It's Like Deja Vu All Over Again

During the past week we have spent a lot of time returning to some of our favourite places and they have not disappointed. While we had a great time in Phoenix, which wrapped up with a 'discreet' tailgate party (to appease Security) and a Lady Antebellum outdoor concert, it was time to move on. We are rolling stones after all. Our next stop was in Las Vegas for a couple of days where we met up with Cottonwood friends, Mike and Barb, for some golf and dinners. One of those meals was at the always entertaining Casa di Amore where we used their courtesy limo service to get all six of us (including Brent and Barb for a second encore appearance) to and from our places south of the Strip. Our waiter (Brad) humoured us all night, not that we needed any encouragement on half-price wine night. It turned out to be our first trip to Las Vegas where we never made it to the Strip or downtown but we still had no trouble finding good food, drinks, gambling and entertaining ourselves.

We then spent two days in Valley of Fire State Park, arguably the most beautiful place in Nevada if you are not fond of neon lights. It is only one hour north-east of Las Vegas and it is a shame that most L.V. visitors never get a chance to see the gorgeous red rock sandstone formations in the area. Our campground (Atlatl Rock), where we stayed on a previous visit, was surrounded by spectacular 360 degree views. While there we also hiked out to the Fire Wave with it's wonderful white and red rock wavy lines. Our northerly route (in and out) was via the scenic Lake Mead Parkway which is also recommended unless you need to hurry and take the I-15.

We are now in Utah and spending two days in one of our all-time favourite places, Zion National Park. Last night we had dinner at Oscar's, a must-do while in Springdale, and the normal 15 minute table wait to which we have become accustomed , was well worth it. Today we hiked the Hidden Canyon trail which is another great hike within the NP. While it is shorter than the superb Angel's Landing and equally strenuous Observation Point trails, it still provided steep switchback paths and cliff ledges with chains to hold on to. The view at the top was incredible and a perfect place to stop for lunch which we did on our return. From that point we headed into the Hidden Canyon which is long and very narrow. We were planning on hiking in to the rock arch but somehow we missed it on the way in which resulted in a handful more of short, steep rock scrambles where you had to be very careful. The rocks finally won out and we retreated only to discover other hikers having their picture taken beside the arch half way back along the trail. It was a good workout and a fun hike.

Tomorrow we are leaving Zion and heading into new territory along the southern border of Utah where it meets Arizona.

Prepped and ready for the Lady Antebellum outdoor concert. We had good seats in the large amphitheatre.

The drive through Valley of Fire State Park

Part of the Fire Wave which is not an "official" trail for some strange reason even though a similar picture adorns their park map

A view of Angel's Landing (foreground, left, the very top) which we hiked on our first trip to Zion

When our advance scout mentioned 'more of the same', I got the 'look' and made the wise decision that it was time to turn around :-)

We somehow missed this arch on our way along the narrow canyon which wasn't more than 5 metres wide at any point.

A great view for our lunch stop on the way back to the main road at the bottom.

My last chance to make an impression at Spring Training?

During the past few days we have been enjoying the Cactus League baseball games. At the beginning of the month many of the minor league players were trying to make a good first impression, and while several did, the games were generally a bit sloppy (errors and poor pitching). Now that spring training is starting to wind down, the starting rosters for the games are filled with the regulars for the first 7 innings so the quality of play has improved. And with the weather remaining perfect (25C and sunny), it has been wonderful to sit and watch the games. In spite of not making an error yet (one perfect catch in the stands), or striking out (Pocahontas still loves me), I have not yet been approached by any scouts. Recently I changed my approach and started hanging out with some of the players in the hope of getting noticed (see picture below).

Prior to coming back to Phoenix we spent four days in Sedona visiting with my sister Lynn and her husband Doug from Vancouver who were in the area doing a 2 week home exchange. The deck on the home had beautiful views of the nearby red sandstone rock mountains. The scene seemed to change throughout the day as the shadows moved around varied rock formations. As a bonus my cousin Adele from Quebec and her husband Christian were also staying with my sister so it was a good get-together. We did a couple of hikes, the first to the Palatki Ruins and Pictographs (more hillside caves where the ancient tribes built) their small homes). Another day we made a return trip (for us) to Oak Creek Canyon where we rock-hopped (13 stream crossings each way) along the scenic West Fork Trail. We had some nice meals together and played games in the evening.

Tomorrow will be our final day in Phoenix. We have tickets for the Lady Antebellum concert in the evening and before the event we will be hosting a tailgate party with 4 other Calgary friends who are joining us for the concert. The next day we will drive to Las Vegas to meet up with some more friends for a few days.



Major League Baseball wannabe with Cleveland Indians new Closer, John Axford.......who currently makes $6 million more per year than I do.



Mike Trout smashing a home run that landed over the flowers in deep centre field. You may be able to see the ball just to the left of the middle light pole.

The view from the deck of the Sedona home exchange

One of the shorter rock crossings along our Oak Creek Canyon family hike

Enjoying the High Country

Heading north from Phoenix we have spent the past week in the mountainous area known as the High Country. With the higher altitude, averaging 5,000 feet above sea level, the temperatures have cooled down to 17-20C during the daytime but still quite comfortable for hiking and golf (more so than the 25-30C in the Phoenix area). We started off with a challenging hike in Lost Dutchman State Park (Siphon Draw Trail) that featured some steep rock scrambling. Then we drove along the scenic Apache Trail making brief stops at Tortilla Flats (early 1900's stagecoach stop), Canyon and Apache Lakes and the Roosevelt Dam along the Salt River. We spent a night in Roosevelt so that the next morning we could visit the Tonto Cliff Dwellings, where Puebloans built small homes in mid-mountain caves for protection from the elements and other tribes.

From there we continued on to Payson where we spent several days. The highlight was doing short but steep hikes in Tonto Natural Bridge S.P., where they claim to have the world's largest natural stone bridge in the world, measuring 183' high, 150' wide and 400' long. It was discovered in 1877 by a prospector being chased by Apaches when he hid in a cave under the bridge. The fairly steep hike to the bottom was only about a kilometre in length but it provided great views of the bridge and the opportunity to rock hop across the stream and climb larger rocks to get through the huge bridge 'tunnel' to get to the other side for more views and another trail back to the top. We found a couple of well placed geocaches along the way.

We have spent the past 4 days in Prescott, a beautiful place with nice, inexpensive golf courses and hiking opportunities. The town was founded in 1864 as a mining town (providing mineral riches to support the Lincoln's Civil War Union army, but was later devastated by the Great Fire of 1900 which destroyed most of the town. Prescott was rebuilt shortly after and many of the early 1900's buildings are still in use today. During our self-guided historic downtown walk we stopped by many of these establishments including several along Whisky Row where there were once more than 50 bars along one street. One of those The Palace Saloon is still in operation and had a beautiful long bar that had been brought to Prescott from San Francisco in the late 1800's by wagon. When the Great Fire started the bar patrons carried the long bar across the street to the safety of the large Town Plaza where it survived the fire while the saloon burnt to the ground. The bar was re-built shortly after.....it obviously had some very loyal customers.......and the long bar was returned to its rightful place. The long bar seemed to be the highlight of anything that was saved during the massive downtown fire. Today we hiked in the Granite Dells which are right beside our small RV Park. Lots of rock scrambling in a preserve with interesting rock formations requiring the various trails to be marked by painted dots along the trails to keep hikers ascending and descending in the correct direction.

Tomorrow we will drive a bit further north to Sedona where we will spend a few days, meeting up with my Vancouver sister and husband who are doing a home exchange for 2 weeks.

Looking back along the Siphon Draw Trail in Lost Dutchman State Park

The popular bar / restaurant in Tortilla Flats where the walls are wallpapered with autographed dollar bills

Tonto National Monument Cliff Dwellings dating back to the 1300's

Tonto Natural Bridge near Payson

Still smiling.......just before the rock hop across the stream and the rock climbing to get to the other side of the tunnel

Prescott's Palace Saloon and the Great Fire surviving long bar

Unbeknownst to me, advance reservations were required to have a visit with Slanting Annie

Granite Dells hike - Willow Lake viewpoint

Along the Red Bridge Trail - not your normal hiking trail

Baseball Heaven

We have been in the Phoenix area for 9 days now. Great weather (25C and sunny) other than a major rainstorm that hit the region last week-end. It was their first rain in over two months so it was needed but the massive volume led to flash floods and closure of the many golf courses for two days to clean up the mess. All is back to normal now, with heat and sun in the forecast for the next week.

During our time here we have good visits with former neighbours (Dave and Susan), Cottonwood members (Rick and Glenn) and ex-Xerox friends (Janice and Brian). We played four games of golf at different courses and Rhonda's new putter (from the PGA Superstore) is paying dividends already. When not staying with our friends we have spent time at a nice RV Park in Apache Junction. I went to a Jam Session one evening and over 150 people turned up to listen to 15 people from the park take turns playing mostly country music covers. It was quite entertaining.

We also went to our first Cactus League spring training game, watching the Colorado Rockies beat the home-side Chicago Cubs in their brand new stadium. It is still early in the pre-season and it showed on the field as there were 6 'official' errors in the game, and even more on my scorecard. No problem with my hands though as I snagged a foul ball in our 1B line seats. The ball park was beautiful, with Wrigley Field dimensions (minus the ivy wall) and over 10,000 fans at the game. We plan to attend another game or two later in the month. With 15 Major League teams training in the Phoenix area there are games every day and lots of choices.

Tomorrow we are leaving the Phoenix area and heading north-east into the mountains and Tonto National Forest where we will do some dry camping and hiking for a while.



Dave and Susan's lovely kitchen with a vaulted brick ceiling

Squinting into the direct sunlight as we enter the Cubbies new spring training stadium

Taken during a pre-game stadium walkabout. All the seats were filled by game time.



With our friends Janice and Brian just before the foul ball arrived.