This past week that we were in Mexico was nothing short of spectacular! We arrived on Monday the 8th and returned on Sunday, 14th. If there were any setbacks we had it would have been the 2 hours it took to go through Customs upon our arrival. I believe everyone that were heading to Mexico arrived at 3:00 pm. It took us 2 hours to finally get through customs and board our shuttle to take us to Riviera Maya Resort. The time lost waiting in line at customs was made up by our van driver. I have taken the cabs in NY but our driver had to be an ex Formula One driver. I never knew a 2 lane road could actually be made into 3+ lanes.
We took Tuesday morning and visited Playa de Carmen, one of the hottest spots for shopping and night clubs in the area. For those of you that love to shop and take in beautiful beaches, this is the place to go. Street after street of shops and food vendors.
On Wednesday we headed out to see the Maya Ruins in the city of Tulum. It was a very rewarding trip to see the beauty of what is left of an ancient city dating back to around 1200-1500 A.D. It was a pretty awesome experience just standing in the center of it and visualizing the city filled with people. One of the things we found interesting was the fact of the height of the doorways. If you look at one of the pictures of an adobe where I'm standing, you realize the height of the citizens of Tulum.
The remaining of the week we just stayed around the resort and took life easy. I went snorkeling with Aaron and David one morning and had a great time ( although it does get one tired real easy). Cindy and I took a kayak out and went for a ride on a catamaran. Our day deep sea fishing trip was fun, even though we did not have much success (Laura caught one nice one), the water was really rough and did not have much sympathy on our stomachs.
The night of the wedding there just happen to be a beach party going on which we all felt we should contribute to. There was music, contest for the adults, try placing one hand on a ball, circle around it 5-6 times, then run backwards to the next person in line ( almost makes you feel like your drunk ) or doing the limbo ( good thing was if you lost you got a shot of Tequila poured into your mouth).
Our last night there we had the pleasure of seeing our son, David, go upon stage and compete in a "Perform like Michael Jackson contest". He did not win top prize ( but in all of our opinions he should have), he definatly has some moves when he is on the dance floor.
This trip would rate at the top of things that Cindy and I have been able to do, and were very fortunate to have the opportunity to spend it with Aaron, David, and our new daughter in-law Laura, along with her family.
Monday, February 15, 2010
The Wedding & Beach Party
Remember to double click slideshow for full size photos
Without boring you with every detail I'll let the pictures explain themselves. The only details I will give now was that it rained all day( off and on )and 45 minutes before the wedding they had to decide what to do, stay outside and hope for clear skies or go inside and have it in a building. They decided to stay with it outside and by the time the of the wedding NO RAIN and cloudy skies. The wedding was wonderful and the resort was having a Friday night beach party which turned out to be a perfect time for their reception. I can only say it was a night to remember ( or at leasst try to remember). For the rest of what we done I will post it later with more pictures.
Without boring you with every detail I'll let the pictures explain themselves. The only details I will give now was that it rained all day( off and on )and 45 minutes before the wedding they had to decide what to do, stay outside and hope for clear skies or go inside and have it in a building. They decided to stay with it outside and by the time the of the wedding NO RAIN and cloudy skies. The wedding was wonderful and the resort was having a Friday night beach party which turned out to be a perfect time for their reception. I can only say it was a night to remember ( or at leasst try to remember). For the rest of what we done I will post it later with more pictures.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Ajo (ah-ho, not A-hole)
The past couple of weeks Cindy and I have enjoyed visiting some of the area attractions. We headed down to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The park sits in the lower part of Arizona south of Gila Bend and borders the Mexico border. Needless to say we stayed on this side of the border and chose not to visit Lukeville, Az., a border town. There are some towns on the border that one crosses and there are others where it’s just plain smart to stay away from, and Lukeville is one to stay away from.
We left the park and some hiking and headed to a town called Ajo( pronounced Ah-ho, not A-hole as some of us do.) The town was home to a very large copper mine, the mine itself is actually 1.5 miles across and employed over 1000 workers until shutting down in 1985. Ajo is a small town with a few restaurants, shopping and some mission buildings.
Ater leaving Ajo we headed back to Gila Bend and enjoyed just lying around in the 70’s degree temperatures. After closely watching the weather map I now know why people head to the southwest part of Arizona. While everyone ( including Florida was freezing ) we were enjoying the temps in the mid 70’s in the day and mid 40’s at night ( makes great sleeping weather).
Wednesday, Jan. 13th, we had an opportunity to go to the bombing range just south of us. Now I have not talked very much about the bombing range( in fear of worrying some of you at home) around here but I will try and fill you in on what it is. There is between 1 and 2 million acres of desert here that is owned by the govt. and used for every kind of training from all of the branches of the military. It is not uncommon for us to be sitting outside or in the camper and hear them dropping live bombs. Sometimes they drop the BIG ONES (someone said around 500-1000lbs) and you actually feel the after shock of it. We have also had the opportunity to hear the A-10 Wart Hogs use live ammo ( 30 mm) , it shoots 3900 rounds per minute, 50 rounds the first second and 60-70 rounds per second after that, so what we hear at the rv park is the sound from this huge gun being used. The sound we hear is nothing more than a loud zipppp to us. The day we went to the bombing range they had the F-16’s dropping dummy bombs and firing live ammo. It was quit the experience to be able to stand on the tower and watch them fly by where you could actually see the pilot and watch them shoot at the targets ( see pictures). The only disappointment was that the A-10’s were not out that day but we did get to see quit a show put on by the F-16’s. including some rocket fire at targets.
NEWS FLASH: we actually got rain here, the past 4 days, and cooler temps, so I guess we have experienced WINTER in Gila Bend.
We left the park and some hiking and headed to a town called Ajo( pronounced Ah-ho, not A-hole as some of us do.) The town was home to a very large copper mine, the mine itself is actually 1.5 miles across and employed over 1000 workers until shutting down in 1985. Ajo is a small town with a few restaurants, shopping and some mission buildings.
Ater leaving Ajo we headed back to Gila Bend and enjoyed just lying around in the 70’s degree temperatures. After closely watching the weather map I now know why people head to the southwest part of Arizona. While everyone ( including Florida was freezing ) we were enjoying the temps in the mid 70’s in the day and mid 40’s at night ( makes great sleeping weather).
Wednesday, Jan. 13th, we had an opportunity to go to the bombing range just south of us. Now I have not talked very much about the bombing range( in fear of worrying some of you at home) around here but I will try and fill you in on what it is. There is between 1 and 2 million acres of desert here that is owned by the govt. and used for every kind of training from all of the branches of the military. It is not uncommon for us to be sitting outside or in the camper and hear them dropping live bombs. Sometimes they drop the BIG ONES (someone said around 500-1000lbs) and you actually feel the after shock of it. We have also had the opportunity to hear the A-10 Wart Hogs use live ammo ( 30 mm) , it shoots 3900 rounds per minute, 50 rounds the first second and 60-70 rounds per second after that, so what we hear at the rv park is the sound from this huge gun being used. The sound we hear is nothing more than a loud zipppp to us. The day we went to the bombing range they had the F-16’s dropping dummy bombs and firing live ammo. It was quit the experience to be able to stand on the tower and watch them fly by where you could actually see the pilot and watch them shoot at the targets ( see pictures). The only disappointment was that the A-10’s were not out that day but we did get to see quit a show put on by the F-16’s. including some rocket fire at targets.
NEWS FLASH: we actually got rain here, the past 4 days, and cooler temps, so I guess we have experienced WINTER in Gila Bend.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Desert Living
Yes, Cindy and I are still alive and well, we just haven't posted anything for a while and people have let me know about it. I have to admit that we have been pretty much just hanging around the rv park and not doing very much sightseeing. Basically we have just been waiting for some people to arrive here. The place is starting to fill up and we are meeting and making several new friends. The pictures on the first slide show are from a State Park called, Painted Rock. The petroglyphs you see were made by the Indians that lived here.
We spent our first Christmas in the land of sunshine, the temps here were in the high 60’s and mid 40’s at night. I will have to admit it was totally different being here for the holidays, no snow, no cold temps, no family, very few Christmas decorations around, but on the positive side, it sure was nice to go outside in our tee shirts and soak in the sun. Randy and family came and visited us on the 28th and 29th and we were very excited to see them. The boys sure are growing up fast and getting bigger every time we see them. We enjoyed the time we got to spend with them and hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.
For those of you who we haven’t told, we will be spending our summer months in the beautiful state of Colorado. We have already lined up a place to be, Rockmount Cottages, in the Estes Park Area. This place is located just 2 miles from the entrance to the Rocky Mountain National Park, in Estes , Colorado. Those of you interested in seeing where we will be can type in www.rockmountcottages.com and explore what’s there.(click on the numbered cottages and see pics of the actual cottage) We’re excited about the area ( lots of 14,000 peaks there) and are looking forward to being there.
Cindy and I experienced our first today. We spent 7 hours riding ( in mid 70's) 4 wheelers in the desert with several other people. The man that owns the RV Park here let us use his 4 wheeler and we had a blast sightseeing in the desert. I now know why people like to be in the desert ( if you own a 4 wheeler). For those of you who know us and know how much we love the mountains, well today we had the chance to see the beauty in the desert. We found our winter home( you'll find it in the pictures) and I actually found a crystal nugget with several GOLD flakes in it and we both found several small flakes (NO BIG NUGGETS). We rode to an old copper mine and the picture of the thing that looks like an oven ( actually it is) is called a smelter, used to extract copper from other iron. CIndy even came home with a nice size copper nugget. Other than having to eat a lot of dust, the ride we took today was one of the highlights of the things we have been able to see and do since we left home back in April. In fact in might even come close to catching a 24 inch rainbow trout.
We’re looking forward to the coming months and have several things planned, the most important one being a trip to Cancun in February, to see Aaron and Laura exchange wedding vows. We are also planning a trip in the next few weeks to drive down to Mexico and take in the sights there ( and yes, we are going with someone that has done this before).Until next time remember this, “ Life is not about how many breaths you take, but about how many moments take your breath away”.
We spent our first Christmas in the land of sunshine, the temps here were in the high 60’s and mid 40’s at night. I will have to admit it was totally different being here for the holidays, no snow, no cold temps, no family, very few Christmas decorations around, but on the positive side, it sure was nice to go outside in our tee shirts and soak in the sun. Randy and family came and visited us on the 28th and 29th and we were very excited to see them. The boys sure are growing up fast and getting bigger every time we see them. We enjoyed the time we got to spend with them and hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.
For those of you who we haven’t told, we will be spending our summer months in the beautiful state of Colorado. We have already lined up a place to be, Rockmount Cottages, in the Estes Park Area. This place is located just 2 miles from the entrance to the Rocky Mountain National Park, in Estes , Colorado. Those of you interested in seeing where we will be can type in www.rockmountcottages.com and explore what’s there.(click on the numbered cottages and see pics of the actual cottage) We’re excited about the area ( lots of 14,000 peaks there) and are looking forward to being there.
Cindy and I experienced our first today. We spent 7 hours riding ( in mid 70's) 4 wheelers in the desert with several other people. The man that owns the RV Park here let us use his 4 wheeler and we had a blast sightseeing in the desert. I now know why people like to be in the desert ( if you own a 4 wheeler). For those of you who know us and know how much we love the mountains, well today we had the chance to see the beauty in the desert. We found our winter home( you'll find it in the pictures) and I actually found a crystal nugget with several GOLD flakes in it and we both found several small flakes (NO BIG NUGGETS). We rode to an old copper mine and the picture of the thing that looks like an oven ( actually it is) is called a smelter, used to extract copper from other iron. CIndy even came home with a nice size copper nugget. Other than having to eat a lot of dust, the ride we took today was one of the highlights of the things we have been able to see and do since we left home back in April. In fact in might even come close to catching a 24 inch rainbow trout.
We’re looking forward to the coming months and have several things planned, the most important one being a trip to Cancun in February, to see Aaron and Laura exchange wedding vows. We are also planning a trip in the next few weeks to drive down to Mexico and take in the sights there ( and yes, we are going with someone that has done this before).Until next time remember this, “ Life is not about how many breaths you take, but about how many moments take your breath away”.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Green Grass and Trees!
Well it’s been awhile since I have written anything in the blog. I just want everyone to know that we both are doing fine and are enjoying the warm weather we are having here in Arizona. The move from Montana to Arizona has been quite a change for us. First of all we were pretty well spoiled when we were at Lonesomehurst. To have all the things to see and do within our reach was quite rewarding. We found our adventure to Arizona being more of a challenge. There are many things to see and do around here but we are waiting for some cooler weather to arrive.
We did make a short trip over to San Diego last week and spent a couple of days on the west coast then came back to Yuma and spent a night there. While in San Diego we went to the coast and enjoyed the beaches and the beauty of the ocean. For those of you who know me, I’m the type of person that is not too impressed with big cities and big buildings. Not to say there isn’t things out there in the architectural world that I would not like to see, I’m just not into the big cities. We visited Coronado Island and toured the hotel “del Coronado”. This hotel pictured in the slide show was built in 1888 and was at that time, the worlds largest resort/hotel and the first to use electrical lighting. The only thing that I saw that I did not care for was the $18 for a 1/2lb hamburger!! Give me the rivers, mountains, lakes, even the valleys and I can enjoy them all day long. We had a good time there and it was real nice to see green grass and trees. We had the chance to stop and see Bob and Agnes ( from West Yellowstone) and enjoyed our visit with them.
We’re starting to get some people coming into the park for winter but it is still early for most of the snowbirds. We’re told that most people will start showing up around the end of November and December. We have several places we hope to visit during the upcoming months and are looking forward to seeing them. We’ve met several people coming down this way from Canada to escape the cold winter there. For now most of the people that are coming into the park are just stopping for a day or two and are heading to Texas or other parts of Arizona.
We hope everyone back home will have a nice Thanksgiving and make every effort to visit with each other, if you can’t visit give a phone call. Family and friends are very precious to have so enjoy the opportunity to be with each other.
We did make a short trip over to San Diego last week and spent a couple of days on the west coast then came back to Yuma and spent a night there. While in San Diego we went to the coast and enjoyed the beaches and the beauty of the ocean. For those of you who know me, I’m the type of person that is not too impressed with big cities and big buildings. Not to say there isn’t things out there in the architectural world that I would not like to see, I’m just not into the big cities. We visited Coronado Island and toured the hotel “del Coronado”. This hotel pictured in the slide show was built in 1888 and was at that time, the worlds largest resort/hotel and the first to use electrical lighting. The only thing that I saw that I did not care for was the $18 for a 1/2lb hamburger!! Give me the rivers, mountains, lakes, even the valleys and I can enjoy them all day long. We had a good time there and it was real nice to see green grass and trees. We had the chance to stop and see Bob and Agnes ( from West Yellowstone) and enjoyed our visit with them.
We’re starting to get some people coming into the park for winter but it is still early for most of the snowbirds. We’re told that most people will start showing up around the end of November and December. We have several places we hope to visit during the upcoming months and are looking forward to seeing them. We’ve met several people coming down this way from Canada to escape the cold winter there. For now most of the people that are coming into the park are just stopping for a day or two and are heading to Texas or other parts of Arizona.
We hope everyone back home will have a nice Thanksgiving and make every effort to visit with each other, if you can’t visit give a phone call. Family and friends are very precious to have so enjoy the opportunity to be with each other.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Back In Indiana !
Wednesday, September 16th, we went into Phoenix and spent the night. Thursday we flew back to Indiana to visit family and friends. My sister Debbie was kind enough to come to the airport and pick us up. We ended up spending the night at home and got to visit with Jim & Tasha. Over the next few days we had the opportunity to visit Cindy’s father and brothers, David & Andrea Rowe (with soon to be a "little David"). Debbie had us over Sunday evening for pizza and all of my brothers and sisters came over to visit with us. For those of you who have moved away from family and friends, there is nothing quite as nice as being able to see all of them again. Monday we went to Sunset Funeral Home and had the chance to visit with the people I have worked with over the past few years. Jim and Nancy went out to eat with us on Tuesday, then back to Carmel to spend the night with Cindy’s father.
The whole purpose of flying back was to pick up our car, drive it back to Arizona so we would have it to visit various places out here. Sometime while at home I must have picked up a bug because I got sick on Tuesday night. Nothing worse than having 2000 miles to drive and having a case of stomach cramps to do it with. Thankfully we were driving the car and not towing the camper so Cindy got the chance to do a lot of the driving while I lay over in the passenger seat holding my gut. We stopped by David’s house and got a chance to spend a couple of days with him before heading back to Arizona. Our goal was to drive to David’s then head over to Denver and visit with Randy and family, but felt it wise not to take whatever it was I had and share it with them. My apologies to them for not making it this trip, but I’m sure they were healthier for it.
We decided to take the southern route back and went down to Oklahoma City and came across I-40 to I-25 then south to I-10. We figured while we were that close to Tombstone, AZ we might take in the town. For those of you who are wondering what is in Tombstone, Arizona, there is a lot of history there. Wyatt Earp, Boot Hill, The Birdcage Theater, Doc Holiday, The O.K Corral, etc, the only thing we did not like about it, you had to pay $5-10 to see any of it. With the exception of Boot Hill, most everything in the town cost (what a rip). We can add it to the list of “been there, done it”, but would I recommend it or go back NO WAY!
The past couple of weeks we have pretty much just been hanging around and writing down things we want to see in the area. I will tell you that we did visit one of the local attractions. It is called “Desert Sweet Shrimp” farm. Now I know what you all are thinking, no way is there shrimp in the desert, (exactly what we thought). Well without boring you with all the details basically they have these large ponds, add salt to the water, add the shrimp, which have just hatched, and wait for the hot dry desert temps to grow the shrimp. They claim that the shrimp is sweeter than you get out of the ocean, no antioxidants, no chemicals, and therefore are healthier for you. We haven’t tried them yet but the first week of November they put on a “shrimp fest” in town, so we figured we would give it a shot. If your interested in learning more and would like to order some they have a web address. Just type in Desert Sweet Shrimp and look for the link to the one located in Gila Bend Arizona. As of the writing I will say that we are adjusting to the heat, learning about the desert, and so far, NO RATTLESNAKES or SCORPIONS!!
The whole purpose of flying back was to pick up our car, drive it back to Arizona so we would have it to visit various places out here. Sometime while at home I must have picked up a bug because I got sick on Tuesday night. Nothing worse than having 2000 miles to drive and having a case of stomach cramps to do it with. Thankfully we were driving the car and not towing the camper so Cindy got the chance to do a lot of the driving while I lay over in the passenger seat holding my gut. We stopped by David’s house and got a chance to spend a couple of days with him before heading back to Arizona. Our goal was to drive to David’s then head over to Denver and visit with Randy and family, but felt it wise not to take whatever it was I had and share it with them. My apologies to them for not making it this trip, but I’m sure they were healthier for it.
We decided to take the southern route back and went down to Oklahoma City and came across I-40 to I-25 then south to I-10. We figured while we were that close to Tombstone, AZ we might take in the town. For those of you who are wondering what is in Tombstone, Arizona, there is a lot of history there. Wyatt Earp, Boot Hill, The Birdcage Theater, Doc Holiday, The O.K Corral, etc, the only thing we did not like about it, you had to pay $5-10 to see any of it. With the exception of Boot Hill, most everything in the town cost (what a rip). We can add it to the list of “been there, done it”, but would I recommend it or go back NO WAY!
The past couple of weeks we have pretty much just been hanging around and writing down things we want to see in the area. I will tell you that we did visit one of the local attractions. It is called “Desert Sweet Shrimp” farm. Now I know what you all are thinking, no way is there shrimp in the desert, (exactly what we thought). Well without boring you with all the details basically they have these large ponds, add salt to the water, add the shrimp, which have just hatched, and wait for the hot dry desert temps to grow the shrimp. They claim that the shrimp is sweeter than you get out of the ocean, no antioxidants, no chemicals, and therefore are healthier for you. We haven’t tried them yet but the first week of November they put on a “shrimp fest” in town, so we figured we would give it a shot. If your interested in learning more and would like to order some they have a web address. Just type in Desert Sweet Shrimp and look for the link to the one located in Gila Bend Arizona. As of the writing I will say that we are adjusting to the heat, learning about the desert, and so far, NO RATTLESNAKES or SCORPIONS!!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Out of the freezer, into the fire!
Saturday, September 12th, we headed for some sunshine and warm weather. The drive through Idaho was a nice drive, the drive through northern Utah, not so interesting. Actually the southern part of Utah was a very nice drive. One of the things we enjoy most about Utah is the “red rock’ formations. Instead of taking the Interstate all the way to Vegas and cut over ,we decided to take some state highways. On a positive note, taking these types of roads usually takes more time (which we have) and you get the opportunity to visit small towns dotted along them. On the negative side, when the roads were built I believe no one considered the fact of towing RV’s on them. I will admit after the first several miles I was asking myself if maybe the Interstate would have been a wiser choice. The first night we stayed at one of the famous WalMart Resorts. The next day took us into Arizona ( by far a totally different look than the mountains of Montana). We arrived in the Phoenix area later that day and decided to stop for the night, as we figured there were a few things we needed to pick up before our arrival at Augie’s Quail Trail RV Park.
Now for those of you who have done camping in your past years one pretty much knows what to expect when arriving at your destination. Since Cindy and I have never done any “desert camping” we were not quite sure what to expect. We both knew that it was going to be a total reverse of camping in Montana on the water. Lonesomehurst taught us things like looking over our shoulders for bears, making sure our food was not left out for “Yogi” , catching very nice size fish, knowing that on June 12th you can wake up and find 2 inches of snow on the ground, spotting Eagles, without much of an effort, as they fly over, those types of things we have learned to handle over the past 5 months. The last week we were at Lonesomehurst our water line froze, temps down to 26 degrees. Upon our arrival in the Phoenix area our thermometer showed around 105 degrees, ( yes I typed it right).
In leaving we would like to share with you something we have never experienced in all of our years camping. The first night at Augie’s we turned on the water heater to take showers. Cindy went first and when she finished she informed me that she did not need to use the hot water. I thought yeah right, well what she said was true. Never in my years of camping have I ever ( and I mean ever) been able to take a cold water only shower and enjoy the warmth of the “cold” water. But then again I guess when the temps outside hit 105+ degrees, and heats up the sand, I can understand why “cold water” in Arizona, actually is “warm enough for a shower”.
Now for those of you who have done camping in your past years one pretty much knows what to expect when arriving at your destination. Since Cindy and I have never done any “desert camping” we were not quite sure what to expect. We both knew that it was going to be a total reverse of camping in Montana on the water. Lonesomehurst taught us things like looking over our shoulders for bears, making sure our food was not left out for “Yogi” , catching very nice size fish, knowing that on June 12th you can wake up and find 2 inches of snow on the ground, spotting Eagles, without much of an effort, as they fly over, those types of things we have learned to handle over the past 5 months. The last week we were at Lonesomehurst our water line froze, temps down to 26 degrees. Upon our arrival in the Phoenix area our thermometer showed around 105 degrees, ( yes I typed it right).
In leaving we would like to share with you something we have never experienced in all of our years camping. The first night at Augie’s we turned on the water heater to take showers. Cindy went first and when she finished she informed me that she did not need to use the hot water. I thought yeah right, well what she said was true. Never in my years of camping have I ever ( and I mean ever) been able to take a cold water only shower and enjoy the warmth of the “cold” water. But then again I guess when the temps outside hit 105+ degrees, and heats up the sand, I can understand why “cold water” in Arizona, actually is “warm enough for a shower”.
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