It's About the (RV) Journey....: Its just nuts.....................

We have been keeping busy with activities here at "summer camp for old people". Hahaha. That's how many of the guests here fondly refer to this campground. There are so many activities its sometimes hard to chose how to spend your time. I'm pretty consistent with "morning stretch" and ceramics. They are my favorites:) Well, before I get too boring, lets move on....

The White Tank Mountain Regional Park is fairly close to us, and we were so impressed with it the first time we visited, we decided to go back. The White Tanks have lots of trails to explore, but we only had time for a short hike. The hikes give us such different views of the desert environment, and its really beautiful!

the "sunset show"

White Tank Mountain Park

heading out on a short hike

the light was so great on these cacti

hiking in the desert-amazing

another view

the light made these cacti glow

the photo is not capturing it completely

really cool

petroglyphs

This particular hike was really short and it was very flat. The cacti were great here. So many saguaros, and they are all different. Some of them "talk" to you. Really! Hahahah. And some of them remind us of people. Its fascinating and fun to walk among the saguaros.

got my handy dandy dorky hat...life is good

nice views

ouch!

wild looking, huh?

hiking in the desert

cairn close-up

which way to go?

check out that cactus...lots of arms

doesn't he look great?

they are all different!

looking for crested saguaros?

lots of arms on this one too!

pretty

the desert is so interesting

This is going to sound nutty, but...we discovered a "new to us" pick your own farm, thanks to one of my ceramics classmates. Did you know that pecans grow on trees? Some of the orchards around here let you pick your own, but the timing is pretty tight. Seems you must do this early in January or you are out of luck. Who knew? In early January, the pecan trees are shaken (we did not see this, but the owner explained what we missed-they use a machine to shake the nuts out of the trees). The nuts fall to the ground, and you can pick them up. We were the only ones there at the time, so we were lucky to get a guided tour and personal training from the owner on the art of picking pecans. She showed us which ones were good, which ones had a vitamin deficiency, etc. The owner was explaining that the season is pretty short and we almost missed it because so many people come out in early January and gather all the nuts. There is only a finite amount of pecans, so you can miss the window very easily. We were lucky with the timing, as there were still plenty of pecans to fill our bucket. Of course, the owner guided us to a spot she knew still had some nuts. Apparently it is a very popular activity-and I'm thinking the reason is the cost. For $10 you can pick 5 pounds of pecans. There is a special machine that cracks them for you if you like, at an additional cost of 20 cents per pound. Then, you can easily shell the pecans at home. I have to tell you it took me about 2 hours to shell all those!! Also, I have to tell you that 5 pounds of pecans is a lot of nuts! The good news...they can be frozen for up to 5 years. Who knew? Anyway, we explored this scene for the experience, not the savings. I guess we are just a couple of nuts:)

picking pecans...that's right....off the ground!

there is an outer shell to be peeled away

lots of shelling involved

peel back the outer shell to get to the next shell before the pecan :)

here we go....a clear picture of the outer shell, then the pecan shell, and once you break through that you are rewarded with the pecan

our bucket of 5 pounds of pecans-ready to be cracked

the shell needs to be cracked and peeled off to get to the pecan

there's another one on the ground

the high tech "cracking" machine

where are your safety glasses?

here's a pecan now

delicious!

We are still amazed by the sunrises and sunsets here in Arizona. The colors are spectacular, especially when the sky is cloudy. You know its coming when you see the glow all around you....and then you just look up and enjoy. It just never gets old.

another glorious sunset show

the entire sky lights up,especially when its cloudy

such a pretty sky

the show only lasts a few minutes

but we enjoy it every night!

are you watching football again??

I guess we are still decorating our new "home"....what with the ceramic creations every week. I do have to pace myself though. We don't have that much room-hahah. I am now concentrating on very small holiday decorations to brighten up the place on those special holidays like Halloween and Valentines Day.