Merry Christmas

The "kids" are telling mom to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year!!

11/23 Sunday, Cave Creek to Surprise

Smudge decided to greet Mama this morning..... Once the dogs were taken care of and we had our breakfast of muffins and a tiny bit of leftover fruit, we went out to say good by to all of our Lazy Daze friends.


The camp hosts were amazed at how nice and tidy we left the group camp area, and told us we would be welcome anytime!!


I gave Steve a jingle and he met us half-way home for a bite to eat at Paradise Bakery, then we poked our noses into Ross Dress for Less. Steve and Mama went home in the M-5, the dogs and I went up to Petsmart. Since there was a pet adoption stand out front with 4 dogs, I left my pups in the "Barking Motorhome". She had one 6-month-old Shepard/Mountain dog mix I would have adopted if I didn't already have my hands full!!


So, my guys got a special treat for being good watch dogs.....

11/22 Saturday, Cave Creek

Another beautiful day in Cave Creek, Arizona! We have a "pot-luck" breakfast planned, and I am making a fresh fruit mix... no melon, but apples, kiwi, banana, red seedless grapes, oranges and strawberries. Last time I made it, it was gone before I could get any!

After breakfast, Jane and I drove up to Bartlett Lake. I'd never been up there before. We passed a lot of cyclists out for a morning ride. I would guess this is where cyclists go to find "hills" in Phoenix!! Jane said the lake has been really drained down from the last time she was there.



I wondered what these boxes are for, turns out they are fish habitat when the lake is at a higher level. The dock we were walking on is on floats, to fluctuate with the lake levels.... a pretty steep climb back to the top!

Very pretty scenery here. One pictures Arizona as just flat desert and cacti.... but there is all kinds of beauty when you look around.

Jane and I stopped at the Diary Queen in Cave Creek for a treat, and then stopped at one of the galleries I went to yesterday. They had sold out of all of their small cactus luminarias, except for one that I snapped up.

Back at camp, my Mom and I relaxed in Blue, and managed to sleep through most of happy hour. We did rouse ourselves to go out for a liqueur tasting, and sat around the fire pit for a while visiting. Here are Jane and Denver having their evening "lap time" near the fire.

11/21 Friday, Cave Creek, AZ

Here is this mornings sunrise as seen from the "cave", which is the cab over bed. I took the pups out for a walk, then Mama and I had a leisurely breakfast before joining everyone beside Jacks' rig for our GTG photo. Some folks decided to drive up to Bartlett Lake and the surrounding areas, some relaxed at the campground.

Steve drove up around 10:30am and we went through the guide book and decided which studios we were going to visit. He took Mama and I around to some of the studios featured in the "Hidden in the Hills" tour and sale sponsored by the Sonoran Arts League. There were quite a few artists sharing space, some places were private homes, others studios. We got a great opportunity to visit with the various artists and learn about their particular art styles. Surprisingly for me, I didn't take many photographs, and I was careful to ask permission to photograph anything.

I did ask permission to take a photo of this little guy, I couldn't resist with his tongue sticking out. Steve had to assist to keep the pup pointed in the right direction. His "mom" was one of the artists (see http://www.bethzinkart.com/), and we got to have a good talk with her. My Mom and I bought notecards with her artwork on them.

We stopped at the Laughlin Glass Studio (http://www.laughingglass.com/) where they deal in various glass forms. My favorite is "Glass Tapestries", which look like strands of glass melted and crumpled up like a cloth napkin. The colors are so vibrant. They also make Ikebanas (flower holders) in irridescent colors.

Steve really liked the art of Steve Stento (http://www.stevestento.com/) and we both liked Virginia Brooks (http://www.virginiabrooks.com/).

My Mom and I liked the work of Sue Hunter (http://www.suehunter.net/). We bought a tile of a print called "These Boots are Made for Walking". It's one of those pieces where you do a double take, then bust up laughing!

We had picked out 9 studios to visit (out of 46 listed) and saw about 5 before we decided to break for lunch. We ended up at "The Horny Toad" in Cave Creek, where we had drinks and bar-b-que pork and beef sandwiches for lunch.

Here is Mama posing in front of the fireplace in the dining area. Kind of reminds me of the Stonehouse!! After lunch we drove on to a few more studios. On our last stop, we visited the studio of Fernando Villalobos, who was originally from Tarahumara (Copper Canyon, Mexico). We had a very interesting time visiting with his wife and Doberman!

We headed back to the campground just in time to follow the Lazy Daze gang to El Encanto Dos, where we had a table reserved for dinner.




Here we are, almost the entire group, ready for an evening of chatter and laughter.

Upon the end of our evening, Steve and Jack loaded up the scooter that Suzanne so kindly decided to give to my Mom. Unfortunately, Suzanne passed away before she could give the scooter personally, but Jack brought it with him.

11/20 Thursday, Cave Creek, AZ

Well, once we were all ready to go, we were going to be late for our "Welcome" happy hour. Unfortunately, with the problems with Blue in the past, folks were starting to worry a little. I will need to be sure to let someone know in the future that everything is okay!!

I didn't realize such a beautiful regional park was so close at hand. It took us just over an hour to get there, up in the hills north of Phoenix and Scottsdale.

It was good seeing our Lazy Daze friends all ready for happy hour as we pulled in.

I was "levelly" challenged when trying to get the rig semi-level... first I put the levels (2" and 4") backwards, so had to start over; still wasn't near semi-level, so I had to move west about 6'.... heard a "TWANG"!!! when I pulled forward, which I discovered was the attachment on the sewer hose carrier catching the parks' handicapped parking sign. No harm to the sign, but broke an edge off the attachment. And off course, since everyone was at the Ramada, they were watching all of this.

The only downside to our spot is the handicap RV area next to the Ramadas was not accessible to the restrooms without moving the rig or driving in a car.

I unloaded the wheelchair and Mama, and we went up to visit with all of our friends!

11/19 Wednesday, Surprise, AZ

OWWWW!!!! Mom gave me a headache!! I was freed from the RV storage yard yesterday, and mom has been putzing around getting me stocked up for our trip to Cave Creek Regional Park this weekend.

Well, Mom took me to Grandma's house to hook me up to the electricity, and even though she trimmed Grandma's big Mesquite tree, some of those remaining branches whacked my roof. Only damage was to the cover of the swamp cooler. But still, that smarts!!!

I'm excited to get out, but I'm jealous of my friend Ciao Baby, who is on a trip to Mexico and Central America. Looking forward to seeing my other Lazy Daze friends this weekend, though!

10/14-17, Surprise, AZ

I’ve been taking my time cleaning up.. one day to remove all the foodstuffs and dirty laundry, wash and put things away. One day to thoroughly vacuum and wash the nose prints and drool off all the windows. One day to wash the bugs, mud and road dirt off the outside of Blue, then tuck him away in storage for the next Blue’s Adventure in November!!

10/13 Monday, Benson to Surprise, AZ

In spite of being close to Interstate 10 and the Railroad tracks, we slept pretty well. Took the dogs for a walk in the pet walk area that leads to a bluff overlooking the interstate. Both dogs on sensory overload walking up there!!




We had a nice breakfast of French Toast cinnamon rolls at Apple Annie’s restaurant in Benson. Then onward to Tucson to inspect both of Anjanine rental houses.

I was really apprehensive about seeing the houses, but I got a pleasant surprise!! The 39th St house looks great inside, especially the kitchen, where Tucson Steve has re-finished the new French doors to match the new cabinets. I fight back tears when I think the kids had hoped to be the first ones to live in their “dream home”, and now it is to be a rental.

This is the 39th St Kitchen Before:













This is After:












This is the Living room, Dining room and Family room Before:











This is the Living room, Dining room and Family room After:





The Manitoba house, while needing some work, is not THRASHED as the realtors claim. It is dirty, and there are repairs needed, but I think I can do most of the work myself in a couple of days. We walked around and picked up yard trash, and bought locks to secure the back gates.

As it would have been peak traffic hours to drive through Phoenix, we made a pit stop near Casa Grande, where a new open-air shopping area has been built. Quite a selection of stores, so now folks here don’t have to drive to either Tucson or Phoenix for their “mall” fix.

After shopping, we drove on home and stopped at our favorite Chili’s for dinner, as there are slim pickin’s in our refrigerators!! Smudge knows where “home” is, and got quite animated the closer we got to Surprise.

10/12 Sunday, Silver City, NM to Benson, AZ

We all slept in this morning, even the dogs!! I took the pups out for a walk and gave them breakfast outside, and got dressed and we had our breakfast of cereal and yogurt. Steve went down to the shower house while I got Blue ready to go.. filled with water, dump tanks, shake out throw rugs, check motor oil, fluids and tire pressure. The sky is beautiful today, but still breezy. Our neighbors with a 5th wheel commented on how well behaved the dogs are. They are using a convential semi tractor, with storage for two Harleys as their tow vehicle!!!

I took my laptop over to the park office, as I couldn’t get their internet access to work last night. Since I will be home next week, I do need to check my work schedule…. Back to the real world, Sigh!!! The clerk was very helpful and got the connection to work (they have upgraded their site security from last year). He has a little Pomeranian named Sissy that I got to play with, too. Loved their "ranch" themed stop sign!
We got gasoline, then drove down to the historic part of town. This weekend is Silver City’s Art Festival, so we had fun walking around, looking in the galleries and antique stores. I took lots of photos of the old homes and buildings.

Stained glass studio!


Oriental styled bar
cabinet with striped
mirrors!









Someone waiting for his/her people... very friendly Lynx Point Siamese kitty.....

Historic building next to the "Big Ditch" and building details.

We couldn’t decide where to eat lunch, and after poking our noses in a couple of places or looking at the prices on the menus, we were almost ready to give up and walk back to Blue for sandwiches. We ended up having a wonderful lunch (me, bacon & avocado on jalapeno bread with cream of tomato soup, Steve, meatloaf and Caesar salad). We saved half our sandwiches so we could have lemon cake for dessert. Oh, YUM!!!!

Old and new side by side, right.....




Since the area we were walking in is reasonably compact, we were able to pass by Blue numerous times to unload purchases, walk dogs and leave our leftovers in the refrigerator. Where I parked was under a nice shady tree on a very steep sideways angle. It felt like the “Mystery House” at Knott’s Berry Farm when one walks from one end to the other.







Also, most of the curbs are very high (12” to 3’), and a lot of corners have steps and railings!

Sedgeway parking!


Like this plastic over the windows....

One tough plant to the right... Artist's row.

It was late afternoon by the time we had our fill of walking and looking, so we reluctantly headed southwest towards home. I notice the wind is picking up again. In passing conversation with some folks in town, I heard that the final day events for the Balloon Fiesta were cancelled due to severe wind.

The sun was just starting to go down when we decided to stop in Benson, Arizona for the night. We are staying at the Pato Blanco RV Park, just off I-10. So, we do hear the interstate noise and the freight trains going by, blowing their horns. It’s not horrible, though.

We wandered down to the shower house after dinner of our leftover lunch (YUM x 2). It is sooooo nice to not take a “Navy” shower, even if the shower nozzle doesn’t work well! When we opened the door to Blue, the trash was EVERYWHERE!!! Some Smudge dog can’t resist getting into the trash, and some guardian sometimes forgets to put the trash away from temptation! So, both dogs got scolded and I picked up the mess.