base called Fort Huachuca. Turns out it's a hummingbird hotspot as well. The base has three campgrounds and the nicest one is called Apache Flats. The sites are full hook up and are very nice with the beautiful mountains in the backround. Our friends from Bosque had recommended going to Ramsey Canyon for some great birding and it was a wonderful experience. We took a guided hike which told us all about the canyon area and early settlers. We saw lots of beautiful hummingbirds and they also told us of some more areas to see.
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| Our tour guide at Ramsey Canyon |
One of the highlights was a visit to
Ash Canyon Bed and Breakfast. Mary Jo has hummingbird feeders everywhere and comfortable lawn chairs to sit and watch to your hearts content. Unfortunately my camera accidentally drowned in the Oak Creek Canyon while on a hike. So, I don't have any pictures of them
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| Lucifer Hummingburd |
This is a picture from the internet of a Lucifer Hummingbird. It's the only place in the U.S. where you can see them. There was so much action going on at her feeders. Mary Jo is a delightful person and makes you feel so welcome. She said her peak time is August. She can go through seven pounds of sugar a day making nectar for her feeders. A five dollar donation is requested to visit.
Later in the day we attended an event where they banded hummingbirds. It was interesting to see how this is done and we got some close views of a couple hummers just before they were released. The bands are so tiny and hummers are caught with a radio controlled rocket neck which launches over the feeder and catches them. They told us their little heart beats over 1000 times a minute.
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| Mary Jo's back yard |
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| Hummingburd Banding |
One day we returned to Bisbee for another visit and took an interesting mine tour. It traveled way into the mine and our guides were actually miners who told us some harrowing stories of their own experiences as well.
One of our favorite places to visit in Tucson is the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. We saw lots and lots of blooming cactus which was delightful. It was very croweded this visit due to spring break and unfortunatly the raptor show was cancelled due to high winds. Oh well, guess we will have to go back again. :)
One of the delights about fulltiming is reuniting with friends and family. We stopped by to see a couple in Casa Grande who we met at our first FMCA rally in Bowling Green about eight years ago. Mary and Tom winter in Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort. They also had Dutch Star and when I was trying to figure out where to put everything Mary wrote me an email explaining how she had organized their rig. It was so helpful. They have recently sold their motorhome and bought a park model in the same resort. They invited us over for lunch and showed off this beautiful resort. There is so much to do at this resort and they especially love the golfing. It was great to see them again and we loved their new home.
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| Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort |
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| Mary and Tom in front of their new home |
So much for "hitch itch" now. It's been great to wander and meet up with my brother and friends. Arizona is a beautiful place to be this time of year. Check back soon for some more adventures. One of the highlights will be a visit to the National Parks in Utah.
