Cave Creek Regional Park Campgrounds - Cave Creek, AZ

Next, we head east to explore the Sonoran Desert area north of Phoenix. Friends have told us about Cave Creek Regional Park, so we're headed there to check it out. Cave Creek is not far from Carefree, a northern suburb of Phoenix, so it's convenient for running a few errands and stocking up on food.

The campsites in the park are clean and spacious and offer water and electric hook-ups. 

A real plus with these campsites is that Tank has plenty of room to hang out in the sun! 

We did take a short hike to check out the area and are treated to a nice sunset.

There was a gigantic saguaro at Cave Creek!

One thing I've noticed in the area is the saguaro cactus. These cacti are pretty iconic symbols of the desert but are actually found exclusively in the Sonoran Desert. So, they started to appear as we drove closer into Phoenix then disappeared as we drove farther out. 

Desert Gold RV Resort - Salome, AZ

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we pick up Matthew and say our goodbyes. One of the three of us had to be back to work Monday morning... [spoiler alert, it wasn't Wendy or Tom]. After driving back to San Diego and dropping Matthew off at his apartment, we opt for a hotel room and a real bed (instead of an air mattress) in San Diego for the night. 

The next day, we head back to Yuma, AZ to pick up our RV and spend Monday night back at Del Pueblo RV Resort (where we stayed the week before). 

Our plan is to head back towards the mountain area of central AZ and spend several weeks there before heading back to Northern CA for Christmas. We stop for a couple of days at the Desert Gold RV Park in Salome - just east of Quartzsite, before heading on. Quartzsite has a reputation for being an RV mecca of sorts. Annually, in late January between 750,000 to One million (mostly RV'ers) descend on the little town (population ~3600) for the Sports, Vacation and RV show. Think Woodstock... without music (mostly), but with old folks (mostly). Come to think of it, since Woodstock happened 50 years ago, its a fair bet that a good number of folks that attend MAY HAVE also attended Woodstock!

We've been told it is quite an experience, but I think we will opt out this time.

South, West, and Home

Well, Andrew did it. He's convinced (guilted) Mom to head home for Thanksgiving. So we need to wrap up our stay in Arizona and figure out somewhere to store the RV. Since we'd like to head into San Diego and pick up Matthew on our way home, we can head south on I-17 to get to I-8 in Arizona.

This takes us down through Phoenix, which has something I have not seen elsewhere. These signs are literally just outside of Phoenix on I-17, the major freeway into Phoenix.

We pass through Phoenix as quickly as possible (it's kind of like passing through LA quickly) on our way to Casa Grande and Palm Creek RV Resort, pickleball and golf hotspot, that Tom has been hankering to visit.

We don't get to stay long, so Tom has the opportunity to only play pickleball. The bad part about that is that his left shoulder is injured, so he has to play right handed!

I (Tom) had to suffer the indignity of playing with my paddle in the right (WRONG) hand.

After Casa Grande, we continue making our way west to Yuma, AZ for a stay at the Del Pueblo RV and Tennis Resort. This will allow us to drop off our RV at a storage unit a couple of miles from the park and head on to San Diego.

We pick-up Matthew and begin our drive back to Sacramento on Thanksgiving eve. We did have to wait until Matthew got off work, so we stopped for the night in Tulare.

Complimentary breakfast in the morning

Thanksgiving with the family was great! Thank you Cathy, Dave, Vicki, and Brad for your hospitality while we were there!

Dead Horse Ranch State Park - Cottonwood, AZ

We're heading towards Sedona next. There's only one rv park in Sedona, and it is full, so we find an Arizona State Park, Dead Horse Ranch, about 20 miles southwest.

Ahhh, it's warm! Dead Horse Ranch is practically in Cottonwood, a town of around 12,000 people. The campgrounds are clean and the sites are spacious with water, electricity and good cell reception, so we're set!

We meet our neighbors, Joseph and Randy, a very nice couple from Prescott, AZ. Joseph has an electric bike, a Sondor, that he let's us try out. Very fun! Now, I want one. They are on their way out but invite us to come over later for a glass of wine.

I've got a pizza craving, so we head into town to Pizzeria Bocce, which is pretty well rated on Google. Along the way, we get sidetracked at Verde Valley Olive Oil Traders. Who knew there were shops with pots of olive oil to sample? While Tom is sampling olive oil and balsamic vinegars, I find peanut butter fudge and spicy olives to take with us to Thanksgiving. (Sorry, Cathy, the olives were forgotten at Andrew's...you're welcome Ray, glad you enjoyed them.) 

Anyway, we did finally make it to Bocce's. Then we couldn't decide... We started with wood-fired artichokes and resisted numerous other yummy sounding sides. Then came our pizza choice...

One for Tom and one for me!

 Can't really remember what they were, but it was all good! Oh, yes, we did. We had dessert too.

After dinner, we head over to Joseph and Randy's to make our excuses, because we've eaten way too much to be able to drink any wine. But the conversation is too interesting, and we end up staying to chat. Joseph and Tom get deeply involved talking about photography. By the end of the evening, they (as ex-Californians) have us convinced that we have to visit Prescott. 

The next day, we did visit Sedona. Spent some time driving around, shopping, and eating, but we did not find the sleeping Snoopy rock. 

As we headed back to Cottonwood, we decided to visit Jerome, a town that sits on the mountain above Cottonwood. It's supposed to have a ghost town, so we head there. Well, the ghost town is now a tourist attraction and closes at 5:00. We get there at 4:55, just in time to meet the worker on the way out to lock the gate. 

The town of Jerome itself is built precariously into the side of the mountain. Unfortunately, I've managed to delete all my pictures (thinking I had downloaded and saved them). It looks like an interesting place, and we will have to come back an explore sometime. One note, however, is: do not take the RV up here ever! The roads are so narrow and windy that the RV would never make it out of town!

Grand Canyon, AZ

We leave the Lake Powell area and continue our way southwest to the south rim of Grand Canyon. The good news is we have reservations in Grand Canyon Village at the Trailer Village RV park. The bad news is that it is now mid November, south rim is at 7000 ft. and it is getting darn cold especially at night (see the screen capture of the weather below). 

Note: The 31 (feels like 19) was the daytime temp; the overnight low was 9 degrees!!!

We had several elk visit the campground a couple of times. Tank was very brave and barked at the elk from the safety of the car.

Part of the Bright Angel trail and the switchbacks below

I've gotta admit, it was so cold outside that we weren't inclined to go out. But, that said, going in winter is about the only way to get reservations in the park, and I've (Wendy) never been to the Grand Canyon before, so we have to go see the sights. 

We headed a little ways into the canyon on the Bright Angel trail. Because the trail goes downhill, it's easy to get lulled into thinking you haven't gone very far. But we had a number of places we wanted to see, so we kept track and didn't head down into the canyon very far.

We also took the afternoon Hermit Road shuttle. We did hike the south rim trail between some of the stops. Even from the trail, there were some spots where you could see sheer drops into the canyon just slightly off the trail.  

Lake Powell, AZ

We head south from Kodachrome State park for a 3 hour drive to the Lake Powell area and the town of Page in northern Arizona. The primary reason for coming to this area was to see some of the slot canyons. There are a number of canyons in the area (the most famous of which are Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon), most of which are on Navajo land and can only be seen by using one of the approved tour companies. After Wendy did some considerable research, we opted to go on the Horseshoe Bend Slot Canyon (a.k.a. Secret Canyon) tour (and were very glad we did).

We went in a group of about eleven people and were the only ones in this particular slot canyon (unlike some other canyons that could be packed with dozens of people from multiple tours). Since I brought my tripod with me, I brought up the rear of the group and waited for others to clear out of an area, until I had it to myself. We stayed in the canyon for about 1 1/2 hours, but I could have happily stayed there all day shooting. It was one of the most stunning places I have ever seen!

A happy camper!

Best Seat in the House

After leaving the slot canyon, we head to Horseshoe Bend. Most people see Horseshoe Bend by driving south on Hwy 89 to a large parking lot, brimming (if not overfilling) with cars and tour buses and then hiking about 3/4 mi along with a steady parade of other people to the viewpoint. Since we were on a Navajo tour, we had the luxury of taking a private road on Navajo land about a mile south of the hordes of less fortunate tourist. We were fortunate to have to share our views with just the small group on our tour and could enjoy the enormity and serenity of the area.

Wendy wasn't quite as thrilled with my seating choice, didn't really want to look at me and opted for something just a little farther back.

Glen Canyon Dam Bridge 

Colorado River behind the Glen Canyon Dam

Kodachrome Basin State Park - Cannonville, UT

While Bryce has been incredibly beautiful, it's also been DARN COLD! I hate to leave, but I'm really looking forward to heading down a few thousand feet to Kodachrome State Park. Kodachrome is at a toasty 5,800 ft!

In 1948, a National Geographic expedition, which explored and photographed the area for an article, named it after the popular Kodak film because of its color and beauty.

Looking down from a hike at our campground

We stay at the Basin campground and spend about six days here. Our first couple of days, our router picked up a weak cell signal, so we had wifi. Unfortunately, we had to move to another site that got no cell signal for the rest of our stay. We make a trip into town to get supplies, send out some texts, and check out the surrounding area. One of the places we visited was the Escalante Petrified Forest. It's amazing to look at these petrified pieces, you would expect it to still look and feel like wood.

Without a internet, what are we going to do with our time? First order is to hike the Angel's Palace Trail. This trail goes along the top of the sandstone cliffs for about 1.5 miles and has great views of the basin below. There are several spurs that take you out on narrow paths to overlooks for great photo ops. Unlike Tom, who is fearless, I had to follow Tank's wagging tail and not look over the edge to get to and from the view points!

A couple of days later, we do the Sentinel Trail. This is a 1.7 mile trail that takes you to Shakespeare Arch and Sentinel Spire beyond that. The trail was a little narrower (scarier) than I normally do, but the days have been perfect for hiking, and it was beautiful and great fun! As an added bonus, it was a good way to get a view of the Grand Staircase-Escalante.

Sentinel Trail and Shakespeare Arch

Inside the park are a number (they say 67) of stone spires, called sedimentary pipes.

Chimney Rock

Chimney rock is the tallest of the 67 spires in the park at 170 feet tall.