Valley of the Sun

3/8/05 - Mesa, AZ
Yesterday we drove from Quartsite to Mesa (Map) (which is an eastern suburb of Phoenix) and found another great RV Resort called Val Vista (which is one of many parks in the area with over 1000 spaces). We are enjoying the desert heat, the swimming pools, the cactus and the spring flowers in the Valley of the Sun.

Today we washed our car and coach (most parks prohibit washing vehicles, but there seems to be plenty of water here in this desert) and then invited our good friends Laurie and John, whom I have known for about 30 years, over for dinner. We had a great visit and made plans to do some interesting things over the next few days.

Bryce Thompson Arboretum

3/9/05 - Bryce Thompson Arboretum State Park
Today we all drove out to the Bryce Thompson Arboretum State Park. John and I took off on a longer hike than the women wanted to attempt, and we had a great time exploring together.

This evening we had dinner at the Organ Stop Pizza parlor which has a great pipe organ which I very much enjoyed hearing. The pizza was pretty good too.

3/10/05 - Canyon Lake
Today we all drove up to Canyon Lake and spent about two hours on the Dolly Steamboat cruise. We had done this several years ago, but it was great to do it again with my digital camera. Here are a lot of photos I took today.

After the cruise we spent some time observing a large number of birds making their home in a huge Suguaro cactus that we had parked under.

Birds Nests in Suguaro Cactus

Then we stopped along the road and I took these photos of some other cactus near Superstition Mountain .

Next we stopped at the Goldfield Ghost Town where we explored some great old buildings, watched some Cardnials feed while we had some ice cream, and saw a rattle snake slither accross a dirt road.

I got news that mom was moved to a group home today. Apparently Sunrise did not feel she was able to take care of herself on her own and the 24 hour care was pretty expenseive. She seemed in good spirits though and should do fine in this new environment.