California & back to Arizona

We retraced our path and headed back to Tucson, it's perplexing how a place, which is just an assortment of buildings and natural elements not much different from many other places, can captivate a person but we are both drawn to Tucson.  We drove up to 'Old Tucson' where many movies were made but didn't do the tour, instead we opted for a drive to Gates Pass. Denis made his pilgrimage to the aviation boneyard and we visited the site of the only remaining Titan II missile (during the cold war there were 54 of them, 18 each in Arizona, Arkansas & Kansas. We went to the St Xavier mission and spent a day downtown, I went back to the Old Town Artisans while Denis toured the Presidio. There was a different volunteer during Denis' visit (to the Presidio) than mine, this man looked like the undertaker from an old western movie. He was very tall, dressed all in black with a very pale complexion and he followed Denis around. We rode the trolley and had a nice lunch at the historic train station.

Titan II missile, not secret any more

From Tucson we headed southwest to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a whole lot more cactus! We spent a night in Ajo, a former mining town, but now a pretty depressed area. After consultation with the weather network we headed back to Yuma for a night and then on to El Centro, California. Notable because the area is 200+' below sea level. It was raining and we didn't see much to reason to linger so we headed north along the east side of the Salton Sea. Between Niland & Indio we happened upon a hot spring resort, not fancy but the water was awesome and we stayed for 2 days.

Kind of weird, looking up to sea level

We continued up the Coachella Valley to Palm Springs, actually 9 small cities make up the greater Palm Springs area. We didn't realize how much we were missing green until we got there, with 100+ golf courses there is an abundance of trees and grass. We were going to ride the tram but it was 24 F and a foot of snow at the top so we decided to forego that opportunity. Since we missed the view from the tram we drove up to Vista Point for a spectacular view of the valley. There are more windmills than I've ever seen at the end of the valley heading towards LA, I tried counting them but there were too many. We enjoyed a visit to Cabot's Pueblo Museum in Desert Hot Springs and an evening at Babe's BBQ & Brew Pub. 

We found a comfy adobe seat at the Pueblo Museum

We dropped the trailer off in Joshua Tree and  toured around the Joshua Tree Park, very interesting scenery. There is a lot of rock climbing in the area and very common to look at a cliff and see people like spiders clinging to the rocks. Then we headed east again, across the Mohave Desert from 29 Palms to Parker, even though you have confidence in your vehicle it is intimidating to see a sign that says no services for 100 miles.  I had not pictured any part of California as being that desolate.

Skull Rock in Joshua Tree National Park

Back in Arizona and on to Lake Havasu, Denis ultimate goal. We have walked over, under and around London Bridge. The weather has been around 100 F and warm evenings as well. Denis soaks up the sun and I stay in the shade. We haven't been much bothered by the fact that it's spring break and a lot of college students are in the area. Music across the channel is 'all about the bass' but they seem to shut down by midnight so it hasn't been disruptive.

We saw a lot of people in swimming attire, but this guy is the only one who got wet!

London Bridge from the island

We are setting out towards Sedona and hoping the weather is favourable, it was cold and snowing 10 days ago.

February in Arizona

We were pretty busy during our time in Yuma:  lazy mornings, pool time and then happy hour. We met a couple from near Dawson Creek and spent some time with them, but we did manage a few day trips in the area. We went to ‘the Annual Peace Country picnic’, saw a few people we knew and some familiar looking faces. On our trip out past the proving grounds we happened upon a date plantation, Denis tried a date shake. We saw a movie with Marj and Herb, we really enjoyed visiting with them, we felt a little sad to say good bye (for 3 months)! We also connected with Ed, Denis’ former boss for a drink. We visited the Yuma Territorial Prison museum, the old downtown and Prison Hill Brewery. We spent a Saturday at the Boogie, Brews & Blues Festival and another day we went to a Civil War re-enactment at the Quartermaster Depot. We spent a couple afternoons at the Swap Meet and the Marketplace.

Denis in Yuma prison, note the thickness of the walls

Old pals sharing a drink

Beautiful day of Blues, luckily we managed to get our chairs in the shade!

The last two weeks we’ve been in Casa Grande and have continued the hectic pace. We went into the Snowbird Extravaganza in Mesa, some great entertainment and some not so great. We visited the Casa Grande ruins, which are in Coolidge not Casa Grande. We have attended a few functions at the resort: an Elvis Impersonator, Valentine’s dance & a sock hop. We drove to visit the cliff dwellings at Tonto National Monument and continued on to Roosevelt Lake and Canyon Lake to Tortilla Flats. The drive along the lakes, which are created by dams on the Salt River, was spectacular; 22 miles of twisty, rough, narrow gravel and steep elevation changes, but very worth the time. We have taken a few drives in the area, one to Eloy to watch skydivers, they were amazing. My sister, Paula & her husband, Tim are here for the month of February so we’ve been able to spend some time together.  This resort is very friendly and we’ve met our neighbours from Michigan and the Donnelly area as well as several other couples from Alberta. We’ve been told that this park is 40% Canadians.

Ancient Casa Grande Ruins

Cozy cliff dwelling

They definitely had a beautiful view!

A straight stretch of the road to Tortilla Flats

This was a few minutes after the previous picture

Tomorrow we are back on the gypsy trail heading towards Tucson. Denis needs to see the aviation boneyard and a missile site south of there as well as a few other sights we missed on our way through last time.

2015 and the journey continues -

Well  I seem to have writer's block but Denis has been nagging me to get something posted  again so I'll try to work up a few relevant thoughts....

We left the truck & trailer in storage and flew home December 16. I got home in time for some of the kids pre-Christmas activities and Brody stayed with us for 4 days, he missed us but not as much as I missed them.

We had Christmas eve with Kelly, Cody & family and Christmas day with Paul, Karen & girls (they had returned from Disneyland on the 24^th). New Year’s eve we had supper with Adrienne & boys before going to Kelly & Cody’s to welcome 2015!  January 1, I drove to Peace River and saw Derek, then January 2 went on to Grande Prairie to see Dad and my sisters. Saturday we had a few gathered at Quinn’s, Byron, Stacy & kids and Shaun & Grace came over. Just missed seeing Dillon as he was still in Dawson Creek. The weather was very nasty when I was up north (a foot of snow and then -30) so it made leaving a little easier for me. We flew back to Phoenix on January 8.

Picking up from my last post, we did visit the Katchner caverns and both loved them, they were discovered in the 70’s by a couple university students. The site is now a state park and very impressive.  We continued down the road to Tucson. While Denis visited the PIMA aviation museum, I did a walking tour of downtown and found a 4 block long street fair. We plan to go back to for a couple days, Denis didn’t have time to tour the 2700 acre aviation boneyard and I’m sure I missed lots of interesting sights & shops downtown. We then headed to Phoenix to get settled in before leaving for home.



Sunset at Saguaro Park (Tucson)

 And now the next episode, we are back enjoying the warm weather and Arizona hospitality.

Back to Phoenix for a few days, we did a bit of exploring and we spent a day at the Barrett Jackson auction. Denis drooled over every vehicle on display, they were auctioning memorabilia that day so all the cars were still there.

Retro Rig (older than ours)

Denis had one of these but it needed major restoration, then the Miata came along

Then we decided we needed warmer weather and headed for Yuma. We are in an RV park here for a month, so it’s pretty nice to be settled for a bit. We have connected with friends from the Fort who have been coming here for 17 years, so they’ve been showing us the ropes. They took us to Mexico one morning and had us to their complex for a Ukrainian meal. We drove to Quartzsite and went to the massive RV show/flea market, we were there for about 6 hours and saw only a fraction of the booths. Also at Quartzsite there are thousands of RV’s parked all over the desert, where ever you find a spot you like. We were wondering how you’d ever find your trailer if you came back after dark. We have connected with my sister, Paula & Tim a couple times, they are 1.5 hours away.

Field of cabbages near Yuma, there are endless fields of lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, etc

Today it's raining and I'm making pea soup and we're doing chores.

 

 

Back on Mountain Standard Time!

Before leaving El Paso, Denis spent the morning at the War Eagles museum. Vintage aircraft from WWII, the Korean and Viet Nam wars; also 49 vintage cars and motorcycles. A bit of history - the first use of planes & motorcycles by the US military was when they were chasing Pancho Villa around this area. Sorry Dave no cannons but there were rockets.

War Eagles rockets

So it's good-bye to Texas and hello New Mexico. We camped at La Vina vineyard, of course tasted and bought some wine and wonderful cheese. The craft/farm market the next morning was disappointingly small. Most of the usual participants were at show elsewhere,
we bought a dozen eggs and continued on our way. We walked around a pecan grove on the vineyard property. There are miles and miles of pecan groves in Texas and New Mexico. Travelling the secondary road towards Las Cruces, we passed through the small town of San Miguel. We noticed a group of people on horseback and a crowd standing around as well. We found a place to park and walked back there to find that it was a Catholic mass being celebrated. There we about 40 people on horseback, some in full Mexican costume with suits and sombreros and ladies with full ruffled skirts. The priests served communion to the mounted participants from a set of steps.

Just a few of the vaqueros

I think the priests had a more precarious perch than the lady on horseback

Leaving the trailer in Las Cruces we drove across the highway to old Mesilla, incorporated in 1848. This area was part of Mexico until 1864 so the architecture reflects that influence and has been well preserved. The courthouse where Billy the Kid was convicted is now a gift shop. In the evening we went to the University grounds where 7100 luminarias lined walkways. Luminarias are paper bags with a couple inches of sand in the bottom and a candle. There were carriage rides, carolling, hot chocolate and kids activities; and all in your shirtsleeves and not a drop of snow. It just didn't seem quite right!

Heading west again we spent another night at a winery in Demming. We waved adios to New Mexico and moved on into Arizona. On the Arizona side of the border you travel through Texas Canyon, an area of huge boulders, quite unique terrain. We camped in Benson for a couple days. We took a day trip to Tombstone, visited Boothill and saw a gunfight. Walked around the town and took a trolley ride. Then we continued on to Bisbee, it was a copper mining town. Talk about cliff dwellings the buildings are built up and down the steep hills, we noted a lot of staircases. The town has been declared a National Historic site. It would be an interesting place to spend some time. We saw another interesting spot, maybe part of Bisbee or a separate town called Lowell; it was like an outdoor museum.
From there we continued our circle to Sierra Vista, hummingbird capital of the US, and back to Benson. Tomorrow we are visiting the Kartchner Caverns before leaving for Tucson.

Just a few collectibles including the guy behind the truck!



Eastward Ho is Heading West

Continuing our visit to San Antonio - We visited 2 of the missions, San Jose and Mission Conception. There are 4 besides the Alamo which was originally a mission also. All are active Catholic churches with the exception of the Alamo. At San Jose we took a tour with a park ranger, all of the mission except the church is a National Park. 

Well the highlight of our San Antonio stay! The light up parade (30th annual) on the Riverwalk! We lucked out with our table, when we made the reservation we were on the back of the patio at a bar table, higher and with bar stools. The manager showed us the table and said he'd get some stools with backs for us. He seemed concerned that the decrepit old fogeys might fall off the stools after a glass or two of wine. On the night of the parade we arrived and were seated front and centre, they had crowded 3 tables (with 2 people at each) in where usually there are 1 four person table and 1 two person table. We 'rubbed elbows' (literally) with our neighbours - Gail and James from Houston, who come every year to see the spectacle!

Canadian Christmas Float!

Riverwalk after light up

Alamo Plaza

Our last day, Denis visited the Texas Ranger museum and I went to the Spanish Governor's Palace and walked along as much of the Riverwalk as I could. There were more people on the Riverwalk and the Alamo Plaza than the previous night. In passing we heard that the wait for a table at one restaurant was an hour and a half. I wanted to sit out along the Riverwalk but most places had a minimum half hour wait, luckily we scored an inside table in front of an open full length window, so we were in the midst of the action and no wait!  Sad to leave San Antonio, not sure if I'm done here.

One night in Del Rio, tried to go to Val Verde winery (1883, oldest winery in Texas) but they were closed :(. On the road again we stopped at Langtry and visited the Judge Roy Bean, only law west of the Pecos,  museum. The terrain is mostly flat, scrubby mesquite and cactus seem to dominate.  And the border patrol, it is amazing how many miles of nothingness they patrol, they must be the biggest employer in the area. We spent 2 nights in Alpine, most of the RV's in the park looked like they hadn't moved in years! We set out bright and early, well kind of early, for Big Bend country. We visited the ghost town of Terlingua, where mercury was mined in the late 1800's. Continuing on we stopped in Lajitas, mostly a golf resort  Part of the resort has been built to look like an old west town. When we were reading some history panels we met  a couple guys from New Zealand. Opening comment, very nice truck! We continued along the Rio Grande, some very beautiful scenery. The one fellow had been to Canada, even to Edmonton. We were both surprised, we thought the Rio Grande was a bigger river; then we read a panel that it is 'greatly diminished'. 95% of the water is diverted, mostly for agricultural needs but also for cities. It seems incredibly sad that 'the powers that be' have allowed that much  disruption. I did not get my feet wet, did not cross the border but my phone gave me a 'welcome to Mexico' message!


Rio Grande, greatly diminished

Heading to the west Texas town of El Paso! We saw a blimp, actually a 'Tethered Aerostat', so the border patrol gets some help with surveillance.

We spent the last couple days exploring around El Paso and we are leaving the 'cowboy boot capital' without buying any boots, although I saw a pair of English riding boots that were tempting. We tried out Famous Dave's BBQ, not quite up to Denis' and Cody's standards but pretty good. We're moving across the state line to New Mexico tomorrow, camping at a winery, we might not get any farther!

In the Deep South

Moving on from Florida, we made a brief stop in Alabama, at the outlet mall in Foley. We each got some new footwear, all this touristing wears out shoes quickly. We spent one night in Mississippi, in Gulfport. Miles and miles of beautiful sand beach along this area of the Gulf of Mexico, very similar to Pensacola Beach. But it was chilly, windy and the surf was pretty rough. The houses are built on pilings at least 1 and sometimes 2 stories off the ground, so I guess we'd be safe to say they have water issues. The next day we drove into Louisiana and arrived in New Orleans!

Denis braving the GoM (Gulf of Mexico)



We decided we wouldn't want to carry groceries up to these places!

We had coffee and beignets at Café du Monde, that's the way to start the day! Better than Starbucks! After a visit to the French Market and wandering around the French Quarter we shared a muffuletta at the Central Grocery (similar to Edmonton's Italian Centre shop, just smaller). Muffuletta is a 10' round Italian sandwich, with all Denis' favourite things; we had enough for the next day, they are huge, good thing they are cut in quarters.  We did some touring on the trolleys because it was cold and windy. We did walk along the levee (riverwalk) to the cruise ship terminal and its very high-end outlet mall. We also walked around the Garden District and Bourbon Street on our last day enjoying a bit warmer weather. There are still obvious signs of the devastation of Catrina, many buildings in the poorer areas that have not been repaired or torn down.  We listened to some live music in the Musical Legends Park, we went to Preservation Hall but did not go back for the show at night. We visited the Destrehan Plantation as we were leaving the New Orleans area. 

Me trying to convince Denis we should have 'Dinner at Antoine's'

But he preferred the ambiance and the food at the Central Grocery

Then we were on the move again, following as close to the coast as possible, no more sandy beaches it was  bayous and swamps, miles of bridges and causeways! We were in Lake Charles, Louisiana for a night and then into Texas.

We didn't take a picture of the 'watch out for snakes sign' at the other end of the parking lot. Note that the 'beast' has shiny new hubcaps, Denis feels much better!

We managed to avoid the Houston area and headed for Galveston, back to the beaches, houses on pilings and people trying to surf. We stayed at a state park on Galveston Island with the beach just across the dunes. We had a nice evening with our neighbours who were from Ontario.

Next stop San Antonio! We parked our trailer and before we were set up our neighbour came over to chat because he saw our trailer was from Grande Prairie and he is also! We enjoyed visiting with them and maybe meeting up later in Arizona. We visited the Alamo and have walked a mile or two along the Riverwalk.  Also took the Rio (river) taxi tour. There are more people friendly spaces in the city centre than any other city I've been to. Fountains, manmade waterfalls and the restored village (La Villita). We went up in the Tower of Americas, very similar to Calgary Tower, 100+ feet taller; but as Denis pointed out less than half as high as the CN Tower. It was a beautiful clear day and we got a great bird's eye view of the city. We also made a mandatory visit to the Mexican market but managed to escape without too buying much.

Across the alley, oh no it's the plaza from the Alamo!

Enjoying the Riverwalk

Today is American Thanksgiving and there is a turkey dinner at the resort so we'll get a turkey fix. Friday we are going to the Christmas light up and boat parade (so actual floats) along the Riverwalk.

 

South and further south

Continuing to chase some warmer weather we drove through the beautiful Virginia countryside. Walton’s Mountain scenery, went through Rattlesnake Hollow, we didn’t stop. Stayed in Danville just north of the North Carolina border.

Halloween day we put our beach bum costumes on and went to Myrtle Beach, nice sunny day but a bit windy, we waded but didn't swim. First time at the beach on October 31! We walked along the board walk, the place is a long string of casinos, hotels and amusement parks.

Trick or treat!

Next stop Charleston. We spent a chilly, rainy Saturday doing a driving tour of the old town and then went to the market. Four blocks (covered) of all kinds of merchandise, we missed the farmer's market but it is not covered so we likely wouldn't have stayed long. Temp was 11 but it felt much colder, I was shivering in my 'fall' jacket. The weather improved a bit the next day and we went to Fort Sumter, that's where the American Civil war started. On our way again, we stopped and toured the Middleton Plantation, the oldest formal gardens in North America.

We made it to Florida! We spent 3 days at a very nice resort and took day trips to Cocoa Beach and Denis got to spend the day at the Kennedy Space Centre.

Welcome to NASA (space cadet, Denis!)

In the rocket garden!

We were thinking of staying for the winter but we've more country to see. Another night at a nice but very different resort.

We're now in Pensacola Beach for a week.

Camped amongst the big boys!