After spending December and January island-hopping in Hawaii, we down-shifted to pick somewhere else warm to spend the rest of the winter. Since our national winter weather continues to be above average rain/snowfall and below average temperatures, staying in the Sonoran Desert seemed beneficial. Staying in the Salt River Valley area near Phoenix in a rental apartment allowed us to take advantage of the infrastructure of an urban area, such as having a TV, a washer/dryer, internet access, and having an actual address for shipments. We even joined Blockbuster-by-mail temporarily, all while enjoying temperate weather and maintaining our Hawaiian tans. The balmy evenings allowed for romantic experiences of patio dining, full moon hikes in the desert, watching sunsets, and gazing at starry, clear skies. Orion’s belt and Sirius have become as familiar to us as the Big Dipper and North Star.
In addition to the frequent pool time, we filled our days of fun with hikes in the desert (still have not found Lost Dutchman’s mine, but we did manage to avoid rattlesnakes, tarantulas and scorpions), listening to outdoor concerts in botanical gardens, seeing the desert scenery come alive with spring, listening to the many songbirds, smelling the orange blossoms and roses in bloom, feasting on fresh citrus right off the trees, and watching the Rockies spring training at the new Salt River Fields here in the Spring Training “cactus league.”
For Pat’s birthday, we stayed in a cabin directly on the south rim of the Grand Canyon with a big picture window framing a spectacular view of one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World. We were blessed with seeing a pair of California Condors that have been introduced nearby and use the Grand Canyon as their home. California Condors were once nearly extinct and numbered a mere 22. They are coming back due to a captivity breeding program and reintroduction into the wild, now number ~175 in the wild. They have a 9-foot wingspan and can weigh up to 26 pounds and are the largest bird in North America. Since all of them have been tagged, we could look up the exact age and gender of the two that we saw (next to a Raven in our photo which is no small bird either.)
Other side-trips included a visit to Montezuma’s castle, a five story prehistoric Indian cliff dwelling, which is amazingly well preserved. We also went to Sedona to view the breathtaking red rocks and to feel the energy of the vortexes that Sedona is famous for.
All in all, this has been different for us to stay in one spot for so long. While there was a certain benefit and enjoyment to these few months, we do feel a calling to begin our travels again. This will begin our fifth year of this nomad lifestyle of following the winds of adventure that takes us on our random escapades. We continue to affirm that this lifestyle suits us well. Our enjoyment of freedom has not been tempered and our thirst for changing venues has not been quenched. We will soon be rolling once again, west to California then north, so stay tuned for the next chapter of Ron and Pat’s Greatest Adventures.
No comments:
Post a Comment