Would You Believe...

we were lonesome for snow??? Our friends and relatives in MN and SD will think we are crazy if we admit to that. OK, so we weren't really lonesome for it, but we did encounter it on a roadtrip this past week. On Monday, we headed for Chiricahua National Monument over south of Wilcox off of highway186. We were in this area a few years ago, but my memory is short so we decided to check it out again. Back then, I thought that a monument was just a statue of some kind. Now I know that it is an area like a national park, but without the designation of a national park.

If you have spent any time in the Southwest you know that elevation is the determiner when it comes to weather. Here in St. David, we are at 3700 feet above sea level so this time of the year, it is typically around freezing at night and it gets to high 60's during the day. Just south of us is Tombstone, which lies at 4500 feet, and they will get snow where this area usually does not. Anyway, I digress.

When we first hit Coronado National Wilderness, where the monument is located, these two were our welcoming committee. It was typical high desert terrain

with snow capped peaks off in a distance.

As we gained in elevation, the roads changed. I don't think I will ever get used to the site of cactus in snow... it just does not seem to compute.

It really was very pretty and, of course, it is even nicer when you know you don't have to stay in it!

From the vistas to the deer peeking at us from behind a tree, it was a beautiful day for this drive.

We had intended to do some hiking, but with the freezing and thawing and refreezing, the trails were too slippery for these feet!

When we left the monument area, we found this road and decided to see where it took us. It wasn't long before the road changed - higher elevation again.

And around one curve, we saw this delightful creature.

That is one of the things I like best about this area, your scenery can change drastically in just a few miles. After we turned around - road was closed - we headed south to Douglas just because we have never been there. It won't be a place we will have to visit again, not much there except the crossing into Mexico and the ever present fence.

Then it was time to head back "up north" - through Benson and then to Tombstone, for our anniversary dinner at the Long Branch, and back home. We put on almost 300 miles that day - it was a good one!

Merry Christmas from St. David, Arizona

We have been at our Western Horizon RV Park in St. David since December 19th and we will be here until the 9th of January. Since this is an area we have visited many times in the last few years, we haven't been doing a lot of site seeing. What we have been doing is enjoying the holiday season at home. We've enjoyed quiet nights with the Christmas Tree lights twinkling. On a couple of those nights, temperatures dropped into the low 30's and we awoke to frost on the picnic table. Last Sunday, we enjoyed breakfast at that picnic table and on one of the mild nights this week, we cooked outside. This was the view from our campsite that night. We have a really good campsite this year.On December 23rd, we celebrated Little Christmas Eve with a turkey dinner complete with all the trimmings. Years ago, when Mike and I were first together we used to celebrate our special Christmas on the 23rd, before all the hectic running around started. This morning, I prepared a couple of things to bring to the club house for a social tonight. I made cut out cookies from the recipe my Grandma Sadie used to use and jalapeno rollups that she never would have even imagined.

So tonight, after a beautiful Christmas Eve Service at an ELCA church over in Sierra Vista, we enjoyed a couple of hours of Christmas cheer with others in the park. Tomorrow we will be joining our fellow RVers for a ham dinner prepared by some of the staff.

This is the first time since we have been on the road that we have not gone to Minnesota for the Christmas Holiday. Although I certainly miss my Mom and other family there, it has been a very peaceful and pleasant Christmas. Notes and cards and emails and calls have been coming in and we enjoy each of them. Here Mike is looking at a very special card from Amariah. She says "Hi Oma" and "Hi Opa" very clearly - what a treat to hear her voice!

To each of you we wish a Blessed Christmas filled with faith and wonder and joy.

Big Bend National Park

On Tuesday, as we were driving west on I 10, we decided we should drop down to Marathon, Texas and spend a couple of days visiting Big Bend National Park. And are we glad we did. This park is absolutely beautiful. It is a huge park and has a very diverse landscape. There are parts of the park that are formed by volcanic rock and other sections on which the Rio Grande River has made considerable changes in the last 1000 years or so. This section of the park, near to the Rio Grande, looked very fall like.

Since it was my first time this close to the infamous river, I had to pose. As we drove the miles of roads, each curve brought a new view. This tunnel exit provided a surprise vista.

And then a bit farther down the road, this Javalina just stood there and posed for me - Ok, so maybe he didn't stop but I did manage to get a pretty good shot of the wild piggy.

( There is a story in the park newspaper about a lady that wanted to go on a guided hike with a ranger, but since she had her "fifi" with her, she couldn't unless she left the pet behind, so she tied it to a picnic table by her campsite and off she went... When she returned an hour later, Mr. Javelina was just finishing the last morsel of his doggie dinner. )

The brochure told us that on this particular hike, if we wanted to visit Mexico all we needed to do was wave to the men across the river ...
and sure enough, there they were. It seems they will come (illegally) across the river by canoe to pick you up...

And then take you by horseback into the nearest village to purchase native wares. The whole thing sounded exciting, but just a little dangerous, and very illegal! Later I read that you could be fined up to $2000 and/or one year in jail for re-entering the park via the Rio Grande Route.

On another section of the river, we saw the same thing, but the horses, grazing by a little stream, were prettier and it looked like the Nationals (that is what the park calls these entrepreneurs) had customers.

In another section, there was the remnants of a homestead from 1906 - boy if this old windmill could talk.

This is the one wall of the old homestead that remains. It is made of mud and stones from the Rio Grande. And below is the "new" windmill from the 1940's.

The mountainous terrain could not have been easy for farming.

But it sure makes for great views. The agave plant in the foreground always captures my interest. I saw one decorated for Christmas by a house in town.

This roadrunner really did stop a minute to give us a look.

It is said that the "donkey's ears" barely visible in the picture below have served as a guiding point for ranchers and travelers for years in the Big Bend of Texas. And several miles down this road,

there they were, big as can be.

On the fartherest point south in the Big Bend National Park is the Elana Canyon. We arrived there late in the day and the shadows intrigued me. The wall on the left is Mexico and the wall on the right belongs to the U.S.; The Rio Grande flows between these walls and actually it used its force over the years to create this canyon.

Seems hard to believe that this docile river could be so powerful as to wear away rock and separate two nations. This is a tributary.

And this is the canyon from a distance and without all the reflections; two very sturdy walls standing 1500 feet tall.

Since it was about 4:00 by this time and we were over 140 miles from home, we decided we better use the most direct route... a 14 mile unimproved road through the desert, of course.
That time of the day was perfect for this "slow but sure" excursion. Gosh, I love our Jeep!

The fellow who built this home raised 8 children in it and lived there until he was a very old man - he died in the 40's.

This was the view behind him.

When we completed our off road adventure, we exited the park and encountered this fellow just a couple of miles down the road. He was not in a hurry so thank God we were going slow.

On the 100 mile drive up to Alpine on 181, we saw other deer, but none so close and we watched the sunset. It was a beautiful and very long day!

One of the great joys of our way of life is that we can make these kinds of side trips on the spur of the moment. Big Bend National Park is one of those places to which we plan to return.