Back In Mesa

Quick update: after an uneventful trip from Detroit we're now back in Mesa. Our place here survived the summer well except for the toilet. It had been on its last leg for a while but we kept putting off fixing it. Other than breaking off a big chunk of the tank (WHY do they thread the handle nut backwards?!?) the repair went smoothly. Some epoxy took care of our mistake.

It's still pretty darn hot here in Mesa. We really can't do much outside other than in the early morning. So we've decided to hit the road again! We're going to Zion National Park next week via Las Vegas. It will be hot there too but not as hot as Mesa. We'll post again when we get back.

On The Road Again

It's been a very busy couple of weeks! We picked up our Casita on Long Island, drove to Michigan and spend about a week in Detroit. We were able to get together with some friends and family but, unfortunately, not everyone. Sorry for those that we missed! On Tuesday we picked up our Casita at Mark & Paula's house where we left it while in Detroit. Thanks again!!! Tonight we're in Elk City, OK after 3 days on the road. 2 more travel days and we should be back in Mesa.

So far the Casita has "exceeded our expectations!" It's quite comfortable for the 2 of us and Jake. Most people would find it cramped to say the least but it's perfect for us. It tows like a dream and we hardly notice it's there. Today I actually looked back at one point to make sure it was still there! The best surprise so far is our gas mileage. Our Xterra is rated at 14 city and 20 highway mpg. We're actually averaging about 17 mpg towing the Casita! Our secret is fairly simple - *G*O* *S*L*O*W*!! We keep our speed around 55 mph. On the entire trip so far we've passed exactly 1 vehicle. That's OK as we're not in any hurry.

Our Xterra and Casita on Long Island waiting to get new tires.

Exploding Tires And Strange Birds

Today we went for a ride on the carriage roads. Since we're leaving Maine on Tuesday today's ride was going to be our last. We had gone about 5 miles when we heard a loud "pooft" sound. A quick check showed that Ross's rear bike tube had blown. Luckily we carry a spare tube and tools for just such an emergency. While working on the tire a fairly large bird came out of the woods and walked right up to us! It showed no fear at all. Karen even fed it a blueberry. It tried to sit on one of our bike helmets but fell off. Then it hopped up on the front tire of Ross's bike and just sat there for while. It was obviously used to humans. After changing the tube and pumping it up we started putting away the tools. Then we heard a very loud "BANG" that had us thinking that maybe someone was bird hunting for our friend. But it was that darn rear tire again. This time both the tube and the tire had blown! Fortunately we were near the Duck Brook bridge so we walked there and Ross rode Karen's bike the 1 1/2 miles or so back to the Xterra. In Bar Harbor we had a new tire and tube put on the wheel. The bike shop guy guessed that the tube had been pinched while being installed and blew out under the air pressure taking the tire with it.

Bird on the front tire of Ross's bike.

Time For A Change

For the last few years we've been coming to Maine for the summer. We've enjoyed our time here but last year we began thinking that it might be time for a change. This summer cemented our thinking. The lousy weather we've had probably influenced our thinking but basically we've come to the conclusion that it's just time for a change for us.

So what's that mean? We spent a lot of time over the last year or so really thinking and talking about what we'd like to do next. We still love spending winters in Mesa, AZ but we have no desire to spend summers there. We miss seeing and exploring new places so by the middle of this summer we had decided to get a small camper and tow vehicle so we could spend summers traveling around. We could also use that rig to take some shorter trips during the winter too.

Once the decision to change had been made the rest was pretty easy. We started looking around for a tow vehicle and ended up with a new 2008 Nissan Xterra. It's tow rating is 5000 lbs. which is what we were looking for. Given that SUV's aren't very popular right now (now there's an understatement!) the pricing on the Xterra was great! There weren't exactly giving them away but we bought ours for less than 3 and 4 year old ones are being advertised for sale. And needless to say the dealer was very eager to get their hands on our Toyota Corolla so we got top dollar for that too. It wasn't exactly an even trade but it didn't cost us very much at all.

Once we had a tow vehicle the next step was to find a trailer. After a lot of research we decided that the right trailer for us was a Casita. You can check them out by clicking here. Our current trailer is a 25' 5th wheel and the Casita we wanted was a 17' trailer. We've made an art of living in small spaces over the years! We kept looking for a good used one and finally found a 2005 17' Spirit Deluxe model on eBay. We won the auction and took a trip to Long Island to see it and conclude the deal. The seller, Mike, turned out to be a really nice guy! It was a real pleasure to meet and get to know him. It didn't make any sense to drag the Casita all the way back to Maine and then just turn around and head back in a couple weeks so Mike graciously agreed to keep the trailer in his driveway for us until we came back to pick it up right after Labor Day.

So now we're getting things ready to leave Maine, get our 5th wheel sold and get things arranged to pick up our Casita. So many new things to learn about like sway bars, weight distribution hitches, etc. Stay tuned for more updates!

	Our new 2008 Nissan Xterra.
	Our new 2005 Casita 17' Spirit Deluxe.

Whale Watch

In July we went on a whale watch out of Bar Harbor. The usual cost is over $50 per person but they have a deal for people who work on MDI. If there are any seats left you get to go for free. Free is good! The Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co. is a customer of West Marine so I asked one the the guys which is their slowest day. He surprised me by saying it was Saturday. Turns out that Saturday is a transition day when the current week's tourists are leaving and next week's tourists are just arriving. So we took the free bus to Bar Harbor and got on a free whale watch.

We saw 3 humpback whales and Ross got some pretty good pictures (see below). It's COLD out there and the day was pretty hazy but we got good views of the whales. It was fun! And did we mention that it was free?

Blueberry Time in Maine!

It's peak blueberry time here in Maine! Wild blueberries grow pretty much everywhere around here. There's a small patch right here in the campground and a 5 minute walk brings you to a large field with lots of the plants. Our favorite picking area is along one of the carriage roads where we like to ride our bikes. This time of the year the blueberries there are large, sweet and plentiful. Yum!

	Blueberry plant.
	Half an hour of picking yielded 1 1/2 liters of blueberries on a recent bike ride.

Oh Oh - Cute Cat Picture!

Jake's latest hangout.

First Weeks In Maine

Today we completed out first 3 weeks in Maine this summer. As with last year the weather hasn't been all that great. We've managed to get in several hikes and bike rides in between the rain and have seen several movies during the less than ideal weather. We celebrated Karen's birthday with the traditional (for us) blueberry pancakes at Jordans for breakfast and lobster at Beals for dinner. They were on 2 different days because the morning of her birthday we were in the West Marine delivery van! Ross has taken on the extra duty of driving the van once a week. Since we both like riding around it's fun for us to actually get paid to do it. Ross gets paid but Karen gets to ride for free.

	Karen eating blueberry pancakes at Jordans the day after her birthday. They're big pancakes, but not quite as big as the picture suggests!
	Karen on the first day of summer in Maine. Notice the new (and very cool!) slippers.

Sign

Here's a sign we saw today here in Maine. You probably wouldn't see this sign in Mesa, AZ! (Hint - it's the bottom of the 2 signs)

Back In Maine!

After a long drive from Mesa, and a fairly short layover in Detroit, we're back in Maine for the summer. So far the weather this spring has been quite a bit better than last spring. In the week and a half we've been here so far we've hiked 4 times and biked the carriage roads twice. As in years past we're working part time at the West Marine here in Southwest Harbor.

Here's a video from one of our hikes taken from near the top of Gorham Mt.:

Hiking Trail Bees

On Saturday we hiked the Cat Peaks / Cat Peaks Pass Trail at Usery Park. Near the end of the hike we heard a lot of buzzing. There were hundreds of bees flying around near the ground! It looked like several of them were fighting on the ground. We've never seen anything quite like it. Check out this video:

Keeping Cool In Arizona

If you live in Arizona, this is probably a "so what?" kind of posting. But for those of us originally from colder parts of the country this is interesting. Many places in Arizona use misters to help keep people cool(er). From what I've read the water mist can lower the air temperature by as much as 30 degrees! And since the humidity around here is usually about 3% or 4%, you don't have to worry about getting people wet. We've seen misters at outdoor malls, movie theater waiting lines and over patios here at Sun Life. One more for the "I had no idea" list.

Misters at the Santan outdoor mall in Gilbert, AZ.

New On Our Blog - Videos!

Taking advantage of the latest technology in digital video recording (OK, not exactly the latest, but it's sort of recent) we're happy to announce that we'll be adding videos to our blog!

As our first video we'd like show you a short clip of Jake saying "hello". More exciting stuff to come!

Hieroglyphic Trail

Today's hike is one we did last year in the spring. We must be in better shape now because the trail didn't seem nearly as tough as we had remembered. This trail is into the Superstition Mountains which are so named because black cats constantly cross your path, there are ladders everywhere that you have to hike under and the trail is littered with broken mirrors. Just kidding, of course! We're actually unsure as to the origin of their name. The trail starts out steep but levels off to a more gradual climb and goes up into a canyon about 2 miles away. At the end of the trail is a nice collection of Hohokam petroglyphs. The trail is misnamed as there aren't any hieroglyphs to be seen. Beneath the main area of petroglyphs are several pools of standing water fed by a nearby spring. We're always amazed to see standing water in the desert! The hike down had one exciting moment. Ross crossed paths with a swarm of bees! They didn't bother him at all and just kept flying along. He heard buzzing and saw several hundred at the tail end of the swarm. Different!

	Some of the many petroglyphs at the end of the trail.
	This critter was hanging out near the petroglyphs. It was about a foot long head to tail.
	Pool of water at the petroglyphs and the view looking back along the trail.

Sedona

Sedona is one of those places of which almost everyone seems to have heard. Maybe because there's a Kia minivan named after it. It's only a couple hour drive north of Phoenix so we decided to check it out. We went to REI and bought a day hiking book for Sedona so we could experience it the way we like. As we approached Sedona our first impressions were "beautiful red rock formations" which soon gave way to "where the heck is all this traffic going???" There was a lot of road construction and a lot of people visiting the area. Never a good combination.

We did 3 small hikes to get a flavor for the area. Our first hike was part way up the Cathedral Rock Trail. Cathedral Rock, according to our hiking book, is the most photographed formation in Sedona. We re-enforced that distinction by taking a few pictures ourselves. We only hiked far enough to get a good view of the formation. You can hike all the way up to the base, which most people seemed to be doing, but our limited time didn't allow this. Our second hike, the longest of the day, was the Boynton Vista Trail. It took us to the top of a small formation which had nice views of the area. The magic was lost when a fellow hiker sat down next to us and proceeded to belch non-stop. Our last hike was on the Sedona Centennial Trail. This turned out to be a paved path to a so-so overlook.

Now that we've been to Sedona we probably won't rush back. It's very pretty around there but we enjoy the scenery around Phoenix just as much and we don't have to drive 2 1/2 hours to get there. But if you're into art, new-age vortex sites and REALLY expensive hotels then Sedona is your kind of place!

	Karen at Cathedral Rock.
	View from the Cathedral Rock Trail.
	View from the end of the Boynton Vista Trail.

Lousley Hill

We've "discovered" a new regional park here in the Phoenix area. The regional parks are run by Maricopa county. Usery Park, of which we've written before, is a regional park. Lately we've been visiting McDowell Mt. Park which is near Fountain Hills, almost due north of us. You can't get there directly though as the Salt River only has a couple of bridges over it. It's about a 30 minute ride from our place. A nice trail in the park is the Lousley (not "lousy") Hill Trail. It's only about 1.2 miles round trip and climbs about 300', but the climb is pretty much all in one short spurt. The views from the top are really nice!

	Karen at the start of the trail. That's Lousley Hill behind her.
	Example of the wildlife along the trail. This critter is a Horned Lizard.
	Part of the 360 degree view from the top of Lousley Hill.

Vegas, Baby!

One of the many advantages of wintering in the Phoenix area is that you are relatively close to Las Vegas. This winter we visited Vegas 3 times. We always drive as it's only a 5 or 6 hour trip from our place in Mesa.

So what's to do in Vegas? Some people go for the food, some go for the weather and some go for the friendly natives. Oh, and we've heard that some people actually come to Vegas to gamble! We'll admit that the bug sometimes bites us too. When it's time to play here's what we do: we wander through a casino looking for video poker machines. But not just ANY video poker machines. We look for the nickel machines! Being the big time gamblers that we are we can only handle losing 5 cents at a time. Now, this may be hard to believe but in some casinos it's actually very difficult to find nickel machines! Guess it takes higher stakes to make those new $2 BILLION casinos pay for themselves.

When we're not trying to fund our retirement at the nickel machines we like to just walk around. Walking up and down the Strip (Las Vegas Blvd.) is great entertainment all by itself! While walking we usually stop in most of the casinos and search out those elusive nickel machines. We'll each put in a dollar and try and take the casino for some cash. If we happen to double our money we cash out and head for the exit!

Vegas has changed over the last few years. It's NOT a family destination (as if it ever were!) and lately it's going more "upscale." Gone are the days of the $5 buffets, $1 shrimp cocktails and other cheap fare, especially on the Strip. Hotel rooms are getting more expensive too. We usually wait for a bargain and then book in advance.

Here's a list of our Vegas favorites:

Favorite hotel: New York New York
Favorite "loose" casino: Las Vegas Hilton
Favorite "hotsy-totsy" casino: Palazzo (it's brand new and so clean!)
Favorite buffet: Las Vegas Hilton
Favorite free attraction: The lion habitat at MGM
Favorite mode of transportation: Las Vegas monorail
Favorite free mode of transportation: Walking!

	The road from Phoenix to Las Vegas takes you over the Hoover Dam. They're building a bypass road which should speed up the trip considerably. Right now it's a slow go because of all the tourists walking around on the top of the dam.
	Karen in front of our favorite hotel, New York New York.
	Karen in front of the Bellagio. They put on a free fountain show choreographed to music. Very impressive, especially at night!
	Lion habitat at the MGM Grand. Nice kitty!

Desert Wild Flowers

The desert is in bloom! A couple of days ago we went for a hike in Usery Park to see the flowers. The first impression we got, even before we saw a lot of flowers, was how green the desert was! The ground is covered with small green plants. It almost looks like the desert has grown a carpet of green grass. Here's a couple of pictures of what we saw.

	Barrel cactus with wild flowers around it
	Karen and the desert in bloom
	Wild flowers

Desert Sunsets

The sunsets here in the desert can be quite spectacular. Maybe it has something to do with the dust in the air or the lack of humidity, but whatever the cause we've enjoyed a lot of beautiful evenings watching the sun go down. One evening, several weeks ago before the cold weather (highs in the 60's, lows in the 40's) set in, we spent the evening at Usery Park, a county park just a few minutes drive from our place. Here's what we saw:

Sunset at Usery Park.

Mexican Riviera Cruise

We went on a cruise at the end of November to the southern "Mexican Riviera." The excuse to take this cruise is that our 25th wedding anniversary is in March, 2008 but it was much cheaper to go now than to wait until then. We went on the Carnival Spirit out of San Diego and had the following itinerary:

Day 1 - San Diego, CA
Day 2 - At Sea
Day 3 - At Sea
Day 4 - Acapulco, Mexico
Day 5 - Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa, Mexico
Day 6 - Manzanillo, Mexico
Day 7 - At Sea
Day 8 - At Sea
Day 9 - San Diego, CA

On this cruise we had a balcony room. The weather was pretty awful in San Diego but we had hot, mostly sunny conditions in all our Mexican ports of call.

Acapulco is a big tourist town. We decided to walk around town but were accosted by people trying to sell us stuff every step of the way. They never took "no" for an answer! So our walk, as well as our desire to return here, ended quickly.

Zihuatanejo was our favorite port of call. It's a small fishing village and hasn't become totally commercialized. Walking around town there were a lot of small shops with tourist stuff but they are mixed in with restaurants, banks, grocery stores, etc. Movie buffs may remember that Zihuatanejo was the final destinations for the main characters in the excellent movie The Shawshank Redemption. We found a nice public circle under a banyan tree right on the beach in which to hang out. Locals mixed with the tourists. There were people selling their wares but they left you alone when you said "no." Quite a refreshing change from Acapulco! In case you're wondering, Ixtapa is a much larger city several miles from Zihuatanejo.

Manzanillo was a bit of a surprise. The cruise ships dock at a working port like in Mazatlan. A shuttle bus takes you to the downtown area. We were amazed how heavy the car traffic is in this town! There is a shopping district which caters to the tourists but it also offers the locals places to shop so you couldn't really call Manzanillo a "tourist town" - yet. Next to the shopping district is a very nice park where you can watch the hustle and bustle of this busy town.

Of our 3 ports of call we'd definitely go back to Zihuatanejo, maybe go back to Manzanillo and would not go back to Acapulco.

We had one last adventure in store for the ride home. Returning to San Diego we were greeted by more rain. (Note: we've been in San Diego, a town famous for sunshine, 3 times now and it's rained each of those times!) On the drive out of town we ran into a snow storm in the mountains! Luckily the roads had been treated with sand and the snow wasn't accumulating much. We made it home just fine.

	Karen at the mandatory lifeboat drill. You can't get out of it so you might as well have fun at it!
	Quiet street in Zihuatanejo just outside of the tendering pier.
	An interesting Coke truck in Manzanillo.
	Sunset over the Pacific Ocean.