Good bye Tucson 2014 - see ya in 2015

One of eight giant mirrors for the Giant Magellan Telescope

The weather at home is improving, the weather here is slowly heading to the 90s so it is now time to weigh anchor and start the long sail for home.  First let’s catch you up on the activities of our final week in Tucson.

The mass exodus from the resort began a week ago and the activities board has become a clean slate. The only activities being promoted here now have a 2015 date on them. God willing, we’ll be back here to take full advantage of most of them next year.

Where we once had 28 people showing up for hikes, we now have 10. The inevitable rhythm of life for an Arizona resort is on the down swing.

The polishing room

While my sister and brother-in-law were gallivanting all over Arizona this week Joan and I stayed home and began the process of buttoning up the trailer and eating up all the food left in the trailer. We are trying to leave no morsels for any small four-legged creatures to find after we store the trailer.

We are also leaving them a little surprise should they end up inside the trailer. Let’s just say it will be a “killer” surprise if they show up.

I did my best to find and seal up all the possible avenues of entrance into the trailer from underneath in case we get a return visit from the little mice.

An artist's view of the GMT

Joan did some laundry and we began storing linens, etc. for next year’s Arizona adventure.

On Thursday, our 15^th wedding anniversary Joan and I headed to the Mirror Lab at the University of Arizona. This is the world’s premier location for making the large (very large) mirrors that will be used on the next generation of telescopes.

The mirror lab is located next to and underneath the Arizona Wildcats football stadium and for good reason. The large size and weight of the mirrors requires some very heavy duty structure to mount cranes and other lifting equipment on.

Tombstone Courthouse

The tour took 90 minutes and was a fascinating look at the delicate and yet massive technology used to manufacture the next state-of-the-art view finders for the universe. The mirrors take four years to mold, polish and make. And they need to make 8 mirrors for the Giant Magellan Telescope scheduled to go online in Chile in 2020.

Once made the mirrors will be trucked to San Diego and then put on a freighter which will take them to Santiago, Chile where they will be loaded on another truck which will drive at the speed of a walk to the top of a mountain in the Chilean desert.

My sister at an original Tombstone bar

The area where they are going hasn’t had rain in 400 years and does not suffer from the light pollution that most other major cities do. The area is ideal for star gazing and when finished the Giant Magellan Telescope is expected to produce images 10 times better than the current Hubble telescope in space.

We watched as mirror no. 2 was being polished this morning. The tolerances are incredible. The mirror must be smooth to a millionth of an inch. The smoothness is like having an area 25 miles square with a deviation no more than a human hair. That’s some fine grinding.

My sister with the Earps and Doc Holliday (left)

Another mirror on the tour is one that was just recently molded and will begin the process of grinding when the current one is complete.

Joan has been wanting to see this place for a couple years so we scratched that off her bucket list today. My sister and brother-in-law arrived back in Tucson from their northern Arizona adventure late this afternoon, but are hanging close to their hotel room to rest up for tomorrow’s fun.

Joan made me hot dogs and beans for my anniversary dinner. Don’t feel badly for me it’s one of my favorite meals.

Friday started with the chores of returning our mail keys to the resort and arranging for our final electric meter reading and making sure that we are confirmed for our same spot next year. Check, check and check.

Pam with the McLaury brothers and a dead Clanton

At 10 a.m. we picked up my sister and brother-in-law at the Thrifty Car Rental place and headed for “The Town Too Tough to Die” – Tombstone, Arizona.

Once a semi-lawless copper mining town, today the town of Tombstone mines the dollars of tourists coming to explore its history – both the legends and myths. Funny thing about Tombstone, a town known for gun play, is that weapons are banned from just about everywhere in town. Nearly every store has a sign that says “No Guns Allowed.”

One of the many "no gun" signs

Although we have been to Tombstone three times previously, we did something new on this trip and visited the old Courthouse, which is now a museum. The museum, which was formerly the town’s courthouse, municipal offices and jail, includes a replica gallows to commemorate the seven men who were hanged there during the years Arizona was a U.S. Territory.

There was at least one other hanging, but that was classified as a lynching because it was done by an angry mob and not the sheriff. The man had been convicted of bank robbery and accomplice to murder, but was sentenced to a lesser fate of life imprisonment unlike his five co-defendants who were ordered hanged.

The replica gallows in the courtyard of the courthouse

Local citizens were so outraged by the verdict they stormed the jail, liberated the man and then strung him up on a pole in town. The term “frontier justice” comes to mind.

The courthouse included many historical objects and after touring that we headed to the “Shootout at the OK Corral” which is a perennial favorite of our visitors. Fortunately for Joan and I they show has been changed so we had a treat by seeing an all new re-enactment of the famous gunfight memorialized in books and movies.

It still amazes me that the re-enactment of a 30-second gunfight takes a full 40 minutes to do.

The actual gunfight site

Following the gunfight we headed to the famous Boothill Cemetery that is the resting place of so many restless former residents of Tombstone. Many of the graves are “unknown” but the research done by the locals show that many of the folks buried there met an untimely and violent end. Some from knives and guns, other from strange diseases – leprosy for two – and suicides.

We paid our respect at the graves of the McLaury brothers and one of the Clanton kin before heading home to a fine pork roast dinner prepared by Joan in the crock pot.

After dinner we headed to the finale of the weeklong visit of Pam and Jeff by heading to the Desert Diamond Casino for a performance by “The Doobie Brothers.”

Doobie Brothers concert

It was a rocking good time, but too soon it was over and it was time to take Pam and Jeff back to their hotel so they could rest up for an early flight on Saturday home.

We are excited that they are coming back to visit us next year.

Saturday morning started with a work out in the fitness center for me and then the sad task of packing for home.

We were going through guest withdrawal because of all the great fun we had with our relatives the last week so we decided to fill our afternoon with one last tour of something we had not seen before.

Joan at the Tucson Botanical Gardens

With our Tucson passports in hand (little books with coupons that give you 2-for-1 entrance deals at many local attractions). One of those we have been wanting to check out was the Tucson Botanical Garden.

Located near downtown Tucson this 5-acre garden includes several demonstration “back-yard” gardens, a wonderful butterfly house and just many beautiful cactus gardens. The cactus comes from deserts around the world. We spent about 2 ½-hours at the gardens and decided we would put this one the list of things to do when friends and relatives come to town.

It looks like it is a great venue for weddings and other functions. Mostly it was just a very peaceful way to spend our second to the last afternoon touring.

The entrance to the Gardens (Joan at right)

On the way home we filled up the Tahoe as we won’t be leaving the resort on Sunday.

Sunday I hit the gym and we headed to chapel services here at the park. We’ve missed the past two weeks so it was nice to be back but surprising how the crowd has shrunk with everyone going home.

After church we changed into our “Clorox clothes” – that’s what Joan’s mother called the clothes you do chores in – to begin the work of packing away all our stuff and storing the trailer tomorrow in Flagstaff.

Joan smelling the flowers

Joan did a final laundry and we took an inventory of what clothes we are leaving in the trailer and what we are taking with us home. I have a checklist of things that need to be done to make sure we don’t forget something or forget to lock something before we store the trailer.

By Sunday night we had the trailer hooked up, the sewer line and water line disconnected so all we have to do in the morning is pull the electrical plug from the service, raise the trailer stand, plug in the shore cord to the car and pull out. Plans are to depart the park at 4 a.m. insuring our arrival in Flagstaff by 9 a.m. for our 10 a.m. winterizing appointment at Camping World.

It’s always bitter sweet when this day comes, because we do love Tucson in the winter. By the time most of you will be reading this we should be at, near or on our way from Flagstaff to Bakersfield.

Hooked and ready tosail

The mountains hold a very strange attraction for me. Ditto for the desert.  Joan is slowly learning that attraction and there is a beauty to the desert that is hard for me to describe. It is an extreme environment that holds deadly, but wondrous plants and animals.

Even the cactus with its sharp and forbidding thorns suddenly spring forth with colorful flowers and buds that are in contrast to its injurious look. Joan is fascinated by the giant Saguaro cactus with their longevity and strange appendages. I will miss seeing the mountains as I rise and then again as I go to bed.

Our final 2014 Tucson sunset

We love our home in Michigan and realize that the inevitable swing of the calendar is drawing us home. The return trip will be a little longer than the one that brought us here and will include stops in Flagstaff, Arizona as well as stops in California at Bakersfield, Marina, Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay, Danville, El Dorado Hills and Auburn. All those stops will include visits with our west coast family and friends.

Then the long drive home with include overnights in Reno, Salt Lake City, North Platte, Nebraska, Iowa City and North Aurora, Illinois before a scheduled return to Michigan on Good Friday.

I’ll post again as I’m able but it may be a few days until I have time on the trek home.

It only took 5,090 words to get you caught up. A Flat Stanley and a host of relatives visit Tucson

Flat Stanley comes to Tucson

Sorry for the long delay between posts. We have had several visitors, including one that came folded in an envelope from our granddaughter. Flat Stanley arrived in the middle of March just as we were embarking on a great Navajo adventure.

Later we welcomed my sister Pam, brother-in-law Jeff from West Virginia and my cousin Cynthia from California. Most have now left (Flat Stanley via the U.S. Postal Service and the rest by more conventional human means of transport).

But it is now time to get you (and me) caught up. This will be a long post so you might want to curl up with a pillow.

Flat Stanley has been one busy guy since he has been with us this week. Flat Stanley as you may remember is a cardboard cutout class project of our granddaughter  Addisen. 

Flat Stanley at the Biosphere 2

To learn about other parts of the country students in her classroom have dispatched “Stanleys” to various parts of the world to get reports.

We’ll talk more about our Flat Stanley and his adventures later.

On Wednesday we spent the day with Darcel and Barry, two new friends we have made in the park. The live in Moscow, Idaho, but are former professors and instructors at Washington State University.

I met the couple on a hike and happened to mention that we were going on our annual wine tasting (and buying) trip and they asked if they could go with us. What a great day it was.

Joan, Darcel and Barry at one of the wine stops

We stopped at five wineries and bought wine and goodies at nearly every one. We also had some great two-on-two time with Darcel and Barry and really, really like them. When we arrived home they invited us into their two bedroom home in “The Cove” – which is the stick built home section of the Voyager Resort.

The home is beautiful and maybe someday such a place might make a wonderful winter place for us. That’s far in the future however.

After dinner we headed to the ballroom to see our last concert of the season – “Bluegrass Bonanza” – which was totally Joan’s idea. With her “love” of country music I didn’t even bother to get tickets until she mentioned last week that she might like to go.

A wine country longhorn in the road

This was another “peanuts” moment for me as I assumed with her dislike of country music that she would have no interest in the Bluegrass concert. Once again, I was wrong.

The concert, another Lonely Street Production, featured the Bluegrass quartet – The Sonoran Dogs - and they were outstanding. The crowd really got into the mood of the concert and they ended up playing well after the time that the concerts usually end.

Stanley in a vette

My favorite piece was one of their own – Alice in Nogales – and it had some great lyrics. They deliberately left out the last lyric in which Alice would have been rhymed with Cialis. “That lyric is only for the 11 p.m. show,” the lead guitarist said.

I was going to put a link to a youtube video right here so you can see what they sound like, but my technical skills won't let me. If you want to see them go to youtube.com and search for Sonoran Dogs. Unfortunately there was no link to an “Alice in Nogales” song.

Back home it was packing time as the hour of Flat Stanley’s adventure approached. After Bible Study I came home to the local carpet cleaning company working over our trailer carpet. Over the past few years the Arizona desert dust has left the carpet looking pretty awful.

Lucky for me the owner was not around.

By the time the carpet man worked his magic it looked brand new. The man’s 7-year-old son was off on spring break and was working with his dad. He was helping his Dad by pulling the hose out of the trailer and gathering the electrical cords, etc.

We were so taken with the little guy that we asked Dad if it would be OK if we gave him a little “tip.” Dad was very appreciative and the little guy walked away with five crisp one dollar bills.

After that we locked the trailer so it will have a few days to completely dry while we are on our northeast Arizona adventure.

Flat Stanley is immune to cactus thorns

First stop was the Biosphere 2, where we toured last week. I took a photo of Flat Stanley at the Biosphere 2 (in case you forgot Biosphere 1 is earth). I also spotted a 1960 Corvette convertible parked in the lot and risking life and limb from the absentee owner I rushed over and put Flat Stanley in the driver’s seat of the Corvette and snapped a quick photo.

When Stanley is through with his adventures next Monday we have to pack him up with photos and send him back to Michigan so our granddaughter can put together her classroom project on Arizona. Joan didn’t think much of my idea of bringing Stanley to a casino and having him pulling on a one-armed bandit (slot machine) or having him sipping on a scotch and soda at the bar.

Flat Stanley at Petrified Forest

“The teacher may not appreciate that,” Joan said.

Trust me, I’m going to take those photos, but I may not share them with the teacher.

Next we drove through the Apache Indian Reservation, but there was nothing really to take a good photo of so we continued on to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Park. We took lots of photos of Flat Stanley looking over the really strange, but beautiful landscape of the park.

I’ll drop a couple photos here so you can see.

Arizona has this really odd practice (actually one I completely agree with) of not participating in the annual silliness of Daylight Savings Time. Unfortunately the Navajo Indian Reservation where we are spending the next two days does observe DST. So our times are really messed up right now.

Flat Stanley by a Petrified log

We checked into our hotel in Window Rock, Arizona at 7:30 p.m. (Navajo time, 6:30 p.m. Arizona time) and ran and grabbed a quick bite at KFC. Nothing like a little traditional Native American food like spicy crispy chicken to quell a starving stomach.

Fast food chicken seems to be the big draw in the Navajo Nation. We drove by a Church’s Chicken Restaurant in Window Rock and the line was out the door for lunch.

As I’ve explained before Joan has this thing about me avoiding cows in the road. We’ve gone back and forth over this for the past few years. I have contended that cows can’t get in the road and she insists it is very common.

Well, over the past two days, we have seen no less than six cows and horses outside farm fence and near the road.

Stanley at the National Park sign

Here’s a photo of one just, well just because Joan says I have to.

During our whole trip today we encountered various animal warning signs. The first one said “Watch for Animals next 77 miles). Then within 10 miles of that there was another warning sign to look out for elk. Then just a few miles past that there was another sign warning us to look out for deer. Then another sign warning about cattle.

I’m no biologist, but if you have already warned me to look out for animals doesn’t that general warning cover elk, deer and cattle?  From my meager understanding I believe those are all animals.

Horses in the road

With the weird time differential between Arizona and the Navajo Nation, we were up and at ‘em early today. It took nearly 24 hours for my cellphone to catch up with the Arizona vs. Navajo time confusion, but when I got up this morning I was on the right time.

Joan and I had a quick breakfast and then headed to our first stop of the day (with our Flat Stanley visitor at our side) which happened to be the Navajo Nation Government Headquarters at Window Rock.

The area is named for a unique geographical feature that includes a large mountain with a big round hole in it. Thus the name “Window Rock.”

Stanley at Window Rock

I was here as a young boy and then as a teenager and the area seemed much larger to me then. It may be that the addition of a number of Navajo government buildings has shrunk the area considerably in my mind’s eye.

New at the site is a Veteran’s Memorial to the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II and a large memorial to the Navajo veterans of all wars who were killed in the line of duty. The most common name was Begay (one of the Code Talkers made famous by the movie) and Yazzie. We saw many, many men with those names on the memorial wall. I was told that the names Begay and Yazzie are the "Smiths" in the Navajo world.

When I was here as a teenager we climbed up the mountain and looked back through the “window” but with my tennis shoes and advanced age I deferred to my youthful memories and didn’t take the hike on Friday.

The jewelry making girls - very sweet

Next we stopped at a jewelry stand set up in the parking lot and visiting with a Navajo man and his two daughters and admired their home made jewelry. We ended up buying some and we took a picture of the man and his two girls (with his permission) so we could show the folks who will be the recipient of the gifts who made them.

The Office of the Navajo President was open, but we didn’t have an appointment so we had to settle for a brief conversation with his secretary and a photo of the outside of his office.

The office of the President (Navajo)

The Navajo Council was not in session on Friday so we could not go inside the council chambers either. (They are the equivalent of the U.S. Congress and have apparently adopted the practice of shorter work weeks). In the case of the tribe it is understandable because many of their legislators have to drive many hours each day to work.

We met one of the legislators, George Apachito, who represents the New Mexico groups (Alamo, Ramah, Tohajiilee) who tried to help us get into the council chambers, but it wasn’t to be. He was very nice and it turns out he is one of the Navajo legislators who drives three hours each way to be at the council each day.

After taking some photos we headed to the nearby Navajo Tribal Zoo and spent some time getting photos of Flat Stanley posing with many of the animals.

Stanley and the bear

It is a small but interesting zoo and all the animals there are in some way connected to Navajo culture. Many of the animals are there because they suffered injuries that would no longer allow them to survive in the wild, but they can live out their lives in the zoo.

We saw mountain lions, a black bear (no tigers, however) and a variety of birds of prey, coyote, foxes, a porcupine and even one of the Big Horn Sheep that are spending so much time being eaten down near Tucson.

We spent about 90 minutes at the zoo (which was free) and then headed to the equally nearby Navajo Museum and Library.

The museum had some very interesting displays and a room that traced “A Long Walk” the story of the loss of the Navajo territory and its eventual return through an 1868 treaty with the government. It was a very sad tale and one that in today’s light seems cruel and harsh to the Navajo.

Stanley at the museum

Trouble started when the U.S. Army established a fort in Ft. Defiance (then New Mexico, now Arizona) in about 1851 and the prohibited the Navajo from using the land near the fort for grazing as they had for centuries.

This led to attacks on the Army fort and continued hostilities between the two nations. When the Civil War broke out in 1861 the fort was abandoned and the Navajo lived in relative peace until the Army showed up again in 1864,

In 1864, Kit Carson basically torched the Navajos into submission and then with the help of the Army drove the men, women and children from Ft. Defiance, Arizona across much of New Mexico to an Army fort where they were held prisoner and exposed to white man’s diseases for several years.

Stanley in the Hubbell Trading Post house

The mighty chief of the Navajos, Manuelito, resisted the best efforts of the Army to force him into a treaty, but eventually he too was brought to the realization that his people could not win in a continuing confrontation with the Americans.

In 1868 he made peace with the Americans and his people were allowed to return to their lands armed with a treaty that gave them an area of land in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico that is larger than 10 American states. It is a treaty that is pretty much still in force today.

Parts of the treaty insisted on by Manuelito was that the Navajo people have access to government schools so they could learn and become more self-reliant.

When they returned in 1868, they basically started from scratch and many died from a lack of provisions and supplies. Although the U.S. government provided rations for them, many of them proved troublesome as the provisions did not come with instructions.

Hubbell Trading post dinner bell

Not understanding coffee beans, many of the Indians cooked them up and ate them as they would any bean and it caused many of them to be sick and some to die. Same with bags of flour, which was unknown to Indians before.

We headed next to the Hubbell Trading Post in Granado. This is a trading post established by a New Mexico man who was half white and half Hispanic but earned the trust of the Navajo by speaking their language from an early age. He also set up a system where he taught the local Navajo what wares he could sell and also taught them to irrigate and farm.

The National Historic Site still houses the residence of Hubbell and his family, who lived at the site from 1876 until the 1950s. The furnishings were left behind by the last of the Hubbell family and it is a great look into life from those times.

The ceilings are covered with Indian baskets from numerous tribes and artwork left behind by artists who passed through the area from the 1880s until the 1950s.

Inside the trading post

Our tour guide was a Navajo woman who is a U.S. Park Ranger and she was extremely informative. I had been curious if an outsider could buy land on the Navajo Reservation and I made the question personal. “Could I buy property on the reservation?,” I asked.

“Only if you marry me,” she quipped. Joan immediately stepped in and put the end to that discussion, but she explained that only Navajo people can own land on the reservation. If you are a doctor or teacher and they need your services they will find a place for you to live.

We tried to visit St. Michael’s Mission, a former one-room school house near Window Rock, but it was closed for the day.

Just an outside photo

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a large Native American Indian wares emporium but found the prices a little too high for our liking. We came back to the hotel and ate a nice fish dinner in the restaurant.

Saturday morning brought on a new adventure. We departed Window Rock about 9 a.m. and headed for Canyon de Chelley (which is pronounced  Da – Shay, I assume you know how to pronounce Canyon). The canyon visitor center is right outside the town of Chinle, Arizona in the Navajo Nation.

We spent more than two hours driving the South Rim visiting six of the seven vista stops and having to battle the many vendors at several of the stops. Two of the stops don’t allow vendors and that helps.

Self explanatory

We love Navajo art, but there is only so much jewelry and wood art that one can buy. It appears that many of the Navajo are poor and while you want to help as much as you can there is a limit. That said we did purchase some wood art and jewelry at at couple stops, including the next one I will write about.

At some of the vista points you can gaze down on the beautiful canyon and see the still active farms and ranches that dot the floor of the canyon.

Some of those homes are built within a short walking distance of Anasazi dwellings and ruins that you can view from the canyon rim. It is hard to conceive that people were living in that canyon as early as 900 A.D. and that many of those homes are still there and now being preserved.

Grandpa, Stanley and Grandma at Canyon de Chelley

Flat Stanley accompanied us on many of the stops and at one spot Joan and I were having our picture taken by a friendly tourist when I nearly fell over backwards into the canyon. I think it scared Joan more than me, but I hung onto Flat Stanley and my life. I’ll make sure the photo gets put here.

After visiting the entirety of the South Rim of the canyon we headed back to Chinle to continue our day trip up BIA Highway 191. Of course, Joan was ecstatic when she spotted two horses walking in the road and again forced me to take a picture to prove her point that animals are outside the fence.

Stanley loves his Corvettes

Unfortunately, that situation happened several more times as we headed through Navajo territory. Everywhere you look there is fencing. Apparently whoever put up the fencing left plenty of holes in it.

Next stop was Four Corners, the only location in the U.S. where you can stand on one spot and be in four states. Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico come together in a remote corner of all four states.

The monument is located within the Navajo Nation and you pay $3 a person for the privilege of standing on the historic spot as well as the job of dodging yet more Navajo artisans.

We dodged all but two and came away with yet more jewelry and a hand painted Christmas ornament.

After the stop at Four Corners we headed 75 miles southwest for our night destination at Kayenta, Arizona in the heart of Monument Valley. We have a jeep tour scheduled for tomorrow morning to get us up close and personal to the beautiful mountains and monuments in this part of the state.

Joan standing on "Four Corners"

We stayed at the Kayenta Monument Valley Inn and ate dinner in the Wagon Wheel Restaurant in the hotel. Both are very nice. We started to think we were going to be the only guests when two large tour buses pulled in and a bunch of blue hairs poured out and filled the place up.

On Sunday we headed to the lobby to meet our Navajo guide at 8:30 a.m. By 8:45 a.m. we started to get a little concerned and close to 9 a.m. the hotel clerk said it was very unusual for the guide not to be right on time.

She called our tour company who said they mistakenly had us penciled in for Monday and not Sunday. They promised to have a guide to us in 15 minutes and they did.

John Ford Point in Monument Valley

Sam, who told us his Navajo name, but there is no way I could pronounce it or spell it here was roused out of bed to come give us a tour of Monument Valley.

Because it was just Joan and I we drove to the valley in the Cadillac Escalade belonging to his boss. The drive to the Navajo park took about 30 minutes, but Same stopped along the way to point out various rock formations and monuments of interest.

We crossed over into Utah and then a minute later back into Arizona and then we entered Monument Valley park. The road was very rough and I was very glad I had paid someone else to drive their car on this tour.

Petroglyphs that have been in National Geographic

Some of the tour was on roads available to the public, but in the middle of the tour Sam drove off the tourist road onto a side road that is used only by Navajo tour guides.

The road took us to some amazing rock monuments, including several of petroglyphs (ancient graffiti) that date to 800-1000 A.D. Two of the petroglyphs are famous ones that have appeared in national magazines.

At one rock formation, a large open cave, Sam pulled out a Native American flute and played a haunting tour that caused us to go silent and just take in the beauty and significance of our surroundings.

He also showed us where there had once been a cave dwelling and you could see faint children’s handprints on the rock wall.

Sam our tour guide playing an Indian flute

Sam answered all our questions about Navajo families and culture and said that the guide job had sent him on a mission to study the “old ways” and to learn more about his ancestors. He had wonderful stories about Navajo lore and also brought us to “John Ford Point,” which was a rock outcropping that was a favorite of John Ford, one of John Wayne’s main movie directors.

Sam told us that both John Ford and John Wayne are local favorites and Native celebrations took place on the occasion of both of their deaths.

Too soon our four hour tour was done and it was time to head back to Tucson. We were making great time until we got just about 20 miles north of Phoenix and the traffic inexplicably turned into a slow moving parking lot.

Joan and me in Monument Valley

As a friend of mine once said when he was held up in a massive traffic tie up: “Somebody better be dead up there.”  Of course, we didn’t want that, but it was frustrating to find that there was no explanation or debris field that would explain the 30 minute wait.

We arrived home just in time for me to skip the Monday hike so we could get things cleaned up around the campsite in anticipation of the visits of my sister, brother-in-law and cousin.

With that done, I did go on the last hike of the season with the hard hiking group on Tuesday, March 25

Thumbs up from Jim on Chiricahua hike

The Chiricahua hike is probably my favorite hike. It is an 8-mile mostly downhill, although there are a couple of steep inclines during the hike, trek through some of the prettiest rock formations you could ever imagine.

The hike and rocks haven’t changed since the last hike so here’s a link to the previous post. I’ll add a new picture or two here. We did have one hiker who struggled and had to turn back after one of the lung busting uphills. Another hiker went back with him so he wouldn’t be alone.

I arrived home just in time to take Joan and I to the Tuesday potluck but I had to go all hot and sweaty because there was no time to shower.

Me

Wednesday was arrival day for my sister and brother-in-law, but we made time to visit our last Market Daze at the resort.

Travel day for my relations was no easy as they had a multiple fatal accident on I-81 which caused them to have to take back roads and detours to get to the Baltimore Airport. They arrived in time, but hit another snag when their Dallas connection was delayed.

Plans to take them to dinner at the resort vanished as the restaurant here closes early so we went to Finnegan’s near the airport after they arrived.

Jeff and a B-29

Many of the things we did over the next few days I have written about previously so I will include links to those attractions if you care to read about them again.

Let’s just say that Thursday was all about airplanes and a tour of the Pima Air and Space Museum and the “Boneyard.” We did take the outdoor tram at the museum for all the outside airplanes there and Joan and I had not done that before.

We arrived about 10 a.m. and closed the place up at 5 p.m. Joan had a crock pot meal cooking and we ate outside which was a treat for my sister and brother-in-law who have been house bound due to the severe winter conditions in West Virginia this year.

Friday morning brought the arrival of my cousin Cynthia who we picked up at the airport about 11 a.m. When she called from the airport to announce her arrival I couldn’t resist saying “Is today the day you are arriving?” But we were right down the street when she called and she liked the joke.

My sister Pam and Cynthia sit and listen to missile talk

We spent all day at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum and had a great time. We saw the rattlesnake and gila monster show and then watched the raptor free flight show and then spent the rest of the day wandering through the many wonderful exhibits at the museum.

I forgot to put my camera storage device in so all the photos I may get will come from my sister. None are here.

After the tour we headed downtown and went to our favorite high class restaurant in Tucson – the Cushing Street Grill. Everyone agreed that the food was tremendous.

Waiting for frybread

Saturday brought more touring. First we stopped at the Mission San Xavier del Bac where I literally corrupted everyone by introducing them to Indian Frybread, which is similar (but much better) than a carnival elephant ear.

Following the snack we toured the mission and then headed to Green Valley so that our guests could tour the Titan Missile Museum. All of us were alive during the hot days of the cold war so it was a very interesting tour, even if it is one that Joan and I just did.

After the missile tour we headed up the road about six miles and we took them on the ASARCO copper mine tour, which is another favorite tour.

Most of the fam in Sabino Canyon

When the tour was over Jeff and I dropped the ladies off at home so they could go hang out at the Jacuzzi and we headed to the store to pick up the birthday cake we ordered to celebrate Joan and Pam’s birthdays this weekend.

Jeff and I joined the ladies at the resort pool and then we came home and grilled some wonderful NY steaks and later had cake and ice cream. My cousin Cynthia brought her goofy birthday hats which we proudly wore outside the trailer during the celebration.

We laughed, we cried and then we laughed until we cried. Most of that was when we read Elin’s blog about living with Joan and I. Elin’s material has been a little short lately as we have not been home to say stupid stuff.

Jeff at Arizona Civil War battlefield marker

Tired we all got a good night’s sleep and then on Sunday headed to the resort restaurant for the Sunday special – Eggs Benedict for $6.49.

After breakfast we took a quick tour of the park for our guests and then headed up to Sabino Canyon for a tram ride up one of the prettiest places in Arizona.

When that was done, we gave them a quick tour of Saguaro National Park (east) before taking Cynthia back to the Tucson Airport to catch her flight home. After dropping off Cynthia we headed to Trader Joe’s because as hard as it is to believe my brother-in-law Jeff had never been inside one.

Cher exhibit at Museum

After scarfing up the many snacks they were offering for tasting we headed back to the resort where we had dinner at the same place we had breakfast – at the Voyager Bar & Grill.

We finished off the cake and ice cream Sunday night (I’ve gained three pounds since the relatives arrived) and then turned in. Monday morning Jeff and Pam got to tour a park model and a casita here as they are really hoping to come back again next winter and spend more time here. We are all for that.

After the park model and casita tour we headed to a local Thrifty Car Rental place where Jeff picked up a nice Impala, after a struggle to convince the clerk he was serious about renting an American brand vehicle.

We then headed north on I-10 and Phoenix for the day. First stop was the Civil War monument at Picacho Peak, the site of the western most battle of the war between the states. As I mentioned previously it was more of a skirmish than a battle, but to the three union soldiers who died they would probably agree with the battle classification.

Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix

After that quick tour we continued our convoy north (Jeff and Pam in their rented Impala and Joan and I in our Tahoe) to the Musical Instrument Museum in north Phoenix. The museum was hosting a Women of Rock ‘n Roll exhibition and we weren’t expecting much. We were wrong.

The museum was a real surprise. What we thought was going to be a small inner city building turned out to be a huge, modern warehouse of musical stuff. We spent a few hours there, but mostly we just toured the Women of Rock exhibit.

We parted ways with Jeff and Pam until Thursday or Friday – they are off doing Sedona, Grand Canyon, Prescott and other places on their own – and Joan and I made a stop to see our friends Chelsea and Ryan in Gilbert, Arizona.

Chelsea and Ryan in their new home

We got to see their new house and got the scoop on their 2015 wedding. We took them out for a nice pizza dinner and then Joan and I headed home arriving back at the resort about 9 p.m. A truly full day.

Tuesday brought my last hard hike. The trip to Hutch’s Pool was a new hike for me and was well worth the 8.2-miles of difficult terrain. Actually only small parts of the trail were difficult, but at the turn around point of the trail one of our leaders took a nasty stumble off a slippery rock into a cool pool of water. He struck his head and opened a nasty cut on the back of his head. Between my first aid kit and the nursing skills of another hike coordinator we got him bandaged up for the trip back.

Thumb's up for Hutch's pool

Fortunately he didn’t break anything as the place we were at would have been impossible to get a helicopter into to get him out.

The hike to Hutch’s Pool uses the same tram as the Sabino Canyon trip I just took Sunday, but it is always a treat. The hike starts at the end of the tram line and continues 4.1 miles into the mountain.

Once back to the resort, I got cleaned up and Joan and I attended our last potluck dinner for this season.

Me at Hutch's pool

So, now you are up-to-date and you can expect another post just before we leave next Monday.

We've got a few more things to do here with Pam and Jeff before they leave. One of those is a Doobie Brothers concert Friday night.

Joan and I celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary on Thursday and may do that by going on a tour of the astronomy mirror lab at the University of Arizona.

And just in case I failed to mention it I am sorry that MSU lost in the NCAA tournament.