The MoBiles: March 2017

Cottonwood, Arizona-Verde Valley RV Resort & Campground

March 12-25, 2017

We were told that Sedona was a beautiful area and it is very true. The red rock rising from the earth is such a stark and beautiful contrast to the surrounding green.

We stayed in the Cottonwood Thousand Trails (Verde Valley) which was a little disappointing for Greg and I. First, it was about a 40 minute drive to any hike even though not that far as the crow flies. Secondly, the campground was ok but I was surprised that there were no kid activities even though it was Spring Break time. And to make it worse, the pool was closed for renovations. Boo hoo hoo

But the best news is that just a couple of sites down, Jordan and Jacob met two new friends, Avalee and Aleena. They had SO much fun together each day for the nearly two weeks we were there. And one day their family joined us for an outing. We hiked the Eagle's Nest trail in Red Rock State Park

then drove to see the Meteor Crater in AZ. It was so huge! You could fit 20 football fields in the bottom. The meteor is estimated to have traveled at 26,000 miles per hour and hit with such force that fragments of the meteor have been located 3,000 feet below ground and up to 7 miles away. The crater itself is 4,000 ft across (~3/4 mile) and 550 ft deep (although 700 ft feet at time of impact).

This is a picture of the largest fragment found. It is estimated that the meteor was 150 ft in diameter.

On our own, we hiked to:

Devil's Bridge

(The sun made this picture difficult. The natural bridge is slightly right of the center of the picture with a dark area in the arch).

Cathedral Rock,

And we visited:

Tuzigoot National Monument, which are pueblo ruins dating back to 800 AD. This particular pueblo had 120 rooms and was built up on a hill.

Montezuma Castle National Monument. This was a 45-room cliff dwelling with 5 levels. It's so interesting to think about how they built and lived in such a dwelling and then to learn WHY they did so. In this location, they were near a creek and the land below provided them with a place to farm and plant life for other needs. The land would flood from snow melt and monsoons, but this brought in new fertile soil and since they were high on the cliff, their homes were safe. Additionally, in their position, they were shaded in the summer and sunny in the winter, they could send signals to other nearby villages and they had a great view to watch out for approaching dangers.

One last activity to mention was the Cottonwood Recreation Center. One of the locals told me about this and since the campground pool was closed, we decided to go check it out. We had so much fun!. Indoors, they have a little snaking lazy river with a twirling whirlpool in the center, a play area where you can shoot water cannons, and a fun, twisty tube slide. They also had a lap pool and hot tub for the adults. We spent a few hours there and enjoyed it so much that we decided we must do it again. The next time we brought our friends along for the fun.

It was hard to say good-bye to our new friends. We enjoyed their company so much and the girls were such great friends to Jacob and Jordan. The eldest wrote such sweet letters to the kids to say good-bye and they got up early to surprise us for one last good-bye on the morning we left. Another great family that we have to find again in the future!

Now, we are heading back to Texas. Since it was the end of March, we thought there might be a chance to see the Saguaros in bloom so we stopped at Saguaro National Park. Unfortunately not, but the ocotillo were blooming and we saw one or two other blooms. We will have to try again some other time.

We are excited to get back in Texas but before returning to Austin, we will spend a few days in Indianola with Grandma and Grandpa. We are looking forward to seeing them and being able to go fishing!

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona-Trailer Village Campground

March 5-12, 2017

You see the Grand Canyon in pictures but you can never really comprehend its' vastness until you see it in person. I really expected that it was more of a valley or a chasm so needless to say, I was surprised at the many rising peaks and plateaus throughout.

We spent a week here, first arriving when it was still bitter cold but as the week progressed the weather improved. We biked along some of the roads checking out many of the view points like Mather Point, Hopi Point, and The Abyss.

But the thing the kids will remember the most is the hike into the canyon on the Bright Angel trail. It was BRUTAL! It's 4.5 miles each way with nearly 100% decline on the way in and the same incline on the way up. It took us three hours to descend and a little more than four to return. Here's a Greg video took for his Dad since they hiked it when Greg was about Jacob's age

I did NOT enjoy it but was so proud of the kids for accomplishing such a feat. The trail has rest stops at the 1.5 mile and 3.0 mile marks which made perfect points for a treat like Gatorade or a piece of candy (and of course a potty break). I think it helped so much to have the treats to keep the kids motivated and have something to look forward to.

(A little hard to see, but those black spots along the trail are the mules taking some people down)

Indian Gardens was our destination and while there, we had a picnic lunch and the kids waded in the water for a few minutes.

Greg has aspirations of hiking it again and camping out but I am not sure his family will accompany him. Jacob might surprise me though, he said it was his favorite part of our Grand Canyon adventure. Greg really needs a good hiking buddy! Haha (but I'm serious)

(Taking in the view from his throne)

The one other cool thing about our trip in the Grand Canyon was the wildlife. We have looked and looked for elk before but here they roamed among us in the campground. And we saw mule deer and a number of coyotes. It would have been cool to see a California Condor but it's just not the right time of year. Did you know that their wingspan is 10 feet long and standing next to you, they would come up to your hip?! That is one big bird!

We are leaving just as the Spring Breakers are arriving. We'll spend our next two weeks near Sedona, Arizona.

Las Vegas, Nevada (State #46)-Thousand Trails Las Vegas RV Resort

February 26 - March 5, 2017

I've been to Las Vegas three times before and it's really just not my kind of place (the strip, that is). But it was on our route and so we decided to visit again. After this visit, I think I would like to come again but not to steer clear of the strip. There are some beautiful areas like Lake Mead, Red Rock Canyon and Valley of the Fire State Park that interest me so much more.

We stayed at the Thousand Trails campground which was just 4 miles from the strip. It was just a step above a parking lot but did have a pool that opened mid-week.

Our first night in town, we went to the Fremont St area. We thought it would be fun but it was loud with one band after another and for 2017, the light show did not seem all that impressive. The kids said they would rather leave Vegas early and hike the Grand Canyon (keep in mind that they do not like to hike).

From then on, we went to the main strip. One night we took the kids to the Tournament of Kings Dinner Show at the Excalibur Hotel. They LOVED that and we all had such a good time.

(The Black Knight-our table section rooted for him)

We also visited the:

Paris Hotel-for a dinner buffet and to travel up the Eiffel Tower,

Bellagio to see the water show,

the Mirage for the volcano eruption, the Venetian to see the gondola boats and enjoy some gelato,

and Planet Hollywood to watch the Variety Show (which was ok for the most part but did have some HILARIOUS moments).

Other places that we visited in the area were:

the Ethel M Chocolate Factory where you could watch the chocolates being made through large picture windows. On the windows, they had descriptions of the processes and equipment used. The chocolate was delicious but also quite expensive. In addition to learning that I cannot afford to eat their chocolates, I learned they are the gourmet division of the Mars Company.

(She has the tedious job of drizzling chocolate on apples, but she made them look beautiful.)

The Pinball Hall of Fame-This place is great. It is a huge room filled with pinball machines and a few other arcade machines. There were many machines that are only 25 cents to play with machines also in the 50 cents 75 cents and $1 ranges as well. We had so much fun and I didn't feel like we were spending a fortune on games. It was also cool to find out that it is run mostly by volunteers and much of the money goes to support the Salvation Army.

And we visited the Las Vegas Museum of Natural History with the Farnsworth family that we met in Florida a couple of years ago. Whitney (mom), Cache and Brenna were fun to be with for the morning. In addition to testing out some cool tools in the Egypt section, we got a really interesting lesson on hissing cockroaches from one of the staff. And best of all Jordan made a new friend who loves the pioneer times as much as she does.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area was beautiful as well. We went one evening after Greg was done working so our time here was short. But we were able to get out and hike a short distance and climb up the boulders. There is a 13-mile drive through the area which we did but did not get to explore it much.

(Looks like a cliff dwelling huh?! But this is actually a pocket not too much bigger than me.)

We also visited Hoover Dam where we took the Dam Tour,

And last but certainly not least was Valley of Fire State Park. It was so beautiful!

(The two pictures above are on a trail called The Wave. So cool!)

So as I said, I had plenty of time on the strip but would like to explore the surrounding areas a little more. Next up is the Grand Canyon!

Death Valley National Park, California-Sunset Campground

February 23-26, 2017

Believe it or not, we carried snow on top of our RV and truck from Tahoe, overnight outside of Carson City and then all the way to the campground in DEATH VALLEY! The ranger was definitely surprised to see us pull in with snow into an area that regularly has temps over 120 degrees in the summer. And just so you know, Death Valley has the highest recorded temperature in the world at 134 degrees in 1913. (There are hotter places in the world but this is an official recording). The average rainfall is under 2 inches per year!

Did you know that Death Valley is not a valley and that it did not get its' name from lack of water? It is actually a basin 282 feet below sea level! And it's name came from a pioneer who left here after nearly starving to death for lack of food (not water).

Death Valley has such a variety of landscape to enjoy from mountains, sand dunes, canyons, water falls, springs, the basin to the beautiful starry night skies.

Here is Badwater Basin where all of the water flows from the surrounding mountains and leaves behind salt and other minerals. With all of the mineral and sediment deposit, one might think that the basin floor would be rising so that the distance below sea level would be decreasing. However, the tectonic plates are shifting at a rate greater than the sedimentation deposit so that the mountains are actually growing taller.