Arizona

Haven't posted in a long time because we have just been staying in the same old places. We hit several Thousand Trails parks around the Sacramento/Gold Country. Pic is of the RV park on the American River next door to Sutter's Mill where gold was discovered.

Then on to Palmdale and then Palm Springs where we spent lots of quality time with family and travel friends Phil & Darlene. From Palm Springs we finally headed east to Arizona. Spent a couple nights back in Hope, just outside Quartzite and then on to Cottonwood/Sedona area to spend Christmas with our friends Wayne & Kathy.

It was way too cold for us in Cottonwood. Down in the 20's at night but up in the 60's during the day. After three weeks there it was on to new horizons. We have never been farther east than Cottonwood. We spent 3 nights outside of Scottsdale, AZ in an area called Gold Canyon in the foothills of the Superstition Mountains. Wanted to do some genealogy research on Gordy's great uncle Shorty.

He was a cowboy in Globe around the San Carlos Indian reservation. Had some books written about him and wrote a book himself. No luck on finding anything about him in the Globe museum but did get to see the area where he was a ranch foreman on a large local ranch. We are now in Benson, AZ where we are staying for a week. Doing lots of touristy things like going to Tombstone to see the old town (OK Corral, Birdcage Theater, Boot Hill Cemetery). We even had breakfast in the "Bucket of Blood" Saloon, now called the Longhorn restaurant.

Also went to historic Bisbee, an old mining town. It was pretty unique. Built in a narrow canyon, the buildings are all built up the sides of the canyon. To go from one street to another you had to climb stairs. From Bisbee we went to Fort Huachuca. It was started in the 1840's to help protect the ranchers and miners from the Indians and is still a major army base today. Even though we are out in the middle of nowhere, it is really beautiful. You can see for miles and the vistas are breath taking. This picture just doesn't do it justice.