Quartzsite and Another Great Hike

Last Saturday we drove about an hour to Quartzsite to attend the annual RV show held there. Dick and Wanda came with us. One of the reasons I wanted to go was to see if I could find any deals for RV parks in Florida for next winter. The only booth there with Florida parks was the Encore Resorts corporation. I spoke with one of their reps, and she is supposed to be getting back to me this week with some possibilities, so we'll see how that goes.

We did manage to do some shopping at the show as well. A tire pressure monitoring system has been on our radar for a while. Some people swear by them and wouldn't be without them. Others say they are useless and not worth the money. We spoke to a couple of vendors selling the systems. We ended up buying one of them for the four wheels on our fifth wheel. We'll see if it helps us to avoid any future tire blow outs. At $218 we thought it was worth it for some peace of mind.

We also purchased two very nice folding chairs. I've been pricing these type of chairs, and felt the $35 was a good price. The chairs are very comfortable. I've always liked the director style chairs because they have the attached side table, but I never found one that was comfortable to sit in. The plastic tray on the side of the new chair fits great, and now I have a comfortable chair with a side table as well. The side trays were two for $10, which is the best price I have seen them at. These trays only work on recliner style chairs. Our new chair is a five position recliner without the bottom part for your feet. We'll just use a foot rest, and it is much easier to store and transport than a full recliner.

Another reason for going to Quartzsite last Saturday was to attend the second annual Bloggerfest. It was an opportunity for bloggers to gather and meet in person. George and Suzie of Our Awesome Travels did a great job of planning the event on the BLM lands outside of Quartzsite. Over 50 people were in attendance. We reconnected with some people we had met in the past, and met some new bloggers as well. A great time was had by all.

Yesterday the hiking group drove about ten miles east of Yuma to hike on BLM lands near Muggins Peak shown below.

This was probably my favorite hike we've done with the group. We did a little bit of scrambling over rocks and there were a few places that were a bit dicey with loose rocks or climbing up and down a few steep spots. But overall, we walked along fairly flat trails or in the washes near the bottom of the mountains. The scenery was beautiful, and I could actually look around me rather than focusing on my feet to make sure I didn't step wrong and fall. Near the beginning of the hike, we meandered through some slot canyons.

Here's part of the group. There were 43 hikers on this trek. That's a record for the group, which I think is in its 12th year.

We stopped for a break at this interesting spot. There are a number of places in this area of the desert where the wildlife people have placed water storage tanks underground. They collect rain water, and then slowly disperse it in the summer so the animals don't die. The main purpose is to keep the big horn sheep population healthy. With humans infringing on their water territories more and more, the sheep were becoming endangered. This dam has a 2,500 gallon water tank under the ground in front of it. The water collected in it is then slowly released into the pool at the bottom behind the dam. Animals such as the sheep can come here to drink in the heat of the summer.

We hiked over 5 miles, and it was a great workout.

This morning we are playing pickleball again. We try to play at least once a week. After that, I'm going to a pie crust making activity with Wanda. We will each make our own pie with a crust recipe one of the workampers here in the park will share with us. She brought one of these pies to a shared meal at the park, and everyone raved about it. So, she is hosting this activity to share her crust recipe. I'm not much of a baker, but it sounded fun. There is even a lunch provided.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

An Interesting Hike and Meeting Bloggers

Last Monday we joined the resort's hiking group for a four mile hike in the desert outside of Yuma. We drove several miles along a dirt and gravel road to the ghost town of Dome, Arizona. The town was established in the 1800s when gold mines were in operation in this area. It was also a stop on the Butterfield Coach which ran from St. Louis to San Francisco.

It took about 25 days to do the full trip, 24 hours a day. Horses were switched out every 10 hours at stations along the route. I can't imagine spending 25 solid days and nights in a stagecoach on the bumpy dirt roads. Passengers and the mail were carried on the coaches. The town of Dome existed until about 1940. They even had a post office. There are some old trailers sitting out there. I'm often amazed by the remote places people lived.

We hiked for about two hours including a stop for some snacks and a rest. Some of the terrain was fairly easy along a path. In other areas, we were scrambling over rocks and picking our way down the sides of hills. At one point, I went down part of the way on my butt because I was afraid I'd slip on the loose stones.

We came to this water hole in the desert. Our leader Everett did not think this was a spring, but rather a deep hole where water accumulates and stays. It was very dirty. We saw some animal tracks around the edges.

Everett's wife Nancy found this sheep's horn at our lunch stop. Just a small piece was sticking out of the ground. She dug it out, and what an amazing find. We've never seen any animals on our hikes. It's no wonder with 20 to 40 people tramping around.

On the way back, we stopped at the Dome cemetery. It looks like these white crosses were put here in recent years to replace older and decaying grave markers. There is a registry of all the people buried here at the city office. Word is that only Mexicans, Indians and other non-whites were buried here. The whites were buried in Yuma.

All of the crosses had coins placed on top of them. Some of the coins were very old and weathered, others were quite new and shiny. This is done as a sign of respect. I've never seen that before. As you can see by all the footprints around the cross, there are a lot of people who come by here either hiking or on ATVs. It's refreshing to see that the coins are left alone.

Yesterday we had lunch with Steve and Joan. They are also fulltime RVers, and have been on the road about as long as we have been. We've been reading each others blogs. They are in Yuma for a few days visiting friends, so we made plans to meet in person.

As is always the case with fellow fulltime RVers, we had plenty to talk about. After reading someone's blog for years, you feel like you already know the people and have an instant connection. We enjoyed hearing about their adventures. They have been volunteering at Lake Mead during the winter the last few years. It sounds like a great place. We will definitely plan to get there sometime to check it out and meet up with them again.

Last summer they got a job working for a company that does back road mapping for the BLM. They spent all summer driving along the back roads in Idaho, Wyoming, and some neighboring states checking the roads in their Jeep. Sounds like a great job if you enjoy Jeeping and exploring.

Tomorrow we're heading to Quartzite for the day. In the morning, we'll check out the RV show tents. In the afternoon we're attending the 2nd Annual Bloggerfest. It's a gathering for bloggers to get together and meet in person. We know of a few people that will be there whom we have already met, and I'm looking forward to meeting new to us bloggers as well. Should be a great time.

We've been golfing at least once a week since we've been in Yuma. I am happy to say that my game is improving a bit. I'll never be great, but at least there is a bit of improvement. Keeps me coming back.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

I Won!

I can't believe I haven't done a blog post since Christmas. I hope all of you had a very happy new year. We've just been busy enjoying ourselves with nothing too earth shattering to write about.

Friends John and Janie left at the end of December, so the week after Christmas we made another trip to Mexico with them and had them over for dinner before they left. Since then, the weather is slowly starting to improve, so we've been enjoying more outdoor activities including golf, pickle ball and bocce ball with Dick and Wanda.

Last weekend Dick and Wanda invited us to join them in attending the "Boomers and Beyond" event at the Yuma Civic Center. I would describe it as a type of health fair as well as businesses with booths that might be of interest to older folks. Kevin and Dick listened to a program about the art of beer making. Wanda and I went around and filled out entries to win prizes at some of the booths. I also had a free bone density screening test done. I had the test done quite a few years ago by my doctor, so it will be interesting to see what he says about the results I got here, and how they compare to the earlier test.

I ended up winning a basket from Emerald Springs Assisted Living Facility in Yuma. The basket was full of delicious baked goods from a local bakery including cinnamon bread, chocolate bread, caramel corn, cookies and cinnamon syrup. There was a recipe for a french toast bake using the cinnamon bread. I made it the next day and invited Dick and Wanda to share it with us. It was okay, but I don't think I'd make it again. The baked goods are all delicious.

Sunrise isn't until after 7 a.m. Occasionally, there are some clouds in the morning. Here is one of the more beautiful ones I've observed lately.

Yesterday we went to a free golf clinic advertised as a putting and chipping event at the golf course here at the resort. The presenter was the golf pro from a local course in Yuma. The guy talked for an hour and a half, and we really didn't learn much of anything except the more you practice, the better you should get. I was not impressed with the guy, and would certainly not pay to take lessons with him. Oh well, at least it didn't cost us anything.

A group of ultralights have flown over the resort a few times lately. They are fun to watch. My dad always loved seeing them in Wisconsin. It was one of his dreams to fly one, but he never did. When I see them, it makes me think of my dad. I hope he's flying one every day in heaven :)

I hope everyone up north is staying warm. We certainly are enjoying the winter here in Yuma.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Merry Christmas From Yuma

Kevin and I want to wish all of our family and friends a very Merry Christmas. Wherever you are, we hope you have the love and peace of Jesus in your life!

We attended a very unusual Christmas Eve service this year in Yuma. It was a live production titled Jesus Is Born at Champion Church. Over one hundred people participated in this live outdoor show enacting the birth of Jesus. The show is put on three nights and thousands of people attend. They have a huge set and lots of costumes. The first hour was very good telling the story of Jesus' birth. They did a great job tying in his birth to the rest of his life with the song "Mary Did You Know".

The last thirty minutes was certainly different. The Grinch, Minnie and Mickey Mouse and Mr. and Mrs. Claus all made an appearance. They were trying to share the message that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, not all the other stuff people get carried away with. However, for me, I would have enjoyed it more without that extra portion of the show. Below you can see Mr. and Mrs. Claus and the wise men bowing to Jesus. You don't see that every day.

You've probably heard that this Christmas we will have a full moon; the first time since 1977 which happens to be the year we were married. I don't remember a full moon on Christmas that year. Two nights ago the moon rose just before sunset. It wasn't quite full, but still beautiful as it rose over the mountains.

Last night it was nearly dark, however I still got a pretty good picture. There's even a star on the left.

I wanted to share our little adventure from last Saturday as we returned from Long Beach after the cruise. I had read about the Salton Sea, so we routed our return so we could drive along the eastern shore of the lake which measures about 15 by 35 miles in size. This basin area was flooded by the Colorado River in the early 1900s. It became a popular tourist area in the 1950s and 60s and several towns popped up. The combination of decreasing water levels, increased salinity and fertilizer runoff from surrounding agricultural fields has caused the lake to deteriorate. Fish died off and the area smelled awful. Most surrounding towns have become ghost towns.

We stopped at Bombay Beach which is now a very rundown area with abandoned mobile homes. There is evidence of deteriorated piers along the shore.

There were lots of dead fish and the smell all along the drive was foul.

We saw just a few people in the entire town. This lone boater was pushing off. I wonder if he was going to try and catch some fish.

It was quite hazy over the lake on an otherwise clear day. I'm not sure if its always like that. California has a State Recreation Area along much of the eastern shore of the lake with a couple of campgrounds. We only saw a few campers. I can't imagine staying there with the smell. I'm sure it was a beautiful area at one time with the mountains in the background. There were lots of birds around. Its hard to see in the picture below, but the sand is in the front, birds are at the shoreline, the lake is behind the birds and the mountains are in the background.

There was a young lady taking pictures, and we had a little conversation about the area. I thought she described it very well when she said it was epic in a dark way.

We will be having a Christmas dinner potluck with three other couples here at the park. Today's highs are supposed to be around 63 and sunny so that should make for a nice afternoon outside. Yesterday was a fantastic sunny afternoon. We played a round of golf on the course here at the resort. There weren't many people out there, so it was a nice relaxing round of golf. Too bad my score wasn't so great.

Tomorrow will be another story. A strong front is coming through and there is a wind advisory. We're predicted to have sustained winds of 30 mph with gusts of 40 to 50 mph. Time to hunker down! We have a tee time for tomorrow afternoon, but I'll be cancelling that.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Mexican Riviera Cruise - Part 2

Our second port day was on Wednesday in Puerto Vallarta. Before departing on this cruise, we had been unsure whether we would do any excursions. After reading the descriptions of the whale watching tours, I was hooked and wanted to see some whales. I went to the excursion desk and asked which whale tour would be the most likely to fulfill my wish to see whales. The lady suggested the Whales, Dolphin & Snorkeling tour in Puerto Vallarta.

Getting off the ship was a confusing experience. Our tickets said we were to be on the pier at 9 am. They didn't open the doors until 9 and the line was very long. People like us with excursions were not given priority, and so we were in a long line with everyone else. We did eventually get off and walked up and down the pier looking for our tour. There was a wonderful mariachi band playing on the pier.

 We couldn't find anyone with a sign for our tour, so ended up finding someone from our tour company. There was confusion as to which tour we were supposed to be on, and they put us on the wild dolphin and snorkeling tour. No mention of whales on the sign. Not a good start. We took a catamaran for an hour ride to the Marietas Islands, which are a national park of Mexico. Our first adventure was to swim a good distance to a hidden beach. We had to swim through a cave to get to the hidden beach. It was a very awesome location, but the description of the tour said we would sail to the beach, not swim there. In fact, quite a few people didn't go to the hidden beach because they didn't feel they were strong enough swimmers.

Next was snorkeling. Kevin had had enough of the salt water, so I went snorkeling without him. We had to get into a smaller boat (not easy) and jump off at the snorkeling area. The snorkeling area was up against the cliffs of the island, so I was a bit worried about getting pushed into the rocks by the waves. It was okay, but the water was somewhat murky. I saw lots of great fish, but I wish the water would have been clearer. I also saw a moray eel. That was cool!

Once back on the boat, we had a good lunch. They drove us slowly along the outskirts of the island to show us some of the 92 species of birds that live there. The person giving the information seemed quite knowledgeable. He gave the information in Spanish and English. I only understood about half of what he said in English. It was very interesting, but I wish I could have understood more.

Lots of birds make their nests at the top of the island among the spiky plants that are part of the pineapple family. The plants protect the nests.

These were blue footed booby birds. I think he said they mate for life and are only found along the Pacific coast of South American countries. Their feet are the most amazing blue color.

This is a grey heron that came out of the crevice to see us.

These are yellow footed boobies.

There was quite a large colony of them living on the sides of the cliffs. Click on any of the pictures to enlarge them, so you can see better. The colony of yellow footed boobies is right in the middle of the picture below.

Here's a picture of the island as we were pulling away.

This brown footed booby flew along the side and the front of our boat for a long time. It was fun watching him soar around.

The hour long trip back to the port was quite uneventful. We saw three dolphins for about 10 seconds. Much of the time back, the crew did a song and dance number to entertain us. As they were busy with that, I don't think they were looking for whales. Of course, we didn't see a single whale, let alone the dancing and singing whales advertised in the excursion brochure. One of the crew members told me that they usually start seeing the whales in November, but this year they had seen very few so far. So, although there were some fun parts of the excursion, it was quite a disappointment as it was not at all as advertised. This is the second time we've been misled by an excursion description through Carnival.

Here's a view of Puerto Vallarta on our way back. As you can see it was quite overcast, but at least it was warm.

Here's the view of the Puerto Vallarta dock area from the top deck of the ship. That is a Walmart on the left with very nice blue covered parking, next on the right is a Sam's Club, and the large building on the far right is a casino. Quite the touristy place. Some of the crew members did mention that they like the stop here because they can walk off the ship to Walmart and stock up on personal supplies.

Thursday and Friday were sea days. It was very windy both days and also cloudy part of each day. The top decks were closed a good part of the time due to the wind. We hung out at a table on the Lido deck which is partially covered and has large windows that you can close. I had a jacket on the whole time, and it was okay. Certainly not warm, but tolerable. We played cribbage, enjoyed the music and read our books.

The last day they had a chocolate extravaganza at the buffet. On the top counters they had several carved watermelons. Pretty amazing.

On Friday I attended the towel folding presentation. Do you like my creation?

We had a beautiful sunset on Friday. Not many of those on this trip.

We got off the ship on Saturday morning. They had a new to us procedure this time where you could select a self-assist departure. This meant you took your own bags off the ship, and you got to debark before the people who had their bags taken off the ship for them. We chose the self-assist option and were supposed to be off between 9:30 and 9:45 am. If we had them take our bags off, the time would have been 11:15 am. We ended up getting off an hour later than scheduled, but at least it was earlier by taking our own bags.

Our truck was right where we left it at the hotel with no scratches or dings. That was a relief. We drove back to Yuma on Saturday via a route that took up past the Salton Sea. I had heard and read about this interesting place and wanted to see it. I'll write another blog about that little adventure in a few days.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Mexican Rivera Cruise–Part 1

I’m going to write two blog posts about our cruise, so they don’t get too long.

First I’ll start by stating that we had a good time, but it wasn’t great. Part of that was due to the weather. This is our second cruise in the Pacific Ocean, and both times the at sea days were mostly cool, cloudy and windy. Also, the Carnival Miracle is one of their smaller, older ships, and there just wasn’t the level of enthusiasm by the crew that we’ve experienced on the larger ships. Everything was adequate, but not great.

This is the first time we’ve cruised from the port in Long Beach, California. The terminal is small and doesn’t have seating. We ended up standing outside for over an hour before we were able to board. Good thing it was a nice day. Here’s our first glimpse of our ship.

Our first day, Sunday, we explored the ship and had dinner in the dining room. Here’s the token pirate picture at dinner.

One of our bags never made it to our cabin, but we retrieved it from guest services. I get a kick out of the towel animals in your cabin each night. This was a new one for us; I think it is a bat.

As we walked by the shops on board, they were giving away raffle tickets. We went back later for the raffle, and I actually won. I’m not usually very lucky, so that was cool. It was a beach bag with a matching coin purse, a man’s watch, a necktie, an evening purse, some bracelets and a sun hat. Other than the bag and watch, it’s not stuff we need, so our kids may be getting some goodies if they want them.

On Monday we found a table on the Lido Deck. It was mostly cloudy and windy. As you can see in the picture, I’m wearing a coat. I signed up for the Mixologist competition. I won this on the last cruise we were on. I think I get picked because most of the people who sign up are younger or men. I think I’m the representative for older women. I was third this time. My concoction was rum, creme de cocoa, peach schnapps, and pineapple juice. It wasn’t sweet enough, but I got two free drinks, so I was happy.

Monday night was also the Captain’s Dinner. On previous cruises, there was an hour of free drinks and hors d’oeuvres on that night. This year they gave you a $1 discount on drinks at the bar before dinner. That was a disappointment. Here we are at dinner that night.

On Tuesday we were at Cabo San Lucas. This was a tender port, which means the ship did not dock directly at the pier. Instead, small boats tendered passengers to the pier. If you purchased an excursion through Carnival, you were first off the ship at 9 am. If not, you had to get a tender number. The line was super long for this, so we decided to eat breakfast first. By the time we got a number, we were number 48 which meant we didn’t get off the ship until 12:30 pm. We had to be back by 3:15, so it was hardly worth getting off.

The only reason we got off was because we had never been here before, and I wanted to at least take a look around. Also, it was the nicest day of the trip, sunny and warm.
There were lots of small shops and restaurants along the pier. I can’t begin to count the number of times we were approached to buy tours, cigars, and all kinds of junk. Pretty overwhelming.I did get a kick out of the Mexican ATM machines.

Couldn’t resist a picture with Poncho Villa. Based on how shiny his knees were, it must be good luck to rub them.

No visit to Mexico is complete without a margarita, so we had to stop at Senor Frog’s to quench our thirst. This picture is for Korey so he can see we are just as cool as he is when cruising :) We weren’t all that impressed. The place was very busy, the drinks were more expensive than other bars in the area, and the waiter hit me in the head with a chair he was moving. Ouch! I should have asked for a free drink after that.

Nice view of our ship from the pier.

We left port just as the sun was setting.

One of the tours that was heavily advertised was the Arch of Cabo San Lucas. Good thing we didn’t pay for that tour, as we got a beautiful view of it from the deck of the ship.

Lots of boats out enjoying the sunset.

Well, that’s enough for this post. I’ll be posting part two in the next few days. Tomorrow we’re going to Mexico with friends (because we haven’t been in Mexico enough lately). I’m planning on getting a new pair of glasses and some Mexican Prilosec for our boys.

By the way, I downloaded Open Live Writer after reading on other blogs that it worked well for them. I did a test post without pictures, and it worked great. So, I wrote this entire post and then it wouldn't publish. I did some research and changed some options, but it still wouldn't work. Super frustrating. So, I had to rewrite the post in blogger. I just don't like how the pictures turn out in blogger, and how some of the spacing is off.


Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!