Final AZ Report

 Simply speaking....we had a smooth trip home!

First night at Boulder Beach was a warm and windy experience. Temperatures were low 80sF / hi 20s C but the wind across the waters of Lake Mead made walking difficult.

Day two was a good dry drive to Provo UT. We slept in the trailer but winterized our rig the next morning as freezing temperatures are expected as we move north.

Our third night was spent in an hotel in Dillon MT. We encountered showery weather as we passed through the Salt lake City area but it was dry elsewhere. 

We awoke to wet snow and temperatures just below freezing on our fourth day. Fortunately the road surfaces were dry within a few miles and other than some freezing pellets near Helena it was a smooth drive to our last stop Shelby MT (about 30 min S of the US/Canada border).

After scraping frost from our windshield 😒😖😠, our border crossing was quick and easy and our last day became sunny and above freezing. We arrived in Calgary in early afternoon having enjoyed the shining, snow-topped Rocky Mountains to our west! There was snow along roadsides, on the fields and in shady areas.

Our day ended very happily as our daughter Janine and grandsons Zach & Magnus brought over supper! Son-in-law Colin was attending a music concert.

On the Road Again!

 Our drive home starts today.

Our first night is planned for Boulder City/Hoover Dam area SE of Las Vegas. After that, weather will determine our progress; looking at notes from last year, we had to winterize our trailer at the same location as freezing weather was ahead of us.

We may not be able to post our blog as internet/WIFI services will not be regularly available.

Weird Weather Continues

We had a great ride yesterday but the weather was not through with us...

Monday night about 10 PM there arose a great wind that rocked our trailer mightily, blew a palm frond noisily on the roof and brought more rain. Only an hour earlier we had walked home from a scrabble evening and remarked that the sky was quite clear and the wind calm!

The wind (very little rain) continued through the night and into the day with dark threatening clouds and wind constantly changing their formats.

This morning the skies are blue!

24+ Hours of Showers

Rain started Saturday evening as we walked home from playing games with friends in our Park. Since then we have had changeable skies; just when we thought the clouds were moving on, they would build up again and shower - everything from a few sprinkles to a downpour!

Not much fun....

The sky cleared and the sun came out this morning after all that unsettled weather. Think we'll go for a ride!

Spring Prickly Pear Bloom

 

Our favourite clump of prickly pear in the Park is starting to bloom

One Week to G😢!

 

We'll start driving back to Alberta on Thursday morning March 28th.

We had another few "rain events" over the past weekend but now things are toasty and dry; hiking and biking while we may.

Calgary Warmer than Apache Junction at 5 pm today!

 At 5 pm today, temperatures were almost identical in both Apache Junction and Calgary???!!!

We had read that Calgary was expecting unseasonably warm weather today but, when Bill was chatting online with his choir friend in Calgary, Bob confirmed the weather predictions. Apache Junction was cloudy with frequent episodes of rain.

Apache Junction  (5pm MST)   48F / 9C

             Calgary  (6pm MDT)                50F / 10C           

Bel Air Tribute Truck

So Creative!

 

1957 Golden Anniversary 2007

Bel Air Tribute Truck

Observing Pi Day

Donna and Drew invited us for cherry pie (and ice cream) on Pi Day

Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π. Pi Day is observed on March 14 (3.14) since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant figures of π . Pi Day, as we know it these days, was founded in 1988 by Larry Shaw, an employee of the San Francisco science museum, the Exploratorium.

Pi is actually an irrational number (a decimal with no end and no repeating pattern) that is most often approximated with the decimal 3.14  (often represented by the lower-case Greek letter π), one of the most well-known mathematical constants, is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter; so for any circle, the distance around the edge is a little more than three times the distance across.

Here's an interesting article about the math, science and pies of Pi Day:

https://apnews.com/article/pi-day-celebration-math-infinite-number-f426c8659529cb07655b5f07b99ce1dd#:~:text=IT'S%20NOT%20JUST%20MATH%2C%20THOUGH&text=Every%20year%20the%20San%20Francisco,take%20place%20on%20college%20campuses.

Having Fun with Visitors Donna & Drew

Our Alberta friends, Donna & Drew, from Canmore (west of Calgary) have been in Apache Junction for a little more than a week; they are in their motor home heading back to Alberta after a winter in Tucson.

Jeanne, our hiking leader, with Donna & Drew in Arnett Canyon east of Apache Junction.

(check out the interesting clouds in the background)

We've had a lot of fun with them hiking, biking, playing games and eating! They are geocachers so have had a few stops along our way for that hobby. Donna is a quilter so took in a quilt show too!

Signs of Spring at the Corner of Meridian & Lost Dutchman

 

A Field of African Daisies* in Apache Junction.

This field is a scenic annual spring pilgrimage site in the area. 

*Dimorphotheca aurantiaca hort. is an introduced species that grows well here 

so it has become naturalized. 

Time Change

The state of Arizona is on Mountain Standard Time but, with the exception of the Navajo Nation, does not observe Daylight Saving Time

As you can see from the map, the location/connection of the Navaho Nation to their community in two states that do observe DST might explain the Arizona locale's position on time change? Given that the Hopi Nation is completely surrounded by the Navaho Nation, it is interesting that they choose not to observe DST.

Neighbourhood Creativity

 

Tribute to 1930 Ford

Ford spoke wheels

Cloud Explanation from Yesterday....

 

Rose Lynn's brother Robin researched the image and found the following info at NASA https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040112.html

What could create a huge hole in the clouds? Very unusual to see, hole-punch clouds like this are still the topic of meteorological speculation. A leading hypothosis holds that the hole-punch cloud is caused by falling ice-crystals. The ice crystals could originate in a higher cloud or be facilitated by a passing airplane exhaust. If the air has just the right temperature and moisture content, the falling crystals will absorb water from the air and grow. For this to happen, the water must be so cold that all it needs is a surface to freeze on. The moisture lost from the air increases the evaporation rate from the cloud water droplets so they dissipate to form the hole. The now heavier ice crystals continue to fall and form the more tenuous wispy cloud-like virga* seen inside and just below the hole. Water and ice from the virga evaporates before they reach the ground.

1. * virga is rain that doesn't reach the ground
2.  

   
   

   
   
   

   
   
   

Dramatic Clouds

 

Wish we knew a meterologist to explain this phenomenon.

It formed overhead while we visited on our deck with Alberta friends, Drew & Donna,

who are in the area for about 2 weeks.

Fountain Hills Adventure

Sure enjoyed our midday adventure with our condo neighbour Louise who is staying in Mesa for a month. She wanted to get a long awaited glimpse of the the Salt River wild horses and we found them along a scenic drive through the mountains on our way to Fountain Hills, NE of Mesa.

Fabulous waste-metal horse sculpture on our way to lunch on an outdoor patio.

Morning Wakeup Visitor

Noisy motorized hang glider buzzing over our heads

This graphic image gives a better idea of the format 

(doesn't share the loud gasoline engine sound!)

So True!

"Laughter is the same in all languages"

(from a tab on a Yogi Tea product)

Can You See What We See?

 Our hike today took us by some of nature's rock sculptures.

Heart

Squirrel - middle pillar

Tail plume to top right; head, nose, ears to top left:

hip bump below

(this one needs the most imagination!)

Pig

Scenes from our Trailer Playroom

 

Bill meets 5 or 6 other musicians online every Wednesday evening for two hours.

So there are folks from Arizona, Alberta and British Columbia plus others who randomly drop into the session from just about anywhere.

Here, Rose Lynn is set up for sewing on the dining table. On Tuesdays and Friday afternoons, when Bill is out playing bridge, she tries to get creative with fabric.

The ironing station fits over the kitchen sink!

Wonderful Wednesday

Here's how the day started

  

                          Looking West                                                               Looking East

Expecting a warm day, we started early on our hike along the Salt River north of Mesa in the Tonto National Forest. We were hoping for a sighting of the Salt River wild horses; saw about 10 or so in an area where it seems that their forage has been supplemented with green hay deliveries so that they stay healthy.

Also known as mustangs, from the Spanish word mustango, which means, "wild, stray, or feral animal," the wild horses are thought to be descendants of Spanish colonial or Iberian horses brought to the Southwest by explorers in the 16th century, like Father Eusebio Keno who came through this area in 1691.

 

"The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG) is an Arizona-based nonprofit organization dedicated to monitor, study, and protect the Salt River wild horses. Our goal is and always has been freedom, protection and humane management of this treasured historic and recreational resource."

A prickly pear cactus living in the stump of a mesquite

We were excited to spot this bald eagle perched high in a tree along the river. Stayed back as we did not want to startle the bird. Apparently it is breeding season for these magnificent birds, so, in late December 2023, Arizona Game & Fish put out the following warnings:

"Arizona’s bald eagles are back, and they will soon be preparing for the next generation of eagles at breeding sites statewide. 

To assist with the state’s continued bald eagle population growth, the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) encourages outdoor recreationists, aircraft pilots, drone operators and motorized paragliders to do their part by not disturbing the state’s 97 eagle breeding areas. 

To protect breeding attempts, some portions of public land and water areas will be temporarily closed to help these majestic animals and ensure even more young eagles take to the skies this spring. 

“Arizona’s bald eagles are hard at work preparing their nest for what we hope will be a productive breeding season,” said Kenneth “Tuk” Jacobson, bald eagle management coordinator. “The birds nest, forage and roost at rivers and lakes that are also popular recreation spots. That’s why we must be vigilant to help protect the birds and ensure their populations statewide continue to flourish. That success wouldn’t be possible without the cooperation of outdoor recreationists who respect the closures during the breeding season.” 

During the 2023 breeding season, 76 young hatched, and 65 reached the important milestone of their first flight, known as fledging. "

Miracles on our Bikes

Sunday morning, before the the afternoon performance of "Intimate Apparel",  we took a long ride from home through the Usery Mountains. 

Miracle One: Bill got a flat rear tire about 11 km from home; it was caused by a safety pin!!! Our                                  daughter suggested it was probably dropped along our route during the recent Mesa                                  Marathon event when bib #s are pinned to runners. Rose Lynn rode to Rock                                              Shadows and picked up our truck to transport Bill and his bike home.

Miracle Two: The tube was replaced in about 5 minutes or so this morning at our local Junction Bike.                             Only $10 plus supplies. We had the pros do it for two reasons; the rear wheel is more                               complicated to remove for repair plus we find the style of tires on our bikes are nearly                               impossible for us to break the "bead" to take them off the rim.

Intimate Apparel: A Stage Play by Lynn Nottage

Intimate Apparel has to be one of the most moving stage productions we have ever seen! The period music, the set, costumes, script and performers all made for a satisfying experience. We saw the play at the Tempe Arts Center.

Plot

"The time is 1905, the place New York City, where Esther, a black seamstress, lives in a boarding house for women and sews intimate apparel for clients who range from wealthy white patrons to black prostitutes. Her skills and discretion are much in demand, and she has managed to stuff a good sum of money into her quilt over the years. One by one, the other denizens of the boarding house marry and move away, but Esther remains, lonely and longing for a husband and a future. Her plan is to find the right man and use the money she's saved to open a beauty parlor where black women will be treated as royally as the white women she sews for. 

By way of a mutual acquaintance, she begins to receive beautiful letters from a lonesome Caribbean man named George Armstrong who is working on the Panama Canal. Being illiterate, Esther has one of her patrons respond to the letters, and over time the correspondence becomes increasingly intimate until George persuades her that they should marry, sight unseen. Meanwhile, Esther's heart seems to lie with the Hasidic shopkeeper from whom she buys fabric, and his heart with her, but the impossibility of the match is obvious to them both, and Esther consents to marry George. 

When George arrives in New York, however, he turns out not to be the man his letters painted him to be, and he absconds with Esther's savings, frittering it away on whores, liquor, and gambling. Deeply wounded by the betrayal, but somehow unbroken, Esther returns to the boarding house determined to use her gifted hands and her sewing machine to refashion her dreams and make them anew from the whole cloth of her life's experiences. The final stage directions reveal that Esther is also pregnant ."

Lynn Nottage wrote Intimate Apparel as a tribute to her great-grandmother, a seamstress in early-20th-century New York.

Hasidic shop keeper Mr. Mark and Esther

Forgot to Mention Last Year's Valentine's Day...

 Last year our Valentines looked like this image! 

                          We were both quarantined with covid - definitely not as much fun as this year!

Valentine's

 Last evening we walked to out to a favourite local restaurant only to find they had a 45 minute wait! Checked another place and folks were lined up outside there too. Restaurant #3 had room on their sunny patio so enjoyed mexican food at Los Gringos Locos (crazy non-hispanic/latino).

This morning we shared Valentine's cards with each other. Each year it's interesting to see if we choose sentimental or silly; we both chose sentimental! Ahhh. 💏

Today, we travelled to north Phoenix with Jeanne and Larry to visit the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM)*. Their current exhibition Acoustic America; Iconic Guitars, Mandolins, and Banjos was absolutely fabulous. Seeing, and hearing the stories behind, 90 stringed instruments played by the heroes of folk, blues and bluegrass was thrilling. 

At the MIM, admission includes a listening device that is activated while standing in front of each display; therefore you can hear each story in your own ears without disturbing other viewers. Brilliant!

*MIM

Smorgasbord of Weather

Cool (40sF/mid single digits C), breezy, drizzly and dreary on Saturday morning. We sat and played cards while listening to some of our weekend podcasts like NPR's "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" and CBC's "Because News". Both podcasts are amusing, creative and related to current events.

Just before noon, we thought the dripping had stopped so set out to walk over to our Park library; before long we got sprinkled on so cut our route short.

After lunch, it seemed dry enough to walk out for groceries. What a surprise when we came out and found blue skies and sun - amazing!  However, it wasn't long before the clouds multiplied and it was grey again. 

We walked out to a local restaurant for supper and got out and back in dry, cool, windy conditions. By 7 pm, there were weather alerts for heavy rain in the area; we got it all including wild winds with thunder and lightning! What a day.

The skies cleared overnight and we awoke to a calm 39F/ 4C!

SuperBowl Party this afternoon at friends' house; we go for the food, fun, ads and musical interludes!!!

Friday Evening Mariachi Concert

The concert by Mariachi Garibaldi this evening was a thrilling break from the weather and a sentimental journey back to our years in Brownsville.

Mariachi is an ensemble of musicians that typically play ranchera, regional Mexican music dating back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. Typical of mariachi groups today, Mariachi Garibaldi consisted of violins, trumpets and guitars, including a high-pitched vihuela and an acoustic bass guitar called a guitarron.  All players took turns singing lead and doing backup vocals. The musicians were clothed in typical charro suits, a style of dress originating in Mexico and based on the clothing of a type of horseman, the charro.

Although mariachi music is performed by both males and females, Mariachi Garibaldi was an all male ensemble.  Typically, all the musicians were gifted soloists and performed on the stage and while strolling through the audience. They were joined by a pair of dancers costumed differently for each appearance.

Three Rainy Days

Weather has been confining; California was passing remnants of the Pineapple Express on to us with rotating rain storms, some thunder, a few pellets of hail and even another rainbow!

We did manage to get a walk in each day, staying close to home in case the skies opened up again. Last evening, when the weather suddenly cleared, we were gifted with the stunning view of our local mountains, the Superstitions, capped with snow!

A photo from our front drive at Rock Shadows RV Park

😎  Blue Skies and Sun this Morning 😎

Monday Ride

Today we drove to Mesa to start our ride. We rode west along the Salt River to Tempe Town Lake*, then north along the Crosscut Canal, east through downtown Scottsdale and south and east back to our start. Our route was primarily on pathways, most along canals or through "washes" (drainage areas).

One example of the inlaid patterns on the Crosscut Canal pathway

Pathway located between a canal and a roadway

*Tempe town Lake history

How Green is our Desert?!

 Very Green!

Recent rains have greened up the desert.

Meanwhile, at elevation, the rain has stayed as snow.

(see local landmark, Four Peaks at centre top, crested with snow)

Red Mountain Glory

 

Bonus view from our hike, looking north from the Usery Mountains.

Mount McDowell, more commonly referred to as Red Mountain, is located on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Reservation, just north of Mesa, AZ. Its elevation is 2,832 feet (863 m). The mountain has been declared off-limits to hikers, climbers and photographers since the early 1980s, due to vandalism. 

Mount McDowell has come to be called "Red Mountain" or "FireRock" due to its composition of sandstone conglomerate which gives it a distinctive red color that glows during sunset. 

Windy and Warm

This is is the title of Rose Lynn's favourite instrumental as played by Doc Watson*; the story goes it was written by John D. Loudermilk for Chet Atkins in 1961. 

                                                                    

Windy and warm also describes our weather pattern of the past few days. It means that we have been able to bike and hike and tell each other "This is the weather we came for!" We've had winds up to 40 mph/25 kph and temperatures in the high 70sF / mid 20s C.

*Windy and Warm

Bumper Replacement

                                          

                                                    Before with large dent on right corner

                                                   (and a couple of scrapes in other areas).                                               

Thank you Greg for helping Bill with the bumper swap.

Amazingly, the project only took about an hour or so to accomplish.

Now Bill doesn't have to suffer everytime he walks by the bumper!

Rose Lynn notices dustbunnies but not dented bumpers....

Weather's Parting Shot

 

Late afternoon yesterday, looking east as the sun sets.

As we watched this double rainbow form up in the rays of the setting sun, we hoped that it foreshadowed a weather change. This morning we awoke to calm, clear blue skies with the full moon* setting in the west. We're good to go!!!

*January's full moon is commonly called the wolf moon because wolves are mating at this time of year and can be heard howling on cold nights according to the Old Farmer's Almanac. The origin name stems from native american and other northern cultures which describe this moon as "wolves run together".

The first full moon of the new year, known as the wolf moon, will shine in the night sky Thursday. January's full moon reached peak illumination at 12:54 p.m. ET, but it will appear full through Friday evening, according to NASA.