Durango December

What were we thinking????
It started out like this.......
And currently, we're at this..

Bisbee Blue

Sun shiny blue-bird kinda day. If still in Bend, we'd be rushing to the mountain to snowboard and smile. Here we wake up and pinch ourselves and think... Is it really December? I will admit, it's a little hard to get into the holiday spirit when it's 70 degrees and the sun is bright. In my mind it's still Sept. I mean really, how can I be wearing a t-shirt and shorts when Santa is about to visit?

Bisbee, AZ has been our home for 3 weeks now. The town lies in a valley surrounded by brown mountains covered in arizona walnut trees. On top of one of the local mountains is a white cross. We've been staring at that cross since day 1. We were told there was a trail to the top. Now that we're thinking of venturing on sometime this week, we thought it was time to conquer that hill.
The journey began in town. We were fortunate to meet some extremely friendly guys our first night here who invited us up to park in front of their house during our stay. Lucky for us, they lived on one of the only flat roads in Bisbee.
We figured from their house to the top of the mountain is about 2 miles. That would make it 4 miles round trip. And would you believe, Little Miss Avery made it ALL the way up and ALL the way back All by herself. YAY!!!!

The top of the hill is a memorial built by a couple in the 1980's. People trek up here to remember loved ones, reflect, sit and think, enjoy the view and be on top of the world for a bit. Which is exactly what we did...til my cell phone rang. :) (It's okay Leah)
With the hike out of the way there are only a few more "must-do's" to check off our list in Bisbee. One of those would be The Queen Mine tour. We've promised the kids we won't leave without and trust me, they'll hold us to that.
You all know by now that our route changes everyday, if not twice a day. Snow and cold lie not that far north. It's been tough on me lately as I "think" I know that when the time comes to settle it won't be this far down. We really want to explore Colorado but not in a motorhome in the dead of winter. April and snow melt seem so far off. So what do you do when in Arizona in Jan? QUARTZSITE, AZ baby! Quarzsite is a small town north of Yuma. Every winter 100,000's of Rv'ers and travelers join up to live on the BLM land that surrounds the town and have a flea market. From what we here so many people come that you can walk around the desert for a month and not see everything. We figure it's a good place to live rent free and meet lots of interesting folks. We'll take the next 3 weeks to explore a bit of Southern New Mexico and zig-zag back through Phoenix and over.
Looks like this is where we'll be spending Christmas. We're excited cause Uncle Brian is coming out to the desert to spend the holiday with us. Hopefully Santa can find us to. Does he slip in through the stove vent?

It's a Tombstone Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!
It's turkey day. It's a Tombstone Thanksgiving. We took a vacation from our "vacation" and drove over to The Wild West. Tombstone, Arizona.

We arrived on Wed. afternoon and hopped out to hear gunshots in the OK Corral which is located right across the street from where we are staying. We couldn't wait to take a walk down the dirt roads and see for ourselves the place many outlaws robbed banks, drank in the saloons and fought for their lives.
(See the "marshals" hanging out on the benches in the background)
It's great here. Folks dressed in 1800 costumes roam the street and stay in character. In fact, it wasn't until late last night while safe in our RV that Kaleb realized that the guns were FAKE. During our walk yesterday he was under the impression that this was all real and at any moment a real gunfight was going to take place and hopefully he wouldn't caught in the middle.
If we're not out roaming the deserted streets or cooking up a storm in the "kitchen" we've spent the remainder of our time in Tombstone having a movie marathon. We started with Kung Fu Panda and wore 3-D glasses during Journey to the Center of the Earth. Legend of Butch and Sundance was thrown into the mix today.
We hope you enjoyed your day today. We miss you and are forever thankful for all our family and friends that have supported us along the way.
xoxoxo


(he's either doing CPR or trying to get it to fit in the motorhome oven??)

A moment to catch up

Miles behind us and many pictures to share. Let's catch up.
While in Flagstaff a month ago, we took a day trip through Oak Creek Canyon and down into Sedona, Arizona. Beauty surrounds the town that is built amongst cliffs and mesas, but one day was enough for us. The drive from Flagstaff to Sedona is well worth the trip.
Oak Creek Canyon::::
In Oak Creek Canyon is Slide Rock State Park. During the summer the canyon is packed with people sliding down the natural water slide. The day we were there was a little chilly. Kaleb was the only brave soul willing to give it a try. His outlook on it was, he might never get this chance again. Gotta love the kids attitude!!!!


As we drove into Sedona we were greeted with a thunderstorm. As we watched to clouds approach the locals assured us that it wouldn't rain. They were wrong. It poured cats and dogs. We took the opportunity to get shelter inside The Red Planet Diner. Some folks we met in Moab recommended the place. It is filled with alien and spacecraft decor. We filled up on a huge banana split and by the time we left I had Anika convinced that our server was really an alien. She watched her back as we walked out the door.

After Flagstaff we headed south to see some more cliff dwellings. First stop, Montezuma's Well. Montezuma's Well is a sinkhome, a collapsed underground limestone cavern filled with water. More than a million gallons of water a day flow continuously from the sinkhole. It is constant 70 degrees. The Sinagua's built dwellings above the sinkhole and below is an irrigation canal built by them to water the surronding lands and crops. Amazing!

Montezuma's Castle is a 5 story, 20 room castle from the Sinagua's more than 600 years ago. Early settlers to the area assumed that the "castle" was connected to the Aztec emperor Montezuma, but we now know it was actually abandoned almost a centry before Montezuma was even born.

Tuzigoot, another Sinagua ruin.
Ever been to Jerome? Located up on Cleopatra Hill between Flagsaff and Prescott its an old mining/ghost town. It is now filled with artist galleries and old saloons. We ate at a great burger joint called The Haunted Hamburger. Supposedly the ghosts still roam the building. We didn't see any but again had Ani convinced they were there. All in good fun I swear. Even knowing we were in a ghost town the older two chicklins were okay with me going into the saloon to watch Jay play the open mic there. I think I was more nervous about leaving them then they were.

After Jermoe we spent a few days in Prescott, AZ. We really liked it there but for those of you that have been following our blog know that we woke up to snow one morning and didn't think twice about splitting town. We did make it to Heritage Park Zoo, an animal sactuary before we left.
We then headed down the mountains and towards Phoenix and as the traffic got heavier we decided to keep on driving..... right on through. All I know of Phoenix is the Goodwill store and the great book selection they have. From what I hear, we're not missing much.
Our next stop...Casa Grande Ruins.
Casa Grande, meaning "the great house" was built by the Hohokam. The land surronding it was litterally littering with pottery. The kids being the great Junior Rangers that they are left them there, as hard as it was.

From here we spent a night in Picachu Peak State Park, north of Tucson. We pulled in early and spent the day exploring the desert, surronded by Saguara Cacti. This has been one of Kaleb's favorite spots. It was nice to have a day to chill in the sun, read, catch up on schoolwork, explore, watch the sunset and roast some marshallows.

I think we could've spent a few days at Picachu but it was time to catch up on laundry and find some hot showers. The next day we left for Tucson and found a RV park with a swimming pool. YIPPEE!!
During this quick stop we learned that we don't fair well in the city. The big life is just too much for us. :) We decided that we had enough. Our clothes were clean, the fridge stocked. We'd head to Bisbee, AZ. Bisbee is a town we heard about before leaving Bend. It's been somewhat of our final destination, as we haven't really looked at a map beyond this point. It's time to start researching New Mexico.
Before leaving Tucson we found a local who showed us an canal ditch to skate and spent the rest of the day having fun at the zoo.




We've been enjoying our time in Bisbee, Az for over a week. We still like it here, although one thing I'm learning on this journey is that I really like water. I haven't seen any since we left Moab. They say they have a river here, The San Jose..but i would call it a muddy creek. I think I may need to settle somewhere where there is a river or lake and some green trees would be nice. One thing I've never seen before is a pomegrante tree. I had to look twice when I walked past one. The trees grow all over town. I lost track of the number of pomegrante we've eaten weeks ago. They've been a constant in the fridge, so to be able to pick them from a tree on a walk is heaven in the kids eyes.
Now don't get me wrong, I love it here. I'm just not sure it could be forever. We'll enjoy the rest of our time here and when the time comes to hit the road again we'll be thankful for the time we've spent and the friends made.