White Tank Mountains........

The Phoenix metro area has quite a lot of farms, and we passed by many fields of roses as we traveled to the White Tank Mountains, minutes away from our new home. This time of year is lovely, but I can't imagine farming in the warm (well, HOT) summer months. 

fields of roses

White Tank Mountain Regional Park is not too far from us, and offers a lot of hiking trails in a beautiful setting. It is part of the Maricopa County Park System, and we decided to purchase a season pass. Its good for 10 different parks in the Phoenix area, which we plan on exploring. For more information, click here.

the White Tanks

After speaking with the park rangers, we planned a 4 mile loop hike using 3 different trails. They were all well marked and very nice. The desert is just beautiful....really! We so thoroughly enjoy hiking through the desert in the cooler months. Its good to go prepared though...dressed in layers, with sunscreen and hat, hiking shoes, WATER! Even in the cooler months, it can get pretty hot in the sun and there is little protection out there. Just sayin'.

never know what you will see...this was in the parking lot at the horse staging area (and trailhead we were taking)

an overview....layers of mountains...not sure if you can decipher that in the photo

looks like a picture...we just realized how these cacti spread and grow....look at the little seedlings below

we were taking a combo of 3 trails for a 4 mile hike

ready Susie?

hi

huge saguaros

see the new plants starting?

the first we noticed this!

another "picture"....

a perfect day for hiking....cool with a slight breeze, and of course that brutal sun

cacti come in all shapes and sizes and seem to speak to us...hahah...this one is saying "look up"

We hiked along a dry wash for a while, before crossing it, and we were amazed how deep it was. The water must come barreling down the mountain and hurling through the wash during monsoon season. Would be amazing to see that, but not realistic! Our thoughts get away from us as we walk along exploring our surroundings, and of course, we have fun with the saguaros. They really do look like they are saying something. (Or are we out in the strong sun too long?)

heading up over the dry wash-it gets much deeper a bit farther away

beautiful

more cactus trees starting up

you know its warming up when Tom takes his jacket off!! (Its the sun!! The air temp was in the 50's)

check out that deep dry wash...must be amazing to see water rushing through there

still on the right trail?

walking across the dry wash...its amazing...so deep

slight ups and downs to make it interesting

gorgeous hike

time to move it...the sun is starting to head down behind the mountains

bad pic of the sun behind the mountain

the desert is gorgeous...especially with the surrounding mountains

We really enjoyed this hike, and plan on coming back to this park to check out some of the other trails too. The Maricopa County parks are amazingly well kept and cared for, including clean and nice picnic areas and bathrooms located throughout the park. Modern clean bathrooms! How nice is that?

heading back now

Back to reasonable dinners. Tom is using his new bottle holder!  (He just has one bottle of beer nightly though....using the 2nd for show)

Happy Holidays.........

Un-traditional lifestyle......un-traditional holiday celebration!

As much as we would have loved to fly home and take part in the craziness that is the holidays, it just wasn't in the cards for us. As I'm writing this, the news is on and profiling someone that has taken 3 days to fly back to Phoenix from the east due to the wild and deadly weather across the nation. Yikes! Of course, that is the worst case scenario....you know how the media is! Anyway, since we were just back east only 2 months ago, we made the decision to fly back east at a slower time of year, to hopefully have an easier commute AND to have a quality visit to hold us over for a few months.

Luckily we had the phone, and face-time to help us celebrate with our family (so we wouldn't feel too sorry for ourselves), and it was GREAT to see everyone so happy and healthy. In the meantime, Tom and I had each other and we had a fun holiday, though a little different than what we are used to. It was nice! Simple!

Christmas Eve breakfast

not too healthy....but certainly tasty

not easy making a traditional dinner in the RV kitchen....hahahah

lots of prep work for our Christmas Eve dinner later

not what we usually do on Christmas Eve.....but it was very nice and peaceful

looking forward to facetiming the family!!!!

carving the turkey...its hard to have two safely in the kitchen at once .....especially when one is wielding a carving knife! 

our own little celebration on Christmas Eve....just us (and a ton of food)

Cheers-we had a great face-time with the kids!!! (though the internet is not the best here)...and by the way, that's a diet coke!

some cherished items sent all the way from Virginia....coffee cups and water bottle (or beer?) holders....featuring our favorite little guy!

Most of our "celebrating" was on Christmas Eve, so Christmas Day was spent totally relaxing (and a little more face-timing). The weather was cold, but clear and sunny, so we took advantage of this huge and relatively "empty" campground and enjoyed the pool pretty much to ourselves. Christmas music was playing on the sound system at the pool and it was just really nice just reading and swimming. I realize I truly enjoy some of the same things I did when I was 10....swimming, bike riding and reading. Some things never change! As for Tom....he enjoys a good book now and then too. Hahahha.....I think he reads one a day!

We had no where to be and nothing to do, so we totally relaxed the entire day...and had a delicious (leftover) turkey dinner. Yes, untraditional.....simple....nice!

Christmas morning ..... cool but sunny

who's that crazy girl swimming in this cool weather??    (ahem..the pool is heated)

a Christmas visitor to our hummingbird feeder

is it really Christmas?

going on a bike ride through the neighborhood

there are miles of roads here in this RV resort

good biking!

Merry Christmas!

We had every intention of hiking in the nearby state park, but the weather did not co-operate. It was pretty windy for a few days...and we postponed our hiking until the winds slowed down to a nice breeze. Not a fan of sand and dust in our faces! Stay tuned for the hiking experience!

Phoenix................

Another new backyard....Phoenix! We arrived several days ago, and have been out and about running errands and re-familiarizing ourselves with the area. Keeping some doctor appointments too . When we knew the dates we were going to be in NJ, we tried to schedule an appointment for our annual skin cancer checkup, but they were scheduling 4 months out....so we went ahead and researched a dermatologist in Phoenix. Good thing! Both Tom and I have to have things removed from our skin, and mine is definitely basal cell skin cancer. This is my first experience with skin cancer, but I'm sure everything will be just fine since its so early. Note to RVers: make sure you keep your regular health checkups even if you are on the road. You don't want to have bigger issues than you need to! There are plenty of good doctors all across this country so you don't need to neglect your basic health checkups and wait until you are home again. And....remember the sunscreen:)

It has been cloudy and cool here, and you know what that means.....fabulous sunsets!! We enjoy the "sunset show" every night, and never tire of it. Haha.

the start of the sunset show

magnificent

Our new "yard" is set up, complete with a few Christmas decorations. We've also bought some more herbs for the indoor garden we have on our dashboard. The basil is especially convenient to have! Its nice to add some flavor to my wonderful cooking, right Tom! (hahahahahah)

setting up our backyard

parsley, basil and dill....need to transplant

 This campground is a 55+ resort community, so there are plenty of activities right here. One of my favorites is "morning stretch". Ahem...don't laugh....it feels really good! I haven't started any craft activities here yet, except for a community project making mats for the homeless to sleep on. I have plenty of projects going already from Tucson! (Miss you guys!!) Things are slow here right now due to the holiday, but the craft classes and activities will resume soon. The campground is relatively empty, but I'm sure that will change by the weekend. Many of the RV's that are here are deserted....with so many people off visiting family.

Since I have nothing interesting to share right now, here is glimpse of the little tour of our new "backyard" we took yesterday. There are plenty of streets to walk and bike on. Hiking isn't too far away either. We were planning on hiking today, but the weather is not cooperating. We just got a severe thunderstorm alert on the phone too...so good thing we aren't on the trail.

the pool/gym/locker room area

love these quails....they are so cute to watch

the water is really warm!

the campus (location of the craft and sewing areas)

I'm planning on spending some time here

this is where we do "stretch" in the morning....there are heaters here too....which is actually too hot for me!  Stop laughing....I love this class!!

should we go to the library?? (my activity-ahhahaha)

wait...doesn't that say crafts too? haha

about 10 minutes before we were leaving for a hike today.....the skies opened up and we got a severe thunderstorm alert

Merry Christmas everyone....from sunny, warm Phoenix, Arizona.....hahahahha!