Day: October 7, 2026

First, I’ve been forgetting the quotes, so there is one below. Second, this post has a LOT of pics, so buckle up. You might do well to fix a bowl of popcorn and grab your favorite beverage, too. Here we go…

QUOTE: “I just enjoy the moment I’m in. For me, life is a whole experience, not just a series of isolated moments. It’s like submerging yourself into a warm bath rather than sticking your toe under the faucet.” ~ Alex Trebek

On Monday, September 14, we woke up to clouds and stormy weather in the distance all around us. We realized that we hadn’t really seen any rain in many weeks except for a few sprinkles overnight. It was looking a little rough this morning, though. Before hitting the road, we took a ride over to Mama Bear’s Bakery & Books for a little breakfast and coffee for MW. (His blueberry scone was awesome, but my cinnamon roll was heavy on bread and very light on cinnamon.) We pulled out of the campground at about 10 AM retracing our inbound route on CO-184 and US-491 up to Pleasant View. There we turned west and zig-zagged through Canyons of the Ancients National Monument down to Hovenweep National Monument just across the border in Utah.

Hovenweep, which is Ute/Paiute for “deserted valley”, was named by photographer William H. Jackson in 1874, but the first to report the dwellings were Mormons 20 years earlier. It is considered one of the best examples of Puebloan masonry, and many of the structures use rock, wood, mud mortar and incorporate windows and a variety of geometric shapes. When you consider that most of what still stands was built between 1230 and 1275 A.D., it is pretty amazing. The builders blended structures into the natural landscape, and built check dams and reservoirs for watering crops. They cleared fields on top of the mesas and even imported maize to grow. There is also evidence of domesticated turkey and dogs. Hovenweep was part of a large number of Puebloan villages in the four corners area. No one knows why the inhabitants left, but they moved down to the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico. The Pueblo, Zuni, and Hopi tribes are their descendants. We took a 2 mile walk around Little Ruin Canyon and out to Tower Point in the Square Tower community. There were storms in the distance moving generally in our direction, so we didn’t dilly dally too long. It was pretty amazing to see, though. Despite a warning sign at the Visitor Center, we didn’t see any rattlesnakes. Bonus!

Finally back on the road, we continued southwest entering the Navajo Nation. At Aneth, Utah, we turned west on UT-162 over Montezuma Creek, then skirted the edge of the res to Bluff. There we had a bit of lunch at the Twin Rocks Cafe, which was a CRAZY setup with the buildings sitting right below a cliff with twin balanced boulders above. Fear of imminent death didn’t stop us from enjoying lunch, though, including MW’s World Famous Navajo Taco, basically a taco salad on top of Navajo fry bread. (He said it was good, but a LOT to eat.) Afterwards we popped into the Twin Rocks Trading Post next door to check out the turquoise jewelry and other Native American art. I’m pretty picky about designs, but this place had a lot of really nice stuff.

INTERESTING NOTES: The sign for the town of Bluff says “Est. 650 A.D.” Apparently Puebloan ruins dating to that time are in and around the area, and the twin rocks feature prominently in Native American lore. In modern times the town was the first settlement of white men in Utah in 1880 by the San Juan Mission, which was called by the Mormon church to establish friendly relations with the Indians. For 40 years the missionaries remained despite attacks from hostile Indians and renegade whites. There is a plaque with a giant rock above dedicated to the missionaries at the trading post.

In the truck once again, we took US-191, AKA the Navajo Code Talker Highway, west over to US-163. We entered the Navajo Nation again at Mexican Hat and passed through Halchita into Monument Valley. The last leg was a west turn on Monument Valley Road over to the Goulding’s Resort campground. Much of the road since we first entered the res was all open range, and we saw a LOT of what we later confirmed as wild horses scattered about. Sadly, there were also large stretches of road shoulder littered with a ridiculous number of beer bottles. (More about that later.) The scenery for the entire day was amazing, though, and coming into Monument Valley did not disappoint.

Tuesday it was time for another pajama day for me. MW walked around the campground in the morning, and I spent a lot of time writing. There was a nap at mid-day, and a movie or two in the afternoon/evening.

Wednesday morning we were up and out very early to meet our Navajo tour guide, Hannah, for a sunrise tour out into the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. After loading up, we stopped at Goulding’s Lodge to pick up some more folks, a father and son from Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and a couple with two small children from New Zealand. This is another area where words don’t do it justice, so here are pics from the tour.

Once back at the campground, we headed over to the lodge to explore. In the early 1920s, Harry and Leone “Mike” Goulding visited the Monument Valley area and fell in love. They purchased a lot (640 acres), and while living in tents, they began trading with the local Navajos. A permanent building came several years later with living quarters upstairs. The area grew as a tourist destination, and the building was remodeled as a lodge. Things were looking good, then came 1929. With tourism down, Harry formulated a plan. He and Mike took their last $60 and photos of the valley and set out for Hollywood to have a chat with John Ford. It worked! Ford was enamored with the landscape in the valley and filmed 1939’s Stagecoach there. In an interview he said the landscape is almost an additional character. Accommodations were rough by today’s standards, but the likes of John Wayne, Dennis Hopper, Clint Eastwood, Henry Fonda, and a host of others took their westerns to the valley. In the mean time, the Gouldings, working with the Navajo Nation, expanded the lodge, added a restaurant, and made ready for tourists. Ford would end up shooting many other films in the valley, and many directors since then have followed his lead. In addition to old westerns, The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), The Eiger Sanction (1975), The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981), National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Thelma & Louise (1991), Forrest Gump (1994), Windtalkers (2002), A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014), and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) are just a few that showcase the landscape. The valley is also used for television productions, advertising campaigns, print photography, video games, and music. Hannah told us about Metallica filming the video for “I Disappear” on top of one of the monuments. She also said that it is not uncommon to see actors, musicians, or models around the Goulding’s property. (On the way to work a couple of weeks ago she drove past a singer being tailed by a Sheriff’s vehicle for security while out for a run. She recognized the person, but it wasn’t someone I knew, and I can’t remember the name. Sorry.) The Gouldings later donated 30 acres of their original homestead to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church for the building of a school and clinic. The next closest clinic was 70 miles away. When Harry retired in 1962, they gifted their homestead to Knox College in Illinois and moved to Page, Arizona. Harry died in 1981, and Mike returned to Monument Valley in 1987 and lived there until her death in 1992. In 2023, the Navajo Nation purchased the Goulding’s homestead and today you can stay in the expanded hotel or campground, shop the stores, fuel up at the gas station, and of course, visit the original lodge as a museum. The apartment upstairs is just as it was when Harry and Mike lived there, and it is pretty cool to look at that room and know that John Ford, John Wayne, and many others spent time relaxing there. This place is totally worth a visit. After seeing everything there and grabbing a bite at the restaurant, we drove back to the park to check out the Monument Valley Trading Post back in the park, then stopped for gas and a few groceries before heading back to Priscilla. The afternoon turned very rainy, so we spent the rest of the day relaxing. Full disclosure…there was probably a nap, too.

Goulding’s RV Park & Campground is located at the Goulding’s Resort on the Navajo Nation in Monument Valley. Amenities include a laundromat, indoor pool, store/gift shop, pavilion, and two bathhouses. Nearby on the Goulding’s property are a motel, gas station, grocery store, gift shop, museum, car wash, movie theater, food court, and restaurant. Lodging at the campground includes several cabins, a casita, tent sites, and a variety of pull-thru and back-in, full-hook-up, 50-amp RV sites. All sites include picnic tables and grills, plus some pretty spectacular views. That all sounds very good, and the views definitely were amazing. However, for what amounts to a little over $115 per night, we expect better. The RV sites were seriously off-level, mostly dirt with a little gravel, and full of ruts, so when it rained, it turned into a complete muddy mess with little creeks running everywhere. Additionally, the advertised cable tv was not working, there was a giant water puddle in front of the men’s bathroom door, and the entire property seemed a bit rundown and outdated. There are several other options for camping in Monument Valley, and if we ever return, we will check out one of those. For this visit in September 2026, we paid a little under $348 for 3 nights.

Thursday was the first time in ages that we have hooked up in the rain. It rained a good bit overnight, and the site was a terrible mess, which made it a little slower. We hit the road around 8 AM stopping first at Goulding’s Gas Station for MW’s coffee. Then we took Monument Valley Road back over to US-163 and turned south, crossing into Arizona almost immediately through Monument Pass (5,209′). At Kayenta we made our first stop of the day at Burger King. Yes, we had breakfast, but more importantly, we checked out their Navajo Code Talkers exhibit. The guy that owns the store is the son of King Paul Mike, one of the actual WWII code talkers. To honor his Dad, he has a pretty extensive collection on display. It’s well worth the stop if you are in the area.

Just a few miles down the road we made our next stop at the Navajo National Monument. Our plan was to hike the 1.3 mile round-trip path out to the Betatakin Overlook, but it was still raining when we arrived and I opted out. A little bit of rain rarely stops MW, though, and while he was checking it out, I watched the movie and perused the Visitor Center, then headed out to Big Jake to write a bit. Upon his return, MW said the dwellings in the Tsegi Canyon are similar to Mesa Verde, but not as spread out. The Betatakin people lived there in the 13th century, and 100-125 people lived in the cluster of 20-25 households, which includes 135 rooms. They raised corn, beans, and squash and also hunted and gathered plants. The largest village in the park and one of the best preserved in the entire southwest is Keet Seel. However, not too many people see it. You can only get there on a Ranger-guided, 17-mile round trip hike with an elevation change of 1,000′ each way. It requires an orientation and an overnight stay in the primitive Keet Seel Campground, and only 20 people are allowed on each excursion. Don’t know if I could walk 8.5 miles down (and up) 1,000′ for 2 days in a row, but it would be pretty neat to see. MW said the Betatakin village was pretty cool, and he didn’t do a bad job on a few pics for you. (I’m training him well, huh?!)

Rolling again, we continued southwest on US-160, passing through Tuba City, then turned south on US-89 town to Cameron. Along the way the clouds cleared out and we stopped in at the Cameron Trading Post, which came highly recommended by our Navajo guide Hannah. She was definitely not wrong. Originally established in 1916 as a trading post with the Navajo and Hopi Indians, the property today includes a hotel, museum, restaurant, and huge gift shop. If you are looking for Native American jewelry, textiles, or other items, they have lots to choose from. I’ve been looking at turquoise for years during our travels west, and this is the first place I’ve ever seen it paired with gold instead of silver. Interesting! We continued south out of the Navajo Nation and down to Flagstaff and found a Panda Express for lunch. Yum! After that we had to do a bit of highway driving on I-17. The final leg was AZ-260 to Cottonwood and the Dead Horse Ranch State Park.

Friday headed through the maze of mostly motorcycle traffic in town for the Thunder Valley Rally to do laundry. My first stop was Memaw’s Laundry, but I didn’t even go in when the door was blocked open. It was already hot as heck, and no a/c just wasn’t going to fly. Went just down the road to the Super Clean laundry, which was very clean but was also SUPER expensive. I can usually do a load for $4.50 to $5.00, but this place charged $6.50 just for the washers!! I sucked it up and got the chore done. I’m sure another really cheap one will come up to balance it all out. MW wanted me to bring him back a sandwich from the Naughty Burger, so I decided to just hang out there and write for a bit. The waitress was really nice and ended up being from Alabama. They were playing lots of 70s and 80s music, and she and the kitchen staff were all singing along. I’m always impressed when young people know the words to the music of my youth, although some of my Boogers tell me it is because it is, actually, the best music. (Love it!!!??) A local couple sat at the table next to me for a while, and we talked a bit. They moved over from California many years ago and have raised their children in Cottonwood. Now they are thinking about moving further north or east. We chatted for a bit, too. One of my favorite things about traveling is meeting new people. I think talking to strangers was one of those lessons my Mom just finally gave up on. LOL. Aren’t strangers just friends you haven’t met yet?

Saturday morning we got up early and drove over to a trailhead in the park for a little dawn hiking. On the way over, MW saw something moving in the brush beside the road, and a few seconds later a coyote trotted across in front of us. He was fairly young and beautiful, but I wasn’t fast enough for that pic. We started out on what we thought was the right trail, which went down beside the Verde River. There was one open area where we could see the water, but most of the view from the trail was blocked by large brush. We went down river a short ways, and things became pretty overgrown and muddy, which made MW question whether it was the right trail. Just as we turned around, we heard a loud percussion splash like a large boulder hitting the water…ker-sploosh!! What the heck??!! I thought someone on the other side was heaving giant rocks into the river from a cliff or something! We rushed back to the open area, hearing the same noise again on the way. The opposite bank wasn’t really high enough to get that kind of splash, and I didn’t see anyone over there. When it happened again, MW saw the culprit…a BEAVER!! I’ve always heard that they will slap the water to warn off anything that makes them nervous, and we guessed that it heard us along the trail. We finally caught sight of him/her swimming upstream a few seconds later. How cool!! After that, we made our way back up to the trailhead and found the correct trail which took us through the woods back to a pond surrounded by reeds with lots of evidence of recent flooding. It didn’t start heating up until we headed back to Priscilla to get cleaned up.

With a good, long walk under our belts, we headed to Old Town Cottonwood for breakfast at the Old Town Red Rooster Cafe (delicious). Then it was time for a little tourist stop at the Tuzigoot National Monument, which we can actually see from areas in the campground. When these ruins were originally excavated, archeologists noted the mix of styles and traits and thought they were from multiple tribes. More modern interpretations say that the site is either southern Sinagua or part of the Central Arizona Tradition. Either way, the inhabitants appear to have adopted methods, patterns, and ideas from neighbors in the area as artifacts found during excavation have many influences. Tuzigoot had over 100 rooms, and several hundred people are believed to have called it home. They lived here until sometime in the 1300s, then left for unknown reasons. After that it sat empty until excavated in the 1930s and became a National Monument in 1939. One of the things I loved about spending time in Europe was seeing all of the old architecture. In these western pueblos we have structures built a thousand years ago by what some would call “primitive” cultures. I wonder how many would still be standing tall if they had received the same kind of loving care as the European structures have had over the course of their lives? The last stop of the day was at Walgreens, then it was back to Priscilla to relax.

Sunday started with MW making a run to Sedonuts for a bit of coffee and sweet stuff. (Totally delicious donuts!) Then we were off to Sunday School and service at Hope Community Church in Cottonwood. Don gave a very good lesson from 2 Chronicles in Sunday School, then Pastor James Coulter spoke about how God uses the tough things in our lives for the good of us and others. I truly believe that, but think it is sometimes hard to understand in the middle of the storms. After that we made a quick stop at Priscilla so MW could change clothes, then went just down the road to Clarkdale to catch a ride on the Verde Canyon Railroad. You know MW is hooked on trains, and I’m kind of partial, too, so this 4-hour round trip ride out into Verde Canyon was pretty cool. The ticket came with a little bottle of champagne, a snack-sized charcuterie box, and plenty of water, and our seats were at a small table beside a large window. Unsure of the size of the snack, we also purchased sandwiches at the cafe before boarding. We ended up taking those home, though, as the box included crackers, cheese, meats, grapes, and a brownie. It was pretty hot out, so although I did venture out onto the open air car a time or two, I was thankful that there were large windows in the passenger car on both sides that were clean enough to get pics through. There weren’t many animals along the way, although MW did see a few mule deer, and we were surprised to find a handful of small houses along the Verde River out in the middle of nowhere. The guide said they live somewhat off-grid, although we did see some electrical lines. We met several really nice people on the ride, including a young couple and a family from the Phoenix area, a Navy vet and his wife up from Florida, and best friends from Ohio and Texas on a girl trip with the Texan’s niece from Phoenix. (Hello ladies!) The BFFs were both in radiology just like my sister, Kate. Despite it being mostly cloudy, the scenery was spectacular, and you know I ALWAYS enjoy talking to strangers!! It wasn’t until we made it back to Priscilla that MW realized he left his hat hanging on the hook above our table on the train. That put a damper on things, but he left a message at the railroad office in hopes that they would find it before we had to hit the road in the morning.

This is our second stay at Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, Arizona. You can check out the original review from May 2024 (here). Nothing has really changed, and we enjoyed this visit more than we expected upon finding out a motorcycle rally was in town. On Friday and Saturday nights, we could hear the bands playing for Thunder Valley Rally at nearby Riverfront Park. It all went quiet at 10 PM, though, which someone later said was a town requirement. To our surprise, the campground was pretty quiet otherwise except for a few Harley riders coming in late. Over-the-air TV signals were good, as was cell coverage for both Verizon and AT&T. The price increased by more than 50% from our first stay, which might be because it was rally weekend. For this stay in September 2026, we paid just under $51 per night for 4 nights for a back-in site with 50-amp electric and water.

Monday, September 21, started with another call to the railroad office where a nice young lady said she would check and call MW back. Just a few minutes later she did and, thankfully, had the hat in hand, so to speak. While I was getting dressed, he took a drive over to pick it up, then we hit the road about 10 AM with me at the wheel. We retraced our steps over to I-17 and headed south. North of Phoenix we took the AZ-303 loop west to Surprise. There we stopped in at Firebirds Wood Fired Grill for lunch, which was excellent. (MW ordered a deviled egg appetizer that had candied bacon and a jalapeño slice that was pretty good.) Our waiter got my order wrong, and he, the person that delivered it, and the manager all apologized repeatedly. Everyone makes mistakes, and I wasn’t perturbed at all, so we were really surprised when they took my meal off of the tab. Terrific food and great customer service…bonus! After that we continued south to I-10 west. By 2 PM, the truck was registering 107 outside!! I’m REALLY over that!! At AZ-85 we turned south, passing through Gila Bend and traveling all the way down to Ajo and the Shadow Ridge RV Resort.

On Tuesday we pretty much stayed indoors to keep off of the scorched late September earth. We have to be crazy to visit southern Arizona this time of year!! I paid bills and did some writing, and we watched a couple of movies, too. That was about it except for listening to the sound of freedom when the F-16s flew over from Luke Air Force Base. We both LOVE that noise! We were treated to a pretty awesome sunset, too.

Wednesday we were up and out early heading south through Ajo and Why down to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the reason we came down to Ajo. At this park, there are mountains and a lot of desert, and the scenery is spectacular but the big draw is the cacti. Like the saguaro at Saguaro National Park and the Joshua tree at Joshua Tree National Park, the pipe organ cactus is the big dog here. However, this big slice of the Sonoran Desert has plenty of other cacti to pique your interest, and if you’re lucky, some pretty cool animals, too. Created in 1937, this park protects 500 square miles of peaks, springs, and historic structures. It has a pretty cool campground, too, that is full all winter despite having no hookups. We checked out the Visitor Center and drove through the campground. There are several routes in the park for driving and biking, and more than 28 miles of hiking trails. We chose to take the Ajo Mountain Drive, a 21-mile one-way gravel and asphalt road. It was a little washboarded in places, but wasn’t too bad. The scenery was spectacular and totally worth the hour or so it took to drive it.

SIDE NOTE: On the way into the Visitor Center, we passed a memorial to Park Ranger Kris Eggle. He was killed in the line of duty in 2002. At that time, Rangers were being confronted by increased illegal border activity, putting them in danger. On August 9, two men were involved in a violent confrontation in Mexico and fled illegally into the United States in the park. Ranger Eggle, as a public lands law enforcement officer, joined U.S. Border Patrol agents in the pursuit, during which he was shot. After reading about that, I asked the rangers inside if the number of crossings had gone down in the last few years. One of them said “we are not allowed to talk about that”. WHAT??!! I am an American citizen asking a question that is fact-based. It’s simple MATH! Why would anyone be instructed not to answer. However, later I asked one of the Rangers about the safety of hiking this close to the border and was told that “things have gotten much better in the past couple of years.” As you drive into the campground, though, there are large signs that say to be alert for suspicious people and drug activity in the park and to call 911. Ironically, we didn’t have cell signals in the park.

On the way back to town we stopped at the Freeport Ajo Mine Overlook. The New Cornelia mine is an open-pit copper mine that was in business from 1911 to 1985. It is responsible for Ajo’s existence, as the town was initially created as a company town for the mine. The fencing makes it hard to see into the pit, which is about 2,600′ across and 1,100′ at the deepest point. Over the mine’s life, 6.304 BILLION pounds of copper worth almost $42 billion at today’s copper prices. Took a few pics of Ajo for you as we headed towards Priscilla, too.

Shadow Ridge RV Resort is right in Ajo, Arizona, which has a 9-hole golf course, tennis courts, biking trails, several parks for hiking, several churches, and a handful of restaurants. It is also about 35 miles from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Amenities include an office, clubhouse (including pool tables, card room, TV and reading areas, and book/DVD exchange), two laundry rooms, dog run, horseshoe pits, nature trail, and free wifi. Their advertising says they have free cable, but it has been disconnected. Facilities were all very clean and maintained well, but not air-conditioned. (Their big season is winter.) Lodging includes several park model rentals and the campground, which has quite a lot of long-term folks towards the back. There were no over-the-air TV channels, but cell signals were good. The owner’s daughter, Amy, runs the place and was super nice. (Hi Amy!) The sites are nearly all pull-thru, full-hookup, 50-amp, and fairly well spaced for a private park, but some might be a little short for huge rigs. It was pretty warm the first couple of days of our stay, so the bathhouse was hot, even at 5:30 AM. (Everything cooled off on the third morning, so the laundry wasn’t too bad.) There was some road noise, and thanks to the long-term folks who work nearby, a bit of traffic coming and going in the middle of the night. Overall it was a good stop, and we would stay again if in the area. Oh, and if you like animals, you might see javalinas, coyotes, and/or bobcats in the RV park. You will absolutely see quail, dove, and rabbits, which may be why some of the others occasionally show up. I consider that a bonus, but some folks might not. For this visit in September 2026, we paid $40 per night for 3 nights in their off season.

Thursday I changed things up and did the laundry first thing. (We plan to spend some time with our friend Cindy, plus have a lot of errand running to do in Mesa, so it just made sense.) The laundry at the campground was very nice and super clean, but also HOT! I opened the windows and turned on the fan, which helped, but was able to sit outside the door and enjoy the cooler air and a breeze. The skies to the south over Mexico were very dark, and there were storms in several directions. Thankfully, it waited until I finished all of the laundry and made it back to the RV before it started raining. We pulled out of our site at about 10 AM to begin the trek. As we came down the hill at the office, a coyote trotted across the driveway in front of us and passed through the fence around to our left. I guess he was enjoying the cooler air, too! I dropped off the key with Amy in the office, and we turned south on AZ-85 in the rain. Almost immediately I got a text from Amy, who saw us turn and knew our destination was Mesa, saying to be careful of the washes on the reservation. (She was super thoughtful!) Rain in the desert doesn’t soak into the ground quickly like it does back home, and the washes can sometimes fill fast and create rivers. The rain had mostly stopped just a few miles down the road, and the couple of washes we had already passed were still dry, so we decided to continue. After a quick stop for MW’s coffee in Why, we turned east on AZ-86 and entered the Tohono O’Odham Nation Reservation. As we crossed the line, there was a big sign that said no trespassing and something about tribal members only, but then had a lot of fine print that we assumed said where we couldn’t go. Seems like, if they want to get a message across, they would put that stuff in print readable from a vehicle. (MW thinks it had something to do with off-roading.) A few miles further we did end up pulling in briefly at a gas station for MW to change his shirt. (He has a hate/hate relationship with the lids that you get for coffee cups at gas stations!!) Then continued over to BIA-15 and turned north, noting that there were lots of vehicles with occupants that did not appear to be from the res. Upon leaving the res, the road became Chuichu Road and took us into Casa Grande, where we did two things: 1) Stopped at Whataburger for lunch; and 2) Took a short side trip over to another national monument.

As the name says, Casa Grande Ruins National Monument is about a big house, but not what you might be picturing. This one was built around 1350 AD by those the archeologists call the Hohokam (~525 to 1475 AD). It had eleven rooms and at the highest section, was four stories tall. To build it, ~600 beams of juniper, pine, and fir had to be brought from at least 60 miles away. There is evidence in the area of ball courts, irrigation networks, and homes around plazas inside walled compounds. The Hohokam made carved shell jewelry and distinctive pottery with red-on-buff designs. It is believed that Casa Grande was used for somewhere around 50 years, and six of the modern day tribes have oral histories linked to the people who built it. Although this is the only remaining example of a multi-story Hohokam structure, evidence has been found of similar buildings along the Gila River and in the Phoenix area.

Back on the road, we turned east over to N. Attaway Road, then hit Hunt Highway passing through San Tan Valley. At S. Ellsworth Road we continued north up to Usery Mountain Regional Park, arriving around 4 PM. I had a rather urgent errand to run, dropping off my formal gown to dry clean before they closed at 6 PM, so we were both a bit frustrated when it took us a while to get set up. First, the site was off by about 6″ side to side. It was a pull-thru that is basically just moon-shaped off the right side of the road. (The park guy later said they have a hard time with pooling water when it rains, so they keep them angled. I suggested the they aim for no more than 3-4″ in an 8′ span to help with leveling. Same result, but much easier for campers.) By moving Priscilla around a bit, I finally got it into an acceptable range to use our extra board, and setup began. First things first..and I STRONGLY recommend this every time you pull into a campground, we hooked up the electricity. Thankfully, since it was hotter than blue blazes, I also went inside and turned on the main AC. That kicked off the power. We recycled and tried again. Same issue. Well dang!! We are both watching the time and getting frustrated, so we drove back up to the front gate to see if there was another site we could move to. With several options, we headed back, but realized on the way that the issue might not be affecting the 30-amp outlet. It wasn’t…yay!! We got her set up with a few minutes to spare for me to make the deadline. (There are very few places to get dry cleaning done within a day or two, so we didn’t want to chance missing this one with the wedding in just a few weeks.) When I finally made it back at 6:30ish, I was exhausted!

Friday morning started at 5:30 AM so that we could do some walking outdoors without spontaneous combustion! We drove about 45 minutes over to Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior, Arizona. After the overnight rain, everything was beautiful in this awesome place! In the early 1920s, Colonel William Boyce Thompson built a winter home overlooking Queen Creek. A few years later, he founded the arboretum in Queen Creek Canyon around his house. The stock market collapse in 1929 and Thompson’s death the following year left the arboretum teetering financially, but thanks to several different partnerships, including the University of Arizona and Arizona State Parks, the gardens survived. Today the arboretum is again managed by an independent non-profit. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been named an Audubon Important Birding Area. The park is also home of “Mr. Big”, the largest known Longboat Eucalyptus (or River Redeem) in the country. There are about 5 miles of trails that lead you through a variety of environments, most of which are desert from various parts of the world. Lots of birds, rabbits, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other things inhabit the 400 acres. There were LOTS of warning signs about rattlesnakes, and the wildlife sightings board up front listed kangaroo mouse, black racer, and coatimundi. I had no idea that last one lived in the United States! The sun was behind clouds for more than half of our time there, so the walk was wonderful. We were surprised to find a nice pond area and a river bed that was cool and humid. There were LOTS of cacti that we had never seen, and it was totally worth the visit.

We finished up just as the temps were getting too warm and headed back to Mesa, stopping at Walgreens, Costco, and Target for supplies on the way. Lunch was sandwiches at Freddy’s. Full disclosure…I had custard, too. Then it was back to Priscilla to relax for a while before heading over to visit our friend Cindy Moore. (You may remember Bill and Cindy from our Navy vs. Air Force trip a few years ago. Bill passed away in February, and this is our first visit since his memorial service.) We spent the evening visiting, watching Navy, sadly, lose to UAB, and having supper. We really enjoyed the time, but by the time we made it back to the campground, it was time for bed!

On Saturday morning we headed out to meet Cindy for breakfast at Lucky Lou’s American Kitchen, which was very good. Then MW headed back to Priscilla, picking up the dry cleaning and an order at O’Reilly’s on the way. Cindy and I spent the afternoon shopping, first for wedding shoes for me, then for furniture ideas for her. It was really great to get some “girl” time, too! We met MW for supper at Firebirds Wood Fire Grill, and this time he was able to get that delicious-looking prime rib he’s been craving. We ended our visit with Cindy and me talking about a trip together, which would be lots of fun! Back at the campground we were treated to another beautiful sunset.

Sunday morning started with Sunday School and services at Valley Baptist Church in Mesa. Then, after lunch at Mickey’s Restaurant (just pass on this one), we relaxed back at the campground. It was fairly hot outside during the day, so a couple of movies and the a/c kept us indoors.

This was our second visit at Usery Mountain Regional Park, and here is the full review from May 2024. Nothing has changed except an increase in price of about $7 per night. Our site was a pull-thru with electric and water. It was supposed to be 50-amp, but as previously noted, that side was throwing a ground fault, so we ended up with 30-amp for the duration of our stay. It worked out fine, though, as we can run both a/cs on that. Also noted before, there are some issues with leveling on the pull-thru sites, so a back-in might be the best option. They have sites that can fit any rig, though. This park is spectacularly beautiful, though, and right on the edge of Mesa and the entire Phoenix area. We would definitely stay again. For this stay in September 2026, we paid just under $43 per night.

Well, that’s a LOT, and I guarantee my Mom is ready for it to end for now! LOL. Next up…Back to Deming, Through Texas, and on to Louisiana. See you on the path!

Talisa

Sources: Attraction, campground, and venue websites, literature, signage, and displays; wikipedia; Merlin; and Apple search.

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