We Are Off to Ajo, AZ Today

Today will be the longest drive in a month, we may even need to buy fuel.  I'm posting this because last year in Ajo we did not have any aircard  service so I may not be able to post from there.
We have loved our time in the St. David/Benson area it is one of our favorites.  This year has been very unusual in that there has more rain in January than in the last 10 years, there has been snow all around, but not on us.  It sure makes for some great scenery.  As usual the people both in the parks and in the towns were pleasant to be with.
Our stay in Ajo will only be for two nights then we travel to Colorado River Oasis in Ehrenberg, AZ for a two week visit. We are meeting up with Pam, and Harold (who are working out of there), and being joined by Donna and Bill (who will be celebrating his 70th birthday).  We are looking forward to seeing them.

One last look out our window

More Later, Rich

We Love Benson, AZ

It’s not just the people here but this is a beautiful place. We can sit in our rig and look out to the Dragoon Mountains in the distance, we can watch the trains snake across the valley floor.  We rode out the two day storm doing just that.

The view out our front windshield is to die for.

The Dragoons are covered with snow from the recent storms.

When we got to Valley Vista we set out the hummingbird feeder in the hopes of attracting them to our window.  Well they never showed up, but a Verdin did.  He will stick his bill into the feeder draw it out and shake his head casting drops all over the glass.  He will then reach over and lick those drops off the window.  He is cute and the sugar water will wash off.

Mr. Verdin

Yesterday we finally went to Tombstone with Terry and Mary and had an enjoyable lunch.  We did some window shopping and had a lot of laughs and conversation.  Here we are we live in Vancouver and they live in Bend and we have to meet in Tucson/Benson go figure.

This morning we had a beautiful sunrise here in the desert.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And it lit up the hills behind us.

Gorgie is off having her hair done and I am just puttering around today, but with all the scenery I’m having a hard time paying attention.

More Later, Rich

It Blew and It Blew

Yesterday and last night the wind blew so hard we wondered if we would topple over.  It was like being on a boat.  It poured all night long, is still raining.  The weather alerts were coming on the TV the whole evening.  There were even tornado warnings.  Today and tonight there is even a chance for some snow.  The snow level is at 4000 feet and we are at 3800 feet.

This was the view out our front windshield yesterday

This is what it looks like this morning

Our tip to Tombstone yesterday was postponed due to the wind and rain.  We will likely stay hunkered down in our rig today and ride out the rest of this weather.

More Later, Rich

Winter Storm Watch

I have gotten really lazy with my posting lately.  We have settled in to a routine of hanging out in the park, reading, doing sudoku puzzles, and playing cards.  The camera has been all but forgotten.

The weather has been different the last couple of days.  The TV guy has been going on and on about a winter storm, that this could be the biggest storm in the last decade.  We have been watching the radar images and it seems to be mostly tracking to the north of us.  If you click on the weather sticky I put on the blog you can see it for yourself.  It even says that it might snow, we’ll see. Even with these dire forecasts we have been sitting outside (in sweatshirts) in the 65° partly sunny afternoons.  It did rain during the night but if not for wet on the car you’d never know it.

Today is a travel day, we move from St. David RV Resort to Valley Vista in Benson a grand total of 7 miles.  Lots of folks move back and forth between these two parks all season.

We have really enjoyed watching the birds that we have been feeding here.

These are the Lesser Gold Finches that can completely cover the feeder.  They have also pooped all over the car, they are still fun to watch.

These are some Cactus Wrens that have the job of cleaning up what the Finches drop.  There are probably a half dozen hummingbirds that come to the feeder hanging on the window but I just can’t get a good picture through the glass.

Last Saturday we drove up to Tucson to visit with Gorgie’s cousin Terry and his wife Mary.  They spend the winters at the Voyager RV Resort  Voyager RV Resort. It is a huge resort with lots of activities.

Terry

Mary

They are going to visit us on Thursday and we plan to have lunch in Tombstone at Big Nose Kate's.  The camera will just have to get with the program and come along.

More Later, Rich

Queen Mine Bisbee, AZ

 

 

Entrance to the Queen Mine Tours

Here I  am playing catch-up again, sorry.

On Tuesday we drove to Bisbee to take the mine tour.  I could go on and on about what we learned about copper mining in Bisbee but I won’t.  I will show some of the pictures we took though. Link to Queen Mine Tours

Bisbee is at about 5200 ft. and it is cool in the mornings so the fireplace was a welcome feature.  There was snow on the sides of the mountains on the way there.

 

This is where we were issued our mining gear.

Miner

We were all loaded on these mine cars the very ones that once transported miners into the Queen Mine.

We are entering the mine.

We are 1500 feet into the mine, the tour is all on one level but the mountain soars thousands of feet above us and there are several levels below that go down another 700 feet.

 

This is what the ore they were mining looks like

There was lots of equipment to see and the guide did a good job telling how much of it was used.  Our guide was a third generation miner in this very mine.  It was obvious that even after three generations and being born and living in Bisbee that english is still a second language.

 

This is the car that every one in the mine really needed.  Gorgie was the only person in our group brave enough to try it out.  Can you guess it’s purpose?  The man who took care of it was paid more because no one wanted that job.

We finished up the day with a lunch at the Copper Queen Hotel built in 1902. Link to Copper Queen Hotel

What a wonderful day.

More Later, Rich

Frost in the Desert

Well there would be frost if there was any moisture around.  The past two mornings the temperature has been 28°, we have had to let the water dribble in the sink so it won’t freeze up in the supply hose.  We have been wondering why we are in this area at this time of year, maybe next year we will change our route and visit in February or March and avoid the frost.  That said, it does warm up to 68° in the afternoon for some pleasant walking and reading in the sun, and most important NO RAIN.
This morning at about 3AM we were awakened by flashing lights, This is the third time someone has been taken for an ambulance ride from one of the parks while we were there, very sad.
We have not gone anywhere (except the store) since we arrived at St. David.  We are enjoying relaxing and visiting with folks here, Yesterday we met “Mr. Kennedy”, he was a teacher in Vancouver and taught drivers education at all the high schools.  A very interesting man to visit with and Gorgie and he talked about the teachers she had while in school.
Dinner was in the activity center (pork or chicken) last night, Arvadale and Lee are doing a great job cooking, the best this year in the parks.
I’ve been looking at the maps and we are considering going to Willcox for the annual Sand Crane migration festival we’ll let you know. MORE INFO
Also on our list is a return visit to Bisbee, MORE INFO to go on the mine tour.
More Later, Rich

We Have a Website

Our blog can now be found at WWW.GORGIEANDRICH.COM  (you don’t need the www.).

I’m still in the process of setting it up but our blog can be found there, The old BlogSpot links still work so there is no need to change bookmarks.

Today was a day of catching up on chores and generally goofing off, Gorgie did the laundry.  That’s how I had time to get the website.  This evening we went to a dinner up at the clubhouse and ran into Lee and Arvadale who were in the group of folks we had so much fun with at Ehrenberg last year.  She is cooking and he is doing maintenance here for the season, we look forward to seeing them while here.

We have set out the thistle socks (bird feeders), and the finches have found them and they have already eaten about half.  The Hummingbirds have also found the feeder on the window.  They are such fun to watch, I’ll get some pictures soon to share.

More Later, Rich

We Went to Church

I have to get you caught up on our adventures.  We have been enjoying ourselves so much visiting and exploring the Tucson area with Dad and Marge-we are all tuckered out. 

On Monday we went to the San Xavier Mission in southwest Tucson.

San Xavier Mission Tucson, AZ

This mission was built between 1786 and 1792.  It is amazing that such a beautiful building could be constructed in what was then the middle of nowhere.

The Alter

The interior contains many sculptures that were built in Spain and shipped to the new world and transported here through Apache country and survives today.  It has undergone extensive restoration and is still being worked on.  What a privilege to be able to experience this holy place.

Yesterday (our last day), we went for a drive to the Miami-Globe mining district.  Copper is king here and there are many open pit mines to be seen.  We stopped at an overlook of the Roy mine pit.

The Roy Copper Mine

It was probably 2000 feet to the bottom of the pit.  The equipment they use is massive, the tires on the trucks are about 10 feet in diameter and the bucket on the shovel is big enough to hold a dozen people.  I took a telephoto picture of the shovel, it is as big as a three story building not including the digger and it looked like a toy in the bottom of the pit.

Massive Shovel

The scenery on the drive was some of the best desert views we have ever had the pleasure of seeing.

Yesterday was also our last day here, today we move on to St. David, AZ, a 60 mile move.  We’ll be there for two weeks, and we expect to have cooler weather, frosty nights but temperatures in the 60’s during the day.

More Later, Rich

Saguaro National Park

Today Dad took us to the Saguaro National Park. Aptly named after the cactus.

Saguaro Cactus

They have an 8 mile drive through the park that features all the desert scenery and cacti.

Desert Scenery

We had a wonderful time and enjoyed the drive very much. Dad and Marge are great hosts.

Dinner was at the Hifalutin Rapid Fire Western Grill. LINK We had another great meal. Gorgie had the BBQ chicken salad that she said was better than BJ’s. I had the ribeye that was cooked perfectly and had a blue cheese sauce on top-very good.

The Happy Diners

Visiting with Dad and Marge is very special and I am grateful to be able to do this.

More Later, Rich

Tucson, Arizona

We have been in Tucson for the past two days visiting my Dad and Marge. Yesterday they took us to the Biosphere 2 site. Biosphere2 Follow this link to find out more.

They conducted experiments here during the early 90’s to see if people could survive in an artificial environment and living on only what they could grow to sustain themselves for years like in space or on the moon. We took a docent led tour of the place, it was very interesting.

This place is huge there are over 3 acres under glass.

This might be a good time to talk about Gorgie who has always been somewhat technology challenged, has become a email/text, cell phone expert since she got her Blackberry phone for her b’day. These pictures were taken with her phone that she then attached to an email to me so I could post them here, I’m sooo proud.

Later in the afternoon we had an experience we could live without. We were sitting at a traffic light when shooting started very close to us. There was a pop-pop-pop-pop-pop, about 8 or 9 rounds. We had not heard that before, people started running and we got out of there as well. We watched the news and there wasn’t anything about it.

Update 1/3/2010: We found out that one person was killed and another wounded over the wearing of gang colors, how stupid.

We had a very good Italian dinner at Mama Louisa’s, Gorgi had the special and I had the veal parmesan. Afterwards we went back to their house and played sequence and had a great time.

More Later, Rich