Celebrating 54 years of wedded bliss!!

Celebrating with a two night stay at The White Stallion Guest Ranch on the edge of Tucson, maybe 20 miles from home. Actually we won the bid on this at a Silent Auction for a local charity last spring so decided this was a great time to use it. Great fun, great accomodations, amazing desert setting and outdoor adventures. 

I did a trail ride while Will did an e-bike ride which he thought was a hoot. 

"Critter" show one evening with all the Arizona desert specialties including snakes and scorpions. I guess I am a true desert lover--I could hold a gentle tarantula.

Truly, we are blessed to have our health, a comfortable home, amazing kids and grandkids, a million great memories . .and each other. Happy Anniversary to us today!!

Sunrise hike

Early morning hike on Linda Vista trail on the edge of Tucson. Began hiking before sunrise and watched the sun come up over the Catalina mountains. It's a loop trail up toward the cliffs and if you turn around you are looking back over Tucson. We could see the rainbow off in the west. . .and it stayed there for an hour! Never have seen a rainbow actually last that long! Monsoon still happening here. Well, at least West of town!

And I got my Covid Booster Shot today! Yes! Not even a sore arm. Will scheduled to get his tomorrow!

Happy Mid Autumn Festival

To all our friends and family. . .

This is a major holiday on China and anywhere there is a Chinese diaspora. Brings back lovely memories for us. It's a big family time. Friends and family gather and look at the full moon and eat moon cakes. It's the traditional thing to exchange-- sort of like fruit cake at Christmas. Didn't find them here in Tucson--although I will have to say, I didn't look to hard. I will just have a chocolate chip cookie and take a nice long look at the amazing moon and wish all good things for everyone.

Madera Canyon

Since we've gotten home, we have taken several drives around Tucson so see the effects of recent abundant rains. This is Madera Canyon where water is flowing strong. I have never seen so much water here.

It's like a jungle. The trails are inundated with growth

Fields of Caltrop--called Arizona Poppies because it resembles our spring poppies, but infact is not a poppie at all.

Still red sunsets. Look closely as the huge sun slips behind the mountain. Still smoke in the air.

Interesting that our famous monsoon rains stopped just before we arrived home. It's been + 100 degrees most days, but won't be long and those daytime temps will drop dramatically.

Surprises

Came home in time to see this beauty in bloom! I have never been home when it would really show off! Other years I have come home to dried up spent flowers. So much is blooming now--which seems late to me, that I wonder if we are experiencing a second bloom because of this year's extra moisture, or a late bloom. Either way it is nice to see.

That is a lowly Agave plant that is really old and it decided to bloom this summer. The flower stalk is at least 6 ft tall and just starting to bloom. Little yellow flowers are starting at the base of the stalk and will eventually open all the way to the top. The bees and butterflies love it.  Once it finishes, the plant will eventually die. . .because that's what Agave do.

Mexican Bird of Paradise

Texas Ranger is another one we have never witnessed blooming. Always blooms, maybe multiple times a summer when, it gets sufficient rain. Irrigation doesn't seem to work--needs true rain to bloom.

Home!

Coming "off the Mollegon Rim," downhill from Flagstaff. . .green and blooming desert with bluffs of Sedona in the background

First view of Saguaros! Know we're getting close.

Picacho Peak. Maybe 40 miles to home.

Blooming from bountiful "Monsoon rains."

Home at noon today.  All good here. House in good shape. Hard work unloading RV, mountain of laundry, getting our bearings and back into the routine of life in Tucson. As a friend said, we live to travel but home feels good.

On the way home

Pretty direct route home through the "4 Corners" area where 4 states meet(Co,Az,NM,Ut,) and into Arizona in short order. 

We drove I bet, 200 miles thru Reservation lands, first Ute reservation out of Cortez Colorado and then as soon as we crossed into Arizona we were in Navajo lands all the way until north of Flagstaff.

Where we stopped for the night at Bonita campground at Sunset Crater national monument.

Interesting geological area as volcanoes we're active here from 1040 to 1100AD which really is not that long ago!! Looks like what you can see in Hawaii. I'm fact some areas look barren and rough like it just happened last year! 

Some ancestral Puebloan ruins here too. 

First annoying mishap! Realized we lost a hubcap on the RV. No idea where we lost it, today's roads were not rough at all. 

Geysers and celebrations

A short but steep hike off a gravel road takes you to Colorado's only "real" geyser. We got there just as it erupted. It doesn't spew high in the air like Yellowstone type geysers but it is an aggressive rolling boil and spills over the side and sulphur smelling hot water runs down into the creek. Kinda impressive. And it is tucked into a mountain valley in the middle of nowhere!

Cliff side along the trail

And a mini vent along trail that was bubbling also.

People carve into birch and Aspen trees thier graffiti and over time the tree emphasizes the graffiti as it tries to 'heal" itself. Most become unreadable with time but this one clearly reads 1953!

One really nice dinner out before we head home at a funky place in Rico called The Prospector. Always knew it as an upscale place called "The Argentine Grill" and in fact that name is still on front of building. Knew it's reputation as in-the-know place but never tried to eat here. . .until tonight. I give it 5 stars--maybe 10 tables max, just a chef and a server and a choice of 5-3 course set menus in a slightly run down building in a slightly run down (eclectic) little mountain town.

Mesa Verde National Park

We made a really long day of it and did the Park. It's a special place and always find something new here. We signed up for a guided tour of one of the major cliff dwellings.  There are supposedly 600 sites in the park but most not accessible. Some you can see from pullouts on the road, others you can hike to but to have a Ranger tell you what you are seeing is pretty interesting. We picked a couple of short hikes--not easy, had to do some climbing up and down but certainly interesting. We explored ruins from the 6th century and the 12th century of the ancient Puebloans.

Spied this guy along the road with his huge rack. By the time I got my camera out he took off into the woods, but he did stop to look back and I got him!

There have been several fires in different areas of the park in this century that have proven pretty devestating. It takes lifetimes in this arid climate to come back. The last one was 2018. It's an erie sight to see the distruction. . .can't imagine the California fires when the trees are much bigger to start with.

Priest Gulch

This is a private campground on the "other side" of the San Juan Mountains that we have enjoyed several times. It is centrally located on the Delores River a bit south of Rico, Colorado. And this time we got a spot right on the River--never been lucky enough to get one of those choice sites--until this year. We booked a long time ago, maybe that is why we got it. It's a holiday weekend so pretty much filled up. But this is where we decided to end our summer. We will be making a beeline for Tucson right after Labor Day.

I'm not sure what the deal is but there is a huge pile of painted rocks at the back of campground. Big ones, small ones, some really nicely painted. Apparently you can paint a rock and sign and date it from your family--or by yourself--or add some profound message of good will and leave it for the world to enjoy. It's really fun exploring the pile.