Family visit

We picked up Scott, Bevi, and Ella at the Phoenix airport on Thursday about 1pm.  It was fun to see them walking from the secure area.  When Ella spotted us she ran towards us.  I won't say who's arms she jumped into, but Mawmaw wasn't as happy as Pawpaw was.
We then ate at Strombolli's for pizza for dinner, very good.  Of course the kids were so tired from their flight it was all they could do to stay awake.  Friday morning Scott and Bevi drove up to the Grand Canyon while Cindy and I enjoyed having Ella all day.  We went hiking down to the river then played in the family center.  We bbq'ed sausage and steaks for dinner and enjoyed our visit. 
Today, Saturday we went to Out of Africa.  This place is highly recommended for a nice family outing.  The terrain is much more representative of Africa than other places we've seen.  We took the Unimog tour which was a little more but the driver took us through the Serengetti area where he fed the lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!  Also the hyenas which are really weird.  We all had treats to feed the other animals.  It was a very nice experience and we all had lots of fun.  Then after that the real fun began:  Tiger Splash!  There is a fenced area with a pool where 6 of the workers and the owner are in there with a white tiger.  The workers run around with a 10 foot pvc pole with an inflatable beach toy on the end while the tiger chases them!  It is incredible to watch how fast the tiger is and how gentle it can be around the guys.  Good thing tigers have retractable claws.  Once the tiger catches the inflatable toy, it usually goes for the throat, the workers finish popping it so the tiger will lose interest and chase the next one.
Then we watched the Anaconda show where Ella got to touch a snake with her dad and Mawmaw.
Well all good things have to end.  Sadly we brought the kids back to the airport this morning.  Just heard that they landed and are driving home.
What a wonderful few days to enjoy the sights we've seen with Scott, Bevi, and Ella.  And of course to have Ella stay with us these last few nights.

Monteczuma Well, Castle, V-V Ranch Petroglyphs, & Sacred Mountain

It rained Saturday, well, not rain like back home.  Here it was more like a really light drizzle maybe even a heavy fog.  But at least it was wet and cold, about 46 for the high.  It snowed in the mountains just above us.  So it was a hang around day.  I worked on the tv compartment and moved things around.  I went to a glass shop and had a piece of gray plexiglas cut and glued into the snap-on panel that covered the old tv.  Looks pretty good now.  I just have the new tv sitting on the center console where it is the right height.  Not sure if I'll mount it permanently or just move it each time we move.
Sunday we drove out to Monteczuma's Well which is a large spring-fed sinkhole in the desert that overflows into Beaver Creek.  There are a few cliff dwellings around the sinkhole where the Sinaqua lived.  They dug irrigation ditches over a mile to their fields.  Very interesting.  Then we drove out to V-V Ranchsite and Petroglyphs.  This was the best preserved petroglyph site we've seen.  The Sinaqua used the position of the sun to determine time to plant and harvest and marked these times with the petroglyphs.  It is also a place where we might want to volunteer in a couple years.  Beautiful old ranch site along the Beaver Creek.  We spoke with one of the volunteers who is from Houston.  They've been at this site for the spring months for a few years now.
They we went to Sacred Mountain and climbed up to an old pueblo site on the top of the mesa.  It was really interesting to see a site that has not been rebuilt or looted or destroyed.  There was hundreds of pottery shards just lying around on the ground or where other people had placed them on rocks to protect them.
Then we drove out to Monteczuma's Castle, Cindy yelled "frybread" so we had to stop to get a snack.  Frybread with honey, yummm.  Kinda like a beignet.
Monteczuma's Castle is another cliff dwelling along the Beaver creek that is 5 stories high.  The entire complex held over a hundred people.
Yesterday we moved 9 miles to the Thousand Trails campground where we'll be until the end of the month.  Nice campground but they have some strange rules.  One thing is when you check in they tell you to drive around until you find a spot you like.  There are 5 areas so it's kind of difficult driving around looking for a spot.  There are only a few 50 amp sites and they told us last week there were not reservable.  So when we checked in yesterday they told us sure you can reserve the 50amp sites!  Well we got lucky and got the last 50amp site in the same area as where Scott will be.  Anyway the place has a nice pool and play area.  We'll explore more today.
Still haven't made it out to Jerome and over the mountain to Prescott, maybe tomorrow.

Cottonwood Arizona

Monday morning after coffee and breakfast we drove south to Cottonwood. In Flagstaff we filled up with diesel (ouch), then took I-17.

We're at Dead Horse Ranch state park, large sites and very quiet. The only problem, like many other places, are campfires. I like campfires but when the weather is as pleasant as it has been on most of this trip we like to keep the windows open and enjoy the fresh dry air. But when your

neighbor upwind of you decides to light a fire, well the wind inevitably blows the smoke in our windows. Yep, start closing the windows.

We're about 3500 ft. elevation so the weather is a little warmer. Still need the heaters at night, and a light jacket early and late. Oh yesterday we had rain. About 5 drops! Still no mosquitoes.

Yesterday we drove to Sedona, a beautiful town. But not my kind of place, too commercial and crowded. We drove up 89A along the creek to the viewpoint then drove back. The drive was very pretty but a lot of traffic. One of the rangers we talked to said on the weekends if you want to park

anywhere along the drive you need to be there before 9am. We drove up Schnebly road, a 4x4 trail. At least what Sedona calls a 4x4 trail, very different than Moab. We saw over 20 tour jeeps along the 7 mile drive. Also saw an old VW beetle bug! The guy said he's been driving all over the

country in it.

After that we drove out to see some ruins. Palatki was nice, talked to a volunteer there and we might want to volunteer there in the future. We couldn't approach the cliff dwellings but they looked to be in good condition, some petroglyphs there also.

Honanki was a little larger with more cliff dwellings near a creek running along the canyon.

Then we drove back to Cottonwood to see Tuzigoot. These ruins were built on a hill overlooking the valley where they planted fields. A large complex with over 200 residents. Of course most of these ruins were abandoned long ago for some unknown reasons.

Today we might walk around old-town Cottonwood then drive out to Jerome.

The first day we had no internet at the campground, then found an open signal and were able to connect. But when we got back yesterday afternoon that signal was gone. Probably a camper that left yesterday. Oh well, there is internet in town so we'll check email later today and I'll post this blog. Hopefully someone will come in with an open signal.

We went into Old Cottonwood late this afternoon and did a cheese tasting. Very good cheeses, bought a wedge of Tet De Moines from Switzerland and Vacche Rosse Parmigiana Reggiano from Italy.