HIKING THE HIEROGLYPLIC TRAIL

This morning we had a short hike as Canyon Vistas were having a Thanksgiving 'dinner' at 1 p.m. this afternoon

We did not attend the dinner as we cooked a turkey last week and will celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow with the Browning family
and have turkey again!
YUM YUM

As I type this Joe is busy in the kitchen making up seven turkey pies to have at a later date

We started the hike around 8:15

This is a healthy Saguaro Cactus

This Saguaro bit the dust

This Saguaro is only showing rods

This pretty little bird was waiting for an apple core or a few nuts

These are petroglyphs

The petroglyphs were carved on the cliffs

over 800 years ago

Phyllis in the orange T shirt is wanting to be the tallest of the girls

Nancy in the green T shirt and in the middle has volunteered to be the shortest!

I think someone is squatting

Rest time

Snack time

Each season we all check to see if

Jay Leno is still at the top of the rock formation

Do you see his chin?????

A view of the valley

The leaders of the pack are starting out on

their way down

Sure have colourful shirts!!

We have the girls in the middle who are obvious to the fact that the camera lady is taking their picture

Jim on the left and Joe on the right are figuring out which way they will go when it is time to do the hike

50-57

See the 'yellow' area in the middle of the photo

It is a home that is being built

A MANSION IS MORE LIKE IT

I was utterly surprised to see this gentleman

with his bike

He already had two wipe outs

I stayed behind for a minute to watch

 him start up again

He just seemed to sit on his bike

I'm sure he was thinking

What the heck am I doing!!!!!!!!!!

As you can see he would have had to ride

over all these rocks

on the path

I started out with 3 layers this morning

I did get rid of the jacket

Actually

I was hot

We finished the hike

It's check out time

This is Curt

No matter where he is on the hike

we can always find him

LOVE THE GREEN T SHIRT

This afternoon I was out on the deck and noticed the coyote trotting by

I ran to get my camera

He was too fast for me

I put out the bird feeder for the first

time this season

It looks like the dove on the right is checking out the dove coming in for a landing

Stephanie's friend Lisa took care of my plant

for the summer

The French lavender and spider plants survived

I only had to replace the geraniums

I have a little Canadian and
American flag in the pot

They survived the heat of the summer too

On a sad note while watching TV this evening an alert came on stating that there had been a plane crash at Superstition Mountain

at the flat iron

Joe and I have hiked the flat iron as well as many of the hikers from Canyon Vistas

This is a photo of Superstition Mountain

which I took last week

How life can change in an instant

God Bless the families

The first hike ...the first lacrosse game ...a birthday ..and the boy

Last Wednesday 26 hikers 'hiked' along the Mogollon rim which was near Payson

It was a 2 hour and 15 minute drive to the Lakes Recreation Area where we met and started on the adventure

Some hikers continued along the rim

Some hikers did the Rim Lakes Vista loop

A few hikers puttered along the rim and took lots of photos

and

Five hikers walked a few more miles than the rest of us

We all stopped for a snack before the groups ventured out on different paths

There were traces of snow amongst the pine trees

Back home in Gold Canyon the temperature was around 72 degrees

Up on the rim it was about 45 - 50 degrees

These trees were growing right at the

edge of the rim

The view was spectacular

I had packed my winter coat away so

did some layering

I had on 5 layers

Talk about being bulky with the backpack on

I eventually peeled off two!

We drove up with Ann and Jim from

New Hampshire

Lin from Wasaga Beach made up the three Canadians

At this point there were ten of us who

started down a trail

I spoke up and said

I'm not in shape yet to

COME BACK UP

We made a decision to walk for five minutes

Let me tell you..........

I struggled coming up with the

'out of shape'

and

the altitude

This tree was surrounded by healthy green trees

Joe, Ann and I decided to walk back to the parking lot by following the road

Up ahead we could see Mary and Carl doing the same thing

Five others continued walking the rim in the opposite direction of the parking lot

There was a walki-talki message for Ann

to pick up the five hikers

Lin and Jim brought up the rear!!

We checked out Willow Spring Lake before heading back to Payson for a late lunch at a Mexican restaurant

A great time was had by all

The end of a wonderful day

Madeline came out for a visit

She and Bing rolled around on the floor and played and played

They just seemed to pick up where they left off last spring

Saturday and Sunday we were off to Cave Creek

to take in Zoe's lacrosse tournament

Zoe and her team played well

This past summer the team travelled to Florida and California

What an opportunity for these girls!

Defending her goalie

Yesterday we had a birthday in the family

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE

Rod and Stephanie surprised Joe by taking him to

Scottsdale Square where they have a movie threatre

 Dinner is also served while watching the movie

We are waiting to go into the theatre

where the movie

J. Edgar Hoover was to play

Mother and daughter

Would you like a glass of wine?

Neat setup

The birthday boy is ready

He has a pillow

He has a blanket

and

his dinner is coming

We're all ready!!!!

*****************

Just to keep you in the loop with regard

to

the boy and his hockey

As you can see the boy has a full face 'shield'

Rules are as long as you are playing as a midget you require a full shield

Last week Beau's 'card' was signed by the Osoyoos Coyotes

So

now he gets to wear a 'half shield' just like his team mate in the photo

His time of playing with the Pentciton Vees Midget team has finished

This is what he has been waiting for

We're all excited for you Beau

The family whether in Squamish, Penticton,

Queen Creek, Gold Canyon or Sarnia Ontario

get to watch Beau and his team play hockey by tuning into their games on the internet

Are we lucky or what

LIFE IS GOOD

YREKA TO GOLD CANYON

We started out bright and early Friday morning

Took a few photos of the main street of Yreka

before heading down Highway 5

As we left the gas station this little gal came clicking and clomping and prancing up the street

Strings Italian Cafe

This is where we had dinner the night before

It was originally a bakery

The waitress told us

spirits live in the basement

Just check out this old building

There is a real life barber shop

with a barber pole out front

This is John the barber

I'm going to use the word original again

This is the original barber shop from the 1800 era

John told me the 'History channel' had been to the barber shop

You can just see the 'eye' of this cow

We parked beside the trailer at a rest stop

When the fellow came out I asked if the cows were coming or going???

He said going

Oh.....I said

I didn't want to hear that

One cow was going to market

One cow was going to auction

and

One cow was going to pasture to spend time with the girls!

Once again we drove by this California windmill

Joe said I had to take a photo for Casey

SO

There you go Casey

As we passed this truck we could smell 

the fresh hay

Stephanie and Rod went out to the house on Friday morning

and opened it up for us

What a treat!!!!!!!!!!!

It was wonderful to come into the house and have everything ready for us

It was very inviting

THANK YOU

The American Bull dog and the British Bull dog

and

The French Bull dog

The O'Rourke dog was reunited with the Browning dogs!!!!

It amazes me as to how fast they became

friends again

A beautiful day in the neighbourhood

Superstition Mountain in the background

The Siamese have settled right in

Here we have three couples from

Chatham Ontario

checking out Native jewelry

Jack and Janette

Mike and Penny

David and Caroline

You all know Janette from

best friends weekend

They came down to Arizona for a little holiday

Yesterday we all got to spend the day together

We had a great time

First stop

Tortilla Flats for lunch

A quick stop along the way for a photo opt

Janette with her mason jar of wine

CHEERS

Jack and Janette almost in the saddle

Check out the ladies washroom

Caroline

Penny

Jack

Jack Mike and David

ready with walking sticks

Joe took the fellows on a sunset walk in the desert

behind our house

We ended the evening by going to dinner

at the Mining Camp

What a day!!!!!!!!!