Sabino Canyon and a cruise March 2017

This month was busy and had some interesting things I had done.First off my photo group took a tour up to Sabino Canyon in Tucson. Sabino Canyon is a great place to go and spend the day hiking and taking your family. It is covered with beautiful mountains,deep canyons,water and lots of cactus.There is a visitor center and they have a tram for $10. for adults and $5. for children.The tram runs daily with 9 stops and a 45 min. narration.You have choices as how you would like to do the canyon.Hike it up and back.Aprox 6 miles. You can ride the tram up to stop #9 and walk back down.You might want to Take the tram up and walk aways and catch it at another stop on the way down.I would advise to take a lunch and water and stop at the different picnic areas.In summer it could get quite hot. I would try spring or fall.

 

 

This crested cactus can be found behind the visitors center on the trail.These are quite rare.

Sandhill Cranes Feb.2017

Feburary came and our photo club went to Whitewater Draw out of Benson.Whitewater Draw is a wildlife area where people far and wide come to see and photograph the thousands of Sandhill Cranes and other wild life.There may be 10,000 to 30,000 of the cranes during the winter months. There are also different types of ducks and birds to see.

If you ever get to the Tucson,Benson area I suggest a trip to this wild life area.

Catching Up April 2017

I know it’s been awhile since I posted but I had bad internet.Anyway I’ll try and do a catch up since Jan. We started out in Benson at our escapees Saguaro Park. We had a great New Years Party with lots of drinks,food music and dancing.What a fantastic time everyone had. In the middle of January we headed up to Quartzsite with Chapter #21 for about 10 days.While there we went to the Desert Bar,shopped at the big tent and Tyson’s.We also had many happy hours and dinners out.When we left Q are friends and us went to Apache Jct. and stayed at the Elks for 5 days before returning to Benson.Of course we had to go to the Mesa Market and spent half a day there shopping.We also have friends that have a place in Mesa and went to se them.

Amsterdam

We finally got to Seattle and flew out to Amsterdam where we will be boarding our cruise to the Baltics tommorrow.We boarded our ship the Celebrity Silhouette and met up with some friends and went to the sailaway party.Good times ahead.

Engine,cruise,and Washington Aug 31 2016

Well this will be a long post so I’ll break up into segments.First will start with May.

                         May

We were heading up to Washington for our summer stay at the Evergreen Coho SKP park when we got to Ore. and all hell broke loose.We were coming down the Siskyou Mts. and arrived in Medford Ore.to the motorhome pouring white smoke and  making lots of noise.Fortunately we pulled into Costco and Sam was able to get hold of a shop that was about 5 mins. down the road.After looking a the RV they determined it had to go in the shop.This is a very busy shop so we waited for 10 days before they could get us in.Come to find out we would need a new engine.Oh No. Panic time.They finally got it in the shop and we went to a friends house in Burney Ca. We were thinking that it would be ready in a week.Not so, there was something wrong with new engine so they had to order another rebuilt.After another week went by we told them that we were leaving on a cruise in 4 days and had to be in Seattle to fly out.So we left and went Seattle to fly to Amsterdam.When we got back from the cruise we went down and the motorhome was ready for us.We got back on the road and finally made back to Wash. to our lot in Evergreen Coho.

While waiting for the RV we we took a ride to Hells Gate Canyon on the Rogue River.It started out nice but as we continued on we found ourselves lost on dirt roads in the mountains.It was getting late and we were getting worried as it would be getting dark soon.We passed a couple guys and we were looking for this lodge but never did find it up in the forest. We did finally make out of there and the car was completely covered in dirt.Oh well in was an adventure and we enjoyed ourselves. Here’s some photos of the day.

                                     

Leaving Benson March 29,2016

Another month gone and it’s time to leave Benson and start heading north.It’s hard to believe 3 months of the year is already gone.Sam’s busy as always contantly working on different projects that need to be done. I’ve been doing some beading with the group here and have a couple bracelets finished.

San Xavier Mission

This mission is a historical landmark and the only remaining one fully intact in Arizona.It was founded in 1692 as part of the missions being built by Father Francisco Kino a Jesuit missionary. Since 1978 10 million dollars has been spent on restoration.The open everyday and free tours are given.If your in the Tucson area this a must see.

 

Mortuary

Coutyard

Inside mission

They started a photogorphy club here in the park and this was one of our outings.

One day we took a ride and came across Old Tucson Studios.There was a gate so we were unable to get close enough to get photos but here is one.

We also went out Mescal road and was on a mission to go see some waterfalls to no avail. There was several washes to cross and we don’t have 4 wheel on our new car so couldn’t forge the water.Makes us wish we had old car.It was quite deep as we tried to get through but had to back up.

We also had Ole Mexico days this month which was a three day affair.It started with a pet parade and they had some really cute dogs dressed up and some did tricks.On friday they carnival booths with games,chicken bingo,cantina,sold sweets,played blackjack and had a mexican lunch. People were dressed up for the affair.Lots of other things were going on and everyone seemed to have a good time.

 

We also had a Mariachi School Band that entertained us.These kids were better than professionals and have been playing insruments since they were very small.Some also had great voices.

 

 

 

 

Well now it’s time to move on until next season in Benson. Adios

Feburary Happenings 2016

We left Quartzsite on the 1st and arrived back in Benson with cold tempertures and snow flurries. The first week was busy with Dinners,Bingo,Movie night,Annual Meeting and our leaseholders party.At our new leaseholders party we celebrated 27 new leaseholders. Everyone brought heavy appetizers and cake and ice cream ws served.It is always busy here.
The 2nd week started off with our superbowl party and served up 7 different types of soup and baked potatoes.This money maker raised 600. dollars.This week started with the meetings with new members and committees.It was very busy week reorganizing.We had our monthly Bunco night and heavy food for dinner.We also had a cookie and fudge sale for Valentines.Buy your sweetie  some sweets.On the 15th they had a Valentins dinner with steak and lobster.Yummy.The week we had the usual things going on,but also had crafter's nite out. Everyone brought food and was a lot of fun.We also had our annual food auction which brings in lots of money. Lots of food items made by leaseholders and several dinners and a Progressive dinner for 6. The progressive went for 800 dollars ,down from the last couple of years.All in all it was a great fund raiser and made over 6000.dollars.The last week we had a Casita tour where people sign up to show their casitas.There were about 17 that showed theirs and somm were beautiful. On the 27th we had men's night out and we servd them dinner and had a skit or two and they played games afterward. Poker,cards,ping pong,and pool.
Our son and grandaughter flew in from California and we took them to Tomstone on Friday.Since they've been in this area they enjoyed themselves.They came down to pickup our old Suzuki for Carli as we had bought a new car and didn't need it any longer. Seems like I can't get photos posted.That's all for this month.