Enjoying the desert...so much to do

We've gotten settled in for sure here at Canyon Vistas RV Resort. Glenda and I had taken a couple hikes to some familiar trails and a hike on a new trail. I mentioned one of our favorite trails in the last post called The Old Mine Trail. We enjoy that trail because it's easy and the landscape is so desert.

Our next hike took us to Usery Mountain Park. We hiked the Blevins trail....again an easy hike but we got in about 4.5 miles. I even found a few geocaches. And I found out that the Cholla really do seem to jump out at you.

Superstition Mountains in the distance

This saguaro pointed the way to go on the trail

Look at my left elbow closely...ouch

It took some doing to get all the cholla spines out. They seem to go every which way. Still a wonderful hike on a beautiful day.

Typically when we hike with friends, we go out to eat after. Since we didn't have our usual friends with us....we went home and ate. Saved a few bucks though.

On another day we took a drive up to Fountain Hills, AZ about an hour drive. They have a great park with a walking path around. And about every hour the fountain shoots water into the sky. It has 4 jets to do this and can reach heights of about 560 feet. Typically only 2 jets are functioning which shoots the water up about 300 feet. Quite spectacular.

As we walked around the park we noticed some frisbee golfers playing. Come to find out the Regional Frisbee Golf Championship was going on. Each player had to show different skills at different stations around the park. These guys and ladies can really play and throw a frisbee.

This station was really hard as they tried to throw the frisbee across a section of the lake. Some made it and some didn't. We found out that if the frisbee is close enough to the shore they're able to retrieve them with long poles. As we walked we came across the trophies the player could win. They were quite unique and creative.

The winners trophy

It was a beautiful day and lots of folks around the park enjoying the weather and scenery. 

A few more fountain photos

We had such a great time at Usery Park hiking a few days prior so we headed back to try a new trail. We started on the Blevins trail and veered off on the Cat Peaks Trail. Just a walk around the Cat Peaks. 

We love the desert landscape and can't seem to get enough of it. We plan to continue our hikes and try different trails. Of course we keep up our activities at the park with Pickleball and Line Dancing.

Our most recent excursion took us to The Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch off of Guadalupe Rd in Gilbert, AZ. If you'd like more information, please follow the link above. The town of Gilbert is very ecofriendly. 

Several trails around 7 ponds in the park and they connect with the Canal Trail going north and south. Great for walking and bicycling. 

Not sure what kind of bush this was but they were very puffy and giving off tufts like a Cottonwood tree would do.

The main lake allows visitors to feed the water fowl so as you walk along the lake the ducks, geese and coots follow you around looking for a meal. 

The weather here in the Phoenix area has been great since the hail storm a few weeks ago but looks like it's going to get cooler over the next couple weeks...like highs in the 50's and lows in the upper 30's. Compared to what we used to experience in Illinois.....we can't complain. 

A golf game with my son, Chris and a couple of his friends will be happening next Sunday so I hope to keep up with these

youngsters. Then on we fly back home in December to celebrate an early Christmas with Heather, Sommer and families. A trip to Bloomington/ Normal to see my brother will happen too. Looking forward to our visits and hoping the weather holds out while we're there.

A big hello to all from under the awning

Thanks for following along. 

Settling in for the winter...Time to enjoy the desert

Well we got set up here at Canyon Vistas RV Resort for the next few months....got the motorhome washed and waxed. Survived a hail storm except for the car. It's in the body shop getting paintless dent removal and standard body work done. Hoping to get it back this Friday. And we started exploring again.

Our first adventure was to Boyce Thompson Arboretum just outside Superior, AZ at the foot of Picketpost mountain. This is a place we've been to before with friends and by ourselves. We bought a yearly pass last season and it expires January 1. The Arboretum is a desert paradise. So many varieties of cactus, trees and desert foliage. We really enjoy our visits there. I know I've posted photos of this place before but each time I feel like I see something new or at least a different perspective.

Picketpost Mountain in the distance

The variety

Ayer Lake

Castle Rock....that's what I call it

Bridge to the High Trail

Red Gum Eucalyptus

Golden Barrel Cactus

We had a snack sitting by this tranquility fountain

The wildlife at the Arboretum

We had a great hike on the main trail and the High Trail there. They also have a hummingbird area and butterfly garden. So much to see and enjoy.

Then yesterday we took a short hike around Silly Mountain. It's a smallish foothill that has several trails with great views of the Superstition Mountains. We enjoyed getting our hiking legs back into shape.

Superstition Mountain in the distance

A cactus bloom

Creosote Bush

5057 peak in the distance

The sun is shining and the temps are moderating...no excuse not to get out and enjoy. 

Today was another perfect opportunity to enjoy the moderating weather. We headed to a trail that we've been to several times in the last 4 years. We like to hike the Hieroglyphs Trail but today was the Lost Gold Mine Trail. Not much elevation gain but great views of the surrounding landscape. 

We even got a glimpse of a rock structure that reminds us of a Gargoyle. He has a great profile and a bid hump back. You see so many things in the desert....except we haven't seen a rattle snake in the past 4 years coming here. I guess we'll have to keep looking. 

Glenda and I have a plan to hike at least 2 times a week and hike a different trail each time. I think we can do that since there are so many trails to explore. Great challenge. 

We continue to enjoy the activities in the park like Pickleball and Line Dancing and seeing our son, Chris and his fiancée, Kendra. Oh and they just opened up the new Cactus Grill for lunches and happy hours. The grill is now located in the new ballroom they just finished a couple weeks ago. 

Hope to get some golf in soon with Chris and continue to explore more areas. Thanks for following along. 

Moving on to Gold Canyon and meeting up with friends...What the Hail?

After leaving our friends, Faye and Dave at Cochiti Lake we headed to Percha Dam SP near Truth or Consequences. NM

We've been through this area before and stayed in Elephant Butte Lake Resort and also the State Park. Each time we've been in the area we've stopped at  the Casa Taco for a meal. The food is good but can be a little more spicy than we like. All in all a good meal. 

Nice little hole in the wall restaurant

We only stopped for 2 nights at Percha Dam SP. We got the only pull through with FHU's. Just off I-25. A little run down but it worked for our stop and it was only $20/night. Our site probably was a host site at one time.

After that stop we headed to Rusty's RV Ranch near Rodeo, NM. This place is about 24 mile off I-10 in the middle of no where. It boasts it self as an Astronomers paradise because it is in the middle of no where and there is no light pollution from nearby cities. We were told not to keep our porch light on at night and to be sure and close our curtains. We did sit out one night and you could certainly see about every star there is to see in the sky. It was enjoyable. The only drawback was the wind.

We had a day where the wind was blowing so hard we pulled our slides in. We have slide awning now and didn't want to chance any damage to the fabric and with the wind it was VERY dusty.

Being in the middle of now where we got no cell reception but they had decent Wi-Fi. We also stopped our Direct TV account so we had not TV. Fortunately the office had a DVD library so we rented a couple movies. Funny thing was they had the movie RV with Robin Williams and Jeff Daniels. We had just seen the actual bus that was in the movie when we were in Oklahoma City.

Well with the slides pulled in and the TV right in our faces we enjoyed our first viewing of the RV movie. This is a classic for sure.

Our last day in the area we stopped at the Desert Museum with a display of Geronimo's bow and arrow and several artifacts of the old west and the history of the area. Very interesting learning about the advancement of the early train route across the west and the Apache Indians that inhabited this area in New Mexico.

We continued our journey westward toward Tucson, AZ and stopped at Catalina SP in Oro Valley. 

We had been in contact with friends from Bloomington/Normal that now live in Mesa, AZ. They have a 5th wheel and it just so happened they were bringing it back from Show Low to Mesa about the time we were coming into the area. Neither of us had been to Catalina SP and heard a lot about the park from other RV friends. We had a nice back in site with Electric and Water and the dump station was right down the road. We planned to be there for 5 nights but our friends, Todd and Corrine were only coming for the weekend. Todd still works but Corrine has just recently retired so they were able to make it a long weekend. 

Glenda and I got out a couple times before they arrived and scouted out the trails around the park. We were definitely back in the land of the Saguaros.

We had a day of rain while there so we planned a drive up Mt. Lemmon. It's a beautiful drive up the mountain but a little foggy and rainy at first.

The skies did clear some on the way back down and we were able to pick up a few geocaches along the route.

We also stopped for a visit to Sabino Canyon in Tucson. Unfortunately the tram that takes you up the canyon was out of order due to them loosing their permit. They're in the process of getting it renewed though. We took a walk around the Desert Garden trail and saw a beautiful Crested Saguaro.

 No one really knows why this happens to the Saguaro cactus. An amazing variation of the cactus.

While we were together we enjoyed some Beef Fajitas that Corrine made and grilled our some chicken. We also checked out a nearby Olive Garden and saw the movie First Man. The account of Neil Armstrong and the Race to the Moon. I remember this time period since it was between 1962 and 1969. My junior high and high school years.

We really enjoy this part of our RV lifestyle. Meeting friends in different parts of the country and traveling with friends though different parts of the country.

We're looking forward to hanging out with Todd and Corrine again while in the Phoenix/ Mesa area for our winter stay.

Shameless Selfie

We're now in Gold Canyon at Canyon Vistas RV Resort for our 5th winter. We plan to stay a little longer this year as our son, Chris and his fiancée, Kendra are getting married next April in Mesa. We're very excited for them to start a new life together.

Well I've been working on the motorhome...we had it washed and I just recently got it waxed. We've done some organizing of our things and converted our half bath into a much needed closet.

We're getting back into our activities of pickle ball for me and line dancing for Glenda. Unfortunately our Canadian friends Ron and Patsy won't be coming down to the park any more. They decided to sell their place here and stay in Canada for the winters. We have some decisions to make as to our stays here at Canyon Vistas in the future. A number of factors to consider. We really do miss them.

Finally we had a freak micro burst come through the other day with huge HAIL. Our beautiful newly repaired car(from the California accident) got some hail damage. Now we're back to having more body work and another deductible. Could have been much worse....the motorhome sustained no damage.

Just getting set up

Here comes the hail

Our rainbow after the storm

The weather is moderating now and we're enjoying the type of weather now that we came here for.

We will be making a trip back in December to the Midwest to celebrate Christmas with family. Until then let the fun begin.

I'll update the blog soon once we get all set up and fully into the activities here. 

Thanks for following along.