Time to goof off....


Happy New Year everyone!  Hope Santa was good to you.  On Christmas Day we drove down to Tucson and spent a couple days with Al's brother Larry and all his family.  We finished our volunteer duties at Roper Lake State Park at the end of December and are currently at Tucson.  Al has been busy replacing our camper brakes and needed some tools and other items in town.  So it gives us a little time to find some supplies where the town is a bit larger than Safford and we have a few more choices. 

By the 15th of January we should be at Quartzite and then onto Lake Havasu.  We do plan to be in this area for a month. 




Sunset view at Roper Lake






While at Safford we went on a few road trips visiting a few of the spots we found last year and we found a few new areas to check out.  One of our favorite of course is the drive up Mt Graham.  This is just 10 miles from the park and it goes from desert scenery up to pine trees ending at about 10,000 feet.  Of course we had to snap some snow pictures!

In New Mexico just on the border north of Silver City there is an area called The Cat Walks.  This area is a canyon where years ago the CCC had built a water piping system that ran along the canyon wall to bring water to a mill.  The old water pipes are almost gone but they rebuilt the area to hold what they now call The Cat Walks.

A few years ago there was a huge flood there.  The cat walks have been repaired but the trail still has some huge boulders in it, so we did not venture too far.  Not sure when they will have it all fixed.

  This old lady cannot crawl over rocks anymore.   Really pretty here. 

The sycamore trees are very pretty at the Cat Walk with their white bark and yellow-orange leaves.  The leaves are huge....my shoe is a ladies size 9....look at this leaf! 

At Roper Lake the ladies decided that Tuesday nights would be stitch and bitch night....more stitching than bitching.  Rose taught me how to crochet.  I had made several washcloths and just finished an afghan and am now starting a new one.  Had a good time.  But now I have another bad habit...I am always looking at yarn and new patterns plus Joann's fabric has become my new favorite place to shop!  Oh well! 

While in the Tucson area we are revisiting some of our favorite places like the Agua Caliente county park which means Hot Water.  This was a private ranch years ago and the hot springs make this area an oasis...lots of water birds....very peaceful. 

The other day we drove up Mt Lemon.  Another beautiful mountain area in Arizona.  I understand that tonight there will be a cold front coming in that will leave some snow up in the mountains again.



The coyote have been especially noisy here...starting at dusk and continuing into early morning.  We hear them in almost every state we visit, but they are rather boisterous here!!!!  Our cat Millie does not even pay attention to the noise.  She knows she is safe inside.
Currently we are camping at Glbert Ray county park which is up new Old Tucson in the Saguaro National Park area.  The desert here is very pretty with lots of huge saguaro cactus.  Sunsets here are especially awesome.
(Sorry about the wide spaces between paragraphs and pictures but it seems the blog wants to fight with me and I cannot win.)
In Lake Havasu there are lots of activities that we want to see.  Around the 18th of January there is a hot air balloon festival.  Also we will be meeting up with friends and my brother Doug and sister in law Kay at about the same time.  Quartzite, an area just south of Lake Havasu has lots of things happening at this time too.  Also around February 4th there will be the desert road race in Parker plus more things happening throughout the area for the months of January and February.  So check back for some updates! 



Till next time take care and lets all have a wonderful 2018,