Sunset over Quartzsite, AZ

1/26/06 - Back to Quartzsite
On Thursday the 26th we moved to Quartzsite, AZ and saw this beautiful sunset. We have fond memories of Quartzsite from about ten years ago when we first discovered this place. It has changed considerably since then, becoming much more commercial. It is still the biggest flea market that I am aware of and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors in the Winter months.

Most people come in RVs starting in December and some stay through January. By the time we got there, most of the people had left and they were starting to close things up. We still got to see our share of beautiful rocks and gems and enjoyed our brief visit.

1/29/06 - Prescott, AZ
Sunday we moved to Willow Lake RV Park in Prescott, AZ. Tara and I had fun exploring the area and climbing the rocks . Prescott is kind of an interesting "Old West" town. We got to meet another painter who my wife had been emailing for many months. I got a lot of software development done and released new versions of all my software on Saturday.

Cactus Nursery

2/06/06 - Back to Mesa, AZ
– Monday Feb. 6th, we drove to Val Vista RV Park in Mesa, AZ and enjoyed their pools for a week. On the way we stopped at this cactus nursery and took a bunch of photos.

On Friday we had dinner with our good friends who live in Mesa and the next day John, Tara and I went for a hike in the Superstition Mountains while Laurie and Dayadevi went to Scottsdale to do some shopping. We met back at their house for a nice dinner and then went home to see the Opening Ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino Italy. We spent almost every evening for the next two weeks watching the Olympics.

Monday we moved to Mesa Regal RV Park which is another huge retirement community in Mesa. There are probably a dozen parks which all have more than 1000 spaces for both RVs, and the more stationary Park Models. These are small single wides that people generally buy and dress up with landscaping, carports and the occasional addition. There are tons of activities at these places. I even tackled a few small projects in their well equipped wood shop.

On Friday we had dinner with Laurie and John and said our goodbyes. We moved to Distant Drums in Camp Verde (Map) the next day. We like this park because it has a pool and spa and a very Native American look and feel.

Montezuma's Castle National Monument

2/18/06 - Back to Sedona, AZ
Sunday we went to see Montezuma's Castle National Monument which is a well preserved Indian housing structure built into the side of a cliff about 50 feet off the ground. More about Montezuma's Castle.

Then we drove to one of our favorite places in the world, Sedona (Map). After a great lunch at the Javelina Cantina, we drove up Schnebly Hill Rd. which we had never done before. The views were breathtaking! I also took a bunch of photos of old twisted Juniper Trees which I thought were quite beautiful.

The Red Rocks of Sedona, AZ from Schnebly Hill Rd

On Monday we went back to Sedona and I explored the Baldwin Loop and Cathedral Rock area. It was a very fun hike.

It was about at this point that my wife and I decided that we liked our lifestyle enough to sell our home in Oregon. It had turned out to be a very expensive storage unit, and we felt bad about paying for something we were not using or enjoying. So we decided to head home and sell most of our stuff including the house.

Bell Rock, Sedona, AZ

Thursday we returned again to Sedona and I hiked around Bell Rock which is one of my all time favorite hikes.

Saturday we visited Montezuma's Well which is part of the Montezuma Castle National Monument. It is a natural limestone sinkhole through which some 1,400,000 gallons of water flow each day. Then we drove up Oak Creek Canyon past Slide Rock State Park to the rest area at the top of the canyon.

2/26/06 - Back to the Grand Canyon
Sunday we moved to Williams and visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on Monday. It was spectacular as usual, especially at sunset .

Grand Canyon at Sunset