Crown King, Arizona

We joined Susan and Wally in walking their dogs around the RV park first thing this morning.  It's looking like it will be a beautiful day.  We noticed six hot air balloons passing silently by.

4 of the 6 balloons we saw this morning.

Somebody at the RV park had been creative and made up a mock graveyard.  We enjoyed reading the funny markers.

Graveyard

Oops!

After the walk Wally drove us to Crown King, an old gold mining town in the mountains.  It was only 50 miles, but took nearly three hours to get there through beautiful, but narrow windy rough mountain roads.  We would never have gone if he did not have a Jeep to get us there.  THANK YOU WALLY for your driving skills.

Spectacular Views 

Narrow Mountain Roads  

We liked this sign by a small town on the way up to Crown King.

The elevation is nearly 6,000 feet, there is snow up here.

When we finally arrived at Crown King, we saw lots of 4-wheelers and 4 wheel drive pickup trucks, but no cars.  I think it would be foolish to try to drive a car up here.  We did see more 4-wheelers out riding around in the desert mountain area.  It's a popular thing to do in Arizona.

It was kinda cool up there and we could see that they had had snow, it was piled up around the buildings and in the shady areas.  The dirt streets were muddy from the snow melt.

4-wheelers at the saloon

There are a few shops and food places here, and some lodging.  We had lunch at the Crown King Saloon, Arizona's oldest Saloon and Brothel.  ok, well, it's not a brothel any more, and the food was very good.

Crown King Saloon

Back down the mountain.  It was a long rough ride, but we enjoyed it anyway.  It is such beautiful country.
Wally dropped Susan and I off at the grocery store to get supplies for dinner while he and Bernie went to wash the Jeep, it got a little dirty today.

While we were waiting for the guys to come pick us up we saw more hot air balloons rising from the field next to the shopping center.

Hot Air Balloons Again

Anthem, Arizona

 We said goodbye for now to Shirley at Towerpoint and went north to a small RV resort near Anthem, Arizona.  Our cousins are there and they were able to save the spot beside their RV for ours.  It was good to see them again as it's been a while.

Our RV next to Susan & Wally's RV.

 After catching up we went for a stroll around the resort.  We saw this beautiful shrub covered in red berries and had to take a picture, I have no idea what it is.

Red Berries

For dinner we went to the Road Runner restaurant.  It was all you can eat fish fry.  I just had to "make it right" after the disaster of a fish dinner I didn't eat on Wednesday.  This fish was much better, so I'm happy now.  The large "Roadrunner" sign you see on the roof was left behind by a movie company after filming "Beyond The Law" (1993) starring Charlie Sheen.

Road Runner Restaurant

Queen Creek Olive Mill

After doing a little shopping this morning, Shirley, Bernie, and I went to Ihop for stuffed french toast and brunch.  Then while Shirley went to a party at the resort, Bernie and I went to visit Arizona's only working olive mill and farm.

Queen Creek Olive Mill

Queen Creek Olive Mill is a family owned company that grows and presses olives to produce extra virgin olive oil.  This was like visiting a small apple orchard in Minnesota.  A shop with many different flavors of olive oils, spreads, dips, wine, and much much more; and a cafe..del Piero, a Mediterranean bistro with a local and organic influence.  We enjoyed several of the free samples and bought ourselves an assortment of olives to sample at home.

The Store and Cafe

We did take the "tour", although it was just sitting and listening to the tour guide tell us about the history of the place and how the olives are processed and pointing to some of the machinery that is used.  But it was interesting.

Outside the shop is a nice large picnic area under the olive trees.

Desert Botanical Garden

Today Bernie and I, along with my sister, Diane, and her husband, Paul, visited the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix.  They currently have on display giant insect sculptures "David Rogers' Big Bugs".   We followed a tour guide for the first 30 minutes and learned a lot about the different cacti and plants there.  Another blue sky sunshine day.  It was great.

Praying Mantis

Cactus

 While at the garden we saw some friendly quail looking for a handout.  There were also some birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and bunnies around.

Quail

Walking on the Desert Loop Trail

Saguaro Cactus

Joshua Tree

Boojum Tree.  I like this, it does not branch out.

We spent several hours there before returning to Towerpoint Resort for dinner.  We went to a nearby restaurant named Taylor Ray's.  It usually has very good food but tonight the "all you can eat" fish fry was a big fail.  I sent back my dinner three times before giving up entirely.  Oh well, it was a good day spent with family.

Superstition Mountain

First thing this morning was bargain hunting at a thrift shop and a Goodwill store.  We found some treasures and then went to McDonald's for lunch.

Next we hiked up to the Superstition Mountain.  It's such a beautiful day for a walk.  The trail was long but not too strenuous for us and the scenery was spectacular.  The only wildlife we saw was two ants, two lizards, and a few hawks.  

Superstition Mountain

Bernie

Me, Diane, Paul, Bernie

Random Lizard

Cowboy

On our way back to town we stopped at that same antique store we were in yesterday and this time we  purchased an axe we had spotted yesterday.

Then after that big day of hiking we went to Old Country Buffet for dinner.

Goldfield Ghost Town and Organ Stop Pizza

Big day today.  This morning we went for a walk around the resort, looked in Open House homes and checked out the new bocce ball courts, pickle ball courts, and horseshoe courts.

Bocce Ball Courts

 After lunch we drove out to visit the ghost town of Goldfield, Arizona, an old gold mining town from 1893.   There were some gift shops, restaurants, and a gunfight reenactment. If we had stayed longer we could have gone on a trail ride, or a wagon ride, or a train tour of the area.

The Bordello at Goldfield

Superstition Mountain

 After Goldfield we drove out to the Lost Dutchman State Park at the base of Superstition Mountain, hiked around a little before heading back towards home.  On the way back we stopped at an antique shop on the side of the road.

Antique Shop

Supper was at Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa.  What a great experience that was.  A very entertaining performance.  This organ has nearly 6,000 pipes and is the largest Wurlitzer in the world.

The pizza was ok.

Organ Stop Pizza Performance

 Then back to the resort.  It was dark by the time we got there and many of the Christmas lights were still on.

Towerpoint Resort at the Entrance

Christmas Eve

Such a lovely day in Mesa, blue sky and sunshine.  We went for a walk around the resort and looked in several "Open House" new homes just for kicks.  We are not ready to settle down just yet.

B Street, where we are parked somewhere about in the middle.

 This evening the resort had a little Christmas party.  Everyone brought cookies or snacks and they had a guest singer with karaoke.

Karaoke at the Community Center

 Mr. and Mrs. Santa were there but they were so busy with picture taking I didn't get a picture of them.  However, I found their sleigh just outside.

Towerpoint Resort

We arrived at Towerpoint Resort on Wednesday and were lucky enough to have an available spot to park right behind my step-mother's house, so she is just a few steps away.   The resort is decorated for Christmas and many of the homes have decorations out too.  We live on "B Street", Shirley lives on "C Street".  There was a C Street party that began a few hours after we arrived so we went to that with her.

Our Spot Behind Shirley's House

Mr. & Mrs. Santa

On Thursday Shirley took us to the Mesa Flea Market.  This is the largest flea market that I have ever seen. It was a lot of fun and I spent too much money there, but did get a few nice things for the motor home.

Our New Rug

Benson, AZ

You know you're in the desert when you start seeing signs like this at the Rest Areas.

Poisonous Snakes and Insects
Inhabit The Area

 We spent a few days visiting relatives in the area near Benson, Arizona.  They let us park in their yard.  We had a great time, but we can't stay forever so we said goodbye and headed towards the Phoenix area.

Near Benson, Arizona

Tonight we are in Sunscape RV Park, a resort near Casa Grande, Arizona, not far from Mesa and Phoenix.  There are relatives near here that we would like to say hello to before we get to Mesa for Christmas.

Sunscape RV Park

Arizona

We left Van Horn, Texas, early this morning and headed west again, still on Interstate 10.  Texas just goes on and on, and there's nothing to see, no trees, no houses.  Finally we crossed the state line into New Mexico.  Now we're closer to the Mexico border and we are beginning to see Border Patrol people.  Everyone had to stop at this check station.  They're building a new on right beside it.  I took a picture of all the cameras and sniffers and equipment they had on the shoulder.  They just waved us through without stopping.

Sniffers and Cameras

 El Paso is much bigger than I thought it was.  It goes on for miles, not many tall buildings.  At one point I-10  parallels the Mexico border, you can see the border fence and the city of Juarez, Mexico, on the other side of it.

Behind the train cars is the border fence and the city of Juarez, Mexico.

 Then into New Mexico.  Some of the first things we see are huge dairy operations, one after another.  It's a good thing you can't smell this.

Big dairy operations on the other side of the road

Finally, we got to Wilcox, Arizona.  There is an RV park there that we had parked in last year.  It was clean, level, nice view, full hook-ups, hardly anyone there, and best of all, with our Passport America discount....cheap!  There will be free waffles and coffee in the morning.

Tonight's View

West Texas

Texas is such a big state.  We drove almost 400 miles without seeing a tree or a house.  Somewhere along the way we stopped at a Rest Area only to discover that they had no water, so the bathrooms were closed.  Good thing we travel with our own.

Texas

More Texas

That's all we did today.

We found a nice RV park in Van Horn, where we will sleep tonight.

Mountain View RV Park, Van Horn, Texas