From Balloon Regatta to the Arizona Desert, November 4-18, 2011

It's been a while since I sat down to write so I'll do a fast update of our last few weeks. When we left Zion the weather across Utah and Arizona was changing. We were spending the weekend in Page, AZ with my sister in law, Peggy.  Our first time to see her colorful condo...beautiful desert colors and so warm and inviting.  We parked our little cottage at the Elk's but spent all our time over at Peg's. It was the annual Balloon Regatta in Page so many of Peggy's Canyon friends were also coming up for the weekend.  A nice chance for us to visit again with all of them. Saturday was a biting cold wind but we bundled up and walked around the booths downtown but the big event of the evening, The Balloon Glow, was cancelled due to the weather, so disappointing. I guess they usually would close off the main street of town and line up the balloons then one by one they fire up their balloons...must be a be beautiful sight.  But thank goodness, Sunday morning the weather was perfect for launching balloons across the desert. We met up early and headed to the staging area.

Peggy and Terry volunteered to help crew for a team from San Diego while Paul and Dan watched nearby...which also meant Peg got to ride in the balloon! So fun to watch the balloons being inflated and then sail off across a bright blue sky.

Paul got into the action...though when the gas was lit so close to him it took my breath away and his too!!

Soon Peggy was loaded into the basket and away they went.

Paul and I drove out to the desert view area where they were flying and enjoyed the sight. Must have been about 40 or so balloons, floating so softly across the landscape.  The sky was also changing from the clear brilliant blue to cloudy and dark.

We spotted Peggy's ballon and started walking out along the edge to get a closer look.

We just kept walking along the bluff and watching for her balloon.

Amazing thing was by the time the balloon was ready to come down we were very near by so Paul helped pull the balloon in and hold it so they could maneuver it over the fence onto the airport property where the chase truck could meet up with them.

Up and Over.

Then time to deflate and pack away.  Just a perfect morning!

By Sunday evening the dark clouds let loose and it started to rain. We decided to stay another day till the storm blew over which gave Paul that wet Monday to add the missing baseboards all around Peg's condo. I did laundry and played on the computer making our plans for December.

Tuesday morning the rain had stopped and the sky was once again a gorgeous blue but soooooo cold! We packed up, and left for Flagstaff mid morning...late enough for the sun to have warmed up the roads with little risk of ice. The view of the desert was stunning....covered in a dusting of snow.

Views as we drove south kept me clicking my camera.

Since it was too cold and snowy in Flagstaff for us to camp we drove on down the mountain to Sedona. Found a wonderful private little RV park right along Oak Creek and settled in for  a few days.

Took walks and just stared at the beauty of the red rock formations all around us.  Spent one day at Red Rock Park, another day visiting the nearby towns of Cottonwood,  Jerome and Prescott.  It was so funny that one day our phones got great reception for the first time and we were getting calls and chatting along the trail with Ann and Diane, sending tests too.

I fell in love with Sedona...even walked through an Open House of a beautiful new home for sale. What an amazing place that would be to live, but we're not ready for that yet.

We drove up Oak Creek Canyon to the overlook with the top down and of course as the elevation changed so did the temp and we were back in the snow. Since we were only 10 miles from Flagstaff that afternoon we drove into town to visit the Northern Arizona Museum. Wonderful geology and archeology displays. I'm sure we looked a little strange...those crazy convertible Californians!

After 5 days in Sedona we were ready to go further south to our campground north of Phoenix and spend some time with our niece, Mandy. We are now staying in a beautiful desert campground at Cave Creek Regional Park. It's perfect! Warm sunny days, open desert landscape and dark night skies

Visited Montezuma Castle: ancient cliff dwellings 

Fall color along the Verde River

Foster checking out our campsite

The only drawback is that Phoenix is really spread out so there's lots of driving to do anywhere we go. But worth it to be in such a beautiful surrounding. Our campsite is huge and looks out at a large saguaro and palo verde trees. We are close enough to pick Mandy up after she finishes with her first graders and spend time in some very pretty places for Happy Hour or a campfire here with us.

Sunsets are beautiful and Mandy finds some beautiful locations...love the tower of fire!

Yesterday we took our kayaks out for a couple of hours of paddling in nearby Lake Pleasant. My really first big time to be in a kayak, not being much of a water person this is a biggie for me. But such fun.

Today we'll visit the Botanical Gardens and maybe the Phoenix Art Museum. While I am sitting here this morning writing on the computer, Paul is right outside my window playing his piano!

Piano Concert in the Sonoran Desert!

Thanksgiving Day will be at Mandy and Logan's house, with Peggy, Wes and Alena joining us. We'll  also meet up with Paul's sister, MarLyn and her family, before we drive back to San Luis next weekend. And...YES...we love this traveling life in our little yellow "cottage"! 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING To Everyone!

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues.  ~Cicero

Zion! October 31-November 4, 2011

The ride from Las Vegas to Zion was beautiful! Bright blue skies and easy driving on I-15. Along the way Linda and Peter Jankay, who were traveling with friends Archie and Andrea Waterbury, passed us...both of us heading for Zion National Park about an hour east of St George, Utah. But we arrived at the park first! It was really warm and luckily we had reserved a shady river campsite at Watchman Campground so we set out chairs in the shade and enjoyed the amazing view of the red sandstone walls. This was the first time either of us had visited Zion and we were in awe of the natural beauty surrounding us.  At this time of year there is only one campground open and we were so surprised to see the campground FULL when we arrived on Monday, really glad I had made a reservation.

By 5:30 the Jankays and Waterburys joined us for wine and snacks and a chance to visit then dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Springdale. The temp began to drop once the sun went behind the mountains. So funny that Linda's hotel was right across the river and they could see us from their rooms! From the heat of the afternoon it was surprising at how quickly the temperature dropped and continued dropping through the night; we woke to about 30 degrees the next morning.

Tuesday morning we met up again to see the beauty along the Scenic Drive with the first stop at The Narrows.  It was a very chilly morning and the sun hadn't reached the sides of the canyon yet. Peaceful and so beautiful with the trees changing colors.

Cold, but really beautiful! the six of us walked and talked till we got to the end of the Riverside Walk Trail...too chilly to step into the water and follow it into the narrower channels where the walls often have only an 18 ft span across. From there the trail continues for another 16 miles...the trail becomes the river itself. The Zion Narrows route is the most popular hike in the park and said to be one of the world's best canyon hikes...but not for us in November...That will have to wait for another trip in warmer weather!
It seems that Zion is a MUST for Photographers as every other person on the trail was carrying real cameras and tripods, as for me, all my photos are done on my iphone, easy and compact!

We saw this charming and very well trained squirrel begging along the path

and we spent time watching just staring at the incredible walls surrounding us.  It's so hard to grasp how this Virgin River actually carved and sculpted the walls of the canyon.

Several artists were also painting the landscape of the park as part of a Plein Air weeklong event and was fun to see where ever we were in the park.

Had lunch at the Zion Lodge before we headed back to check on Foster in the campground and fall asleep in the afternoon sun.

The IMAX Theater was showing a wonderful film on the history of Zion which we decided to see at 5:00 before having dinner together again...this time I did the cooking and to keep warm we changed from our outside campground/cafe seating to Linda's beautiful condo at Cable Mountain Lodge. What a delightful evening laughing and talking! They were all leaving early the next morning for the next leg of their National Park Tour so we said our goodbyes and headed back to our little house. We still had 2 more days to see more of the park.

Wednesday we took the road, Highway 9, out to the eastern side of Zion to see if we felt comfortable going that way when we left on Friday.

The Zion/Mt. Carmel Tunnel is  a narrow, mile long tunnel along Highway 9 which requires motor homes to go through with an escort. That means that they stop the oncoming traffic and allow the motorhome to drive down the middle, tallest part of the tunnel. There are 6 switch backs getting up to the tunnel which all sounded a little too much to me but when we drove the road on Wednesday we saw that it would be very do-able.

It also gave us the afternoon to see the beauty of that part of the park and stop along the way for a hike on Canyon Overlook Trail. What a spectacular sight when you climb around the side of the wall and look out onto the whole park from a higher elevation.

There were several big horn sheep climbing on the racks as we drove toward Checkerboard Mesa. They seemed completely unaware of all the people stopping along the roadway to photograph them.

Its hard to imagine the first Mormon pioneer settlers coming into the amazing canyons and settling in the valley cultivating the land and developing homesteads, but that's what they did. I think every who visits Zion is awed by the immense beauty of the canyon. The Mormons named the park Zion, meaning a place of refuge, which it truly is.

The Human History Museum near our campground was a great way to get an over view of the park's history.  The exhibits chronicle the early inhabitants of the park with some wonderful photographs and artifacts.

Thursday we took a bike ride along the Pa'rus Trail, wonderful to be riding in the valley looking up at all the formations with nobody else around.

Along the path was this road sign...cracked me up! First time I've seen something like this on a trail.

 In the afternoon we drove back out along the Scenic Drive and stopped to hike the Emerald Pools... it was so beautiful we continued on the trail till we reached the Upper Emerald Pool,

 The pools were at the base of these walls above the tree line

 well worth the longer hike. The pools are formed from water seepage in the rocks which seems so surprising in such a desert terrain. We actually walked under mini water falls

 Paul wanted to try a little rock climbing on the way down...

Our last evening in the park was gorgeous!!! Clouds were coming in with an approaching storm but a half moon over Watchman Peak was spectacular.

 Friday we packed up and made our drive through the tunnel and on to Page, AZ to visit Peggy and new adventures.