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.

IT’S BASEBALL SEASON BABY!

Thursday, March 9 – We drove through Phoenix, AZ, this morning to the Westside of town to Goodyear. We are attending the Cleveland Indians Spring Training baseball game against the Anaheim Angels. This is our third time we attended Cleveland Indians Spring Training. What fun!

Tickets for outfield seats along the first baseline are $14. A bargain for major league baseball. We planned on attending games at other stadiums in the Cactus League, which has thirteen teams in the Phoenix area. Our nephew, who lives in the area, warned us to check ticket prices. Lucky we checked, because we were going to go to the Indians at Giants Stadium. Tickets at Giants Stadium start at $35 for lawn seats, $69 for outfield and $110 for lower box seats. Holy cow! Indians tickets in comparison are $8 for lawn, $14 for outfield and $27 for lower box. Remember, the Indians played in the World Series last season and are considered a contender this year. The Indians have some of the lowest priced tickets in the area.

Just in case you missed that we are American League Champs.

So we're sticking to the Indians in Goodyear Stadium. Their next game we are going to is on Saturday. We already purchased our tickets for that game. One thing you have to accept when attending these game…It's pre-season. You'll see minor league players that are trying to make the team and some older players who may be trying to hold on for one more year. Sometimes they even split the squad and send them to different games at different stadiums.

Boys of summer.

Tomlin, one of our five starters. He did a great job!

Kipnis gets a hit!

Naquin hits a homerun!

Pretty good crowd. 88 degrees…hot!

Another thing Marsha can cross off her bucket list….hehe.

We can’t go to Spring Training without checking out the the Team Shop. Yep, we both bought our 2017 shirts. We added to our bobble head collection.

We lost 5-4 today. Hopefully, we bounce back on Saturday. We enjoyed our day at the ball park along with a hotdog and a couple beers. If in the area, think about attending a game in the Cactus League, but be sure to check prices for your favorite team.

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!