Over 40 arms on this Saguaro
In the old turquoise mine
It was a forbidding start
Calient Casa del Sol from Poston Butte
Desert wildflowers behind Caliente
This is Sophie's tent on the couch where she spends a lot of her day
December 19, 2008
The sun has shone some for us the past couple of days but not consistently. It’s staying much cooler as well. The night before last we were awakened at about 2am by wind rocking the trailer and rain pounding on the side window. I still got up with the alarm to go out with the hiking group. Only 10 people showed up; guess the others decided to sleep and stay warm. We went up toward Apache Junction for our hike. We were in the vicinity of the Lost Dutchman Mine but I have to report we were not successful in discovering where old Jacob got his pure gold! We did go part way into an abandoned turquoise mine. It was very overcast for the first part of the walk then the sun blessed us and everything was beautiful. The road was another story. Didn’t need 4x4 but we slithered around several places and the truck has a heavy layer of red mud on the running boards and fenders. Florence doesn’t even have a coin car wash so next time we venture further afield we’ll have to watch for one. There is a guy here who uses a portable pressure washer but it’s more expensive.
Dec 20
I decided today was time for me to walk over to Poston Butte which is the local “mountain” for Florence. My GPS told me it is 248 feet higher than here in the park. It was 3.53 kms to the top and again the GPS told me it was 2.51 kms as the crow flies. I had heard there were petroglyphs on the Butte but although I scrambled all around the rock bluffs, I found none. It was a good walk in the warm sun and was 8.95 kms by the time I returned. It seems incredible the weather BC and all the north country is experiencing when we’re in this temperate spot.
Dec 21
We had frost here this morning. It’s nice having a hydro hookup as we can leave the little heater on low to keep the chill off. We’ll miss that when we move on to Quartzsite next month. The air was exceptionally clear today and I put my shorts on again. I’ll probably be back to denims again tomorrow as we expect showers for the next six days. I visited the library again today and read one of the books this afternoon sitting in the sun. They have a well stocked library and also lots of videos and cds/dvds to borrow. We went for a walk around the park and visited with several people. I’m sure I’ve mentioned how friendly most people are.
I heard a funny one today concerning Hiro and Dona down the street. They are going to Kamloops for Christmas as they have a first grandchild to celebrate. They were to fly out this morning but Aileen ran into Dona later and they were still here. I don’t know if they got turned back at the airport or not but Hiro’s passport had expired so they can’t fly across the border. So now they fly to Bellingham on Tuesday and drive across the border then have to make their way to Kamloops.
Dec 22
I went to the club house announcements after breakfast then we went off to Coolidge this morning for our last grocery run before Christmas. The eastern sky was clear first thing but by lunch time we were under heavy cloud. We have a chance of showers for the next six days but no snow in the forecast. We talked to an old guy yesterday who said he’d seen snow in the park only twice over the years. We did see snow on some of the hills to the east. We keep reading about you people all getting hammered with winter. I saw online this morning that Environment Canada is predicting that the first all Canada white Christmas since 1971 is possible.
The sun has shone some for us the past couple of days but not consistently. It’s staying much cooler as well. The night before last we were awakened at about 2am by wind rocking the trailer and rain pounding on the side window. I still got up with the alarm to go out with the hiking group. Only 10 people showed up; guess the others decided to sleep and stay warm. We went up toward Apache Junction for our hike. We were in the vicinity of the Lost Dutchman Mine but I have to report we were not successful in discovering where old Jacob got his pure gold! We did go part way into an abandoned turquoise mine. It was very overcast for the first part of the walk then the sun blessed us and everything was beautiful. The road was another story. Didn’t need 4x4 but we slithered around several places and the truck has a heavy layer of red mud on the running boards and fenders. Florence doesn’t even have a coin car wash so next time we venture further afield we’ll have to watch for one. There is a guy here who uses a portable pressure washer but it’s more expensive.
Dec 20
I decided today was time for me to walk over to Poston Butte which is the local “mountain” for Florence. My GPS told me it is 248 feet higher than here in the park. It was 3.53 kms to the top and again the GPS told me it was 2.51 kms as the crow flies. I had heard there were petroglyphs on the Butte but although I scrambled all around the rock bluffs, I found none. It was a good walk in the warm sun and was 8.95 kms by the time I returned. It seems incredible the weather BC and all the north country is experiencing when we’re in this temperate spot.
Dec 21
We had frost here this morning. It’s nice having a hydro hookup as we can leave the little heater on low to keep the chill off. We’ll miss that when we move on to Quartzsite next month. The air was exceptionally clear today and I put my shorts on again. I’ll probably be back to denims again tomorrow as we expect showers for the next six days. I visited the library again today and read one of the books this afternoon sitting in the sun. They have a well stocked library and also lots of videos and cds/dvds to borrow. We went for a walk around the park and visited with several people. I’m sure I’ve mentioned how friendly most people are.
I heard a funny one today concerning Hiro and Dona down the street. They are going to Kamloops for Christmas as they have a first grandchild to celebrate. They were to fly out this morning but Aileen ran into Dona later and they were still here. I don’t know if they got turned back at the airport or not but Hiro’s passport had expired so they can’t fly across the border. So now they fly to Bellingham on Tuesday and drive across the border then have to make their way to Kamloops.
Dec 22
I went to the club house announcements after breakfast then we went off to Coolidge this morning for our last grocery run before Christmas. The eastern sky was clear first thing but by lunch time we were under heavy cloud. We have a chance of showers for the next six days but no snow in the forecast. We talked to an old guy yesterday who said he’d seen snow in the park only twice over the years. We did see snow on some of the hills to the east. We keep reading about you people all getting hammered with winter. I saw online this morning that Environment Canada is predicting that the first all Canada white Christmas since 1971 is possible.
hi we are all fine here we have had over two feet of snow and tempertures down to minus seventeen .the boys will all be home for xmas mom and dad doing great take care and have a merry crhistmas charlieand sheila
ReplyDeleteNothing like rubbing it in...your
ReplyDeletelack of snow! We are missing our
southern get-away alot right now.I'm slithering around the roads to clients these days.
The turquoise mine sounds & looks from your picture to be a neat place to visit. We are looking forward to getting back in Feb.
Randy misses his truck.
Have a Great Christmas & Happy New Year. Randy & Wendy
Awwwww... I love Sophie's little tent! She's got the right idea. Jessie goes from air vent to her tower in front of the fireplace to the bed once one of us gets in it and turns on the heated mattress pad. Repeats the whole process the next day!
ReplyDeleteI suspect a lot of people might win the Visa free stuff - snow clause this year... White stuff forecast almost everywhere from what we hear!