Starting the New Year in Arizona (very long post!)

As per usual, we're behind in keeping this blog up to date. Here's a short run down of the days from Dec 6 onward:

Dec 6 - Tried to find the first library we found in Abuquerque. After many failed attempts, went back to the Petroglyph Monument so the boys could burn off their extra energy, while the girls & I stayed behind to have some quiet time away from them. After we found out that the library was in Alamos, so we headed there for the day - then shopping at Walmart & sleeping in their parking lot for the night.

Dec 7 - Found a swimming pool to go to (West Mesa), but it only opens up to the public after 6 pm. Figured this was a good time to visit the Rio Grand Zoo. It was a day well spent! Lots of exhibits to see, even in the off season. The timing was especially good for us, as there was hardly any other visitors there, making it easy to keep track of our rambunctious boys.
    At one point Nathan not too far ahead of us & managed to climb into one of the enclosures - thank God it was just the tortoise pen & Dan was able to get him out quickly! A good time was had by all & lots of photos were taken.

Our lil' monkeys checking out the chimp

Apparently Rachel is not so fond of snakes

Dec 9 - Left Albuquerque & headed to Elephant Butte State Park. Spent a little bit of time there before heading into Truth or Consequences. Yes, that is the actual name of the town - it named itself after a radio game show of the same name in the 50‘s in order to win a contest.

Now that's an (Elephant) beaut of a pic!

Dec 10 - Nathan became sick today - it would be the beginning of everybody coming down with the flu over the course of the week. He & I stayed in the RV while the others went fishing in the Rio Grande River at the Elephant Butte State Park.  Ben caught a white bass for our dinner & we opted to stay at the Rio Lago RV Park for a week, knowing that we’d need a place to settle in to recuperate.

Dec 11 - Nathan was well today, so we headed back to the Elephant Butte State Park again, though we got there closer to evening. Turned out to be worth our while, as the Beachwalk Luminaria was going on that night. The beach was lit up in like manner as the Festival of Lights in Coronado, and there were over 50 vendors there (all free) with food & drink to try. Dan, Ben & Joel went fishing while the rest of us headed straight to the festival & the first crack at the hot chocolate & pozole. Zach & Nathan complained about being cold, so I took them back to the RV while the girls caught up with the others to take them to the goodies. All in all, a rather good night.

I think Deborah captured an interestin silhouette of us here.

Dec 13 - Tried another fishing hole closer to the beach. The boys had a lot of messy fun there:

Mucking about a little bit...

...and mucking about a lot.

 Dec 14 - Another day, another sick child - this time it was Zachary. While he rests & I do laundry, the others discover a town fishing pond stocked with catfish. Rachel is quite happy to be the only succesful fisherman of the day, catching a 4 lb fish for our dinner.

Dec 17 - Last few days were just s[ent taking it easy & getting everybody recovered from the flu. We are ready to hit the road again, and based on a forest ranger's description of the road to silver City being "not too mountainous", we head up to the Gila National Forest. Turns out the ranger didn't have a clue what she was talking about - it was very curvy & stomach turning (at least for me) in our RV. The Gila Forest itself is very beautiful - it is nice to see old growth trees again, but I would not like to take that route again unless it is in a small car. We opt to not stay long in Silver City, but to head for the Arizona border instead. However, our vehicle breaks down & we need to exit the highway immediately. Thankfully there is a safe place for us to pull into just off the exit for us to sleep for the night.

Mountain creek in Gila National Forest

Dec 18 - Dan call CAA & premier membership turns out to be worth it's weight in gold. They send out a tow truck within an hour & the driver determines that only the belts broke & nothing more serious - he has a mechanic sent to repair it right on the spot.
      While waiting for the mechanic, the kids & I get a tour of the Stein Railroad Ghost Town right next to us by Melissa, whose family has lived in the area since her pioneer great grandparents came there & now own the property. The ghost town is officially closed to the public due to problems that they had with visitors who would loot & vandalize the place, but they make exceptions for school groups, home educators & others seriously interested in the area's history. We learned a lot about the outlaws that came through the town, pioneer life & the interesting facts about many species of cactus. We especially liked learning about all the edible cactus fruits available, like the barrel, pincushion & hedgehog varieties. We thank our host & head to Eloy, AZ.

Stein Railroad Ghost Town Mercantile

Barrel cactus fruit - tastes like green bell peppers

Dec 19 - Get to Phoenix, do some shopping & head to Estrella Parkway for Dan & Ben to do some riding. We see a refreshing looking lake, but in trying to reach it discover that it is all gated - only members of the surrounding community & yacht club have access. Talk about a clear signal for those making less than 6 figures to scram! Head to Quartzsite & stay the night at the B-10 RV park.

Dec 20 - Do a bit of checking out the town of Quartzite, but not much going on - the real events start in January & aside from rock hounding, not much else goes on. Rachel found some bamboo coral beads that she like & Ben got a good deal on a used metal detector. We hit the BLM land & boondock for the night.

Dec 21 - The kids catch up on some school & try out the metal detector. Then it starts to rain, rain, rain. Good to know that our unit is water tight! But We read a local paper & things aren't looking good for us to stay there or head toward California just yet, so we decide to head back to Phoenix, where there are more things for the kids to do. 

Dec 22 - The flu finally catches up with me & the water pump for the engine is going. We make an appointment with Pepboys to get it fixed the next morning.

Dec 23 - Water pump takes all day to get fixed, & I'm feeling grumpy with being sick. Can't wait to get to bed!

Dec 24 - Found out about Estrella Mountain Regional Park & head there. It was a great find! Stopped in at the info center, met some great hosts & bought a UV light to find scorpions with. The area has: 6 playgrounds for the kids to run around on; trails to hike; ramadas to get electricity, water & BBQ at; & activities to enjoy at the nature center. We go for a night walk (watching the trail for scorpions with the UV light, but there weren't any) up to the ampitheatre & back. It was a great day that completely made up for the previous one.

Dec 25 - Go for a hike on the trail up the hillside. Found some rainbow hedgehog cactus in fruit - they are quite tasty, like strawberries! That night I male some ground turkey chili & we eat it out at the ramada - with our computer hooked up to watch a DVD. So much for roughing it - LOL!

The fruit looks like little chili peppers, but these hedgehog cactus treats are sweet :)

View of the park up on Estrella Mountain

Computer addiction is a hard habit to break.

Dec 27 - Try another regional park after getting some help from the locals at the laundromat. Very friendly guy named Thomas helped us out a lot with navigating the area. We go to White Tank Mountains & though they are pricier than Estrella, they have a showering facility. When you go for a week without, you really appreciate them!

Dec 28 - Ben & I go on a bike ride - I'm happy that they have dirt trails that even I can manage at my level - otherwise known as total weenie - lol! Spent a good hour riding & grabbed another shower before we left. The biggest drawback to this park is its nasty cactus, jumping cholla, that's everywhere. It has hooks in it so the spines stay in you & if you don't want to pull it out with your other hand (pliers recommended). Everyone but Deborah & I got some stuck in them at some point, despite warnings to watch out for it. We head back to the park in Estrella to stay tonight.

Jumping Cholla - don't know how Dan managed to not get stuck with this particular one, but he did get plenty of others in him

Dec 29 - Junior ranger program for the kids today, plus snake feeding & animal tracking at the Nature Center. All the kids earn their badges & I get to warm up the rat in hot water for the gopher snake feeding. Glad I'm not squeamish about that sort of thing. It starts to rain so I take Nathan back to the RV, the others get soaked looking for animal tracks & scat (though it's not successful with the rain coming down). We snuggle up inside the RV for the rest of the day.

Dec 30 - Rained all night & early in the morning, so the kids missed out on the horse handling lesson. It did clear up for the treasure hunt, but it was rather cold & windy, so only our family & one other little boy with his Mom participated in it. Still, it was a lot of fun, & as a bonus, we had free hot chocolate after.

Dec 31 - Still at Estrella (what can I say, we love this place!) and we go to a gold panning & metal detecting demonstration. This was really quite fun, & we are convinced that we really need to get a membership in the GPAA, so we can go prospecting all around Canada & the US as a family for fun next year. We decide to find another park to stay at, but end up lost, even with the GPS, and end up bunking down at a Walmart for the night.

Jan 1 - Hard to believe we are starting a New Year in a different country than our home & native land. We get some info on the local tourist attractions & head to Goldfield Ghost Town. What a blast - literally, as they had actors stage an old west gunfight every hour & a steam whistle announcing the start of each mine shaft tour.  Besides that, we visited the venomous reptile museum, went on a train ride, panned for gold & garnets and generally enjoyed ourselves. We think this was a great way to start off the New Year & hope you are having a wonderful time too!

The actors don't just work here - they live right in this town too!

Superstition Mountains behind the town