First Leg of the Journey home...

 

We left Camp Verde, AZ Friday morning and drove 330 miles to Sky City RV Park in Sky City, NM. Along the way, we crossed the Continental Divide.  Then 547 miles on Saturday to Fort Stockton RV Park in Fort Stockton, Texas.  Sunday, it was 250 miles to Buckhorn Lake Resort in Kerrville, Texas.  George is exhausted and has important meetings Monday and Tuesday so we will be here until Wednesday. 
 

      

Poncho

Bandana Cowl

I've had plenty of time to knit over the past three days and finished my grey and white striped Poncho plus another Bandana Cowl. 

 

Monday I drove from one end of Kerrville, TX to the other making a few stops along the way.  Our campsite brochure advertised a half-mile of unique shops, galleries and craftsmen on Old Ingram Loop.  It was easy enough to find, however, the majority of the stores were closed.  However, I found a large craft store in town and it was a combination of Michael's and JoAnn...only bigger.

 

Tuesday, I drove 62 miles into San Antonio, had lunch and visited Yarnivore, an upscale yarn shop on NW Military Highway.  They had tons of yarn, some of which I've never heard of.  Bought a couple of things then sat and knitted with the ladies for a few hours before heading back to the motorhome.  George was still working when I got home.  He had a conference call at 3:00 AM and has been at it ever since, so I took the opportunity to do some laundry and, if he ever gets finished, we are going out to eat then early to bed for the next leg of our journey home. 

 

The Birthing of a Mountain



Lava Field

 

Each time a volcano erupts, a mountain is born. I never thought about this before but here it is right before my eyes.  Some 1000 years ago, the powerful forces of a volcano pushed up the ground and sprayed molten rock high into the air forming Sunset Crater Volcano.  The colorful glow from the cinders reminded people of a sunset, hence the name.   In 1930, Sunset Crater Volcano  became a National Monument where, today, we walked through a lava field as black as the ace of spades.  Slowly, plants and animals returned to the area and agriculture improved because layers of ash absorbed moisture, helping prevent evaporation and a climate change occurred providing more rainfall during the growing season.



The nearby Wupatki National Monument reveals pueblo ruins where former inhabitants lived.  Workers were there today building steps to complete a pathway around this monument.  We were able to walk into what's left of the fragile structure.  This was an amazing Wednesday.

Wuptaki Ruins

Wuptaki Ruins

Workers at Wuptaki Ruins

 

 

We met Bill and Janna in Jerome Tuesday morning.  Janna bought a tee shirt but most stores were closed so we left there and came over to the RV.  I made a pot of chili last night so we had that for lunch and just sat around and talked all afternoon.

"In-Folk-Us" Group

Thursday we ran errands over in Prescott Valley then drove over to Historic Downtown Prescott and had lunch at The Palace Saloon.  This building is at least 100 years old and smells like cows, however, the food was very good....some of the best Corn Chowder I've had.  We were fortunate enough to be there when a local folk music group called "In-Folk-Us" were practicing for their evening performance.  They sang old western songs you might hear in a John Wayne film.  What a great lunch!  Afterward, we headed home, had dinner and packed up to hit the road in the morning.


George admiring the wall art

The "Upstairs"

Labor Day Weekend

 

We left Moab Friday and drove 7 hours to Distant Drum RV Resort in Camp Verde, AZ, which is about 40 minutes south of Sedona, one of my favorite places out West.  We were at this campground 4 years ago and it's a great place to stay...in fact, they gave us the same spot we had before.  I vacuumed and cleaned once we got set up and we stayed in and rested up for tomorrow's golf game.

 

Stone Ridge GC

Bev and Randy recommended we play Stone Ridge GC in Prescott Valley so we booked a tee time and headed on over Saturday morning.  It was a very challenging but picturesque golf course.  At times I felt like a billy-goat climbing the steep terrain of this mountainous course.  On #7, we caught up with a couple from Phoenix and they asked us to join them.  Good thing because J.B. knew the course like the back of his hand and was most helpful in advising us where to hit the ball.  I eked out a 99 and was proud of it as the rating was 67.2/127 from the red tees. After golf, we had cocktails on the outdoor patio with J.B. and Susan.  Glad we got to play this one and thanks Bev and Randy for the recommendation.

Stone Ridge GC Par 3

 

Leff-T's Steakhouse

The Albrecht's also recommended Leff-T's Steakhouse for dinner.  We were meeting George's longtime friends, Bill and Janna, for dinner and when we recommended it, they laughed and said that's what they were going to recommend too!  Everyone had steaks except me and I had the ribs (at Bev's suggestion) and they were fabulous (as were the steaks for everyone else). Bill and Janna said they always get a steak.  George and Bill were buddies back in NJ when they were in their twenties, then they moved to CA together....Bill met Janna and stayed and George ended up back East.  The Hawkin's moved over to AZ about 2 years ago. 

 

Sunday morning I gave us both a much needed haircut, did some laundry and made a big bowl of southern-style potato salad.  We drove over to Bill and Janna's ranch where they have 3 horses and 4 great dane's.  The great dane's are almost as big as the horses....one of them came over and sat in my lap...what a hoot!  We were invited over to a neighborhood picnic in the afternoon at Barb and Dave's house where we met 8 of their friends.  Dave grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, Barb made macaroni salad and the other ladies brought appetizers and/or desserts.  It was Barb's 75th birthday so a celebration was in order. 



After the BBQ, we went outside to check out the colorful sunset and feed apples to the horses.  We had a great time!

 







Monday we went on a Jeeping adventure on Schnebly Hill Road in the Coconino NF near Sedona.  Even though it was rated easy, it was a rough,  bumpy 10.7 mile road; however, we climbed roughly 5 miles up to Merry-Go-Round Rock and could see hikers at the top of this monstroscity.  The views were nice but, honestly, the road was a bit too rocky for me.  



Merry-Go-Round Rock

We encountered more than a dozen Jeeps along the trail including a lot of "Pink Tour Jeeps".

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I also noticed a lot of purple cacti in bloom and couldn't resist a picture...kinda looks like a radish.

Purple Cacti

A view from the top...

 

 

We ended up near Flagstaff where we picked up Highway 89-A back down to Sedona through the beautiful Oak Creek Canyon.  There is an area called "Slick Rock" where the rocks provide a natural water slide and there were tons of people parked on both sides of the road for what seemed like miles, to partake in a beautiful Labor Day.

We had to make a PetSmart run for cat food and, lo and behold, there was a yarn shop called Sedona Knit Wits in the same shopping center.  I browsed through the yarn shop while George shopped for cat food.  There was a Mexican Cafe' a few doors down from the Knit Wits, so we had lunch there.

Once home, we relaxed the rest of the evening.....all-in-all, it's been a Great Labor Day Weekend!

 

 

Two Trails

Dune Buggy

We made it to Thursday and went Jeeping again today.  We hit two trails plus a ride through Arches, my favorite National Park.  Again, I packed my "necessary" bag full of apples, bananas, cheese,  peanut butter crackers plus ice and water in the Rock City cooler.  Oh yes, and TP (just in case).

Rock City Cooler

 

 



Picture Frame Arch

The first trail was Picture Frame Arch, a 6 mile trail rated easy which included two impressive arches.  Part of the trail was over rugged rutted rocks (rrr?) but some of the trail was just a sandy dirt road.  It was lots of fun.

 I bought a rock pick in Moab and picked at my first rocks here....

Lone Rock

"RRR" Road

Once finished with that trail, we drove through Arches but didn't stop to hike as it was a very hot day and my stamina is still not up to par.  The park was full today and there were very few parking spaces and lots of hikers.  Our RV park is also filling up for the Labor Day weekend.



Balanced Rock - Arches

Three Kings - Arches

 

From Balanced Rock in Arches, we took a 7-mile Jeep trail through Willow Flats which ended up on Highway 191, near our campground.  The trail was pretty rough in places, maybe the roughest we have encountered so far; however, our "Dune Buggy" made it.  I call it that because the color is called dune.

 

Willow Flats

Dune Buggy on Willow Flats

YIKES!

We grilled steaks tonight with sautéed mushrooms, a baked potato for George and a sweet potato for me, then early to bed as we are leaving for Arizona in the morning.

 

Moab Fun...

 

It's Tuesday and George's last day to work, then he has the next 12 days off - YEAH!  I figure it's going to be a long day for him, so I took off to Desert Thread, the local yarn shop.  I was here 4 years ago and visited with Cathy, the owner.  She is working on a beautiful shawl and has some really cute items in her store.  She gave me a free pattern for a scarf called Wheat (you can find it on Ravelry).  She made a store sample which knitted up real nice so I bought 2 skeins of Malibigo superwash wool. 

We were going to grill steaks tonight, however, it came a thunder-boomer right at dinner time so I made Jambalaya with Andouille Sausage and it was yum!

Wednesday is golf day at Moab Golf Club.  We wanted to play this course when we were here 4 years ago but I think it rained us out.  We played much better today, but, this course is not as difficult as Devil's Thumb.  It's rated 69.4/128 from the blue tees and 66.5/118 from the reds.

Here are a few pictures of the course as it winds around the red rocks:







Speaking of Devil's Thumb, this course has a "thumb" too!

We stopped for lunch at the Moab Diner.  I had a salad and George had a Banana Split....what you gonna do?  He's on vacation!




 

More Jeep Adventures.....

Bandana Cowl

It's another Monday so I did laundry this morning, knitting in between loads.  I finished a Bandana Cowl which turned out quite nice.  Also worked on my striped Poncho...I found a mistake and had to rip out about 3 or 4 inches but caught back up and added another inch or two on the ride down here.  There are a total of 48 inches once you get passed the ribbing....I just finished 28 inches so still have a long way to go.

 

Jeep Trail to Gemini Bridges

After lunch, we took off on another Jeep adventure.  This one was to Gemini Bridges, a 13.4 mile trek rated easy.  The first part of the trail was up a steep incline over a very rocky shelf road.  Along the way, we passed Gooney Bird Rock and one that I named Wren Rock. The scenery was nice most of the trip but I think I like the Colorado mountains better.

 

On the way to Gemini Bridges, we passed Arches National Park, only one mile from our campground.

Arches National Park



Gemini Bridges Trail



 

 

 

 

 

Gooney Bird Rock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wren Rock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The view improved once we arrived at the Gemini Bridges, which is about at the halfway point.  The bridges are a pair of massive natural rocks with spectacular views of the canyon below.  We didn't get too close as we were wearing sandals....bummer.

George on Gemini Bridges

 



Gemini Bridges



Cairns (aka trail markers)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stormy Weather

Storm brewing in the background so time to head home.  Once home, I fixed a stir-fry for dinner then we relaxed the rest of the evening.  Ahhh, another wonderful  day!