Another day in Morro Bay

We had a slow start this morning. Got all tore down and ready to start down the road. Hooked up the tow car and the last thing we did was check the lights--normal routine--except this morning the turn signals did not work. What!!! Will worked and worked trying to trouble shoot and figure out what was going on. Finally had to find a local RV repair as we could not drive without working signal lights. Turned out to be "just" a fuse so was an inexpensive fix but did cost about 2 hours of frustration. It was foggy early on also but that cleared up about the same time as RV was fixed. We headed back to Morro Bay because we had enjoyed it so much and wanted to see more. It was a great birding destination and we had a good time checking out the estuary and tidal flats looking for shore birds, ducks, and song birds. This is such a charming coastal area. Put this on the top of my list of places to come back and spend extended time. It was also warmer here this time.

Parting ways in San Francisco

San Francisco

Short jaunt this morning to San Jose area south of San Francisco. That's where Doug and Tammy and Mack left us to spend the rest of holiday with friends and family here. Hated to see them go, was so fun to have them with us for the trip. We'll be talking about this for a long time.

So. . .soon as the kids parted--we decided to make the best of the rest of the day and headed for downtown San Francisco. Found the BART station, parked the car and took the train all the way to the Embarcadaro. Then hopped on a historic street car that took us to the Wharf. Spent the afternoon just walking and enjoying the activity on Fishermans Wharf, Cannary Row and Ghiradeli Square--all the typical tourist attractions. Was a nice taste of San Fran. We have fun memories of other times spent here so was nice to see that its still a great place to be. We'll start our trek back towards Arizona tomorrow.

We made the kids get up much earlier than anybody wanted to this morning but we needed to get on down the road because we had tickets for the 8am tour at Hearst Castle in San Simeon. It was interesting. Two hour tour and we only saw a small part of the mansion complex. I'd like to go back for another tour some time see more.

The rest of the day was the slow drive up hiway 1 to through Big Sur to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Stopped for a gazzilion photos of the rugged coast and the sparking blue ocean. Colorful sunset at Carmel Bay. Our last dinner together at local Baja Cantina before we drop Doug and Tammy off tomorrow to spend their New Year in San Francisco.

Hearst Castle main house and Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle

Road Trip

We're taking a Road Trip!

We loaded the RV and left the day after Christmas--all the family piled in and off we went. Headed first to Los Angeles where we dropped Stephanie, the rest of us continued on up the coast of California on Hiway 1 for a scenic ride to San Francisco.

First night was in Northridge where we all enjoyed a yummy Korean BBQ restaurant for one last celebratory meal together before Stephanie left us to spend New Years with friends.

Next day we cruised up hiway 1 enjoying the coastal scenery to Morro Bay, a seaside resort community.

Christmas Day

T'was a perfect Christmas day, all the kiddos were there PLUS Wayne and Judy Massey. Doesn't get any better than that.

Third and best window

Third and best of Will's stained glass windows. Just in time.

Mack and Christmas in Arizona

Christmas has officially begun at our house. Doug and Tammy arrived very late last night. They came in from opposite directions and managed to arrive in Phoenix around the same time. Only because Tammy's flight was 3 hours delayed because of weather in Newark. So everyone slept in this morning enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before going to the late service at church.

Tammy brought "Mack" and though it was obvious Doug was happy to see his wife, he was delighted to see his best buddie again, too.

Now we get to repeat the airport run tonight to get Stephanie. Another late pick up. She sent a text message that she made the first leg and we're watching her progress on the internet. Cell phone lots are the greatest invention.

Somewhere they are having some nasty winter weather--can't imagine. Storms in Iowa and snow in the northwest. We're warm and smiling here.

Sunset

This is a shot from our back patio. It is another amazing Arizona sunset. They have been like this all week--dust in the air, new weather fronts coming in--who knows why. Its just for us to enjoy. God's Christmas lights, I say.

We did a little Christmas shopping together this morning and then headed down to the university neighborhood for the winter 4th Avenue Street Fair. Lots of looking, and lots of walking. Street musicians, tons of people, food vendors and my favorite, kettle corn. Fun day.

New kitchen tile

I've been working on making tiles for my kitchen for months--in between other projects--and I finally got them installed on the wall. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out and it certainly jazzed up my kitchen. My handmade clay tiles are 2" (sorta) square and I interspersed them with purchased 2" glass tiles in colors of white, honey and dark honey. Gives me a shock every time I walk into the kitchen--eye opener.

Christmas lights are up

We put the Christmas lights up outside and the Christmas tree is up and decorated. Just have to stand back and admire it. I'm counting the days until the kids all get here.

Day Out Birding

Burrowing Owls

Say's Phoebe on a sorghum plant

and a long, leisurely look at a wonderful Merlin!

Will and I spent the day birding with a small group from Tucson Audubon. We hadn't been out in quite a while on an official birding trip so this was pretty fun. We did the Santa Cruz Flats which is basically a large area of desert scrub and farm land north and west of Tucson that no one pays much attention to. Not a particularly scenic area and a lot of driving on dusty farm roads but we did good.

Thanksgiving and day after

We spent a quiet Thanksgiving at home just the two of us. I cooked a turkey about a week ago, before we took our little get-away trip so we feasted on the left-overs (planned-for-overs, really). Made a fresh pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, cranberries, the works. . .we just picked and nibbled all day long. Talked to each of the kids in turn via telephone (Doug last night) and touched bases with various brothers and sisters and Mom to exchange Thanksgiving wishes. Best greeting of the day was an email from China from a couple who were our students back in 2000, LiJi and WenLe, who have remained dear friends.

Also enjoyed the rainy day. Could just hear the thirsty desert soaking up the welcome rain.

Today we went to church with our fellowship group and put up the Christmas tree in the sanctuary. Seems we have inherited that job every year now and we are getting pretty good at it. Had it up and "fluffed" in an hour. Others will come and decorate it.

Hawk Feeder

Home in time to enjoy a shower of rain. What a welcome surprise. Feels like a warm, summer rain that I remember as a kid.

I have a few bird feeders in our back yard. Love watching the little lesser gold finches, and house finches. Hummingbirds are treat and they always let me know when the feeder is empty. I don't even mind the noisy gila woodpeckers who have learned to tip the hummingbird feeders and slurp the sweet syrup. The gamble quail and doves keep the ground cleaned. Occasionally there is a curve billed thresher, or cardinal, or paraloxia but today I guess my bird feeders turned into a hawk feeder. It happens occasionally, a Coopers hawk will sweep in and grab a unsuspecting song bird. But this time the Coopers sat on a branch right over the feeders and just waited. Like if he waited long enough, lunch would come by. Didn't happen today but he stayed long enough for me to get a bunch of pictures.

more 'round Arizona

Had just about enough of “backroading” for a while. This road did us in, the ol’ Honda was doing fine, but we wimped out. Pulled off and stopped to have our picnic lunch and then rumbled back to the main road.
We’ve decided that Safford area is pretty much a microcosm of Arizona. Everything is right here. Lots of agriculture--north of town are cotton fields as big as I have ever seen. Cattle grazing on BLM land plus private ranches . The Morenci Copper mine is just up the road and in fact, there is a smaller copper mine right outside of Safford that has been operational just a couple of years. Mt Graham at 10,000ft overlooks the city and it boasts the Arizona International Observatory and the largest Binocular Telescope in the world. Can’t get up to the Observatory this time of year because the mountain is closed to visitors at the high altitudes for the winter months but we did check out the visitor center here in Safford and found it interesting. The Gila River runs through the area and provides not only irrigation for the agriculture in the area but wildlife and birding and recreational opportunities in its riparian wildernesses. And the upland desert goes on forever with back roads galore. We checked it all out.

More Back Roads and a Copper Mine

More Arizona backroads--dirt tracks through the desert, to be honest. We were exploring Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area along the Gila River and Bonita Creek. Truly an oasis in the desert. The Cottonwoods and Arizona Sycamores are in full blazing fall colors right now so the stream sides were a definite contrast to the dry desert leading up to it.

I tried really hard to make this raptor into some really interesting hawk but I have to admit it most likely is a Red Tail. That seems to be the default hawk in the desert.

Ask me anything about copper mining in Arizona! Will and I took a tour of the mine at Morenci and we came away dazzled with information. It is such a huge mine--perhaps the biggest in North America, 85 square miles, can you imagine!! Our tour guide was not all that great but we did manage to learn a lot. We had no idea about the leaching process to get the copper out of the rock. And can't help but be impressed by "biggness" of everything--look at this truck--not to mention the huge mine itself.

Checking out the back roads

Had a fun day running around some back roads of Arizona. Saw the enormous hydroponic tomato farming operation, Eurofresh in the Sulfur Springs Valley. It is just acres and acres of greenhouses out in the middle of the desert. Drove through apple orchards, --yes, apparently apples do grow in southeast Arizona--pistachio and pecan grove. Checked out the small ranch towns of Bonita and Klondyke on our way to eastern entrance to Aravaipa Canyon. Closer we got to the canyon and entered Nature Conservancy property, the dirt road got narrower and more scenic. The road forded the stream several times working its way into the canyon. The historic Salazar family church sits along the Aravaipa Creek. Where the road ends and the hiking trail begins is a wilderness preserve and requires a permit which we did not have. We soon turned back.

Can't resist the call of the desert--time to get out of town for a while. We packed up the RV and headed east to Safford, Arizona to Roper State Park for a few days of birding, hiking, relaxing and enjoying this amazing view of Mt Graham from our front door!!

I'm sitting in my comfy camp chair enjoying a cup of coffee taking it all in. Not to rub it in or anything to northern friends and family but. . .its clear and 80 degrees right now.

Quite often I have spied a notice in the paper about an upcoming Mata Ortiz Pottery demonstration and sale at various locations around Tucson and never made the effort to check them out. Thought they might be all gimmick and all about sale. There was one at Heritage Highlands this weekend so Will and I decided to stop in and see what was going on. We hit the jack pot. The "big guy" himself, was there and he did a demonstration firing and told his story--thru an interpreter--of Mata Ortiz. Juan Quezada and three of his sons were demonstrating and answering questions and we watched them actually flash fire a pot.

This man discovered ancient pottery shards in the deserts and mountains around his boyhood home in Chihuahua, Mexico as a teenager and was always fascinated by the beauty and techniques that the long, lost peoples who lived there some 600 years before might have used. He spent his lifetime figuring it out by trial and error, using the clays and natural pigments he could find in the area mixed with firing techniques until he succeeded. But it wasn't until a chance discovery of one of his pots in a shop in Demming, New Mexico in the 50's did he find fame and fortune. Today Juan's pots are highly sought after, they are in the Smithsonian and various other museums around the US and Mexico and he was declared a Living Heritage by the Mexican Government. The only other person to share that distinction to date is Diego Rivera. Juan taught these techniques first to family and then friends and today the whole village of Mata Ortize is in the business of making and promoting and selling this distinctive style with the highest level of workmanship and style.

The particular pot that was fired during the demonstration when on silent auction with a minimum bid of $2000. No, I did not mistakenly add a couple of zeros!! Look at the picture of a table of pots, all by Juan Quezada--there was $40,000 worth of pots on that one table! Since I wasn't expecting much I did not bring my camera so the pics I took were with Wil's cell phone which does not take all that good pics. Sorry, wish you could see the detail better.

That's Juan with the name tag on. Look closely at the pile of ashes in the front of pic and you can see the final pot. By the way, the firing was done with dried cow chips--they burn the hottest and most consistent.

Seven hearty souls from St Andrews Presbyterian Church joined a huge contingent from Pantano Christian Church and traveled the 250 miles to Puerto Penasco in Mexico on a mission/work trip to build houses for the less fortunate in a local neighborhood which happens to be just a few miles from the luxury resorts on the beach of Rocky Point. Quite an amazing contrast that wasn't lost on any of us. We partnered with "Amor", a Christian non-profit that works in the poor neighborhoods to provide suitable housing. They provide all the materials and churches in the US provide the volunteers to build a 20 x 16 structure. There is no running water and no electricity which means no power tools for the crews, but still we were able to lay a concrete pad, put up walls, roof, install two doors and two windows and stucco the outside in three days. The recipient finishes the interior. Doesn't seem like much to our standards but this family of 4 was living in a shabby little travel trailer about the size of my bathroom.

It was really hard, physical work and we had decided that we could be martyrs and sleep in tents--most people did, but on the night before our departure someone offered the use of their three bedroom condo on the beach. I don't think I would have done well in a tent, as I look back on it, as that bed sure felt good on my aching bones!! Our whole team of 7 were able to stay there and then Will and I and another couple stayed on for two more days in the condo.

It was a humbling experience and we all felt good about what we had accomplished but we enjoyed the extra days as tourists also to relax and recover. We walked the beach, ate some yummy seafood, (shrimp is big here), found an estuary to bird, and watched the sunset on the Sea of Cortez.

Happy Halloween.

Did you get "Boo'd" this year? Did you get out and Boo your friends and neighbors? I think it is the funnest idea yet. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then go to this website

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Start-the-Halloween-Boo-in-Your-Neighborhood

and check it out. Probably late for this year but tuck the information away and try it next year--if you can remember where you put the info.

"If you haven't been Boo'd, you're missing out on a fun Halloween tradition. This is such a fun way to start off the whole fall holiday season and strengthen ties with neighbors. There are some variations on how people do it, but the basics are the same. Put together a goodie-basket of Halloween treats for a neighbor and then they do the same for another neighbor. You need to get started by the middle of October so get going!"

Aravaipa Canyon

This post is a couple of weeks late but still wanted to show you the pictures from a hike that 4 of us gals from the pottery studio took to Aravaipa Canyon on October 21st. This is an 11 mile canyon of the Aravaipa River as it flows into the San Pedro over BLM land north and east of Tucson. It is one of the few perennial streams in Southeast Arizona and it is a jewel of a hike. Guaranteed to get your boots wet as the trail sometimes goes along the stream and at other times you have to slog your way through the water as canyon walls and terrain won't let you get there any other way. We did not do the entire 11 miles--that would be an overnight backpack trip but Nancy, Sheila, Kathy and I spent a great day hiking up and back.