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Our Awesome Travels

Our Awesome Travels
Taken In Quartzsite Arizona Dec 7th 2015
Showing posts with label valley vista.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label valley vista.. Show all posts

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Love the old cars I keep seeing in the area, and of course the sunny blue skies.

Where are we today ?
        Cold again last night but no problem, sunshine and blue skies all day here. Water hose was partly frozen this morning but as soon as the sun hit it all thawed out by 9 am. We always have water on out tank anyway so no big deal.
       Part of my early walkabout took me to Junction Express adjacent to the campground, Check out their chicken prices again we thinking of some Broasted Chicken again before we leave the area tomorrow. As I have said before only here and Anna Mae's in Ontario have we found it really, really good so we take it when we can get it.
        As I was about to leave spotted this 1949 Plymouth Convertible that pulled in caught my eye and just had to go check it out. Amazing all the great old cars we can see when here in the southwest. This one was still mostly original condition other than paint and a few other minor things. The original flathead six cylinder, interior looks pretty original too, column shifter so nice to see these every day drivers just being driven around town.
not a show car just an every day ride
under the hood
nice
      And another walkabout spotted this bird just sitting in the trees staring me down for the longest time. Did take a quick pic but the flew away.
        Being our last day here Suzie sorts the laundry and I take it to let the machines do their magic and enjoy my e-reader in the process.  Just over an hour  2 loads done and while I am doing this Suzie cleaned our house top to bottom, wow it looks like new again!
         After a bite for lunch, puttered around a bit, put our Weber Q away, checked tire pressure, emptied waste water, water hose away. Then enjoy some more reading in the warm afternoon sun, out of the cooling north wind. 
the view while we are reading outside
so nice
         Easy supper tonight ordered our chicken for 5:20 picked it up just as it was finished cooking, yes it's fresh made. Comes with choice of salad, coleslaw our choice and I had made up a small tossed salad too.
their chicken here is wonderful
always perfect, we have been
 coming here every year since 2006
not in our healthy eating plan
but...... gotta cheat one in a while
          Now we are ready to move tomorrow. Hearing aide repaired, Thanksgiving taken care of and the holiday weekend should be over so now we gonna keep heading west a little bit at a time. The lower elevation and desert is calling our names.
          Thanks for stopping in again and hope you had a great sunday too.

Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this Fall and Winter..

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Cold nights warm days. thats what we love about the southwest, but the hitch has set in, gotta move on down the road soon.

Where are we today ?
      Cool night below freezing again but that is normal for this time of year. Great sleeping weather though. Up early as usual waiting for the sunrise to get my first walkabout of the day. only 24 (-4c) this morning so a bit of frost on the car windows until the sun hits them.
       My early walkabouts take me around the campground until the sun comes up then the road back through the desert and around by the cemetery, guaranteed to be quiet there.
so peaceful
      We had sunshine and a wonderful day, temps in the mid 60's f very nice with the intense sun. Run about town for a few things, love the Ace hardware in here, one of the biggest I have ever been in and they are so helpful, talk about customer service, it's top notch!
       But we have the hitch itch, we have been in this area over 2 weeks now (mind you we love Benson) but gotta move, somewhere, anywhere is good. Got things done here, got my hearing aide back from repairs, some coach repairs done, Thanksgiving taken care of, so now we can move on down the road. Monday we outta here.
       Afternoon reading in the sun, then shade, then sun, then the wind comes and goes but the sun here all day. Love the afternoon reading for the 2 of us.
       About 3:30 I fired up our Weber to cook some pork ribs in a pan with sauerkraut for an hour or so then set on my grill mat and slathered on the BBQ sauce  just to glaze then and then they are so amazing. If you like the recipe is HERE or my recipe blog top right sidebar. The grill mat keep the grill clean too.
       Still windy so my homemade windbreak keeps the grill up to heat and working wonderful, notice the blue, cloudless Arizona skies.
the windbreak works wonderful
the grill mat works great, keeps the
 grill clean and leaves the grill marks too
add a fresh salad and was wonderful
.        Glad that you stopped by and really hope your day was as wonderful as ours.


Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this Fall and Winter..

Friday, November 27, 2015

No Black friday crowds here in Benson AZ just wonderful sunshine.

Where are we today ?
Today is gonna be wonderful sunny weather but a bit windy. As long as the sun is shining it will be amazing ! Check in with the office first thing and we here until Monday morning.
Last night's moon
         This morning I need a few groceries and headed into to town.  Hey its Black Friday, Thought I would check out the Walmart parking lot just for fun. Guess what not busy at all. So into the store and got my stuff. Amazing! No sales, no crowds nada... I guess it all happened last night at 6 pm. Glad we were not there.
         Home to putter around a bit and a light lunch. Heard a motorcycle fire up and went out to check out Harvies Gold Wing Trike,(from Ontario Canada) he took it out of his toy hauler and going for a tour today. Nice toy!
looks and sounds amazing
same size engine as our Saturn car!
         I was in the mood to make some melt in your mouth shortbread cookies today. Got this recipe from Suzie's mom, so easy and so good. Not healthy but what is when it tastes so good?       
          For the shortbread cookie recipe click HERE  or my recipe blog on the top right sidebar. A really old Mennonite recipe that is sure to please. This time I added some colourful sprinkles just cause I could.
batter ready
into the oven we go
all done and so tasty melt in your mouth
         Our neighbor Walter (made the Thanksgiving dinner yesterday) stopped by to give us a piece of the Sweet Potato and Apple pies he made for dessert yesterday that we did not get a chance to sample. And when my shortbreads were dozen took a 1/2 dozen over for them to enjoy.
Sweet potato pie and apple pie
were amazing!n
Thanks Walter!
          Now we can enjoy a sunny , but windy afternoon reading outside almost perfect except for the wind. The sunshine wonderful.
      Now time for supper, Weber Q ready to go, windscreen up and grill a tasty Salmon fillet to go with our salad.
it is huge lotsa leftovers,
salmon sandwiches for lunches
         Super done and another pretty decent sunset to wind up our day.
       That was our Black friday, not busy and very sunny hope yours was a good one too. Gotta love the small towns! 
       Thanks for stopping by.


Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this Fall and Winter..

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving to all our American friends and we relocated today as well.

Where are we today ?

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American friends

   And us lucky people who get to celebrate it twice once in Canada before we head south and again right here, wherever me might be.
    Today we are one the move, our cheap week at the SKP park is over and we moved exactly one mile up the road back to Valley Vista, much smaller and more our style CTC coast for us $14.00 a night. We don't want to travel on Thanksgiving so it's nice to sit here until Monday when we move on down the road a little further.
     We secured the coach pulled out at 9:15 am moved up the road and all set up by 10 am.
love the entrance here
really like this site, same one
we had last time
Nice garden 2 sites down
        They have a Thanksgiving Turkey dinner here at 1 pm. Cost is free (we like free) The park supplies the Turkey , mashed taters, dressing and gravy the rest is a pot luck we sign up for. We are taking the fresh Cranberry sauce with Orange zest that I made yesterday, you probably saw the recipe yesterday's posting. My Cranberries were gone in no time oh so good, I even put some orange pieces in this time, as Walter suggested ! 
          12:30 down to the clubhouse for a Thanksgiving dinner with 60 of our closest friends, (quite few have have not met yet) Just take our dish, plates and utensils and a nice bottle of wine to share.
we got a table in the corner, pretty quiet,
just the way we like it
this Apple Resiling
Suzie's favorite we picked up
in Albuquerque
at the Bacon, Beer and Blues festival
         Right on time the feast began and the food so much nobody would leave hungry thats for sure and so many tasty dishes.
of course we ate too much
but the desert, I just sampled a bit
Blueberry pie and
apples and cinnamon for me
        Now this guy here Walter is a super fellow, he organized the meal and did the cooking, 3 large turkeys, garlic mashed potatoes, dressing , gravy and even baked some pies. Have been chatting with him since we first came here this year, helps that he does have a restaurant background too. Oh did I mention he did an awesome job!
Walter, has the lovely Cactus garden
2 sites down from us
        Now back to our site read outside in the warm afternoon sun. Then I made a quick trip to Walmart that was open today just to check it out. They are getting ready for their 6 pm sale today, All the aisles lined with pallets of items all shrink wrapped and labelled, areas closed off and the front of the store roped off for the people to line up. There is some amazing deals to be had Betcha it will be a zoo! But there is no way we will be there! Don't care how cheap the stuff is.
one of hundreds of pallets in the aisles
      Now back home enjoy the afternoon sunshine reading until the sunset then it's too cold to sit outside.
not a great sunset, but was still nice to see
        No supper needed tonight after that excellent Thanksgiving meal glad it was at 1 pm, don't feel so full now, maybe pop up a bit of popcorn later and watch a movie.
        Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving with family and or friends, we all have so much to be Thankful for.
       And thank you for stopping by again.
Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this Fall and Winter..

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Wonderful sunrise, a great sunny day and nice sunset too, gotta love it!

Where are we today ?
       Today is gonna be amazing starting with a wonderful sunrise starting with my first walkabout at 6:545 am.
love the sun rising over the mountains
       Them later a walkabout behind the resort down the back roads behind the resort so quiet and peaceful.
prickly pear cactus
one saguaro cactus still here in the park
would have loved to explore this store
but now closed
         After a lite lunch we spent a wonderful afternoon in the sun enjoying our e-readers. Shorts, t-shirts could not have been any better! The weather gods were right on the money, Sunny blue skies and high 60's f  really, really was a perfect day. Chatted with a few people walking by so nice to be outside again and chat with the odd person that stopped by that cared to chat.
         Then about 4 pm, before it cools down gonna whip up supper. Preheat our Weber Q and make a salad. then grill a couple Tuna  Steaks tonight. So quick and easy if they are done right. If you want the Tuna steak on the Weber Q recipe click HERE  or my recipe blog on the top right sidebar. They are AMAZING ! Even better than a good steak (in my opinion).
Tuna and asparagus on the grill about 6 minutes total
while grilling supper a very nice sunset
this is mine, 2 minutes a side
so tender, amazing
       We have been here a week and time to move on. Found a deal just down the road at The SKP park only $50.00 a week with full hookups. looks like a good deal so we moving there tomorrow gotta check it out and can't beat the price by much.Want hang around the area anyway my hearing aide is repaired and should be here Nov 25th. we hope. Plus we can come back here for a Thanksgiving dinner too.
looks  like a good deal so we will check it out
          Today was exactly the way it was planned, amazing weather and got to enjoy each other's company some quality reading time in the warm Arizona Sunshine. Does not get much better than that. No repairs today either= bonus!
          Glad that y'all stopped on by and really hope your day was as good as ours.



Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this Fall and Winter..

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Warmer, sunshine and got a few more outside repairs done, gotta love it!

Where are we today ?
           Today the  weather is going to be much better, warmer, sunshine and less wind. Not perfect, but pretty close to it don't mind this at all. 
           Got a few walkabouts done early this morning, nice fresh cool, clear skies and lotsa stars, love it! With the sunrise everything began to warm up nicely .
sunshine, clear blue skies
ARIZONA Yes
Gambles Quails everywhere
got a blurry pic of them
nice walk down the wash right
in front of us
           Now was such an nice sunny day thought I would putter outside for a while. Up on the roof got to repair our Tv antenna. Replaced the shaft that was slightly bent, cut to size and reinstalled, works better now going up and down.
cut the new one to length
now almost good as new 
nice view from the roof looking east
           Now with my tools out and warmer but still a tad windy decided to fix our electric step, have the parts so why not?
new parts, ready to go
old parts broken hanging down to the left 
        It is an easy install being my 3rd time now. about 30 minutes and done.
new parts and steps work perfect again
           Now inspecting the old part that was replaced in June 2014, looks like a manufacturing defect. So I will contact Kwikee steps to see what they say. But they have been bought out  by Lippert industries  now in Goshen Indiana. Kwikee was in Oregon?  No harm in trying.
not broken, just fell apart, hmm ?
         By the time this was done time to whip up supper. Well tonight gonna cook up some pork ribs for Suzie and a couple pigtails I had in the freezer. Easiest and quickest way is to do them in the pressure cooker in a pan on a trivet with some sauerkraut 15 minutes under pressure. Quick cool, remove the kraut, slather with BBQ sauce and another 5 minutes under pressure. Perfect, fall off the bone good!
Pressure cooker  pssting away
That's my pigtails
added a salad and fresh asparagus
sure worked for us
         Was gonna save a project for tomorrow but had the tools out and all was going so well got them both done. Tomorrow gonna be much warmer so a good day to really enjoy it and maybe get some serious reading done too outside. Nothing else on the agenda yet.
         Glad that you stopped in again and hope you had a wonderful day as well.

Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this Fall and Winter..