a trek to Tucson

back to saguaro land!!!

Mid-March, We hitched up our home and made a run south for the Tucson area, for a good taste of Saguaro national park before 100+ degree weather starts up for the summer, and check out places even further south, like Coronado national monument, mere miles from the boarder of Mexico.  We also went this direction for some work-related stuff.

Some friends of ours who live in town (Sedona) asked if we'd like to help out with expanding their lapidary business.  we've considered it, and feel clearly guided to say "Yeah!!".  Joel is handling the monstrosity of a website situation, and I am going to be their new photographer- taking pics of inventory (if you follow me on instagram, that explains the recent posts of fossils and gems :) creating descriptions for it all, helping fill orders, set up a front office within the warehouse, etc.  All for a comfortable salary, with time off here and there for us to do more traveling, possible field trips together to collect our own minerals, profit sharing, YADDDA YADDA!!  It feels like a great fit for us right now.  The colleague who's business we are integrating into our friends', he lives in Tucson.  We went to meet him one day on this trip, see his set  up, and get the ball rolling.   Leaving on a warm Sunday morning, we made the 5ish-hour drive to Benson, AZ, where another SKP's park awaited us.


They have a fun newbie special ($50 for a week) and it was conveniently centrally located for all the areas we wanted to visit, including Tucson.  Every day we were up to something, so we never made it to "happy hour", but there is this gate with a horseshoe for a latch at the back corner of the property that leads to the top of a hill, and the walking path that goes along the tops of all these... "mini canyons" i'll say.  these trails stretch on for several miles and we were told to freely roam as far as we wish.
Overlooking the climb up the hill stand a large metal-crafted saguaro cactus and a star shape, that light up at dusk every night off their solar panels.  What a brilliant landmark when driving home at dark, in unfamiliar territory.  BRILLIANT!  i got up pre-dawn one morning and caught the sunrise while sitting between them.  Other than spending a day with our friend and meeting our new colleague for business reasons, here's a taste of what we explored:

  (the words in red will take you to photos.  including these ones :)

*Tombstone, the tourist-y time warp town, and adorable little Bisbee, loaded with art, art and more art.  We did a lot of driving around this day, and wandered thru some neat, wild properties in the middle of nowhere.

*Drove so far south, we could practically throw our hats into Mexico.  We stopped in to see the Coronado National monument, commemorating an expedition that happened back in 1540.  it was a steep drive up the mountain with a hiking trail from the parking lot up top that took us even higher, to where we could see the actual boarder of Mexico.  spectacular scenery.

*East Saguaro national park in the morning.  It's clearly Springtime here!  so much in bloom.  FEELS like SUMMER!!  it was BLOODY HOT.  we weren't even able to finish an entire hiking path... we started to melt, so we went back to the car.  The park was a hoot, even just for driving thru.  The rest of the day we spent with our friend and new business colleague.

my 2nd cousin, Desiree 

*I got to meet up with a "long lost cousin".
She was never really lost 😛 but i say that because
1)  she's a second-cousin,
2) i only met her once, when she was 5ish ???
3) she grew up in alaska.  and i have yet to visit alaska!  (an RV trip for our future, for sure)).
She just-so-happened to be living in Tucson for only another week or so (TIMING!!!)  we got in touch and she met up with Joel and I for a hike through the Cochise Stronghold.  I had been looking forward to this hike for a while... reading up on what a "cochise (CO-CHEESE) stronghold" is... and it appears to be somewhat misnamed.  from what i have gathered, the native chief, Cochise, went here not to hold ppl back from attack, but for personal, spiritual refuge.  This place was special, and holy to him, and I wanted to feel it/see it, too.  What a HOT day it was!  the hike was gorgeous.  the rock formations were something else.  we actually didn't make it to the end- we went off the beaten path and found a unique way back.  I would definitely do this hike again to the end.  It was a really fun day of getting to know Desiree better, hearing about the fam, rejoicing in her recent accomplishments, and seeing such beautiful scenery together.  A blessed day it was!  And i look forward to seeing her again.

Chiricahua national park

*hiked 2 different trails at Chiricahua National Monument.  more incredible rock walls, stacks, spires, and funky formations.  it's a giant playground like, yet unlike, the red rocks of our new home.  The weather shifted, bringing in grey clouds and sprinkles.  then we were rained on. it was heaven- the smell of the ground and rocks wet from the showers, the mist and haze that moved across the scenes we walked through...  earthy and mysterious.
Time to leave SKPs in the morning.

*took the RV to the west side of Tucson and parked on BLM land toward the outskirts of town.  there were many other trailors, RVs, vans, tents, and ppl camping out here, some with children.  and we found it to be quite comfortable; very dark at night, and quiet, even though we're not far off two different roads.  again, there is a chuck of hill behind the area, so we scaled it one morning and got some fun photos.

*West Suguaro national park is AWE.  MAZE.  BALLS.  the park i'd been waiting for!  so many trails to hike!  we only had time for a few.  They call the area a forest, and now i feel why they do, once we got up high with a view of acres beyond us.  Saw some of the most clearly-defined pictographs we've come across yet:  spirals, animals, funky shapes- check out the rock piles toward the end of the album (click above).  the cactus themselves are so fun to walk up to, and feel just how BIG a presence they are.  some of them have interesting holes eaten away in them, and they keep growing.  and i wanna go back.  we will go back.

*Lastly, the scenic drive to the top of Mt. Lemmon.  that's a fun little day trip.  Made a stop to walk around a pretty lake that formed from damming up the water at some point.  We got to see the place i wanted to go snowboarding this year.  it never even opened!  they get jipped on snowfall some seasons.  this year was one of 'em.  they still had a chair lift running tho- taking ppl to the top for the views.  we opted out, but chatted a little bit with the guy running it, who told us one year they had a total of 28 feet!  (in the dessert!)

MANY RECOMMENDATIONS have been given to us about visiting the Desert Museum in town.  We didn't have time to cram that in this trip.  After more than a week away from home, it was time to mosey on back.

dusk from our front door

BYE BYE, TUCSON!  we haven't even seen your inner city yet.  what surrounds you is gorgeous.  what more awaits us here?  I know we'll be back to find out.

~Tally Ho!

getting high all the time PART II

the climbing continues:  Bear mountain- WHOA.  Sterling pass- kicked our ass.
more canyons, caves, amazing views...  click the trail name to see all the pics.

with Cam and Veronika

Bear Mountain  Overlooks EVERYTHING around!  it's one of the highest summits in the Sedona area, and let's you see well-beyond it.  once you experience the top, you can pick it out from wherever you are on ground.  We'll be well-across town and one of us will point it out miles away.  "We were all the way up THERE?!"  i still ask, in a bit of awe.  the trail is crazy; not just switchbacky to the top, but it goes UP and DOWN about 50 (i'm guessing) different times, ACROSS an interesting variety of rugged terrain, leading one to tap into their spider-manny skills up steeply sloped red rock, and finally it brings you to MORE climbing up, to what you think is finally the top!
but it's not!  you still have to hike down some more, and then up again, and then down, and then...  it ends eventually.  One of the most strenuous ones we've done, with Joel's cousin Veronika, and our buddy Cam.  need i say it was EPIC?  with snow at the trail end.  I was so thirsty!  i munched to my heart's content.  and caught an amazing view of the mountain to the north- in Flagstaff- where we were snowboarding only a few days previous. I didn't know that was up there waiting for us 😄 it made my day!!  what a sight.  we ate celebratory sourdough cookies at the top.

Jack's Canyon   was just a short jaunt the day after we got here.  Walking the whole thing would bring us down into Jack's canyon and we weren't prepared for that, so we only went a couple of miles.  We were elated just to be out.  Passed thru a bunch of cows to get to it.  Great views of the village of Oak Creek.

Sycamore Canyon  is a bumpy, rocky, crazy-dirt-road-ride 25 minutes away from the tourists, with wilderness beyond it for many miles.  the canyon itself is 21 miles long and reaches 7 miles wide.  Ever since i've been with Joel he has shown me on maps, and talked about wanting to hike deeper into this area than he has been before.  so this one was really special- now we were here together.  we went as far as he'd been before then had to head back.  we will return with our tent and spend some nights out here after it warms up a bit.  lots of new, weird rock spires and formations to oogle at.

Cam and Joel

Sterling Pass   lots of elevation in a short amount of time-- HOLY CATS.  another epic, and strenuous hike.  starts out with BANG- steep climbing up, Up, UP from the get-go, into tall, towering Ponderosa pines, some fallen.  little cave-type forms eroded away in the limestone rock that the boys climbed in and out.  tall, strange pillars standing at random along our way.  We essentially climbed up from the bottom of one canyon, crossed over a gap at the top, and descended into another.  From here we pressed on in search of the Vultee Arch- a natural red rock bridge formation hiding further down the white, grassy canyon floor.  this was a long and tiring hike with almost 1200 ft elevation change.  fantastic views of forest and red rock structures in the distance within the Secret Mountain Wilderness.

Fay Canyon  is really neat- full of carved-out structures from the weather, small ruins crumbling, and crevices to run off and get into.  I brought my singing bowl this day.  the trail end sign stops just before the real fun begins!  a short canyon chock full of stuff to discover and fantastic views from climbing.

Turkey Creek  a less popular trail located out of town with rewarding views.  easy walking for a couple miles, crosses over a (mostly) dry riverbed, then ascends up the north side of a once active shield volcano, known around here as House Mountain.  We didn't take a lot of pics on this one but it was a great hike, and we did captured of few unique views of the red rocks in this area.

Baby bell   a busy spot, but fun walking- flat, easy trail around a few of the various popular red rock structures around town: Bell rock and the Courthouse.  we climbed up on "Baby bell" rock and got pictures of the other 2, and the surrounding red rock walls.

there ya have it- a good taste of what we we're up to most days.  
it's sweet to hear how much some of you are enjoying our pictures.  thanks for letting us know.  i'll post more here and there, but with part I and II, you get the idea  😉

Tally Ho! 

THUNDER MOUNTAIN!!!!!!!

this was such a dream come true.  ever since I first visited Sedona, i wanted to get to the top of this thing!!! 

Like Bear mountain, (see Part II- soon to come) it stands high enough to see Humphrey's snow-capped peak all the way up in Flagstaff, over 50 miles away!  It stretches so long that it covers along the whole hub of town.  Once you catch a view from it's side tho, you realize it's actually quite narrow and jagged along the top, that makes a kind of zig-zag up to the highest point. 

Our friend Cam drove up from Tempe to experience this one with us.  We'd talked about doing it for weeks, and now today felt like the time to do it.  we were pretty amped-up, and even a tad nervous!  it's no mount Everest, but it's a lot of elevation to climb in a short amount of distance, and we'd heard stories of the sheer edges we would encounter.  

It took us 2.5 hours to reach the summit, where it's COVERED in manzanita trees, and two different large rock chunks to sit on and take in the views...  a full-on shot of our snowboarding mountain to the north, and the entire sprawl of Sedona down on the other side.  we could spot Key Hole Cave from our hike just the day before!  and what a sight to look back and realize all the spine of grey rock we walked along to reach this point.

it wasn't as scary as some folks made it out to be.  It was tricky in some areas;  lots of slanted walking, some very steep areas to get thru, and loose rocks left and right.  the best/ most-used path was not always obvious, sometimes seeming to just fade away.  we lost the trail several times both up and down.  but we figured it out and made it back alive 😁  it was so fun to be up there, in breathtaking views, and now deeply satisfying to see it from the ground and say "We did it!"    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE PHOTOS

getting high all the time, Part I

We went out on a hike the day after we arrived in Sedona and...  that's pretty much all we do now- run outside after breakfast and get high.  I'm on a cloud, is this real? and in awe, to find ourselves living within a bunch of different national forests now.  it's WILD!  so much untouched, wild, quiet, clean, pristine, picturesque land everywhere.  Beyond that are mountains, and other untouched wildernesses.
According to some nosing around online, it looks like a rather small percentage of the state is privately owned land, and a significant portion is declared wilderness areas in the form of our national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, monuments, and lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
So, not a lot of houses, businesses, restaurants or shopping.
just LOTS of playground Earth.

"This land is our land! 💗  This land was made for you and me."

and we love it here.
















Brin's Mesa, located just behind town, was our first time getting really high, to views that took my breath away.  a relatively easy climb to manage if going slow and being deliberate.  along with not looking down (in some places).  holy F*$&!  We also frequent the canyons; fun walks that wind beneath the treetops, our views sometimes very limited, but wandering off the main path usually rewards us with a high point above the vegetation, an interesting clearing, weird nooks & crannies, strange rock structures, and caves, with the occasional massive, carved-out area of red rock that has a feel like being in the barrel of a wave in the ocean.  some of these cave-y spots were fashioned into domiciles by natives hundreds of years ago.  there are a couple different ruin sites only a few miles from us, one of them with pictographs.  a much larger one, also not far from here, is declared as a national monument.  it's pretty impressive!  i'll stick that in part II.

Sedona is a mecca for day hikes.  There are some deep canyons tho, and once winter passes with the nites becoming warmer, we're excited to walk farther into places and do overnight camping.  I'd say we average between 5-8 miles a round-trip.  the most elevation we've climbed so far was on Sterling Pass at almost 2000ft.  A close second was Bear mountain at 1800ft. (see Part II).  holy buckets, they were strenuous.  and amazeballs!!!  most of our hikes are more moderate tho.  Javelina, deer and eagles have crossed our path a few times.  Other than that, i reckon we'll see more critters come Springtime.

I've heard there's over 300 trails to hike in the Sedona area.  We've done over 40.  Sometimes we leave the camera at home.  here's several from when we didn't, in no particular order...

this is PART I

 CLICK THE TRAIL NAME FOR A LINK TO PHOTOS

Brin's Mesa we randomly picked one morning within our first week here.  flippin' fantastic!  one side of it overlooks Soldier's Pass and a bunch of gorgeous landscape.  first time we used the pano-feature on our camera was here.  we didn't even make it to the end of the trail tho, as we were sidetracked by this hill of red rock that gradually slopes up one side... i noticed it, pointed and said  "I WANNA GO UP THERE!".  So we did  😄  incredible views of both the town and surrounding giant red rock structures.

Soldier's Pass  is home to a crazy, giant sink hole!  as well as the 7 sacred pools, then eventually Soldier's arch- a well hidden cave-like structure off the main trail that WOWed our socks off.  we got right up in there, Oh yeah!!  great fun.  the whole trail goes through a variety of different terrain and trees making it a very groovy trip.  come to think of it, we have yet to see this entire trail as well.  we always get pulled off in other directions.

the Bunny Ears  with all the different rock formations out here, ppl have named them after things that look familiar.  there's Coffee Pot rock (can you spot it in the Soldier's Pass photos?  there are several.  it sticks out on the end 😉), Bell rock, Snoopy rock, the coxcomb, lizard head, Elephant rock, etc.  This hike took us to the bunny ears.  there are multiple trail heads that lead to it.  We did this trek just the two of us, then went back a couple days later with our friend Cam and made a hairy attempt at getting up into an interestingly wide crevice.  it was too thick with brush and cactus to make it as far as we hoped to, but it was fun trying.  excellent burgers for dinner!

Boynton Canyon  starts out at a vortex... a tall chunk of rock we climbed up on before the official trail head.  i didn't know this at the time, but this chunk 'o rock is considered a sacred space by the Hopi where Kachina woman watches over mankind.  Beyond here lead us down among tall pine trees, weaving our way through a cool, damp forest, that reminded me a lot of being in the BWCA.  this was a large contrast from the cactus, short shrubbery, and dryness we tend to go through.  a very refreshing, easy walk until the last part, takes you up a steep incline then dumps you out into a big open space with a quaint but expansive view.

Cathedral Rock  not for the faint of heart, even tho it's well-trodden and we saw some small children on part of the ascent!  but not as high up as we got.  it's very steep.  have to do some shimmying up a very long crack in the rock.  and then there is farther to go.  breathtaking views from the top where the trail end sign is posted.  there are other paths branching off from there tho, along a steep climb to reach one of the towering spires.  we got ourselves into the middle of one and hung out for a while.  it was stellar.   STELLAR!!  we started this trek on a trail that crosses over Oak Creek.
.
Shaman's Cave  we've visited a couple times now.  smaller caves are dotted all around the same rock structure.  i played my metal singing bowl in one of the smaller caves next to the main one and took a pano pic before exiting.  we spent a lot of time sitting just outside the main cave, staring off at what was around us, soaking up the sun, and... i felt kinda tripped out.  is it vortex energy?  the most time we've spent sitting in one spot on a hike before.  something healing and wonderful held us here.  after a couple hours we climbed onto the top of it and wandered our way down the wavy, molten-lava-looking rock.  very fun!!

the MIGHTY Saguaro! (a weekend getaway)

1930s, Paradise Valley, Arizona

We'd been in Sedona for over a month, plugged in at The Pines resort, exploring the area immensely, but starting to think about visiting the Phoenix area sooner than later, before it gets too friggin' hot to hike around or do anything.  it was perfect timing! that our friend Charlee from MN was coming into the same area for a couple of weeks, and invited us to meet up with him for some dancing in the desert.  Sedona still astonishes me, yet i looked forward to a change in our routine, and to see more of what's around this state.  I've also been longing to sleep outside in our tent, and this would be a fine time to do it.  so we packed up our camping gear, a few days clothes, some food, and took off for a little road trip!
One thing about heading south from where we now live means being among the Saguaro cactus.  these guys don't grow as far north as we are.  they're so captivating.  And like most desert plants, they grow very, very slowly:  “The tallest saguaro cactus ever measured towered over 78 feet.  It can take 10 years for a saguaro cactus to reach 1 inch in height.  By 95-100 years in age, it may reach a height of 15-16 feet, and could start to produce its first arm.” 

HeHe

Saturday-  Joel and I drove around Phoenix but could see it faintly off in the distance.  we would drive through it tomorrow.  Hot air balloons dotted the sky as we looked in that direction.  the sun would set in another 90 minutes.  Foothills all around us.  We rolled into the party location near dusk and found a spot away from the action where nobody else would seem to wander, and pitched our tent right next to a giant saguaro.  it was a fun little dream come true! being i've never camped in the desert before, except for the empty, vast terrain of Black Rock City.  it was too close to dark to get a photo of it.  but i got a classic cactus shot as a silhouette.

Superbowl Sunday- we drove thru Phoenix so i could buy myself some new hiking shoes with a gift card i've been hanging onto for a while.  happy birthday to me.  altho, this day was actually Joel's bday.  (and his twin brother's.  AND his MOTHER'S! 😄)  we split after birthday shoes, over to Tempe, a city just outside of Phoenix.  We walked along the lake, laid out in the HOT HOT HOT, it's already HOT HERE, in the sunshine, and i started getting a tan!  Saguaros.  After baking, we scooted over to our see our weekly hiking buddy, Cam, and spend the night sleeping outside by the pool.  they have a queen size bed out there- we just rolled out sleeping bags, put on our stocking hats and mummied-up for a snooze all nite long under the stars and moon.  the bed was very nice! for being left outside all the time.  we both slept great.  i woke up once to see the moon had finally risen, high above the fence that surrounded us, right overhead beaming down...  AAAAAH!!!  i smiled, tried to take it all in with my sleepy mind then drifted back to sleep.  we awoke in the morning to the birds sitting in the trees right behind our heads, chirping and chatting away.  it was so sweet!  i drifted off for a little bit longer...  Sleeping out in the open air, under the sky = Heaven.  One of many, many Heavens.  

standing in the riverbed @ Saguaro Ranch

Monday- we left Tempe in the direction of the Superstition mountains to visit a place where Joel used to work, called Saguaro Ranch.  lots of saguaros around.  We had plans to meet up with his boss from 10 years ago, and see how much the place had changed.  We got there before Steve did tho, so Joel toured me around the grounds; showed me the horses, the cute little cabins, the river that's not "turned on" right now, where they store the kayaks, the pool, etc.  It was a hoot for Joel to see Steve again! and we had a lovely visit.  Before we parted ways, we were invited to return with our RV to park on his land for a few days, after the busy season, and go kayaking down the river.  so that's on the agenda for springtime/May-ish 👍  After the ranch, we drove deeper into the mountains to meet back up with Charlee and our other friend, Gianna.  Gianna had never been to Arizona before! and we all camped out together in the Tortilla Flats area.  it's a pretty quiet time of year for camping there!  we were practically alone.  surrounded by high rock walls on every side, it felt like we were in a canyon.  we went on a quick hike just before sunset, were in bed by 10:30pm and made a bombin' breakfast the following morning.  

Tuesday- we all got to spend together, taking it easy, enjoying the sun, letting the dog run (Salem) and exploring the area.  We landed in a beautiful picnic space for a few hours on Canyon lake, one of four reservoirs that were formed by the damming of the Salt River back in the mid 20's.  We made lunch there, Charlee swam with Salem (too cold for us!), and it was just a warm, but with a nice occasional chill in the air, gorgeous day.  We left after lunch to get sucked into a tourist trap we'd passed by the day before, called Goldfield Ghost Town.  Joel wandered me into a shooting gallery, where you aim a rifle at little red lights that blink on and off.  it was funny!  peggin' off cans and warning off rattlesnakes- HAHA!  it was fun.  Apache Junction was calling our names for that night, not far from where we already were, at a friend's house.  We ate dinner there, then went back into Tempe for a little bit after dark so Ginanna could have some cool back drops for her photography.  We found a lively bridge to stand under 🌟 The next morning afforded us the most amazing FRESH, PLUMP, CRAZY-SWEET grapefruit plucked right off the tree.  WooWhee!! one of our friend's neighbors grows them in their backyard and we were invited to pick our hearts' content.  I've never cared for the taste of grapefruit, at all.  but i fell in love with these ones HFSB-  they're like candy, all around, i love it, WoW

canyon lake, az

Wednesday- was time to again part ways with Charlee, until after the weekend, and leave the saguaros behind until another day.  We started heading home, taking our time, trucking along happily through the mountains on a route Joel had never been before.  along the way, we came across some incredible native indian ruins, preserved and maintained by the federal parks system.  We swung in to check it out!  it was a slow, steady, steep climb on a nicely paved path to this giant cave area overlooking Lake Roosevelt, another reservoir lake.  This is where the Salado people lived.  They were greatly known for their pottery- decorating with shapes and designs that were unique for their time.  We were told that their pots and handiwork were sought after and traded for by tribes all across the country. ?!  this site was built deeper into the mountain than we have seen before, and we could walk through much of it, so i got a few decent photos.  It was a pretty drive home, the road followed all along lake Roosevelt, and we saw some stellar boondocking areas right on the lake.  i snapped a quick shot of them down on the beach.
Mmmmmmm...  yum.   WHAT A VIEW

Salado ruins

  

Click here for all the pics

~tally ho!

Doin' time at the pines

We arrived home, sweet home, in Sedona, AZ, on Christmas day.
(pretty cool how the timing of everything worked out this way 😊)

Joel, Rahemah, Cam, Veronika, yo

Our friend Cam drove up from Tempe to eat dinner with us at Joel's cousin's new house.  Veronika is Joel's cousin, and she's hosting a foreign exchange student from Pakistan for a year.  Her name is Rahemah.  Veronika had a holiday dinner cooked up for us all! and we witnessed Rahema trying chili and cornbread for the very first time.  She likes it 👍  She told us a lot about her country and answered all the questions we were firing at her.  she's very friendly and fun!
Another friend of Veronika's came over after dinner, a few gifts were exchanged, then we all played games.  one of them was cards against humanity.  who doesn't know this game?  i bet 90% of 'merica busts this game out on Christmas day.  !!  and now even little girls from Pakistan-  we were using the set that Cam gifted to Rahema the month previous for her birthday.  Oi!  Don't tell her mother!!!  We all played and laughed our asses off.  at one point i was crying so hard i couldn't manage to read my card out loud anymore ... my gut hurt so bad.  HURT SO GOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!   love it.

New Year's eve was very special.  We had Veronika and her friend Todd over to our camper for a venison dinner.  Joel grilled it.  it turned out incredible.  best venison i've ever had.  the whole meal was delicious and the company wonderful.  They led us to a friend's bonfire party for the remainder of the evening and we met a bunch of cool new peeps.  if you recall?  the moon was known to be HUGE and bright that night.  it revealed the entire length and height of Thunder Mountain, the glorious, massive hunk of rock overlooking our location of the party.

Thunder Mountain!!!

I heard some ppl share stories of hiking up it's hugeness at nite, to only the light of a full moon.  Todd chimed in as one of them.  "how long did it take you?" i asked.  it looks like a crazy haul up there, so i was not expecting to hear "about an hour".  ?!  i heard that and said "WHAAAAAT!??  REALLY?  well then WHAT ARE WE DOING still standing here???  let's go do that!!!" but it was kind of the beer talking.  Mostly, it was my curiosity.  i'm gonna do it.  we already made it halfway up in the daytime a couple weeks ago, now we know the way to go, and the moon is definitely capable of blazing plenty of light to illuminate the path.  i'm stoked!!  in fact, i've already made a pact with myself to get outside every next, bright, full-moon evening and hike up onto a mesa or vista of some kind.
that NYE full moon night was magical.  and i expect all the next ones to be as well.

NYE funky panoramic pic

So why Sedona?  what are we doing here?  what's going on:
Joel used to live here years ago.  He loved it.  He brought me here for my first time a few years ago, and i could see why he and Veronika, and all his friends still living here, felt like making this home.  I felt it too.  There are so many nooks and crannies and high points to hike into, we'd have to actually live here in order to experience our fill of soaking in the energy of this area.  and not even just Sedona, but all of AZ.  and all AROUND arizona.  and beyond!  we're gonna wander all around.  here feels like a great place to start.

Joel stayed at The Pines years ago

Joel has owned a timeshare down here for many years.  He used to live out of it for a couple weeks every month in his last RV.  It's also where we stayed a few years ago, in one of their cute, modular tiny-home cabins.  it was really fun and a very nice place.  Now we're back-- shacked up at Sedona Pines resort, enjoying the luxuries of hot tubs, hookups, free laundry and mini golf 😁

When Joel lived here previously, some mornings at the crack of dawn the hot air balloon company he worked for would drift their baskets overhead of the resort during their flights.  One morning they actually landed here, and one of Joel's RV neighbors happened to be outside with a camera and snapped a few photos.  We've had this one pinned up on our billboard since we've lived together.  The same guy's balloons still drift by overhead most mornings, sometimes just outside our window 😲

Staying at The Pines today

HELLO! right outside our window

Between Joel and his cousin's share at the resort, it's looking like we'll be able to stay here the majority of every month.  This was a pleasant surprise to discover!  We haven't had to pay any "rent" for a month now, nor have we had to full-out boondock it quite yet, with the way things keep unfolding for us.  But we use our solar energy nightly for everything but our heat, and it's been working great.  We will leave here eventually to camp out on BLM land.  Joel has already driven us out to a few of our options, and they are really pretty places!  for now, during these coldest months, we appreciate being here to run our heat throughout the night.


It sounds like we've "lucked out" with the weather.  it's been warmer than usual, some folks have said, with every day radiating 65 degrees and sunny, so with that sun, it easily feels like 70+.   I braved one of our hikes last week in shorts and a tank top, so comfortably! and happy to feel all that sun on my skin.  Most days we throw open our camper door by noon and let the fresh air in all day long.  Unlike our time in TX and NM, we haven't had any nites below freezing.  We can see snow on some of the distant peaks to the south.  We're surrounded by foothills, mountains and mesas.  It's so beautiful, everywhere we look appears EPIC!  i love it.  there's even a big hill out behind the resort that i plan to get to the top of one of these days.  we already attempted it one day and we got to the base of it.  it took us almost 2 hours to walk that far.  we couldn't see a clear path up and decided to approach it from a different side next time.  it was a baking day so we had to head back to the camper to put our bread in the oven.   it'll be so fun to see the whole view, including the resort, from high up, out in our own back yard!   i don't have a picture of it yet.  i'll talk one eventually.
one night we got a thunderstorm.  that was... CRAZY!  to hear the thunder.  it echoes on and on for a long time.  it sounds totally different from what i'm used to in MN.  (except for in the BWCA) All of them so LOUD.  it poured cats and dogs for hours.  and it snowed just 30 miles north of us.  so we went that way the following day to go snowboarding.  and it made some of the dry creek beds flow a bit, making hiking less dusty, and the air seemed to stay a bit cooler.

Neighbors-
We had a guy named Steve staying on one side of us, living in his van, and pulling a trailer with a small kitchen set up in the back of it.  he sleeps and has his work desk set up in the van.  he's writing a book.  on the other side of us is a woman from poland, wintering here with her husband until they go back home to Canada soon.  she's really cute- crazy hair, LOVES to chat.  One day when Joel and I were out on a hike she saw my pile of hula hoops laying around and decided to pick one up, and have a go at it.  She did great, and came over later that night to tell me so! and about how much fun it was to be able to hula hoop again.  "My grandchildren have some but they are so small and light, i cannot keep them up.  it is impossible.  but this one, it works!  i can do it again.  i love this."   I let her know that's why i make these ones: the bigger, heavier the hoop, the easier it is to keep it going around the hips, and the more adults are able to see they really can do it 😉  she asked if she could keep the one she tried by her camper that way she could use it again later.  so i just gave it to her.  she was over the moon, and came by again later that night to give me some cash.  that was fun!  and why i hauled them with me in the first place.
it's not exactly like the Escapee parks we stayed at tho, where there's happy hour and everyone knows everyone within a couple of days.  there are only13 RV spaces here, and at least half of them are open right now.  most of the resort is made of little cabins and casitas.

here comes the sun

It's really feeling like a honeymoon.  altho this one goes for more than a week or two.  neither of us are working.  we have no pressing appointments.  we wake up whenever we do everyday, look over at each other and laugh a bunch before finally getting out of bed, open the shade to our living room window, and let the sunshine just POUR heat into our home as I make coffee.  Then we sit on our couch by the window, bask the sunlight, and decide where we want to hike to that day.  That's pretty much all we do now.  We hike.  that's it!  sometimes we bike, we've been snowboarding once, played a little frisbee golf, and re-connected with some of Joel's old friends.  but mostly we hike.  I heard there's over 300 trails to hit.  we've been on about 15 of them, and every single one has filled me with so many smiles, and awe.  none of them are lame!  ALL of them-- blowing my mind.  we've been up HIGH on plateaus and down low through a few canyons.  every where we go i'm thrilled all over again.
285 left.  we love it here and we are happy.

that being said, i'm getting photos organized for my next post.  and heading out the door again right now!

💚TALLY HO💜

Roswell

We drove 45 minutes north of the ranch to check out the quirky town of Roswell.  We had it in mind to maybe do a hike just outside of town but that didn't pan out.  We went to see Star Wars, The Last Jedi, instead, at the Galaxy 8 theater.  And i couldn't resist buying up a Groupon for the international UFO museum.  Before calling it a day, we stopped in MickyDs for shits and giggles, and (what they call) ice cream. It was a fun, outer-spacey day 👽

The day after, we pretty much hung around at home, making a couple loaves of bread in our little house for the first time, and they turned out great- YaY!  and finally did laundry since leaving the farmstead in Kansas (!  it was piling up.  couldn't hold out anymore.).  While we waited for the bread to rise, we went on a bike ride into the middle-er of nowhere, leading us down some overgrown asphalt roads, eventually spitting us out on to a dirt one.  we were looking for the Pecos river, and... Success.  I didn't take many pictures.  Just felt so great to keep peddling on my bike.   It was a really neat ride.  There are some lumpy foothills we got much closer to, and a wide array of desert brush and trees I have never seen before.  i made some art to leave behind in the river.

it was nice staying around home for the day.