A LITTLE HIKING AND A BIG WIN!

Friday, March 10 – We returned this morning to the Superstition Mountains just outside of Phoenix, AZ. We were here to hike Lost Gold Canyon trail. This trail is and out and back hike. You can extend it out to a 12 mile hike if you like. We're not doing anything near that. We went out a couple miles and returned.

Everything is so amazingly green!

This is a beautiful area we absolutely love! The scenery is unbelievable, and the trails aren't too strenuous. We could sit out here and enjoy nature all day. This trail was quiet. We didn't meet any other hikers the entire time hiking. Everyone else was hiking the Hieroglyphic Trail we did the other day. Both trails leave from the same trailhead. We did pass some horseback riders as we neared the trailhead on our return.

We left at 8:00 a.m, and it was already 80 degrees.

Ups and downs on this trail.

No sounds but the beautiful song of the birds and the bees.

The desert is beginning to come alive. We wish we were here in about two weeks. We know it will be a gorgeous showing on the desert floor.

Saturday, March 11 – We headed back to Goodyear Stadium on the Westside of Phoenix this morning to catch another Cleveland Indians Spring Training game. Today they were playing the Kansas City Royals. What a difference the weekend made on the crowd. Over 8,500 people in attendance today. Goodyear Ballpark features 8,000 stadium seats, 1,500 berm seats, six luxury suites and specialty group areas that seat more than 500. The place was nearly sold out!

As we passed through the gate to our surprise, we were handed a voucher for a Corey Kluber bobblehead. We weren't even aware it was bobblehead day. Kluber is one of the starting pitchers for the Indians. We had to go to a designated tent to pickup our bobbleheads but were thrilled to do so.

It was an exciting and VERY HOT game. The temperatures were in the 90's about the 3rd inning and very sunny.

A little humor for those back in Cleveland, Ohio.

Goodyear Stadium announces warnings about sunburns and even has sunscreen dispensers throughout the stadium. We've been out in the sun all winter and have pretty dark tans and have been blessed with dark skin, so burning isn't usually a problem for us.

The Indians played a great game. All the pitchers were starters so that was exciting. We even got to see a grand slam. That's a home run with the bases loaded for you non-sports fans...LOL The Good Guys win!

Our neighbor here at the park has the neatest sign. So perfect for us.

Another gorgeous sky here in Arizona.

We have really enjoyed our stay in Arizona. We are headed to Houston tomorrow. We plan to stop either in Deming, NM, or Las Cruces, NM. We are sure we will be on the road no later than 7 a.m.  We will see how far we get until we say…Enough is Enough.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day.

SUPERSTITION MT: HIEROGLYPHIC TRAIL

Wednesday, March 8 – Things have settled down here at VIP RV Park in Apache Junction, AZ. This park isn't bad now that we have gotten use to no longer being in the beauty of the Usery Mountains. The people are very friendly; it it very clean; sites are nicely spaced; and it has a great central location. Especially nice, it is close to the Superstition Mountains and the many outdoor activities.

The good news continues with Paul being able to fix the slideout. He wants to work on it a little more when we reach Houston with the concrete pads to crawl around on. We are pretty confident we'll be able to use the slide without a problem, but we think we'll close it up the night before departing the Phoenix area as a precaution.

We took advantage of the Superstition Mountains this morning by hiking the Hieroglyphic Trail. What a marvelous hike! We really enjoyed this moderate then easy trail. The wording of that last sentence was intentional and for good reason. The trail is a gradual uphill climb almost the entire way to the end (moderate difficulty) and then downhill for the return trip (easy peasy!) Elevation gain was about 590’.

We would definitely do this hike again but next time we'll take our hiking poles and a snack for lunch. Everything we read indicated an easy hike so we only took water bottles and a trail bar. The trail is one of the rockiest we've hiked lately, and we wished we had those poles we left back in the truck. The rocky trail sure slowed down our ascent.

What magnificent scenery! A very beautiful hike.

We could see for miles and miles and miles.

About two miles from the trail head we arrived at a boulder filled canyon complete with a waterfall and pool. We had to do some boulder scrambling. We certainly enjoyed the rest and a trail bar snack while enjoying the view.

The SALT (Superstition Area Land Trust) was doing some clean up in the area, hence the blue bags in the next photo.

This is why the trail is called Hieroglyphic trail.

Going down sooooo much easier than up.

This is a VERY popular trail, and crowds are expected. Even at our 8:25 departure, we were two of many on the trail. The return trip – closer to 10:30 was like a Sunday afternoon walk in a popular park! It doesn't take long to get use to the passersby. We enjoyed the hike regardless.

There are numerous trails branching off from this trailhead. Any one should be able to find a great and suitable hike here. The parking lot holds about 75 cars. It was FULL on our return.

You'll get towed if you park elsewhere. The neighbors in Gold Canyon development have spent big bucks to live in this awesome environment and don't take lightly to visitors filling their streets to hike in the surrounding mountains.

A couple of very happy hikers.

Paul heard from his cardiologist. His April 10th appointment has been moved up to March 20. We canceled our reservations in White Tank Mountains for next week. We will head back to Houston come Monday morning. We are so happy the appointment could be changed.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

BYE USERY MOUNTAINS. HELLO APACHE JUNCTION.

Monday, March 6 – We usually pull out of our campground and on to the next stop by 7:00 a.m  But, this morning we left Usery Mountain Regional Park bound for VIP RV Resort & Storage in Apache Junction, AZ, later than normal. Why? You ask…We only had about a 15 mile drive, to avoid Phoenix rush hour traffic and needed to wait for check-in time at our new location. Our biggest delay is due to trouble with our main slide-out refusing to retract. Paul worked on the slide a little over an hour. He finally was able to get the slide ready for a manual retract. He got a couple guys to help him push it shut. Paul will investigate repairs tomorrow.

Now what could be the problem?

VIP RV Resort is pretty basic, especially if they want to call themselves a resort. It is one very long street, nicely paved, and very wide for an RV park. The sites are gravel with cement patios with plenty of space between sites. They are 50 amp full hook-up sites. Everyone is very nice. Paul wanted to stay in Apache Junction rather than Mesa so he could enjoy the view of the Superstition Mountains. Unfortunately, a large warehouse blocks our view of the mountains.

Site #29.

Looking right.

Looking left.

Classify the following under “It's a small world.” After getting set-up in our site, we needed to go to Walmart for a couple prescriptions and other supplies. While standing in the pharmacy line a fellow passed by us after paying for his prescription. He stopped suddenly and asked, “Aren't you the Weavers?” Yep! Raymond and his wife are here in Apache Junction for the winter. He's been following our blog for years and recognized us from pictures we've posted on the blog. Amazing! Thanks for stopping to talk with us Raymond. It was a pleasure meeting you!

Our plans are to stay here a week, and then we need to re-evaluate our next destination. Paul is having some health issues and may need to return to Houston, TX, to see his doctor. We were hoping the lower altitude of Phoenix would help him but so far it hasn't proven to be the case. We'll evaluate our decision after talking to the doctor.

We are still treated to amazing sunsets here in Apache Junction.

This photo hasn’t been touched. That is how brilliant the sky was.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

ONE BEAUTIFUL SCENE AFTER ANOTHER.

Wednesday, April 4  - We just wanted to kick back for most the day, but before we did that, we took a loooooong ride to Payson. Payson is about an hour and half from Apache Junction. It is a very nice town with extremely nice people. The weather was gorgeous and so was the scenery!

At the beginning of the drive.

We actually went through four different geological areas. the drive took us through the HUGE Tonto National Forest. It was so fascinating.

The first of four area was the Saguaro Cactus landscape.

Next came the rocky mountain section.

That lead us right into the scrubby area.

And finally, the Ponderosa pine section.

As you can see from this photo, the drive was a curvy one, but so beautiful.

We actually wanted to visit the Mogollan Rim, but that was another 40-45 minute drive. Since we were meeting our friends, Sandie and Jim, for dinner, we opted to turn around and drive back.

On Thursday,  little Bella was begging us (She had that sad look in her eyes.)  to take her for a walk. So across the street to the desert we went.

It was already 80 at 9:00 in the morning. She cracks me up. She was trying to find some shade under this little scrub.

We didn't keep her out long. Just long enough for her to walk off some energy.

We then hit the Superstition Ranch Market. What a great place to shop. Lettuce…4/$2, grapes 69¢, zucchini 5/$1, etc.  We loaded up. Marsha had a huge fruit salad and sautéed all the veggies for many salads to come.

Kelly's asked us to pass along a big "Thank You" to all that wished her a happy birthday. She said she had a great day. One of the gifts we gave her was a candle basket that Marsha made. It isn't the "normal" basket. Kelly loves candles, so Marsha decided to make her something she could place her candles in just to bring a bit more beauty to them. Marsha couldn't find any examples on the Internet, so she just made her own concept of a "candle" basket. Note: Marsha says that what looks like "handles" are really just called "open windows." They are NOT suppose to be symmetric. She has never done this before or the braiding that goes through those open windows. Another "original" pine needle basket.

Dave took a picture with Kelly's phone. Looks like she really likes it.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!