Since last I wrote, we have
been busy with an active social calendar!
Monday, February 27, we left Tombstone Territories RV Park and drove to
Phoenix Metro RV Park on the north side of Phoenix. Every time we move we re-attach the pickup to
the motorhome and head on down the road.
You’ve probably heard me say that we look the circus coming to
town! Lots of RVers do exactly what we
do, although we’ve seen few full-sized pickups being towed. Jerry is superb at making it happen. I don’t offer to assist, believing that this
is one instance where “too many cooks might spoil the stew!” We have had no problems towing the pickup,
although Jerry is the epitome of caution and meticulousness. Better safe than sorry! Sorry…enough clichés!
When I go searching for an RV
park in which to camp, I use “RV Park Reviews”, which gives info about each RV Park,
listed by city and state, as well as critiques and comments from campers who
have stayed there. I try to read between
the lines and avoid the old, run down, and dicey ones. I don’t always succeed! Phoenix Metro RV Park was not lovely! We were packed in like sardines, found huge
speed bumps, and didn’t enjoy the rundown facilities. To make matters worse, we
were in the flight pattern for a very busy general aviation airport. Fortunately we were booked here only 9 days!
Wednesday, March 1, Jerry and
Sue Hipple, farmer friends from northern Illinois, joined us. They were vacationing in Phoenix and wanted
to go see the Grand Canyon and invited us along. We decided to take the Grand Canyon Railway
to the park from Williams and spend one night in the park to insure we would
have lots of time to explore. Since
Jerry and Sue were new to Arizona, we drove through Sedona on our way to
Williams. Yes, a little out of the way,
but beautiful nonetheless! That heavy
rain that had hit Phoenix Monday night had also dumped a lot of snow in Sedona
and Williams (18” in Williams!). Certainly
looked different from the last time we were through here early last summer.
Thursday morning we boarded
the Grand Canyon Railroad for the 2-hour 60-mile ride to Grand Canyon Village
at the south rim. Although not the
quickest way to get to the park, it was certainly the most relaxing. No one had to drive or navigate. It was delightful to just sit and visit (and
knit!) as we watched the scenery go by.
Once we arrived, we quickly
disembarked and boarded a tour bus for a guided tour of the rim west of Grand
Canyon Village. Once again, we elected
to let someone else drive us and we could relax and revel in the scenery.
Of course, you know the Grand Canyon is
spectacular and there was absolutely no way to capture the magnificence or the
beauty! There was lots of snow from that
Monday night storm as well and I think the snow added to the beauty. (We were a little taken aback at the lack of
guard rails and the ability to simply walk up to the bitter edge…if one was
dumb enough to do so!)
The geology of the Grand
Canyon area included one of the most complete and studied sequences
of rock on Earth. The nearly 40 major sedimentary
rock layers exposed in the Grand Canyon and in the Grand
Canyon National Park area ranged in age from about 200 million to
nearly 2 billion years old. Most were deposited in warm, shallow seas and
near ancient, long-gone sea shores in western North America. Both marine
and terrestrial sediments are represented, including
fossilized sand dunes from an extinct desert. At one of our tour
stops, the guide pointed out the fossils in the rocks at our feet.
Hard to believe that the rocks we stood on were once at the bottom of a
shallow sea!
We stayed at one of the older
lodges in Grand Canyon Village and even found a place to have pizza and beer
Thursday evening. We had certainly
worked up good appetites.
Since our train back to
Williams did not leave until 3:15 Friday afternoon, we had all day to explore
on our own. Perfect! We wanted to see the south rim east of Grand
Canyon Village. Fortunately, the park
ran shuttle buses between the major viewing points, museums, and gift shops
every 15 minutes. We spent the morning
hopping on and off and seeing more amazing views of the canyon. We were fascinated with the trails that we
could see down into the canyon, all the way to Phantom Ranch. What a hike that would be! The park still offers mule rides down the
trail to Phantom Ranch, but that would be worse than walking, in my book!
On the return trip we were
surprised by a train robbery…anything to entertain the tourists! Jerry Hipple got a good chuckle! We arrived back at Abe Friday night and
Hipple’s flew back to Illinois on Saturday morning. What fun we had had!
Saturday afternoon we drove
to Paradise RV Park in Sun City to have dinner with Jon and Norma Owens and
Regina Shelton. We had all graduated
from the same little high school in west central Illinois. Jon and Norma live in Renton, WA (near
Seattle), and Regina lived in Phoenix.
We had all connected here last year to attend Mariners’ and Cubs’ spring
training. Jon made us yummy green chili
cheeseburgers…as Jerry supervised! We
had a delightful visit, as always, reminiscing and catching up on our families.
Sunday, March 5, we were off
to church at All Saints Lutheran Church in Phoenix. This was another big congregation…4 services
on Sunday! The sanctuary was beautiful
and the music was superb! We even had a hand
bell choir! We didn’t receive the warm
greetings and offers of after-service coffee that we had come to expect. A bit of a letdown!
Monday, March 6, we joined
Jon and Norma to watch Mariners play the Texas Rangers at the Phoenix Sports
Complex. We were fortunate to have a
warm spring day in the 60’s with a light breeze. Sitting in the sun wasn’t bad at all, especially
since the Mariners won 9 – zip!
Yay! After a grueling afternoon
at the ballpark it was off to dinner at Carraba’s, a lovely Italian restaurant
just down the road. Life is hard!
Wednesday, March 7, we were
off to Wickenburg again. This time we
had lunch with Max and Lucille Latimer.
They were snowbirds from Canton, IL, and spent the winter months in
Congress, AZ. We had met them at Trinity
Lutheran in Canton and had learned that Max had grown up in Fairview, where
Jerry’s parents live. Lucille grew up in Fiat, just south of
Fairview, and they now live west of Canton at We-Ma-Tuk. Small world!
Max was an avid photographer
and enjoyed all things of the desert.
After lunch he and Lucille took us on a hike in the foothills to enjoy
the saguaros. The saguaro cactus is the
“poster child” of the Sonoran desert, and, under the right conditions, covered
the hillsides. The saguaros, with the
right growing conditions lived to be 200 years old, be 60 feet tall, and weigh
4800 pounds. Yikes!
Crested saguaros develop
probably due to a genetic mutation, resulting in a fanlike top instead of the
arching branches that we knew. Over the
years, Max had found several of these interesting cacti and had taken many
photos and generously shared some with us. The crested saguaro at left is called “Stop
Sign” and was one of Max’s shots. Cool!!
Wednesday, March 8, it was
time to change RV parks. The
less-than-lovely Phoenix Metro RV Park no long had room for us so we moved to
Desert Shadows RV Resort, just four miles down the road. What a good deal! This was a nicer park with roomier sites and
not a speed bump to be seen.
On top of
that, Visalia friends, Lynn and Maureen Heiges were parked here for a few
days. We found a lovely Mexican
restaurant to have dinner with Lynn and Maureen and went to Macaroni Grill for
lunch the next day. Nothing like old
friends! They departed on Friday for
Flagstaff and points north before their return to Visalia.
Friday I managed to make an
appointment for a haircut! I knew it was
time when I began considering how I could train Jerry to cut my hair. Seemed only fair…I always cut his! I restrained myself and, found Sabrina on
“Yelp”. I knew even if she didn’t do a
great job, my hair would grow like a weed and soon recover. Sabina was skilled and delightful. An immigrant from Bosnia in the 90’s (along
with her husband and son), she came to Phoenix with no job, and no
English-speaking skills. “After working
lots and lots of jobs,” according to Sabina, she got her cosmetology license in
2008 and was now studying to become a phlebotomist, “just in case!” What an interesting lady and what a great
haircut experience!
Saturday, March 11, we
connected with Chuck and Bev Landgraf from Anacortes. Their son and daughter-in-law live in
Gilbert, just south of Phoenix, and they were here to escape the dreary
Anacortes weather. We had dinner with
them at McFate Brewery in Scottsdale.
Great beer, great food, and great conversations!
Sunday took us back to All
Saints Lutheran Church with the hope that we would find a more welcoming
congregation the second time around.
Nope! Still a beautiful
sanctuary, still an amazing message, and still fabulous music, but no one said
hello or greeted us. I’ve included a
photo of their baptismal font…just beautiful!
We will see the Landgrafs
again on Monday and Tuesday and depart for Quartzite on Wednesday. This little desert town is quite famous among
RVers and we’re curious to go see what is so interesting! We are making our way to the central
California coast and hope to spend a couple of weeks there before we park in
Visalia for 2 weeks.
Lots more fun coming up!
