How was your weekend?

I hope ya'll had a wonderful weekend!  We sure did!  We decided to head to Arizona for a long weekend of camping and visiting with our daughter who moved there last year for grad school.

We packed our camping trailer and brought our furry kiddos with us for a weekend of fun!

Salsa always loves to go bye-bye!  And, she loves her boots!  They protect her feet from hot pavement and keep stickers from getting stuck in the fur and between her toes.  That makes it so we don't have to spend long amounts of time picking stickers out with tweezers!  We've done that!  It's not fun for her or us!  Here she is happily resting by the trailer after a walk...with her boots on.  Such a cutie!

Our daughter spent the entire weekend with us camping.  We loved that!  And, so did Salsa!  She's always happy to have everyone together.  And, she cherishes every bit of time and attention she gets with our daughter.  Just look at that smile...

Our cat, Penelope, is becoming a great traveler!  I'm so proud of her!  And, she loved the warm weather on this trip.  She's so often cold.  So, this trip was great for her.  It was for us too.  It's been a bit chilly at home.  Especially for my hubby who works down by the beach where it's been cold, damp, and gray.  It was great to thaw out!

The campground was surprisingly uncrowded for a holiday weekend.  That was nice!  It was quiet and made it better for seeing wildlife.  And, we saw a lot of wildlife this weekend!  One of the first things we noticed when we got there was hundreds of tiny Arizona Round Tailed Ground Squirrels!  They were everywhere!  They're super tiny...about the size of a little chipmunk.  They're really cute!

We saw a couple of coyotes and we heard packs of them every night.

We were hoping to see Javelina and we were lucky to see two of them on an evening bike ride.  Unfortunately, they ran away so fast that I didn't get any pictures.  We didn't see any more of them the rest of the weekend.  But, we did hear them at night a couple of times.

We saw a mountain lion one evening.  At least, that's what it looked like.  And, the rangers said one had been spotted and reported the week before.  It was crouching down in the grasses a couple hundred feet from the road.  I only had my cell phone with me for pictures.  I snapped a couple and tried zooming in for a better look.  The pics were super blurry but the coloring and ears looked like it was a mountain lion rather than a bobcat.  I've never seen one before and figured I never would.  So, this was a little exciting.  It was a little scary.  And, it was also a little sad because being that close to people is unusual and could mean something is wrong with it or it could end up needing to be moved or something if it keeps going that close.  I'm hoping for the best...that this was just unusual and that it will stay away from now on.

There were a lot of birds....Roadrunners, doves, bright red birds, tiny birds....and lots of pretty singing.  There were lots of quail too.  They're SO plump compared to the ones near our home.  We saw this one watching out for his flock in the riverbed.  It's a little blurry because he was far away.

As always, I was on the lookout for wildflowers.  I found some beauties!  Check out the blooms on this cactus.  Gorgeous!

There were lots of these on big bushes/trees...

The weather was quite warm in the afternoons.  But, the early mornings were nice and cool and we made sure to get out to enjoy it.  We went on a couple of bike rides along part of "The Loop".  It's a series of connecting bike paths along riverbeds and roads that run through and around Tucson.  It's very impressive!  I love riding and walking on The Loop because there are no cars and the views and wildlife are a lot of fun to see along the way.  The Loop is very popular and busy.  I wish we had such a thing where we live!  This is my daughter riding onto one of the bridges that crosses over the river...

There was a little surprise along the portion of The Loop that we rode on....a little labyrinth.  Of course, we had to walk it both days that we rode by.

Our daughter has gotten into archery and had just gotten a new bow.  We went with her to a range to see her shoot.  We also tried shooting.  It's surprisingly different than my husband and I ever would have imagined!  It takes a lot of strength and it's quite complicated!  Hubby loved it.  I'm not sure yet if I like it or not.  Here's hubby shooting alongside our daughter.  I love this picture!

We ate at camp most of the time.  But, we did go out a couple of times for lunch.  We tried a new-to-us restaurant one day.  It had great reviews and their website sounded like it was great.  We drove up and it looked like a dive!  But, it's popular and we couldn't even get a parking spot the first time we tried to go there.  The next day, we went right after they opened and had no trouble getting a parking spot.  It was very good!  It's called Tacos Y Tequila.  And, that's just about all they sell is tacos and drinks.  The tacos are interesting, unique, and delicious!  Their house margaritas were quite good too!

We enjoyed lots of relaxing, reading, knitting, and, most of all, being together!  It was such an awesome weekend!

Throwback Thursday - Tombstone and Bisbee, Arizona

In my attempt to get back to blogging and to catch up a little with what I've missed posting, here's a throwback post to last December and a trip we made to Arizona...

We had gone with our RV to visit our daughter who moved to Arizona last year.  The weather turned really cold with freeze warnings at night and quite a bit of rain.  Hanging out at camp was great....lots of reading, knitting, hot foods and drinks, and I even got my Christmas cards done.  But, we eventually got cabin fever and decided to head out and do some exploring.

First, we headed to Tombstone.  It was a cute little town.  There were old buildings and horse drawn buggies and stagecoaches.  This is the courthouse.  I thought the horse going by made for a great photo opportunity.

Since it was so cold, the ghost town lived up to it's name that day and looked very empty, with very few visitors.  The wind was bitter cold and it made it hard to stick around for very long.  We quickly walked through some of the main part of town.  There are some fun little shops there.  But, overall, we were a bit disappointed.  There seems to be a charge for just about everything.  The O.K. Corral was walled in and you had to pay to see it.  There were people in the streets and on the corners talking at everyone who walked by in an attempt to get them to pay for historical information.  The stagecoaches traveled around with loud speakers inside telling about the area.  That didn't seem like a fun ride.  And, those speakers and microphones definitely didn't help with feeling like you were stepping back in time.  But, who knows, maybe it would be a lot more fun on a warmer and busier day.  The lack of crowds made it good for photos though.  Here's the main street...

Since we didn't stay long in Tombstone, we still had plenty of time left in the day.  We'd heard about the nearby town of Bisbee and decided to go see it.  It turned out to be fantastic and even magical!  The moment we caught a glimpse of it, we were gasping and ooohing and aahhhing over how adorable it is.  The weather that day added to the charm.  It made the town less crowded and we often felt like we almost had it all to ourselves.

Many of the homes are built into the side of the hill, they're old, and the narrow winding road made me think of photos I've seen of old European towns.  It was charming!  This photo almost looks like an old painting.  I love it!  That's hubby and Salsa standing on the sidewalk...

There were surprises everywhere we looked....even down on the sidewalk...

Beautiful stone or glass tiles had been set into the concrete and it looked as if they had once been lit from underneath.  That must have been beautiful to see!

Even some of the manhole covers were ornate and beautiful...

The sun was shining when we arrived in Bisbee.  I took a photo of this old church shortly after we pulled into town...

We walked in a building to see a weaving guild that was meeting that day and when we came out the sun was gone and the sky was completely cloudy.  We went into a cozy little restaurant for lunch and it soon started to snow.  That's something we rarely see.  So, we were in awe!  It was magical for us!  The waitress told us that it rarely snows in Bisbee.  She said it only happens once every few years or so.  We were lucky to be there to see it!

Here's that same church a little while later...

We enjoyed walking around some of the little shops in town.  We also stopped in for a drink at the old Copper Queen Saloon that had been there since 1906!  We sat in the back, had a drink and enjoyed watching the snow falling outside.

We headed back to camp with lots of great memories from a wonderful day of exploring.  I hope to go back someday when the weather is dry and take a LOT more photos!

It snowed again overnight in the mountains next to the campground.  Cold but beautiful!

And, to our surprise that next morning, we found that someone had decorated a tiny tree outside of our trailer the day before.  Such a fun and touching little surprise!

The ornaments were covered in frost and snow.

And, some had blown off in the high winds.

There were some sunny days while we were there though.  We bundled up one day and headed out on the "50 Year Trail" at Golder Ranch for some mountain biking.  It was a beautiful day and a fun ride.  But, I have to say that cactus along a single track trail adds a whole new dimension to mountain biking!  I kept a much closer eye on the trail and everything alongside it!  One guy parked next to us at the finish was pulling cactus thorns out of his leg!  Ouch!

That's my hubby in the photo...

Arizona is such a beautiful state with a lot to see.  We've been there a often since our daughter moved there.  We're heading back again this weekend.  I wonder what we'll see this time?!

Celebration Road Trip - Capitol Reef

The second major stop that we'd planned for our 25th anniversary road trip was Capitol Reef National Park in Utah.  We've been to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks.  We fell so in love with Zion that we kept going back there...sometimes a couple times a year.  We decided it was time to start visiting Utah's other National Parks.  Capitol Reef was going to be our third of the five parks.

Our drive from the North Rim of Grand Canyon went through gorgeous scenery and lots of rain.  We pulled into the very small town of Torrey, Utah in the afternoon.  It's the closest town to Capitol Reef and has three RV parks.  We hadn't made reservations at any of them and all three were full.  The campground in the National Park was first come/first serve only.  We headed over there next.  We were hopeful but I was in a mind set that we'd find a place somewhere and was excited to see where.  Sense of adventure!  Luckily, there were a few spots left that day in the National Park and we got one of them.

We really had no idea what to expect at Capitol Reef but we were in for so many surprises and a wonderful, relaxing, delightful, beautiful, delicious, informative, adventurous, amazing week!

In case you might be wondering, Capitol Reef is in the center of the southern part of Utah.  It's about a two and a half hour drive from Bryce and a three and a half hour drive from Zion.  It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

It has a visitor center with rangers that are happy and willing to answer all our questions, a little shop, lost and found, and a tiny theatre with a film that plays regularly, telling about Capitol Reef.

Even though the park is so far out of the way and uncrowded the visitor center seemed to always be bustling with people.  So, a photo of just the building was out of the question.  But, with views like this, no one could resist taking photos!  This was a rare moment that I was able to get a photo with just a couple of people.  Pretty cute how she's taking a photo of him and how he's posing.

The huge, red, sandstone rocks were very much like Zion.

We loved that!

We could see them from the campground in two different directions.  Here's are some views of the road going into the campground and some of those huge rocks...

The campground was beautiful!  It was grassy and green with big shady trees and the spaces were far apart.  There aren't any hookups but there's water in the park, a dump station, very clean and nice restrooms and each site has a parking area that's paved and level.  It's only $10 per night!

The deer roamed through the park every day and we could hear the nearby river flowing.

It was peaceful and beautiful and we couldn't have had better weather!  It was sunny, in the 70's to 80's each day and night time temps were in the 50's.  Gorgeous!

I loved the view looking up from my folding lounge chair!

Beautiful trees and such an amazing blue sky!

We had absolutely no phone signal when we were in the park.  However, the rangers told us that we likely could get a signal at Panorama Point, just a few minutes west of the visitor center.  They were right.  Here's the amazing view we had whenever we went to call and check in with our daughter...

On the first full day of our stay, we drove up into the park.

This is the view looking back down...

Up at the end of the drive and in the parking and rest areas were some painters.

I'm not sure but it seemed like there was a class going on here...

There was a painter further out on the dirt road.  I love this photo and how the easel in the bottom right looks so tiny next to those massive rocks.

We saw SO many wildflowers on this trip and SO many of them couldn't be photographed as they were along the roadsides.  We literally drove through hundreds of miles of golden, flower lined, highways.  It was spectacular!  This drive into the park, however, allowed me to pull over often and take pictures.

Here are just a few of the wildflowers at Capitol Reef National Park...

Amazing!

This is a close up of the teenie tiny flowers in the photo above.  Amazing!

These crazy looking pods popped open a few days later and cottony, fluffy seeds came flowing out.

This is Rabbitbrush is such a tiny sample of the millions of golden bushes of it that we saw on our trip.  We realized that Monsoon season is really Spring for this part of the country.  Utah and Arizona were exploding with brilliant, beautiful flowers, lush green grasses that carpeted the desert floor, very happy and green trees, and flowing creeks and rivers.  It added so much more WOW to our trip!

These look like tiny roses and I think they're so beautiful!

I've never seen this plant.  It had very few leaves and grew long strands of these tiny flowers.

I only saw this once.  It was growing by the river.  Looks like tiny beans.

The visitor center and campground are set right in the middle of the Fruita Historic District.  It's an old settlement with orchards and a few historical buildings.  One of those buildings is the Gifford House.  They've turned it into a museum and store.

In the front yard is the old smoke house.

 They open early every morning with fresh baked pies.

They sell many different canned jams, jellies, pickles, etc.

They also sell handcrafted items like embroidered pillows, candles

quilted pot holders,these rolling pins, and more.

They had about half a dozen flavors of pie.  We enjoyed the apple pie a couple of times.  It was so good!  Probably the best apple pie I've ever had.  It was perfectly seasoned and not too sweet, the texture of the apples was perfect, the crust was great (I'm not usually a crust fan), and it had a sprinkling of sweet crumbs on top like a Dutch apple pie.  They also sold several kinds of Scottish Scones that were baked locally.  We tried the cranberry and pumpkin flavors.  Both were good but I think the pumpkin was my favorite.  They're very different than scones I'm used to.  They're much more dense, bread like, heavy, and not quite as sweet.  We enjoyed them!

There was a crab apple tree out in the front of Gifford house that was loaded with fruit.

There were so many that, from a distance, I thought it was cherries!

There is a path that runs from the campground, along the river, to the Gifford House, through the park, past the blacksmith barn and orchards and to the visitor center.  Here it is going through the park...

We saw the biggest Cottonwood trees there that we'd ever seen in our lives!

The deer were always roaming through...

One afternoon we caught a glimpse of some turkeys...

From the park, there's a bridge over a river that leads to one of the orchards...

They grow apples and pears there.  I think they grow peaches too but we didn't see any.  The fruit is free to eat while you're in the orchard and only $1.25 per pound (self-serve) for whatever you take out.  The fruit was SO delicious!  Especially the pears.  They were better than any pears we've ever eaten!  So, sweet, juicy and flavorful!

There were deer in the orchards almost every time we visited or drove by.  They didn't seem to be eating the fruit, just the grasses.  And, they seemed to really enjoy being there.  Here's one lounging under an apple tree...

We enjoyed the orchards so much that we made sure to visit every day during our stay.

They were so beautiful and peaceful that I could have stayed all day.  

Across the highway but still in the park and the Fruita Historic District is the old Fruita schoolhouse.

It's tiny and very well preserved.

Here are some photos I took through the windows...

Whenever we walked back to camp from the orchards or drove back from a day trip, this is the scenery we saw in the heart of the historic area and near the campground.  It's so pretty!  And, I love the old barn!

Not only did we have no phone signal but there were no real grocery stores or much of anything else.  That didn't prevent me from having my vanilla lattes!  I got really good at making them over this trip by using my Moka pot in the trailer with hot almond milk and vanilla simple syrup I'd made at home.  Yum!

I posted this one day on Instagram...

Those Scottish scones were delicious with my coffee!

On one of the nights that we were there, we walked over to a star talk lead by a park volunteer.  He had a telescope with him and we got to see Saturn, various constellations, and the moon.  We learned so much and it was amazing what we saw through the telescope!

This stop truly was a surprise and a treat!  We absolutely loved visiting Capitol Reef and enjoyed our stay so much that we look forward to going back there again someday.  This post, however, is only one part of our visit to Capitol Reef.  We saw a couple more things there that deserve a post all their own.  So, stay tuned for more!  I'll keep sorting through photos and getting these posts up as soon as I can.  :-D