Powder...courtesy of El Nino!

OK - after the third wave of big snowstorms passed through Arizona, here's a photo of the 5th wheel... Just kidding! We couldn't resist taking this photo on our way to the Elk Ridge Ski area after waiting through the snows. Williams didn't get anywhere near the depth that piled up in Flagstaff and the RV park plowed us out nicely. So, on the firsst day that the roads were clear up the mountain, we piled on the snow clothes again for one more day of skiing and snowboarding.

The drive was magical with the still fresh snow and gorgeous blue skies!

Linda's favorite house needed some help with the driveway, but isn't it nice? On about 10 acres, backed up to national forest land...hmm...out of our price range but nice to dream about!

The main road from Williams to the ski area was cleared nicely and didn't have any packed ice.

The drive up the mountain on the forestry service raod wasn't as clear, but our 4 wheel drive made it just fine.

It took a little while for the ski area staff to arrive to issue our equipment, but soon we were on the fresh powder - really fun!

The Snow Bowl at Flagstaff wasn't open as yet and quite a few college students arrived, but we still enjoyed the mountain until the lift closed at the end of the day.

We were very glad we stayed for the extra snow, but watched for a break between the storms to head back to the east. We've got more states to explore yet!

Ski Arizona

That's right...ski in Arizona! Part of our family Christmas present was to take some time and some of our vacation funds for some playing in the snow. Flagstaff has the Snow Bowl, but we decided to seek out something with easier access and hopefully fewer skiers and snowboarders. So we left sunny southern California and the beautiful Escapee Resort to drive long and hard across the Mojave Desert to Williams, AZ.

We did well on the drive, although it was at least 150 miles further than we normally tackle in a days' journey. We even left CA a day early to try to miss the forecasted high winds across the desert. We did miss the winds and skirted an eastern-bound front with rain. Nine miles from Williams, however, the light showers turned to a fairly dense snow. At first, it was no problem as the temperature (38 F) prevented any sticking. As we climbed in elevation, however, the snow began to stick and eventually we found ourselves in a huge traffic jam. A couple of trucks slid in the slushy snow on the incline and jack-knifed ahead of us on the highway. We were stuck in the mess for 2 1/2 hours and were beginning to wonder how we could fare overnight. The most beautiful big snowplow arrived and finally worked its' way to the front of the jammed trucks and made a wonderful path for all of us to work our way up the incline, past the stalled trucks and one broken down car. We arrived at the RV park only 10 minutes later, thankful to be in one piece and able to hook up our connections for a warm night's sleep! With our early arrival, we took a day to do laundry, clean house, review lessons and prepare our snow clothes for a day of skiing. We had spied the Elk Ridge Ski Area, just 3 miles south of Williams during the spring trip to the Grand Canyon. Because of it's proximity to the RV park, we could leave the dogs in the trailer and enjoy the day on the mountain. We knew nothing of the ski area other than it's location and that it advertised itself as a family friendly, beginner friendly ski facility - sounded great for us and it was! The first chore was getting our ski beginner into his boots while our older son tested snowboarding boots. We signed the kids up for lessons with their respective snow equipment and found ourselves to be almost alone on the mountain. We paid for group lessons, but received private instruction!Cory's snowboarding instructor, Erin, was a former snowboard racing champ.Will's ski instructor, Nancy, had only recently joined the staff, coming from Park City, Utah.Of course, learning has a few tumbles...But, as you can see, persistence and determination has it's rewards...We didn't know until we arrived that the ski area had only one lift and it was a rope tow. We had a few tumbles figuring that out, but eventually everyone was gliding smoothly up the slope.Linda got a little skiing in on the first two days, but did so carefully. Only one serious tumble and it was on the tow rope!Another feature of the area is a couple of tubing runs...And even football knee injury Craig could participate in that activity.As a matter of fact, he was the long distance champ on those runs - outdistancing even the boys!On the first day, the tow rope was broken down, so we all got extra exercise by hiking up the runs in order to come down. Because the ski area was not busy, near the end of the day when we were quite worn out from hiking, the manager gave each of us a ride to the top of the run on the SkiDoo. He even took Linda up to the top of the mountain beyond the tow rope lift to see the view and take photos of the Grand Canyon. That far line of blue is the north rim. Magnificent! The owners of the facility hope to have a chair lift in place by next season to have better access to the blue and black runs from the top. We considered this place to be a gem and absolutely perfect for our needs! We loved not having crowds of more advanced skiers and snowboarders having to put up with our beginners and the staff was the most friendly we've ever seen!

As a matter of fact, we extended our stay so that we can enjoy the mountain for another weekend. El Nino rains are bombarding the west coast in a series of storms. In order to travel safely, we either had to cut our time short in Williams and high-tail it for Albuquerque, or 'hunker down' to ride out the predicted heavy snowfall until the storms have passed. Having successfully kept ourselves warm in the previous snows in Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, we feel confident we'll be OK. If not, we can always secure the trailer as best we can and take refuge in a local motel. Winter is not a big season for this little tourist town and the RV park obviously has availability....

We'll keep you posted on how this plan works out! Hopefully, it will be enough snow to have more fun with snow play but not so much that we can't make it to the slopes!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Wow - over a month since our last posting! We've been busy and will summarize our goings on with this post.

After the kids participated in the Christmas play in our old stompin' grounds in Corpus Christi, we drove back to Abilene to have the 5th wheel repaired. The passenger side tire had shown some odd wear. After much deliberation and crawling around at the RV repair place, the conclusion was that the spring suspension had sprung. After several days of conversations between the repair facility, the RV manufacturer, the component manufacturers and us, the end result was a replaced set of springs paid for by the component manufacturer and a new tire paid for by us. We will monitor the new springs more closely as we proceed on our journey. We took the trailer and weighed the total trailer and also just the rear tandem axles. The total weight was below, but barely below, the limit posted for the rig. The weight on the axles, however, was well within range thus the component manufacturer responsibility. We probably could have fought more diligently for the tire replacement to be paid by someone else, but were weary of the discussions and wanted to move on.

Then, both kids caught a nasty stomach bug. Poor guys...it took a couple of days for the older one to feel well enough for travelling. Finally, we hit the road and landed for overnight stays in Van Horn, TX and Benson, AZ. Unfortunately, we also heard that Linda's family caught the same stomach bug after our departure - so sorry guys! Somehow, Linda and Craig were spared the ick and were good to go! The weather was great and we finally arrived northwest of Phoenix at McDowell Regional Park for our holiday time. We stayed most of the time with Linda's sister in Phoenix as the park was at least 45 minutes of drive time one way.

The park was, however, one of our favorite places to stay due to the wonderful views and spaciousness for each site. The park provides electric and water, so using the dump station was necessary on our way out - but no problem. The staff and volunteers demonstrated great holiday spirit by decorating the entry as a gingerbread house.

We'll include a few photos of our site and surroundings - the vastness of the desert views is impossible for us to capture. The drive through Fountain Hills was terrific each evening with the Christmas lights accenting the beautiful suburb and landscapes.While in Phoenix, we were able to watch Linda's nephew play in two tournaments. His team won both tournaments and he played so well that he was named MVP both rounds as well. We were so pleased to be able to participate as this is his senior year of high school. The second tournament added another bonus - another nephew was the announcer, being available while on his college break!Our guys enjoyed the time with cousins and we enjoyed the benefits of big city life with terrific restaurants and shopping just in time for Christmas. We hiked a few times on the trails within the city, catching beautiful views at dusk a few times and trying to work off as many calories as we were taking in with the Christmas treats! We enjoyed worship services at Scottsdale Christian Church on the Sundays before and after Christmas.

Here's a view of our boys' favorite activity after opening gifts on Christmas day - play DSi, listen to Ipod and lounge in new pj's in front of a real fire in the fireplace!We stayed on at McDowell, leaving on New Year's Day to travel on toward southern California. Here's a few of our attempts to show you the glorious sunsets in the park:

We appreciate so much the hospitality of family that provides food, fellowship and rest in real beds in real houses from time to time as we are on this adventure. We are happy to continue our travels, but the visits provide a much needed respite from time to time!

Hoover Dam

We stayed in Kingman, AZ for a couple of nights so that we could tour the Hoover Dam. We keep forgetting to take pictures of the parks where we stay - but we remembered this time!

Halfway along the drive to the Hoover Dam (about 90 miles), we realized our camera was still safely stowed in the trailer - ugh! We purchased a ridiculously priced disposable version so that we could capture a few photos. We also decided to purchase the tour of the dam - a little pricey at $30 per person (kids too!), but worthwhile to tour with no more than 20 people with an informed guide. We had to at least carry, if not wear, the little yellow plastic hard hats as evidence of payment for the tour.

The guides did a terrific job of showing the features of the dam's construction and the massive sets of turbines that generate power for several states. We learned about the significant difference this dam created for this region of the country by providing flood control and a source for irrigation. The power generation aspect is how the dam project paid for itself and then some over time. We contemplated how influential Herbert Hoover must have been to bring seven states, a couple of Indian tribes and Mexico into agreement on the water distribution. Hard to imagine how long negotiations would take for a project of this magnitude with today's politics! There also was great difficulty at the time in talking the government into taking the project on during the Depression. Labor, however, was no problem as thousands of families moved to the area an entire year before the project began in hopes of gaining employment. Since Cory is studying this era of history now, this visit added tons to his comprehension of how hard the Depression was and also how hard people were willing to work to earn a living.

As retired transportation engineers, Craig and I gained almost as much from observing the construction of the nearby bridge. The tour guides advised that while the Hoover Dam was completed 2 years in advance of projected completion, the adjacent bridge construction was over 2 years behind! Hmmm....our advanced technologies don't necessary make the construction business any quicker, do they? We were advised that two tremendously large cranes had been lost in a terrible windstorm, sending one crane to destruction at the base of the canyon and inducing huge delays due to the loss of the critical equipment.

Flagstaff, Family at Phoenix and Scenic Sedona

We moved back to the east to Mund's Park, just south of Flagstaff for our next jaunt. We love Flagstaff with the cool temperatures, beautiful forests and mountains! Linda's niece is attending NAU and her sister lives in Phoenix, so we were able to visit while in the area. Mund's Park is listed as an RV resort, but it appears to be developing heavily with park models. We liked the recreation room and fantastic covered porch for a change of scenery while internet browsing. We had to back out of our pull through site due to space limitations, but fortunately, the park was not heavily occupied. The park was busy preparing for a busy summer season, so the pool was inaccessible due to repairs and there was some major work going on water lines. We had no problems and the site was inexpensive and quiet with a huge laundry room.

I must make a confession. As you know, the title of the blog is, "Yes dear, I'm watching the flare". Well, one morning in Holbrook I was backing away from Burger King with a bag of breakfast tacos without my co-pilot and I forgot the rule. A poorly placed light pole on a large concrete base broke the composite material rear quarter-pannel right at the flare for the dual rear wheels. We took the opportunity of this longer stay in a larger city to set up with a body shop to have the truck repaired.

Lindsey, Linda's niece, gave us a tour of downtown Flagstaff and the NAU campus. The town was very quaint and full of interesting places and the NAU campus was gorgeous. It was relatively quiet as finals week was upon the students, so no crowds of pedestrians and bicyclists.

We drove a few miles east to Walnut Canyon National Park and toured the cliff dwellings. A moderate trail descends a few hundred feet to allow close-up views of the chiseled out areas in the side of the canyon. Soot is visible from fires burned long ago and NPS staff has rehabilitated a few of the walls to envision the living circumstances of the tribes that most recently inhabited the canyon (about 800 years ago). The Indians are now labeled as the Sinaguas (Spanish for 'no water') to mark their ability to farm and survive in such an arid area. The canyon itself is quite green, but farming the surrounding area looks very intimidating with the dry, rocky soil. Across the canyon are still more cave dwellings, and a park ranger advised that those had not been disturbed. The crafstmanship of the Indians was amazing to see as it had withstood all those years!

On the weekend, we drove down to Phoenix without the trailer to stay with Linda's sister. Bless her heart, she was also welcoming home her two college age kids on the same weekend! We sampled several meals in the Phoenix restaurants and took a day hike with Patricia. Squaw Butte is within Phoenix and climbs about 800 feet in a little over 2 miles. We're new at hiking, but think this is classified as a moderate challenge. It was very challenging for us at our current fitness level and it was a good thing we got off the mountain before too much later as the temperatures in Phoenix are just beginning to get brutal!

We enjoy meeting new faces along our travels, but it was so great to visit with family (and to indulge in having a really LONG shower in a bathroom that was so much roomier than the camper)! Kids grow up so fast - wonderful to see the kids growing into adulthood and glimpse their pursuit of their future. All of them were doing so well and maturing in faith and responsibility - way to go kids! We missed capturing the boys on camera, but here's Lindsey and her roommate Megan with our guys...

We returned to Mund's Park via Sedona - gorgeous! John and Tricia guided us to a riverside resort that oozed peace, quiet and beauty then ate at a great spot with a view of the sunset painted wall of the canyon. The canyon drive is always amazing - but we couldn't help being thankful to do so without the trailer! We've seen rumors of trailer length restrictions along Hwy 89A, but legal or not - we're NOT towing along that roadway! We didn't make an intended drive to Prescott, but will return another season to do so. We likely will return to Mund's Park or Camp Verde a bit closer to Phoenix when we return to Arizona.

Back in Flagstaff, we also took an evening trek to the Lowell Observatory. We had a great time with the boys, participating in hands-on exhibits, peering at Saturn through the HUGE telescope and visiting with volunteers that had brought their own telescopes to share. The mountain top views of the city were beautiful, but couldn't compare with the sight of the stars. Add the quiet and aroma of the forest pines and you've got an evening not soon to be forgotten!

When Lindsey was free from final exams and had a day off from work, she took us to a cave called "Lava Tubes" in the Kaibab National Forest west of Flagstaff. We drove along some pretty bumpy dirt roads in the forest to get to the trail, sometimes having to slow to less than 5 mph. What a terrific way to truly explore an undeveloped cave - no artifical lights or paved paths here! We climbed across some pretty good size boulders into the cave entrance to find a frozen waterfall just a few yards from the entrance! The temperature outside the cave was around 53-80 F, but quickly sank to much colder temperatures in the protection of the earth around us. At one point, we all turned off our flashlights to experience the true darkness. It didn't take long for us to turn the flashlights back on again! We didn't make it all the way to the end of the cave - about 1 1/4 miles, but we hope to return again WITH our camera!

We'll likely be back in Arizona next winter!

Grand Canyon views

With great anticipation we crossed Arizona so looking forward to seeing one of the 7 listed wonders of the world. We parked the RV in Williams at the Grand Canyon Railroad RV Park. This park is connected to a hotel and a depot for the train that runs the 60 miles north to the Grand Canyon National Park. The park was very nice and included access to the hotel's indoor pool and spa. We also found this to be a nicely paved small town environment that was great for trying out our new bikes. There were gas grills provided in the center of the park that we used for a hot dog and beans supper with s'mores for dessert. They even had a clean, well-kept, on-site kennel for the dogs that allowed us to spend two full days at the canyon.

While the train looked like fun, we wanted to drive over and spend as much time experiencing the canyon as possible. Each of us were a little overwhelmed by the majestic sights everywhere you looked as well as the size and scope of this God given natural wonder. Much of the first day was sorting out the different rim trails and the bus system that delivers you around the miles of canyon within the park.

We hiked around on three of the rim trails and gained a closer view (than riding the shuttles) and some feel for the size of this thing. It made for a long first day, but we went home happy, tired and ready to go back for more the next day.

Bed time was early that night and the alarm was set for 3:30 am so that we could get around in time to make the drive to the canyon in time to see the wonderful sun rise vista of the canyon. Sleepy and cold, at 5:30 am we climbed out on the overlook in the dim first light joined by a couple dozen other people. Despite the forecast for an overcast sky, the sun peeked through the broken clouds and made the sun rise even more spectacular.

We caught a shuttle bus to the lodge above Bright Angel Trail and enjoyed a great breakfast and welcome warm up time. Cory had his heart set on going down the trail to the bottom of the canyon. All agreed to try to go down as far as we felt able, maybe down to the composting restroom (about 1/3 the distance to the bottom). The information we reviewed prior to starting this hike warned us to each carry plenty of water, stay aware of our need to take breaks to rest and provide twice as much time to go up as it took to go down.

Starting our descent a little before 8:00 am, the air was very cool at the top and we all started with jackets and the boys donned sweatpants over their shorts. As we started, six giant condors took off from the cliffs just beneath us and all the people at the top of the trail watched mesmerized as these enormous birds glided in graceful circles swirling down the canyon below. It was easy going down and the view was breath taking. The only challenge we faced was to allow a mule train to slip by us along the trail on their way to the bottom (and then to avoid stepping in any of the deposits they left on their way).


We arrived at our turning point (1 1/2 miles and 1100 feet drop in elevation) after about an hour of hiking, not too tired but a lot warmer. Everyone had jackets tied around their waists and I collected all the sweatpants and stuffed them in my backpack. As we turned to go back up, we could feel gravity do its work and we realized how steep and long the trail was to return to the top. They were correct in the estimate that it takes twice as long to go up as it does to go down and about 11:00 am we were back to the top. It was hard and hot, but it was still beautiful and we all felt the bond of doing something difficult together.

We were so taken by this place and this experience that we are determined to return and we want to train up on our journey so that when we do return, we can take on a longer hike that could take us the bottom and back again.

We were pleasantly surprised to find this plaque at a stop identified as Hermit's Rest - near the west end of the most publicly toured areas of the park. We're thankful that within this government owned and operated park, an acknowledgement of God as the Creator has been allowed to remain. We'd love to find out who placed the plaque! We stood in a mix of humility and awe of the wonder that exists as an ongoing testimony to the power and might of our Jehovah-God.