RV Trip'N

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Hiking The Superstistion Mountains

This morning we drove to Apache Junction to hike in the Superstition Mountains. What a beautiful morning for a hike. The sky was so blue and the sun was warm. By the time we arrived at the trail head the parking lot was already full, we managed to get the last spot. I haven’t built up my hiking tolerance yet and today’s hike was about as much as I could handle. I feel sorry for Chris because she could have gone further but we had already spent an hour going practically straight up and I was toast. The scenery we saw was beautiful but we missed the best because we turned around when we did.

It felt so good getting back to the RV and just sitting in the Sun, having a beer to replenish the fluids we lost. Again this evening we had a BBQ and watched another spectacular sunset.

This evening we walked around the campground which would not be possible if the moon was not as full and bright as it was. Earlier the coyotes were so loud that it sounded like they were right next to us. Then just as quick as they started they were gone. I’m sure they will be back sometime this evening.

Our trail took us up and over this first ridge

Parking lot and start of the trail

Monday, February 10, 2014

Police, Bikers, Ruins and Warm Weather

Sunday Feb. 9th

We're hoping for mid 70's today and by the looks and feel of it now we will have no problem making that. The sky is clear and the sun is out and warming quickly.

Today was the Hells Angles Prison Run to honor their brothers who are incarcerated in the prison here. The place was crawling with bikes and police. We are situated on the road that held the rally and we were pretty much restricted to our campground unless we took a major detour. It was like a mini Sturges.

Monday Feb. 10th

Today we went to the town of Coolidge AZ where the Casa Grande National Monument is located. We saw a informative movie and a guided tour of the monument. The tour was very informative in that we learned how the ancient people built their homes and in this case the grand building (Casa Grande) that no one is sure of it's actual purpose but only speculation.

While so much of the nation is facing another artic blast they are calling for record heat here by the weeks end. Again I'm only reporting, don't shoot the messenger.

Early bloom

Casa Grande (the grand house)

Part of the tour

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Retirement Living to the Max

After morning coffee it was off to do laundry. While there Chris was talking to a lady from Minnesota that was spending the winter here at Desert Gardens It turns out that this lady was from the Brainerd area but grew up in St Paul. When asked where in St Paul she said that she grew up on Rice street and went to St Bernard’s, small world.

After laundry we decided to go back to Anthem Sun City retirement community that we had visited yesterday. They were having an open house today where you could visit all the houses for sale as well as the new models. We were very impressed at what we saw. Living here is so different to what we are use to in Minnesota. I kept wanting to close the doors that they all leave open, leaving windows and door opened without a screen is something very foreign to me. But down here a good portion of your time is spend outside and they make the outside area a part of the living experience. The patios on these homes are fantastic. It was fun going through the homes and talking to the people that live here. I have included pictures mainly of the patio areas because I would spend the majority of my time outside if I lived here.

We then headed back to the campground where we were immediately invited over to the neighbors for “happy hour”, I think I could get use to this lifestyle. A quick supper and we settled down to watch the Olympics.

The view outside our laundry

Indoor lap pool at the community center at Sun City

Outdoor pool

Outdoor pool and golf course in the background

More of the outdoor pool

Fantastic fitness center

This model had a pool in the back

This model had a putting green

Look at the size of the patio door, no screens

How would you like this back yard

I love how the entire room opens to the outside

Fire place

Covered patio area

Friday, February 7, 2014

Beautiful day but it's getting better

After the last two days it was great to see the sun again. 66 and sunny is about perfect as far as I’m concerned. But the forecast is for better yet, I think this is what we came to Arizona for.

We started the day with our fresh brewed French roast coffee as always, except having it out doors was a special treat. Then we jumped in the car and went to explore. Not very far from Florence we discovered Anthem Arizona a resort community developed by Del Web. This area was started in 2006 and has turned into a beautiful community comprised of two areas. One area is for families and people of all ages, the other area is for folks 55 and older. We drove through the 55 and older section and what a beautiful community it was. It surrounds a beautiful golf course and community center that contains everything you would expect from a major resort. We stopped at an open house and visited for awhile with the realtor and learned a lot about community.

We then ventured on to Poston’s Butte. Named after Arizonian Charles Poston who after a trip to India, in which he became a fire worshipper, built a continuous fire, a sort of temple of the sun, atop a hill and naming it Parsee Hill. The flames died out after of couple months and it became known as Poston’s folly and Poston’s Butte. It was a great hike up the hill with beautiful views once on top.

We had heard from folks in the campground about a drive that went out into the desert, which is full of saguro cactus, and continued through hills and valleys while passing through the small towns of Kelvin, Kearny, Hayden, Winkelman, Dudleyville, Mammonth, San Manuel and Oracle finally returning us back to our campground in time to BBQ some supper.

Looking forward to more of the same……..