McDowell and Hieroglyphs

We have stayed here longer than usual. Surprisingly, it has been good. Don't get me wrong. I am not talking about putting down roots. We had so many things to take care of before heading out again on a year packed full of plans. We had to be sure not only we were all tuned up and ready to go but our truck and trailer too.

Hieroglyph Trail

Since our health insurance deductibles had been met for the year, we went forward with the Dynamic Photo Therapy recommended by our dermatologist to prevent new skin cancers developing. Boy, did we look ugly for a week. Mike looked like a burn victim and I looked like a teenager with bad acne. Now that we have shed the snake skin, we don't look half scary anymore.

Shady place to ground the mesquite pods

We are back on the trails, now that we can be in the sun again, enjoying the hikes in cool temps in the 60s as we prepare to leave Valley Del Oro and head out into the desert.

McDowell Regional Park is one of our favorites with plenty of trails to hike and bike.

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After our mountain bike ride, we were having lunch and noticed a Lazy Daze RV across form our picnic table that I thought I recognized. Sure enough, it was Gayle and Jim from Life's Little Adventures. We didn't want to just drop in but did want to say hi. I was placing a card on their window when Jim walked out to assess the situation. We had a fun visit and hope to catch up more when we move over to camp at McDowell Regional Park for a few days soon.

These are a few interesting caches we have found while hiking in the East Valley.

A dove in a mesquite bush (not quite the Christmas song)

We woud notice a lot of cars parked at the Silly Mountain Trailhead when we would go to Gold Canyon. This day we checked it out and found a rather nice hike.

 Papago Park in Tempe near the zoo

It has been another fun year with plenty of new places visited. And has been good to return to others we have enjoyed in the past. We often are asked how long are we in this for and really aren't sure. But after being in one place for 3 months, we aren't done yet. 

Peralta Trail and Weaver's Needle

It had been a while since we had hiked the Peralta Trail to Fremont Saddle with a view of Weaver's Needle. This day seemed perfect since it was a cool 55 degrees when we started the climb. The parking lot on Saturdays can be packed since there are a couple of trails that start here so we got a early start. We didn't see many hikers until we were almost done.

Fremont Saddle

A young lady with a small boy in her backpack asked how much further and then told Joe, the baby, 30 more minutes and continued to tell him stories as she walked by. This reminded me of times that I would load Krista and Michael into their wagon and take them for a walk down the river path near our home when they were small. I would have to pad it with a quilt to reduce the bouncing and pack a lunch. They enjoyed spending the day playing by the river and eventually in the river and a picnic.

I find hiking helps me get lost in my thoughts and go back to times that I don't think about often but are my real treasures of life.

This hike is not only up hill 1900 feet in 2.2 miles but plenty of obstacles to step over and around.

Balancing Rock

There were a couple of opportunities to bag a couple of virtual geocaches on this hike.

Superstition Mountains

Amazing spires along the path

Glad we had a cold drink waiting for us in the Jeep when we returned to the trailhead.

The dangers of living in a 55+ Resort

While walking down the side of the street, I heard a screeching noise behind me. As I turned around, a big clunky bike was barreling towards me. The lady didn't see me until I yelled and she looked surprised that I was there, said "oops" and kept riding to her tennis game. How she hits the tennis ball, I have no idea.

Often while driving, we see a person coming right towards us on our side of the road and often don't see us until we honk. Living on a corner lot, I often wonder if someone will miss the turn and run into us because they can't see at night.. Fortunately, there are not many people out at night.

It has been a good experience staying in a 55+ place as we prepare to leave. There is so much to do and plenty of people around even if they can't see real well.

Papago Park is along the bike path that we rode from Tempe to Scottsdale. We saw these butts lined up along the ridge as we rode along. Kind unusual to see them in the middle of the city.

Scottsdale is all geared up for the season.

Papago Park

Bridge across Tempe Town Lake.

Even though I have "retired", I called Banner staffing to see if I could return to work one day a week since we were staying for a few months. They said "Sure, come on back". I am glad it is only one day a week for a little while. Those tune ups (people and vehicle) got a bit spendy this year.