Keeping busy until we head to NW America and Canada...look out here we come.

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. Somehow we seem to lose track of time when we're here for the winter. I guess that means we've been busy with visits with friends and our son and you'd be right. So much to do and so little time...as they say. Hiking, eating, visiting with friends, eating and enjoying the desert along with eating. HaHa. Everything goes well with food.

 The park had a fun Mardi Gras happy hour with lost of folks dressing for the occasion.

Enlarge the photos for best viewing, you don't want to miss a thing

The band played a lot of New Orleans soul music and as the drinks flowed the party got really going. 

It was a bit of a cool day but everyone had a great time. Never a bad day in AZ in the winter. 

We've taken a couple more trips out to Boyce Thompson Arboretum since our visit with friends Faye and Dave and fully enjoyed the desert botanical surroundings. Every time we go there is something new to see. A different perspective of the same things but still enriching.  

Just like Disneyland...See Mickey?

Bloggers go to all kinds of extremes to get the right photo

 Our good friends Ron and Patsy accompanied us on this last trip to the Arboretum

We look good even with stripes

The girls always look good

After a fun day exploring the Arboretum we, of course, found a place to have lunch. We love the burgers at Porter's Café in Superior, AZ just a couple miles down the road from the Arboretum. 

Then there's the monthly Karaoke Night at the park. Folks like to dress up and play the part depending on the song they enjoy singing. I've learned the words to so many songs that I THOUGHT I knew before. HaHa

We love getting together with RV friends when we're in the same area so Faye and Dave from The Wandering Camels invited us out for a hike. None of us had been to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve so we decided to try a hike there. We looked up the Tom's Thumb Trailhead and several trails begin there. We chose the Marcus Landslide Trail which has some wonderful interpretive signage related to the topography and landscape. 

Dave loved Mushroom Rock 

A fallen Mushroom

Dave tried to hold these two rocks from fallen on him

Once they maintained their balance he couldn't help giving one a big hug

Dave has learned so much about the desert and his surrounding here and loves to share his abundant knowledge. Just one of the things we love about this great friend.

The girls also felt the need to express their love for the desert and these beautiful rock formations

As expected we found a delicious Mexican restaurant for a late lunch and drinks. Food always goes well with hugging rocks and friends.

Glenda and I haven't just been hiking and eating even though it seems that way. We've seen signs around the area for a Cirque de Soleil type of show in Scottsdale that is said to rival most Las Vegas shows. It's called Cavalia. This show is all about horses and acrobats that do amazing things.

 Our son, Chris and his girlfriend, Kendra know how much Glenda likes horses. What better way to get your horse fix than with a Vegas style show.

The show is housed under a huge tent with an incredible stage and stadium style seating. 

Unfortunately there was no photography to be taken as they stated flashes could disrupt the horses concentration and endanger the performers. I observed the rules. Photos I have were before the show started. If you'd like to know more....please go to this LINK.

There's also a huge gallery of photos from their website to explore. Click here.

We had a wonderful time and so happy we could share it with our son and his girlfriend.

Thank you for inviting us. 

We also have friends living in Mesa that moved from IL with State Farm Insurance so we invited them to see the new motorhome and share dinner while we caught up. We saw Todd and Corrine a couple months ago but knew it would be a while before we would be back in the area. I also needed an excuse to get the smoker going again. I did a good job a while back with some ribs so I thought I'd give it another try. 

Like the fantastic blogger that I am, I didn't think of taking a photo of the finished product. I will say however they were delicious and enjoyed by all. Another great meal and I didn't have to hike to get it. They're both still working so we had to make it a short night. They have to get up at like 5 am to beat the morning commute traffic. Thanks for coming over and sharing a meal and great conversation. 

Okay, we can't get enough of spending time with friends so we took a hike (literally) with Faye and Dave to the Granite Mountain Hotshot Memorial between Wickenburg and Yarnell about an hour north of Cave Creek. The movie Only the Brave is based on the true life events that lead to the death of 19 hotshot elite firefighters who fought the Yarnell Hill fire in June of 2013. A tragic story of dedication and sacrifice. 

We didn't realize how close we were to this historic area until we read about it on our friends blog...Down the Road. The link to their blog will take you to their account of the hike they did and their feelings about the event. Steve and Debbie were in the Surprise, AZ area visiting family and had the opportunity to make the hike to the lookout and the fatality site. 

Faye and Dave and Glenda and I all read their blog account so we decided to make the hike ourselves last week. Glenda and I drove to their RV park in Anthem and then drove with them to the trailhead. 

The hike takes you up Granite Mountain on unending switchbacks to the lookout over the fatality site below in the valley. Along the way there are memorial plaques with photos of each firefighter. IT was difficult to get good photos of the plaques with the sunlight. 

The road we came in on below as we climbed

Unfortunately I wasn't feeling my best that day with some vertigo episodes recently so when we got to the lookout at the top of the valley I decided to take some photos from above. The girls decided to hang out with me but Dave being the animal hiker that he is made the trek down to the valley. 

Dave on his way down

45 minutes later...Dave on the way up

Zoomed in as much as I could

We did have some fun as we hiked with photo opts and great conversation in between heavy breathing on the uphill. 

Uncle Hadeeb...Help me find my people

After our hike we found a great Mexican restaurant the Faye and Dave had been to before in Wickenburg. We all devoured our food and drinks after such a tiring but rewarding hike. Thank you Steve and Debbie for the inspiration. 

Glenda and I rented the movie yesterday and relived our hike and the feeling had that day. So, so tragic. 

Glenda and I had been by Tortilla Flat a few times as we explored the area the past 4 years but had never stopped to take a look. We had a free afternoon so we took the drive and stopped to see what everyone was taking about. There are several shops for souvenirs and clothing and a restaurant lined inside with dollar bills on every wall. 

After checking out the shops we stopped in the restaurant for an early dinner. The atmosphere is certainly cowboy like and very much AZ. Happy we took the time to do some exploring. 

Another place we had not been to was Fountain Hills, AZ about 45 minutes to the NW of our RV park. We had been there one evening last year to meet Steve and Debbie McCormack for dinner while they stayed at McDowell Regional Park but never explored the fountain park. 

We made the drive there with Ron and Patsy to witness the fountain magic. It also happened to be the beginning of the St. Patrick's Day Festival that was starting the next day. We got there before the crowds. We started with a leisurely walk around the lake where the fountain is. 

While waiting for the fountain to entertain us we explored the park and saw several statutes and a Veteran's Memorial. The park is surrounded by expensive home and Condos that have great views of the lake and park. 

The dormant fountain

 The fountain puts on it's show on the hour every hour for about 15 minutes 

WWI Veteran statue paying respect to the flag

An old Coot

The Lovers Statute

Lots of expensive homes and Condos around the lake

Fred and Ginger

Ronald Reagan

Abe Lincoln

Street Market

 Glenda and Patsy picked up some nice jewelry pieces 

Of course we had lunch

 After lunch we headed back to the street market for some Kettle Corn, Fudge and peanut brittle.

The shameless selfie

Just another great day in AZ with wonderful friends. 

St. Patrick's Day took us to Chandler, AZ with our son and his girlfriend. The Irish Pub restaurants were totally packed so we opted for Italian. Hey, ask our friend Debbie, she tell you there's nothing wrong with Italian ANY DAY. Crust Italian Cuisine was the place. 

After we got our stomachs full we took a short walk along the main street where folks were really getting into the Irish thing. Lots of green. 

Then I got the opportunity to play one more round of golf with my son, Chris and a couple of his friends. He made a tee time at The Links at Queen Creek Golf Club for 7:30 am. For a retired person that is early. HaHa. I made it there before he and his friends did. We hit a few balls to warm up then off we went. I started off well but as usual I faded at the end. I guess when you only play 2-3 times a year that happens. Any way, Chris and his friends have a completion and Chris won the GREEN JACKET. Just like in the Masters. 

His friend Joe won the last time and had to put the jacket on Chris this time. 

Friendly completion, I think. HAHA

I'm sure I'm forgetting some things but that gets us caught up on our busy winter in Gold Canyon, AZ

In between hiking and eating, shows and fountains, we get to play cards with Ron and Patsy and plan our summer travel. 

As you can tell by the title of the post we'll be heading to the Northwest and Canada this summer. We've made so many good Canadian friends that come to the U.S. in the winter, we had to check out their summer homes. British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.  

Before that we'll be attending an RV rally in Pahrump, NV and flying home to visit family. We're looking forward to exploring new territory as we did last summer in the Northeast. 

I hope you'll follow along with us on our new adventure. 

That's how we roll.