Cave Creek Arizona

We've begun our move north by staying at the Cave Creek County Recreation Area (click) just north of Phoenix and just outside of the community of Cave Creek.   The park is one of Maricopa County's parks on the Sonoran Desert.  The park includes a nature center, campground, private trail ride vendor and many trails.  There are 38 camp sites all having full hook-ups (water, electricity and sewer) as well as a picnic area and fire ring.  This has to be one of the nicer campgrounds we have been at, and for $25 per night, the views were worth it.

And all sites come with a real-life camp cook and picnic table model:

We were told by one of the camp hosts that normally the area would be abloom with spring flowers at this time of year.  However, this has been a very dry year a  blooms were not plentiful.  Here is a lonely cactus flower near our camp site:

We initially planned to stay only one night, but the park is so beautiful, we opted for another night.   The real reason we stayed another day, however,  is that we woke up on Wednesday morning to this:

There were 11 hot air balloons hovering over the camp ground on Wednesday morning.   Donna was ready to hitch a ride.  It was quite a sight. 

This is one of those areas we'd like to come to again and spend more time.  However, we left for higher elevations to get away from the impending heat.  The forecast for Cave Creek is for the upper 90s beginning on Thursday, so we will escape further northeast and to a higher elevation.  Stay tuned.

Cooler in Casa Grande

This week has turned sharply cooler here in Casa Grande.  Highs are only in the 70s.  It is quite a refreshing relief.  We have been taking things slowly, however.

We attended the great Pinal County Fair at the grounds here in town.  It is a rather small event but we hit it on "senior day."  We got in for half price.  Here, the definition for "seniors" is rather young though we did see a lot of old people also in attendance.  Here is a photo of one of the more normal aged:



There was a quilt display that Donna zeroed in on.  It was a much smaller display than Lodi's but she found it interesting.  As with many fairs, the Budweiser Clydesdale's attended:

But the highlight of the event was the pig races.  No mere words can describe the excitement of this event.  Not even a picture can give the full feeling of its magnitude.  But here's all I can offer:



It was quite the event!  But, then again, there was not much else cooking in old Casa Grande.

We also ventured to the north side of Tucson to experience the Tohono Chula Park (here) to meet Kathy, a friend of Donna's from Madison.  The park combines local art with native gardens and wildlife.  The park , donated to the city by a couple who once called it home, contains a tea room, gift shop of course, children's area (neat) and walking paths through the display areas.  It has a history of awards including one of the worlds greatest botanical gardens and one of the top secret gardens in North America.  It was well worth the short trip from Casa Grande.

On the day we were there, photographers (the real photographers with the 25 pound, 3 foot lenses) were all aflutter snapping several rather rare species of humming birds passing through the area.  The birds were humming faster than the digital shutters were clicking.  Here is a the only photo I was able to catch of a pair of rare hummers:

A rare sight indeed.  I think both came south for the winter and will soon be heading north for the summer.  Both capped off  a good day with lunch outside at the tea room. 

Casa Grande Ruins

No, we did not ruin the city of Casa Grande.  The "Casa Grande Ruins" is a National Monument located in Coolidge (named after "Silent Cal") about 20 miles from Casa Grande.  It is the first archaeological reserve in the country, created in 1892.  It became a National monument in 1918. 

The Monument preserves the site once occupied by an ancient farming community of the Hohokam people who were in the area about 300 AD.  The people survived here until the 1400s.  Upon finding the deserted site, early Spanish explores named it Casa Grande, the "big house." 

The people developed a vast system of canals to irrigate their crops from a nearby Gila river.  They grew many vegetables including corn and squash and cultivated cotton from which they made their clothes.  They made pottery and were involved in trade with other communities.


The primary structure on the site is a three story structure built about 1350 AD from caliche.  Caliche is the hard subsoil under the desert composed of limestone (calcium carbonate).  When mixed with clay and  sand, it dries into a concrete like mixture.  The structure is now covered to protect it from the weather:

The caliche mud was piled layer upon layer creating walls four feet thick at the base.  Logs from distant trees were used to form the ceiling and the floors (3 story high).   This is but one building on the walled site, but it is by far the largest and probably the most important to its inhabitants. 

The interior of the building has several rooms.

The building like many ancient structures is aligned with the sun and moon.  Its walls face the four point of the compass.  A hole in the west wall aligns with the sun setting at summer solstice.  Other holes in the wall align with the sun and moon at certain times of the year. 

This big house is but one of many structures which stood in this area.  Other structures were significantly smaller.

Hot weather, slow times

We have been laying rather low this week.  The afternoon temperatures have been consistently over 90 which is at least 10 degrees above our comfort range.  Though the humidity is low--usually under 15%--the clear skies provide little relief from the direct sun.  Hot!  Thankfully, temperatures quickly fall off in the evening making it very comfortable by 7 or so.

One of the highlights of the campground experience is watching for snakes, ducking the droves of humming birds in the area and watching for the owl at night.  An owl likes to perch in a tree (one of the few in the area) about 100 feet from our site.  When he's there, people congregate hoping he will pose for a clear picture and then fly.  He cooperates once in a while:

We did venture out about 60 miles north of Phoenix to the city of Wickenburg.  The city began as a gold mining town ($30 million dollars worth was taken) and once the railroad came to the area, it became a destination for "dude ranchers."  It is a touristy town with a large western museum downtown, a few restaurants and the usual souvenir shops.  It still has several dude ranches.  And, of course, it has a "jail tree" downtown:

As the town originally had no jail, the bad guys were chained to an old tree to await their punishment.   Tourists who do  not leave enough cash in the souvenir shops are often found chained to the tree until they can come with more cash to buy worthless junk.  We got out of town quickly.

St Patrick's day brought a double treat.  The male cook in our rig made a corned beef and the female member made a blueberry pie.  We would share, but leftovers are quickly vanishing.

Arizona Tourist Traps

This has been a week of tourist traps.  On Sunday we met my brother Mark, his wife Charko, daughter Kali and friend Christian in Sedona, Arizona.  A beautiful 2 1/2 hour ride north east of Phoenix ended spectacularly in the Red Rock region known as Sedona (Sedona link). 

Mark arranged for everyone to take a  3 hour "Pink Jeep" broken arrow/scenic rim jeep tour more photos.  Wow, what an adventure.  We rode in a 6 passenger Jeep through some of the most challenging terrain imaginable.  Once on the tour, you really have a different respect for what a Jeep can do (see "more photos" link above). 

Our ride:

Mark, Charko and Kali looking for an alternate cab ride home:

Awesome views:

Neither words nor mere pictures can not describe the trip.  It was spectacular.

On Wednesday the five of us went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum outside of Tucson
more info.  This is a combination outdoor zoo/garden/natural history museum.  We attended a program showing a live Gila monster and rattle snake.  We also ducked while a quintet of Harris hawks as they swooped overhead during a live, open air demonstration.  The museum adjoins the Saguaro National Park (west unit) and is abundant with various desert plants.

Donna and Charko looking for cacti:

Donna and Charko locating themselves on the museum map:

The tour guides (Mark, Charko, Kali and Christian):

Two good days in Arizona.

Wash Day Rocks!

Friday was a work day.  After breakfast in town, we stopped at a car wash and had the ten pounds of dirt washed off the truck.  For $7 we got an exterior wash plus a towel dry.  Pretty decent job too.  However, on the way home, our windshield was struck by a rock.  It is a large chip with cracks in the middle of the wind shield: 

The windshield is being replaced tomorrow (I hope) for a quoted price of $189.  Our insurance deductible is higher than the cost of replacement so we will have to pay the entire cost.

Most of the rest of the day was spent washing the trailer, washing clothes and washing myself.  Donna is always clean so she didn't need to shower.

We are clean, clean at last.

Brewers Vs. Cubs and the Polish wins

On Wednesday we went to a Brewers game in Phoenix.  Though we are not big baseball fans, we thought it would be fun to give it a shot.  The park (Maryvale) is on the northwest side of Phoenix. 

We left early so that we could have time to find the park and to maneuver through traffic.  We got there about an hour and a half early so we bought tickets and left the park to explore the area a little bit.  We came back about a half hour before the game and parked ($6).  The game was scheduled at 1:05.

Not knowing anything about the park, we bought "best available" tickets on the brewers side.  Tickets were $22 for a box seat aisle 10 rows up from home plate and looking straight down the 3rd base line:

The above were taken from our seats.  If you look closely, you can see the cheap seats ($8) on the grass behind the fence. 

For the person who can't believe we attended a baseball game, here is added proof:

Brewers won 12-5.  Polish sausage won the race.

We actually had a very good time at the game.  But a rather odd occurrence happened.  On Tuesday night while walking around the RV park, we met a couple from Sauk City, Wisconsin.  They mentioned that they were planning to go to the Brewer game also.  We told them we would look for them as we were also going to the game.  We sat in Box section 103 seats L1 and 2.  They sat next to us in seats L3 and L4!  And Box 103 row L won tickets for free chicken wings at Hooters!  And we got Culver's coupons!

A good day.

Casa Grande SKP Park

The park we are in is part of the Escapee (SKP) club.  It again is a Co-Op whereby people enter in a long-term lease arrangement and rent there lots out to renters (like us) when they are somewhere else.  The park  occupies 10 acres 9 miles south of Casa Grande, Arizona, a city of 45,000 people.  This is the first Co-Op built by Escapee volunteers in 1981.  The 118 sites are 35' by 35' and all are back-ins with full hook-ups.  Occupancy is limited to Escapee members.  There are also several boondo0cking (no hook-ups) sites which can be rented for up to 7 days. 

Here are several views of our site:

And our very own saguaro cactus:

And a sunset from inside the park:

The mountain on the left is affectionately referred to as "flat top."  Eat your heart out!