Well, January was a wet and cold month. We stayed close to home but did venture out some. Our granddaughter Chloe and her husband Timothy flew home from the U.K. so Holly flew home to spend some time with them. I being one that hates to fly, stayed home with the dogs. Holly was able to go to a wrestling match and watch our grandson Graysen pin one of his opponents in 38 seconds. Guess the kid is pretty good.
She stayed with our daughter Beckie which meant she was able to spend time with our youngest grandson Jason, We've not been home for a good old fashioned Michigan winter in six years and Holly says it can be another six years before she does it again. Way too cold for her...she is now an official snow bird, After seeing the pictures she took I'm in no hurry to be there in the winter either. I've gotten used to 65 degree weather.
This is Chloe and Timothy. So glad they were able to come home and meet each other's family. They were married in the U.K. This was the first chance any of the family (his or hers) had a chance to meet them. That might be a good thing...Timothy might of ran screaming after meeting our bunch. They spent two weeks in Michigan then two weeks in Texas with his family. Then it was back to the U.K. Chloe is expecting their first child and our first great grandson in June. Too bad they will be so far away. I suggested the name Marvin but I think it got ignored.
While Holly was in Michigan having a great time, I did some things here I have been putting off. Brutus and Ruby kept me company and I fixed the water heater and learned how to use the convection oven. I read some, watched TV, went for walks with the kids and watched a beautiful sunset. Sure was nice to have her come back. I was afraid she would stay in Michigan and then I would of had to learn how to use the washer and dryer.
January 24 was our 48th anniversary. We drove down to Happy Valley (where else would you go on your anniversary) for dinner at P.F. Changs. Had a nice quiet dinner and a couple of drinks and decided to do it again next year. So glad she is able to put up with me.
We drove down to Agua Fria National Monument which is about 30 miles south of us. It's mostly high desert and contains some ancient sites and mines. The main road is gravel and fairly good but a little rough in areas. The scenery is beautiful and as you can tell, the sky is very blue.
There's a drive off the main road to some of the ancient ruins. There is a sign at the beginning that says "High clearance vehicles recommended". The only thing I have to say about that is "pay attention to the sign". There was one family that was down there in a mini van. I know they had to have been dragging in some spots. It was a good thing they stopped and walked the rest of the way when they did. They would of never made it otherwise.
This is the road in. It is nice having a Jeep, we have been able to get back into some areas that you just can't go to in a car. This road was rutted and had several mud holes and some very large rocks.
The ruins here were not as well defined as others we have visited. From a distance it looks like a pile of rocks but as you get closer you can see the foundations for the walls to several rooms. they say that at one time there were about 100 separate rooms here at this pueblo.
This is the view looking east from the sight. That dark line running thru the middle is the canyon where the Agua Fria river runs. Everywhere you walk around the area you can see pottery shards. As you can see, others have put some on rocks to be able to take pictures of them. But as I said, they are all over the ground. As at other ruins we have been to, the reason the inhabitants left here is a mystery.
After returning to the main road we turned left (after some miles later we were thinking we should of turned right) and continued to the southern most boundary of the park. At this point the road becomes a forest service road. Some of these are good, some bad (you guessed it, we got one of the bad ones). After many, many miles of rough road, switch backs and very steep grades up and down we arrived in the town of Cave Creek and civilization. The views were beautiful but the drive was tiring on this driver.
These pictures were taken at the high point of our drive...just over 7000 feet. This section of the road had a sign that said "caution, narrow road with steep mountain grades next six miles". That's right...believe the sign. We were sure glad we didn't meet anyone going north.
I mentioned the town of Jerome in our November post. It's on Highway 89A between Cottonwood and Prescott. It's an old copper mining town on the side of the mountain at about 5400 feet elevation. I took these two pictures on one of our trips thru the mountains just so you could see what I mean by "on the side of the mountain".
We took a little drive up to the mountains on another Forest Service road and ended up at Stoneman Lake which is at 7500 feet elevation. We started out in the desert and found ourselves in the trees and snow. Lots of snow and mud. Good thing we had the Jeep and 4-wheel drive. We needed it to get back up the hill from the lake.
We took off for three days and went to Quartsite, AZ. They have a big RV show there every January. Some people stay in RV parks but most just park out in the desert. Quartsite is surrounded by BLM land so there is plenty of room to camp. There is a very large tent with a lot of vendors selling everything you can think of. There are several RV's for sale outside to look at and purchase. We found one that was almost perfect but thank goodness it wasn't perfect. We couldn't afford it anyway.
There wasn't the crowd I expected but that may have been due to the fact that we were there mid-week. There were more RV's arriving while we were there so I would imagine that the last weekend was very busy.
There were many more vendors set up outside and we stopped Friday morning before we headed home to roam thru that area. Friday was very windy and I was glad we left the coach at the park and stayed at a hotel near Quartsite.
OK, here it is...the big moment you have all been waiting for. OK most of you have been waiting for. OK, OK some of you. Where are we going this summer? We are going to be in Pentwater, Michigan at Whispering Surf Camping Resort. That's right. Right in our own back yard. We thought that last year we would stay in Michigan but the chance to work in Maine came up and that was a place we couldn't pass on. This year we made it a priority to stay in Michigan and think we found a great place. It's located on Bass Lake and a short walk to Lake Michigan. That's all for now, Enjoy the spring...oops, I forgot, just because we have spring weather here in Arizona doesn't mean it's spring where you are. Regardless, we'll catch up with you all next month.
