Mogollon Rim

This was our third research trip. We visited many campgrounds along the Mogollon Rim including Chevelon Crossing.

We stayed at Knoll Lake.

Fort Apache Indian Reservation

This was our second research trip. We stayed at Pacheta Lake.

We are writers!

Kelly and I have been contracted to write The Best in Tent Camping for Arizona book! A friend from my hiking group wrote a book for this publishing company and got me in touch with them. This book is one of a series of books that they are creating for all 50 states. Kelly and I get to choose the top 50 campgrounds that will be included in the book. The book is due to the editor by mid April so that means we have to visit several campgrounds a weekend!

So last weekend we visited our first campround, Lockett Meadow in Flagstaff. This is one of our favorite campgrounds especially in the fall when the aspens change color.


We also visited Canyon Visa, Lakeview, Pinegrove, Ashurst Lake, and Forked Pine campgrounds. We decided to camp at Kinnikinick Lake campground. We found a campsite with a view of the lake and were able to watch the sunrise in the morning from our tent.



The next day we ate at the Mormon Lake Lodge and visited Double Springs, Dairy Springs, and Clints Well campgrounds. Mormon Lake is completely dry right now but there was some water near Mormon Lake Village.



We saw western grebes, western bluebirds, mountain bluebirds, lark sparrows, western meadowlarks, osprey and western tiger swallowtails.



We also saw a lot of cows, some new flowers I haven't identified yet, and a totem pole with gnomes.

New Wildflower Blog

I just created a new blog to list all of the wildflowers we've seen in Arizona. You can view it at www.azwildflowers.blogspot.com. If you can help me identify them, please post notes!

Cancer is Preventable!

On the first Friday of every month the streets of downtown Phoenix become alive as all of the art galleries keep their doors open late into the night. It started as the idea of one gallery owner but it has morphed into one huge block party with people selling art out of the back of rental vans on the street, bands playing, and hoards of people. Of course, I love it. Also, on every First Friday, the Arizona Science Center does Adults Night Out where admission is free. There is always a lecture and either an IMAX movie or planetarium show. This First Friday we went to see Dr. David Alberts, the director of the Arizona Cancer Center in Tucson. Cancer has surpassed heart disease and is now the leading cause of death in Americans. Dr. Alberts said the best way to prevent cancer is to stop smoking, get at least three hours a week of physical activity (such as brisk walking), eat a low-fat diet with at least 5 servings a day of fruits and vegetables, limit your alcohol intake, and get regular health screenings. Dr. Alberts didn't go into great detail about antioxidants or free radicals, he just said get some exercise and eat healthily. Things our mothers used to tell us. He did give one statistic that really surprised me. He said that women who drink a half a glass of wine a day have an 40% increased chance of getting breast cancer. So moderation is the key. Now every night while we walk the dog, we thank her for helping us prevent cancer. More information about cancer prevention can be found at the American Cancer Society website or in Dr. Alberts book, Fundamentals of Cancer Prevention.

Year 2006 in Review

I didn't send out Christmas cards this year so this will have to suffice. This is what happened this year. Kelly and I brought in the new year at the Tempe Block Party. They close all of Mill Avenue and have elephant rides, motorcross events, fireworks and beer!

Over MLK Day we celebrated our one-year anniversary by committing to each other. We rented a cabin that overlooked the lake at Roper Lake State Park. Roper Lake is at the base of Mt. Graham and has hot springs in the park. We also drove down to Willcox for the Wings Over Willcox celebration and watched the sandhill cranes take off over the Willcox Playa.

I've read there are two types of people: those who have driven Schnebly Hill Road and those who haven't. We now have. It's a scenic 4WD road that gives you great views of Sedona. It used to be the main road from Sedona to Flagstaff. We stopped and had a picnic and watched the sunset.

In February Kelly had to pick up a piece of equipment in LA for work so I came with and we spent some time in Joshua Tree National Park. I ended up losing a crown on this trip and made Kelly take me home.

In March we canoed down the Colorado River starting at Hoover Dam. This is one of my favorite trips with the hot springs, bighorn sheep, and great scenery. But this year we had a strong headwind and ended up towing our friend who was unable to paddle her canoe by herself.

Also in March my mom and sister came to visit. We went down to Tucson and went horseback riding and went to the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. We drove down to Sonoita/Patagonia and went to the wineries and it was snowing! They had flown from Minnesota to get away from the snow and here we take them to the only snowy place in Arizona. We rented a cabin in the Santa Rita Mountains and went on a birdwatching tour.


In May we went to the Chihuahua Races in Chandler.

Also in May Kelly and I went to Minnesota for Holly and Corey's wedding.


At the end of May I was a bridemaid in Coreen and Nathan's wedding. Our friends, David and Sarah, also got married this year but we were unable to attend their wedding since it was the same day as Coreen and Nathan's.


In June we had one more wedding to attend. This was the wedding of Kelly's friends from college in Baltimore, Dave and Marni.

We also went canoeing while we were in Baltimore at the Loch Raven Reservoir.

Back in Arizona we went kayaking on the Blue Ridge Reservoir with some friends in a borrowed inflatable kayak. Afterwards we went to the members' opening party at the Lowell Observatory.

In June Kikona was having bladder stones and had to have them surgically removed. She had to wear a cone on her head for a week and hated it! Between my two cats and Kelly's two cats and dog, we have a lot of critters in our two-bedroom house. Kelly installed a cat door and enclosed the porch so there is now more room for all of us.

In July we spent a weekend up in Show Low and hung our hammocks among the pines at Fool Hollow State Park. We did some hiking and found one of my favorite caches so far (GC9DF2).

We went on an edible desert hike at Spur Cross Ranch Regional Park and learned how to harvest the fruit from prickly pear cactus and saguaros. We also went to a class at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum to learn how to juice prickly pear fruit. We had prickly pear margaritas and afterwards Kelly and I wanted to make our own. We drove around Scottsdale until we found a prickly pear cactus with ripe fruit. We had tongs and a paper bag with us and began plucking the fruit. But we were chased away when a car drove past us slowly and then turned around to come after us. The fruit had bugs in it and I got grossed out and never made the margaritas.


For my birthday, we rented a cabin at Hannagan Meadow in the White Mountains. We spent the weekend geocaching and hiking.

In August we went to the Harvest Festival at the Sonoita Vineyards. We tasted some wine and were able to stomp some grapes!

At the end of August we went camping on Mt. Lemmon in Tucson with some friends from the Take a Hike group. We had a great time identifying flowers, mushrooms and wildlife.



Over labor day we went to LA to visit Kelly's friend, Aga. She lives very close to the beach and has learned how to surf. Gracie got to experience the ocean for the first time.


In October, we went hiking in Flagstaff, caching in Pine, and went to Young's Farm for the Pumpkin Festival with Coreen, Nathan and Piera in Dewey.

For Halloween, I dressed as a tourist and Kelly as a welder. We both cheated by taking clothing out of our normal wardrobes. We went to Coreen's annual Halloween/birthday bash.


Our friends, The Strandbergs (see May), also came to visit. We spent a nice afternoon touring Tempe. We went up to the hole in the rock and ate at Arcadia Farms and Four Peaks.

In November, Kelly and I went to a class at Usery Regional Park to learn how to take digital pictures of the desert sunset. Afterwards we took a ranger-lead hike under the full moon.


Also in November, Kelly and I went to Dry Beaver Creek to see fall colors.

For Thanksgiving, I went to Kelly's parents' house in Alpine, Texas, a small town in mountains of the western part of the state. All of her family were very nice and we had very good visit.

For Christmas, I went home to Minnesota and had a lovely time with my family and friends. This is a picture of me with my sister and cousins.


Some other news for which I have no photos. In April I moved in with Kelly. She owns a condo in Tempe. We carpool to work. In the fall we had a pipe leak underneath the concrete slab of our house. We could hear water running and feel heat radiating from the tile floor. We had a plumber come out and he rerouted the pipes over the roof so he didn't have to break the concrete slab. And since the leak was underneath the concrete, the homeowner's association paid for it! I have made a commitment to paying off my debt and have already paid off several loans. I probably won't be debt free for another couple of years, but I have an emergency fund saved and for the first time in my life I don't have to rely on my credit cards. We went to the Pet Shop Boys concert at the State Fair. It was fabulous! This year I finished my 200-hour yoga teacher training program at the SouthWest Institute for Healing Arts (SWIHA) and am now teaching a gentle class at a studio in Phoenix. Earlier in December I attended the funeral of a friend, Jeff Johnson, who died in a car accident and Kelly flew to Monaco for work for the motion capture dance performance, motione, and then she spent a couple of days in London.

So that's all we've been up to. I hope this blog finds you happy and healthy and I hope everyone has a happy new year!

Such a sad face

This was emailed to me yesterday. I can't get this kitty's face out of my head. Here's the URL: http://shadowdane.shackspace.com/cats.htm

Arizona Election Results

Kelly and I did our civic duty yesterday by getting up early and casting our votes. The night before we stayed up into the wee hours of the night reading the proposals. We ripped our proposal pamphlet in half and took turns reading each half. I'm glad I voiced my opinion since there are some pretty interesting (scary) proposals out there. Here are some examples of how Arizona voted:

Prop 100: 78% voted yes to prohibit bail to illegal immigrants who have committed a serious felony offense.

Prop 103: 74% voted yes for English as the official language. Representatives of the state or local govement are now required to conduct all business in English.

Prop 107: 51% voted no to 'protect marriage' by defining it as a union between one man and one woman and prohibiting a legal status for unmarried people that is similar to marriage. If this had passed, it could have aversly affected the employer benefits of many domestic partners.

Prop 200: 66% voted no to the idea of having a $1 million lottery for people who vote in both the primaries and general election.

Prop 201: 54% voted yes to ban smoking in all public places. Yay!

Prop 202: 66% voted yes to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $6.75 an hour.

Prop 203: 53% voted yes to tax the smokers to establish an Early Childhood Development and Health Fund

Prop 205: 71% voted no to the idea of requiring all voting to be done by mail. The people who thought up this one must have much more confidence in the USPS than I do! Speaking of which, did you see the article about the absentee ballot that was mailed with a rare stamp worth approximately $525,000? The best part: The ballot was disqualified because it contained no identification! The full story is here: http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/1108rare-stamp08-ON.html