Valley Vista, Benson AZ 3/02/10 - 3/16/10

We left David's house and went back to a park, Valley Vista, about five miles from the one we were at before we went to David's. Russ and Louise were still at St. David's so we got with them and went back to Sierra Vista to the Swap Meet on Saturday.


I had been looking for some way to store our shoes. When we saw these racks that were made to hang on a pegboard, I thought we might be able to use them. So, we bought three (one for Terry and two for me). We bolted them onto the sides and the end of the bed frame and. . .


. . . here we have shoe racks. They work really great. Now we don't have any excuse to have shoes scattered all over the Condo. I will admit that I still have a couple of pairs in the closet that wouldn't fit in my share of the racks!

We had gone a couple of weeks before on the hike to see the Council Rocks where Cochise was supposed to have been, but he spent most of his time hiding out on the other side of the Lagoon Mountains. So, one day we decided to go exploring that area.

We ended up at the campground there there were some really nice trails. One was a quarter-mile nature tail where they gave the names of some of the plants and trees in the area. They had benches "strategically located so you can set and feel the spirit of Cochise." So, Terry is sitting taking in the spirit!

This is the view Terry was looking at while sitting on the bench. Can't you just imagine Cochise and his men hidden in the rocks waiting for a white man to come along?


We saw a new kind of tree we hadn't know about. (Actually, Russ had pointed one out on one of our hikes a couple of weeks ago.) It is an Alligator Juniper. You can see why it is named that by the bark.


We took off on the Cochise Trail and followed it a ways. We had to forge several streams, but there were some nice stepping stones across them. We didn't get wet, but I did let out a couple of squeals while crossing.


Some of these rock formations went straight up and sure would have been good hiding places to ambush someone.


There were not only streams to ford on the trails, there were several pretty good sized creeks that ran across the road. A couple were pretty deep, but had good solid rock beds so we didn't have any trouble crossing. I think Terry was kind of hoping for an excuse to use his 4-wheel drive. This is our first 4-wheel drive vehicle and he kind of likes a reason to use it sometimes.

We had visitors while we were at Valley Vista. Our son Ryan and wife Lori celebrated their anniversary by spending a couple of days in Tombstone, so we had their three kids.

The first day the weather was nice enough to be outside. I had picked up some new puzzles at a yard sale so Wesley and Riley had to try them out.

Chaz is playing with a canvas town that I made our boys when they were about Chaz's age. That is one of the first things Chaz always wants to play with. We have a little bag of cars that fit each of the different places on the town--fire truck, school bus, tow truck, police car, etc.

We took the kids to the city park and showed them how to "spider swing." Later, Wes and Chaz were laying in the swings and winding them up and spinning. They ended up conking heads and Chaz got a big bruise on his cheek and the next day he had a black eye! That's always nice to explain to Mom and Dad when they get home!

I had also found a Mancala game at a swap meet and the kids had fun playing it. Even Chaz was able to beat Grandpa!

Bedtime always brings lots of beds on the floor and a movie to watch. We usually have popcorn, but this time, Grandpa surprised the kids with Cracker Jacks.

The next day was a little cooler, but after Church, the kids had fun playing in the wash that goes through the park. We followed it up to the local cemetery. When Ryan and Lori got back, they told them that they had gone on a walk and saw a lot of dead bodies!

The kids weren't ready to go home, but we told them we could do it again soon. They posed with us wearing Tombstone cowboy hats their folks brought back to them, and walking sticks they had found on our adventurous walk.

Well, after a month in the same area, we will next be heading next up to Casa Grande, just southwest of Phoenix. We will meet up with Russ and Louise again, for the last time of the season. The weather is supposed to get a little warmer, hopefully stay in the high 70's to low 80's. Gosh, what a great life we live!