Moving on...The Adventure Continues

On the 2nd of April at 9:47 am the Millers left The Sands Rv and Golf Resort. The weather had deteriorated, the temperature was 14 C and the wind was blowing about 20 mph and it was time to get on the road again. The goal was to get to Gold Canyon Arizona to hook up with our friends Rod and Sylvia Williams (Blog: Six Saturdays and a Sunday). The drive, around 300 miles was very boring. There were subtle changes in the vegetation but it was mainly flat and empty. We did see several "Dust Devils" or mini tornadoes that were about 15 feet across and were sucking sand straight up about 40 feet.

some of the rock formations

This car carrier that we past had 5 e type jags on it. I don't know where they were going but I was sure tempted to follow.

Gold canyon is just east of Phoenix near Apache Junction. The park that Rod and Sylvia are in has about 680 spots c/w 8 pickleball courts a Baseball Diamond and an remote control race course. The park is an open design with no greenery between units.

 As you can see in the above photos they do have some nice cactus. We were invited to join Rod and Sylvia for their last happy hour . Well they were wrong the 'happy' part lasted alot longer than an hour.

Alcoholic beverages were consumed,lies were told and much merriment was had by all those at our table. Rod and Sylvia are definitely ok with this retirement stuff. We stayed there for two nights then moved onto Benson Arizona. Benson is about 35 miles east of Tucson. We will be in Benson for three nights as we plan on touring the area. Tombstone is 25 minutes away as well as the Kartchner Caverns and many others to be highlighted in the next blog.

Later Junkel

Zoo Hike and Brown Out

Hi one and all we finally have internet again hopefully it will last until I finish this post. It has been a strange and busy time since my last post. My neighbour who let me use her internet has headed home so we have had to use the park internet, it has also been absent for the last week. Last Thursday we went to the Living Desert zoo and gardens with our friends Al and Shirley. We had a blast. They had a big screen tent with a bunch of budgie type birds from Australia. You walk around with a Popsicle stick with bird seed on it and the birds attack.

At one point Kelly had 6 or 7 on him if you include the two trying to get into his shorts pocket. Fun but just a little freaky. They also have a giraffe that is about to give birth. She wasn't out in the pen but the others were.

They had a wide variety of critters and about 125 different types of cactus. The Zoo is open until 5 pm now but in the summer time it is only open until 1 pm as it is to hot. They have a model train set up that covers about 2/3 of an acre.

If this next guy was in Texas some Yahoo would try and mount his horns on the front of his car. Not sure what car they would fit on.

We spent the day there and had a good time, there are 482 other photos but we don't have enough room here for them.
There has been a mass exodus from here over the last week. The pool is not very busy, we don't see as many people when we walk around the park. We will be leaving here the 2nd of April heading for Phoenix then Tuscon for a couple of days. The wind storm that started Tuesday and stopped late thursday night hasn't helped things. The wind blew about 35-40 miles per hour with recorded gusts to 63.5. Yet if we drive 20 minutes to Palm Springs there was little to no wind. On our way back from Palm Springs we took this picture as the car in front of us vanished in a cloud of sand.

Yup our first "Brown Out". They closed the road shortly after this. I think the part that was the worst was the continuous noise. You don't always notice it but after 2 and a half days of non stop wind YOU notice it.
On this past Thursday we went on our last hike of the season. I have a knot on my Achilles tendon, so our hike leader Jerry taped me up and away we went. It was a nice 4.4 mile hike that allowed us enough time to go as a group out for lunch at the Souplantation.

There were only 12 of us but it was enjoyable.
Hopefully they have fixed our internet and I can update this once more before we leave.
Take Care Junkel

Living in The Blooming Desert

Well we have been back here for a week now and we are still trying to adjust. The weather here has been very hot low to mid 30's so the pool has been our friend. Every place we have lived has had some weather issue we wish we could change here it is the wind. Yesterday we saw a sand cloud that went about 200 feet into the air. Kind of cool if you've never seen it before but not so cool went it gets closer to your home.

The biggest change down here lately is the flowers are out.

 This is a cactus

Same plant different angle.

This cactus blooms once a year and the blooms only last for just over 24 hours. The bloom based on temperature not necessarily the amount of sunlight as one of the blooms opened at 8:30 pm.

This gives you an idea of the size of the blooms.

It has been a busy few days as people are starting to vacate the park and work their way home. We has been to three parties in the last couple of days including a St. Paddy's day one. Tim who we hike and play pickleball with cooked enough Corned Beef and cabbage for 45 people. We brought Kelly's favourite vegetable for St. Paddy's Day, Chocolate Chip Mint Ice-Cream( the green kind).

On Monday we also went on our first hike in a month. It was suppose to go to an oasis but due to flooding earlier in the year the park people closed the trail. We ended up doing a 6 mile hike in Joshua Tree National Park.  The Joshua Trees are just starting to bloom as well.

June and Merril stop and smell the Joshua Tree

The park has a pond at one end and it has attracted a few of our feathered friends. there are 7 baby mallards swimming around and two of these guys as well.

 We have a couple of morning doves that live in the palm tree buy our place and they are setting up house there. I guess next year there will be more of them.

We are off to the zoo on Thursday so we will update the blog then.

Take care all

Linden Joseph Stanley Miller and sleeping with a Grandmother

On March 7 2014 at 11:17 pm Linden Joseph Stanley Miller came into this world. He weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces. At that moment two things happened Kelly and June became Grandparents for the first time and Natalie and Reid became known as "Linden's parents".

The Proud Grandparents

Four generations of Miller Men

A Very Happy Grandma

The New Parents

Linden

Pooh on guard

Not the last diaper change that grandma will do

So as you can see this blog update is all about Linden. There are no hikes,pickleball,or any other things to report. We are just very happy to be "Grandparents".  Although Kelly is not so sure about this sleeping with a grandmother thing but he is working it out.

We were back in Sidney for about two weeks and really enjoyed catching up with ex-co-workers,friends and especially family. We are flying back to Desert Hot Springs on Tuesday so the next update will include some pictures of a hike.

Take Care

JunKel

Bachelor Time Roadrunners and an Awesome Bday #54

Yes we are still alive. I know I know I am way behind in my Blog updates and I am sorry for that so here we go.
Since the last post there have been several hikes lots of pickle ball and Kelly has had some bachelor time.

This was a great hike on a beauty day. this was June's last hike before she left on the 12th of February. June flew into Vancouver to meet up with her mom and then leave again on the 14th for Houston Texas. The ladies then left on a 2 week cruise in the Western Caribbean. I guess the pace in Desert Hot Springs was just to much for her. This means Kelly has been a bachelor for the last 2 weeks. This is probably why there hasn't been an update as his editor has been missing.
While June was away Kelly went on a hike that took him on a ridge overlooking Bob Hopes House.

Bob Hope's House is for sale only 32 million reduced from 50

View from top. Palm Springs in front Desert Hot Springs in Background

Nice Day at the top of the hill

As a kid growing up the "Bugs Bunny Show" was the big cartoon. The Roadrunner versus Wile E Coyote. The other day I saw a roadrunner and got this picture.

Yup this is a Roadrunner

The roadrunner eats meat its favourite meal is rattlesnake. Yup they are fast enough to catch hummingbirds! People in the park feed them bits of hot dogs.

On February 20th Kelly turned turned 54 years old. He went on a hike with the regular group. The hike was the most difficult hike to date. It was 8.9 miles that went through two "grottos" one of which included a belly crawl. After the first grotto and a third of the way through we stopped for a "snack break". The snack break turned unbelievable when the leader pulled out two big mugs filled with Kelly's "favourite vegetable" Ice-cream!!

Kelly and his favourite vegetable

We had enough ice-cream for all 18 of us to have a couple of dixie cups full each. Kelly was beyond surprised and speechless which some of you won't believe. Just can't thank them enough!!!!!

Kelly flew to Vancouver and then over to Victoria on the 25th as Natalie and Reid are expecting their first child and our first grandchild. June will be joining him there on the 2nd of march. We will be updating the blog when the child arrives.

Tight Fits Hummingbirds and Midday at the Oasis

Ahhh another week of fun in the sun. We started the week with another hike. This one was a mash-up of two different hikes with an unexplored joiner. Our hike leader Jerry prefers "loops" when hiking rather than an in and out(don't say it), so he created a hike with an unknown section in the middle to complete the hike. The hike started  out on the Painted Canyon trail then switched to "Jerry's Trail". We had to climb a total of 5 ladders to get over dead waterfalls and boulders.

June make it look easy, notice the knee pads and the hat is on backwards so you Won't bash you head on an overhang......this bit of knowledge came too late for Dell as his brim blocked his view enough he didn't see a low overhang soon enough.

A look from the top of the ladder

Once we made it up the ladders the view from the top was great.

After the new part was completed we headed down hill towards the vehicles. When we were about a half mile away Jerry said anyone want to check out "Big Split Rock?" So all but three of the fifteen of us took off our packs and headed into Big Split Rock. The trail starts out about 15 feet wide but within 500 yards it's down to 5 feet. The further we went the tighter it got. Years ago Nick Newell once held his hands out in front of me to measure whether I would fit into an attic access. All I can say is where was he when I needed him.

At one point I yelled at Jerry "does it get tighter?" he replied "Why are you a little claustrophobic?" "Yes" I replied. "Are you afraid of the dark?" "No" I said then I heard "Then close your eyes and you'll be ok" my reply shouldn't be recorded here, those that know me can guess it.

Tuesday was dog sitting day as our friends went shopping and we looked after the dogs. Anne's place backs right onto the desert at the Rv park boundary. She has several bird feeders and I got this hummingbird shot there.

 Fifteen feet away with a 500mm lens

The wind was back again for Wednesday so it was a rest day. I had twisted my left ankle at Sunday pickle ball and then again on the Monday hike so a down day was welcome.

Thursday had us hiking to "Anniversary Rock" in Palm Springs. This hike started out on the Lykken trail but soon took a left turn. We walked up a river bed in a canyon to an Oasis. The water bubbles up through the rocks then as the trail continues the water disappears for about a half mile then back it comes.

June has got this rock under control

At the upper Oasis the branches in the top left hand corner of the picture are from a fig tree.

From the Oasis back to the valley.

How do they grow on rocks?

When we got almost back to cars Jerry wanted to know if anyone wanted to climb to the top of Lykken Trail it would be about another hour. June and two others went up the hill with Jerry and I rested my bum ankle. The view from the top was spectacular.

Looking down into Palm Springs from 1700 feet.

All in all it has been a good week. We have Pickle Ball coming up on Saturday hopefully the wind will die down.

Take Care

Junkel

Rainbows and Horse Races and Getting Blown

Well the honeymoon is over and so is the unbelievable weather we have had.  On Thursday we went for an 7 mile hike to Rainbow Falls. It was the least taxing of all the hikes we have done so far. It's called Rainbow Falls because of the rainbow rocks on the path leading up to the falls.

Two of the Rainbow Rocks

The rocks looked better when wet but they were still very cool. I don't know what kind of geological event has to happen for the rocks to have all those colours in them, but we were glad it happened. We carried on up to the falls and yes there was actual water in the desert, only one person climbed the ladders as she had wet feet already.

On the way back to the parking lot we came across this little guy, we aren't sure what it is and nobody wanted to hold it.

When you're hiking in the desert it is very nice when you can find water, just ask June.

By thursday night the winds had come up in Desert Hot Springs. The weather people said that we had gusts to 50 mph, all I know is that the trailer was rocking and it wasn't us(this time). The wind blew for about 40 hours straight and has been back a few times since, not as bad but still there. 

On Friday night it was horse race night at the park. Yup horse races, well not real ones. We have 6 horses and 12 squares and 2 dice. The first dice roll is the horse and the secound is the number of spaces the horse moves. This sounds boring until you include the betting on which horse will win. So we drank beer and bet on horses for 2.5 hours. We did so well that we don't have any quarters left for laundry this week.

Saturday was a down day to recover and Sunday was 2.5 hours of pickle ball for Kelly and a good walk for June. Sunday night is poker night and Super Bowl night, lets just say Kelly and the Broncos have lots in common.

Hope all is well with you all.

Take care Junkel