Downhill a Little to Camp Verde

The RTR group that I was parked with moved to Camp Verde, and I decided to go with them. Jo and I first went to see Montezuma Castle.

Southern Sinagua farmers built this five-story, 20-room dwelling sometime between 1100 and 1300 AD.

It occupies a cliff recess 100 feet above the valley.

While we were wandering around, we came upon this huge Black-Tailed Rattlesnake. The ranger there said something about it being released recently. Seems odd to me to release a rattlesnake in a tourist attraction!

The WINs were parked nearby, so I did some activities with them also. One day we went to the old mining town of Jerome.

I think they are trying to raise money for the town by encouraging you to throw coins into these toilets!

Rosemary and I made a hot new friend.

Back at the RTR, Barbara (of Me and My Dog... and My RV) and I went to visit Tuzigoot, an nearby Sinagua village built between 1000 and 1400 AD.

The original pueblo was two stories high in places, with 87 ground-floor rooms.

More of Lovely Sedona

I went on many more hikes while in Sedona.

Marg's Draw was an easy "Go until you're half way and then turn around" hike.

I saw a lot of this plant. Does anyone know what it is?

I also did a hike around Chimney Rock, starting out with a little side trip to visit Buddha.

There is a large Stupa there. The Stupa is considered to be the body of Buddha. You are supposed to walk clockwise around the Stupa at least 3 times while meditating. I must admit that I did it, and actually felt better about my dead truck battery. I always get upset when something doesn't work.

There was a little hanky-panky going on nearby.

Back on the Chimney Rock trail, I got a good view of the Lizard Head, giving me the evil eye.

A group of us walked down to Oak Creek. There are usually lots of stacks of rocks here, but they must have had strong winds recently.

This guy was trying to break the record.

Whoops, distracted again...

Jo and I went for a walk on the Templeton trail, which also gives a great view of Cathedral Rock. While we were walking, we discovered that we grew up in the same town! We were so distracted that we got off the trail, but fortunately I was tracking our walk on my phone, so it all ended well. That is the first time in 17 years that I have run into anyone from my hometown!

Back home at camp, we were entertained by the Arizona State Air Rescue helicopter. He was just practicing - no real emergency.

Our usual neighbors came to visit -

And the next morning, not one, but SEVEN balloons landed right by us!

Ever wonder how they get the balloons to tip over instead of coming straight down on the basket?

It's all thanks to this guy!

We all got together each evening to watch the sunset.

And we had a lot of nice ones!

Beautiful Sedona

After returning from seeing the Grandkids for Easter, I hitched up and went up the hill to Sedona, AZ. I love this place! I camped on Forest land between Sedona and Cottonwood. The hot air balloons flew over every morning.

My first hike is my favorite, the Teacup trail. The scenery is gorgeous, even from the trailhead.

There were lots of flowers, in between the cacti.

Pretty!

I was hiking with new friends, CB and Jo.

The next day I started out on the Soldier Pass trail. Those vortexes cause some pretty twisted trees.

The yucca were also blooming.

There's a huge sinkhole on the trail that happened fairly recently.

Unfortunately, they have rerouted the trail to a jeep road, which was steep and slippery, so I turned around and did some of the Jordan trail.

Wow!

Afterwards, I walked around town, and saw Sacajawea stirring up the clouds.

In the early evening, I went to the Crescent Moon Red Rock Crossing Park for a great view of Cathedral Rock. The classic view of Red Rock Crossing is a little hard to capture unless you wade in the water. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my water shoes.

There are some old buildings here, including this water wheel.

And if you walk a little farther, there is a nice view of Cathedral Rock, with a reflection in the water.

I went on lots of hikes in the area - more to come!

Easter with the Grandkids

After driving quickly from Texas to Arizona, my driving was not done. I drove the truck over to see my West Coast grandkids. And I have a new Granddog - Fifi, rescued less than a month ago from a puppy mill. Fifi is adorable, and just wants to be hugged and give kisses. (I really need to learn how to take better selfies...)

I got to take Jonathan to the neighborhood Easter party, when Mom and Mara were doing something else. He's ready to get some of the hundreds of eggs laid out all over the square.

They also had a blow-up slide and a jumpy thingy.

Finally, Easter morning arrives!

There was an egg hunt in the back yard.

And then we went over to the other grandparent's, Ken and Lora's, house, where Mara and Jonathan had another egg hunt with their cousins.

I loved these Goldfinch feeders - they had 4 of them!

And a great bubble machine - WOW!

The kids told me they wanted to learn to crochet, because they had a kit to make Star Wars characters. We didn't get that far but they did learn the basics.

Jonathan made Fifi a scarf. She was so dirty when she was rescued that they had to shave off all her hair, and she gets cold.

Having grandkids on opposite sides of the US is hard on holidays. But my son sent me a picture of my East Coast granddaughter. How cute is she!