Golden Sun RV Park, Apache Junction AZ 4/7-21/2014

One of our last stops of the season is usually in Apache Junction.  We really like the area and it is a chance to see Travis and his family before we head up north again.  There are two parks we go to, but we kind of like Golden Sun the best.  We have gotten acquainted with some of the people there who stay year-round.  There are always fun potlucks and things going on there.  It is also close enough to ride our bikes to the grocery store!

We happened to be at Golden Sun when there was a total eclipse of the moon.  We went outside and stayed up to the wee hours of the morning to see it.  Terry said it was too late (or too early) to have his picture taken!

Larry was up with us most of the time, and Elaine came out for a while.

 I took tons of pictures.  This one is when the moon was almost at the full eclipse. 

This is what is called a "blood mood" when it is completely covered by the sun.   It was amazing to watch!



Before we left Golden Sun, we had a "pool" party.  Here is Terry, our friend Jim, grandson Nate, Travis & Shannon.



At this table is Larry, friend Sue, nephew Cameron & Heather, and Elaine.  We had lots of great food, friends, family, and fun.

 



Of, course, grandsons Nic and Josh spent most of their time in the pool, along with eating their share of chicken!

There are lots of cactus planted in people's yards in Golden Sun.  There are more park models that people own and stay in from six months to year round so they have their little spaces where they can put plants.  We were told that there was an Easter cactus in the park that bloomed, which only lasts for usually one day before the bloom dies.  Of all things, it happened to bloom on Easter Sunday, so after church, I walked down and got some pictures.  It is really beautiful and this picture is now on the front page of my Samsung tablet!

There are quite a few of the other cactus plants that are in bloom.  Unlike the Easter cactus, most of them continue to bloom for a couple of weeks.

 The colors are so bright.  It is so fun to be here when all of the cactus are in bloom.

Larry and Elaine went with us to Travis' home hone on Easter Sunday.  Silly Josh (with the bunny on his head), Larry, and Terry are sitting outside on the patio waiting for the Easter egg hunt to begin.

Spencer, Shannon, Nate, Nic, and Josh are hunting for Easter Eggs--yes, even in the pool!  It was rumored that the plastic eggs held coins of numerous denominations!

 



 Josh counting his loot!

 Nate was also very successful in finding eggs!

There were numbers in some of the eggs which entitled all to draw from extra goodies.  What a fun Easter we had with Travis and his family and some of Shannon's family, also!

St David RV Park, St David AZ 3/29-4/4/2014; David's, Herford AZ 4/4-7/2014

Pilot Knob RV Park, Winterhaven CA  3/27-29/2014

We spent a couple of days at Pilot Knob RV Park, just across the Arizona border in Winterhaven CA.  We went into Los Algodones Mexico to pick up some medications  for us and for some of our friends and family (you never want to use the term "drugs" when going through customs leaving Mexico).  We just went into the first "purple" pharmacy we came to and then left--did no shopping this trip.

 

St David RV Park, St David AZ  3/29-4/4/2014; David's, Herford AZ  4/4-7/2014

After a week at St David RV Park, going to a potluck meal, playing card bingo, and doing a lot of bicycle riding, we went for our yearly visit to my brother, David's, in Herford AZ.  We met up there with Larry and Elaine.  It is always fun seeing David.  We didn't see too much of his wife, Kari.  She was putting in some long hours at work. 

 

 

David took us for a ride up the mountains behind his house.  We had tried to go there in the past, but couldn't get too far because of the snow.  If you go too far down the other side, you end up in Mexico!  Terry opted to stay home because there wasn't too much room in David's little pickup, so just Larry, Elaine, Davis, and I went.

 

We went off-road exploring a little bit, but some places got a little scary, with me and Larry standing beside the warning sign.



 

 

David, Elaine and Larry making it back up the hill where it was a little less close to the edge.

 

 At the top of the mountain we were almost directly across from the big Army blimp that hangs out above David's house, watching tor illegal Mexicans trying to come across the border.

What a sight!  David's house is the lowest house just on the left of middle--if you get that!

With the longest zoom on my camera, you can see David's house and shop (on the right of his house) better.  His house is right in the middle, with the neighbor's solar system (a bad word at the Fisher house) behind it and between his and the neighbor's house.  It is kind of a fuzzy picture because of the zoom.

We all had a fun time--going to the flea market, having a barbeque in David's great patio area, the mountain ride, and lots of visiting.  Thanks, Dave, for all of your hospitality, again!

Cherry Valley Lakes RV Park, Beaumont CA 3/6-13/2014; Palm Springs RV Park, Palm Desert CA 3/13-27/2014

Cherry Valley Lakes RV Park, Beaumont CA  3/6-13/2014

We went to a park we haven't been to before, called Cherry Valley Lakes.  When we leave Palm Springs RV Park we have to be out four weeks before we can go back--a crazy rule.  So, after going to Wilderness Lakes for three weeks we needed another week out.  We both remember taking pictures at Cherry Valley Lakes, but I cannot seem to find them!  It was quite a small park, but nice to have it to stay in the seven days we needed out to be able to go back to Palm Springs.

 

Palm Springs RV Park, Palm Desert CA  3/13-27/2014

We seem to spend a lot of time at Palm Springs, but it is right in the middle of a lot of things to do and there are lots of things going on in the park.  There are water aerobics, line dance classes, craft and beading classes, craft sales, evening movies with free popcorn, jam sessions, musical entertainment, pickleball, card bingo, water volleyball, and several other things--along with all of the activities going on in the area.

 



While we were at Palm Springs, our friends, Russ and Louise, were camped at Desert Hot Springs.  They are not Thousand Trail members, but are members of Western Horizon, so we don't stay in many of the same parks.  But, it is nice when they are close by so we can do things together.

Russ & Louise are big birders and hikers.  It is always an adventure to go with them.  We went to a BLM preserve for migrating birds and other animals, called White Water Preserve.

 

 Along the trail was this really pretty palm tree.  I use a picture of it as my screen saver on my tablet!

 

 We came upon a sign post on the trail . . .

. . . pointing to the Pacific Crest Trail.  This hiking and equestrian trail is 2,663 miles long and starts on the US-Canada border and ends on the US-Mexico boarder and goes across Washington, Oregon, and California. It ranges in elevation from just above sea level at the Oregon-Washington boarder to 13,153 feet in the Sierra Nevada mountains.  The route passes through 25 national forests and 7 national parks. That would be quite a hike!

 



Here is a rock that has the mileage distances from this point to certain places along the trail,  like Mexico and Canada.

 I think Russ and Louise have found something to look at!

 Yup!  Russ thought we might see some bighorn sheep.  The zoom on my camera brought these up pretty close.

 There were several herds of bighorn sheep on the mountainsides.  They were amazing to see!  A great day at White Water Preserve.  Thanks to Russ and Louise who share these places with us.

 

Another beautiful Arizona sunset!

Palm Springs RV Park, Palm Desert CA 1/1-2/13/2014; Wilderness Lakes RV Park, Menifee CA 2/13-3/6/2014

 Palm Springs RV Park, Desert Palms CA 1/30-2/13/2014

We left Emerald Cove and headed to Palm Springs, with Larry & Elaine coming with us. The park was really full, but we ended up with two sites across the street from each other.  They were near the top of the park where the freeway noise and train noise is pretty bad, but we seem to get used to it after a few days.  We had a good time--Elaine and I went to several craft and beading classes and learned some new ideas.  We even learned to arm knit! 

 

Elaine & Larry met up with some friends and we went to dinner with them.  We also all went to Thousand Palms State Park.  We had been there before, but it was fun going again.  It is a big palm tree oasis out in the middle of the desert.  It even has a lake in the lower part of it.

 

Terry's niece and nephew, Debbie (and Debbie's friend Gary) and Gary were in town at their brother, John's, home.  We went and saw them and had dinner with them.  They were on their way home from Gary having chemo treatments.  He was doing pretty good.

 

Wilderness Lakes RV Park, Menifee CA 2/13-3/6/2014

Our next park was Wilderness Lakes.  We have been there many times and really like the park.  We had heard about the flooding that takes place when it rains a lot.  It is surrounded by farm land and a dairy and all of the drain water runs into the canal system in the park.  Then when it rains a lot, the canals flood.  

 Our site didn't get flooded too badly.  But, there was a pond on one side that the geese really liked!

 

This RV across the street was not so lucky.  Their car and their coach were both in the middle of their "pond."  We have kind of been looking to upgrade our RV for the last little while so when Elaine put this picture on face book, the kids thought we had upgraded and were going to surprise them!  We pull a little red car behind our Journey, so it could have been!

 

These poor people had to use waders to get out of their RV! 

 

Some of the roads in the park were pretty much impassable. It took several days for the water to recede back into the canals.  Now we have experienced the flooding at Wilderness Lakes!

 

The park is not too far from San Diego, so we went to the temple one day.  It is my favorite temple!  It looks like a castle and is so beautiful inside.  This is the actual picture that I took with my camera!

 



After we were finished at the temple, we went to Old Town San Diego.  They have a historical site for the Mormon Battalion, the volunteer unit of LDS men who served during the Mexican-American War of 1846.  During their service, they made a grueling march of nearly 2,000 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Diego.  Even though they never fought a battle, they were instrumental in opening up several routes to California.  When the presentation started, we were all sitting on benches in this room with about a dozen pictures on the opposite wall.  As the narrator was talking, all of a sudden one of the people in a picture came to life and started talking.  After that, the people in the pictures all told their stories, via really cool technology, as we traveled along with them.  It is an amazing center and we really enjoyed seeing it.  I am posing in a replica of one of the wagons they used.

 

At the end of the tour we got to play at washing clothes in a tub . . .

 



 . . . and panning for gold.

 

 We were made "honorary members" of the Mormon Battalion and had our picture printed on this postcard.  What a great day!

Countryside RV Park, Apache Junction AZ 1/1-15/2014; Val Vista Village, Mesa AZ 1/15-21/2014; Emerald Cove RV Park, Earp CA 1/21-30/2014

Countryside RV Park, Apache Junction AZ  1/1-15/2014

After watching some fun fireworks with Travis' family at their home on New Year's Eve, we packed up and went to one of our Encore parks back in Apache Junction.  We like the other park, Golden Sun, a little better, but we were just glad for a place to go for a couple of weeks. 

 

Val Vista Village, Mesa AZ  1/15-21/2014

The new Gilbert Temple had it's open house during January.  This is where a new temple allows anyone to tour it before it is dedicated.  We had invited our friends, Jim and Sue to go with us, so we had to find a place to stay until then.  We had already stayed at both of our Encore parks (which we have to be out of for 28 days before going back in) so we stayed at one of the biggest RV parks we had ever stayed in.  It was actually three parks that had all been bought by the same people and made into one.  It had three different swimming pool/club house complexes.  One pool had cabanas around it, with a bar and live music every afternoon and evening.  There were lots of different activity rooms--leather working, woodworking, rock polishing, exercise, and more.  It had it's own beauty shop and post office, and fancy sports complex.  It is a good thing it was part of a membership we have and we were able to stay for $15/day ($25/day after all of the taxes).  



 

Our site was pretty nice--with our own orange tree.  We were guided to our site by a guy in a golf cart.  We even had our own garbage and recycle cans that we put out twice a week to be emptied.  There were a lot of park models for sale in the park--they even had their own real estate office.  There were about 15 that were being sold by them and there were "open house" signs on them so we spent a day checking them out.  Who knows, maybe some day . . .

 

We got to have a couple of our grandsons, Nic and Josh, spend a night with us while we were there.  It is also within bike riding distance from our friends, Jim and Sue, so we saw them several times.  The temple open house was a great thing to go to, especially having good friends go with us.

 

Emerald Cove RV Park, Earp CA  1/21-30/2014

Emerald Cove is a really nice park right on the Colorado River.  It has a long sandy beach and lots of palm trees.  We stayed there once several years ago.  Because we upgraded our Coast-to-Coast RV membership, we can now stay there at no charge!  We also get coupons to allow other people to stay in the park for $15/night.  So, Larry and Elaine, from Oregon, met up with us there and stayed a week.  Elaine wanted to use her new blow-up kayak, but Larry wouldn't get it out for her!

The park is close to where Ron and Sharon (Terry's brother-in-law) stays, so we saw them a couple of times. The park is not too far from Quartzsite and they were having the big RV show and flea market there so we went for a day.  It will be fun to stay at Emerald Cove a lot more often now.

Golden Sun RV Park, Apache Junction AZ 12/6-20/2013; Travis', Gilbert AZ 12/20-1/1/2014

 

Golden Sun RV Park, Apache Junction AZ  12/6-20/2014

Golden Sun is the Encore park we usually stay in at least once a year.  They let us Thousand Trails members stay in it for only $3.00 a night.  Can't beat that--and it is a really nice park.

 

Time to start putting up a few Christmas decorations, although we will be moving to Travis' house before Christmas.  Great weather for December!

 



We have room for a little Christmas tree on our dash.  The ornaments are all framed pictures of our kids and grandkids.  Terry's carved moose are taking the place of reindeer this year.  The stockings are just being positive that Santa will find us!

I took a beading class at Lake Minden in October and was busy ever since then making little ornaments for all of the grandkids.  They each have a different scene on them and have the kids' initials on the backs.  This picture divides them up by family--oldest to youngest.  They were lots of fun to make.  After making 17 of them, I could probably teach a class myself! 

In the park, they had a Christmas parade with a lot of residents and travelers.  It was lots of fun to watch and they served punch and cookies in the clubhouse afterwards.

Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus even made an appearance!

 

There are getting to be quite a few smart cars being towed behind RVs.  This one in our park was pretty clever.  They really are small enough to almost look like a wind-up toy!

 

Travis' Home, Gilbert AZ 12/20-1/1/2014

Travis and his family moved into a beautiful new house in the fall and they were still in the middle of remodeling it.  They had the flooring and carpeting all done, but were still in the middle of new cabinets in the kitchen and inside painting.  But, they were willing to still let us come for the holidays.  They have an RV parking place and also a guest house (where Spencer was living) so it was really nice--especially because Sarah and Jill and their families were also there!  Jill's family got there before Christmas and Sarah's didn't arrive until Christmas Day evening.  Yes, Travis and Shannon were really brave to have all of us there at the same time!

Christmas morning Boe, Kamber, Nic, and Josh all came out with their Santa hats on.



.

Spencer and Nathan are checking out all of the loot in their stockings.

Later on that day, Boe, Kamber, Josh, and Nate all got in the hot tub.  Travis had it all heated up for them, but the pool was still pretty cold.  They all dared each other to jump into the cold pool.  They all did, but then hurried back into the hot tub.  We had a great Christmas, but I was bad and didn't take many pictures, again!  Thanks, Travis, Shannon, and boys!

I was very surprised at one of my gifts from Terry--a hot air balloon ride!  When he bought it, he didn't realize that it was a "two-for-one" deal so I was really excited that he was going to go with me!  NO WAY!  He doesn't even like to climb on a ladder anymore!  So, since Jill and her family were staying a little longer after Christmas, I talked her into going with me.

Terry was taking pictures from the ground . . 

. . . and I was taking pictures from inside the basket of the balloon!

Jill and I thought our pilot did a good job, especially as he posed with us at over 5,000 feet above the ground.

They allowed Terry to ride along in the chase vehicle.  We went higher than any other balloon that day, but didn't go too far.  We ended up landing almost in the same place we took off from, so they didn't have to chase us very far. Terry is down there in the van waiting for us.

They fed us a desert champagne breakfast (orange juice and donuts) while they folded up our balloon.

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Jill and I both got "flight certificates."  What a great Christmas gift.  I have wanted to go up in a hot air balloon for many years--and finally got to.  It was so fun having Jill go with me.  What a nice surprise from Terry!