Salt Lake City

July 20 - July 26, 2015

After I moved to Florida in Dec 2009, my friend Betty got me involved with a paper crafting club she belongs to. The club's leader, Sandy Mitchell, is a "demonstrator" with a Salt Lake City based company called Stampin' Up. It took me a few visits but, eventually, I was hooked. Since then I've become a demonstrator myself, and making greeting cards has become my hobby. Actually, anything you can make with paper is my hobby. I made 150 favors for my daughter's wedding last September. I made the centerpieces for our family party on the 4th in New Mexico, and I've also made various banners, table favors, and holiday gifts, all out of paper. Since January, I've been offering papercrafting classes in my craft room at home. OK, so maybe it's less of a hobby and more of an obsession! It's the first time I've been able to do anything that's remotely artistic. 

One of the perks of being a demonstrator is being able to attend the annual Stampin' Up convention in Salt Lake City. I  went last year with several friends and had a blast. I was determined to find a way to get there again this year.

Rick and I arrived in Salt Lake City on Monday, two days before convention began. We parked the RV at the Salt Lake City KOA. It was the best reviewed campground in the area and was directly on the light rail line. Since the Salt Palace, the city's convention center where the convention was to be held, was only two blocks from another place that the train stopped, it was the best alternative. But it wasn't much to look at and was in an industrial area. 

The night we arrived we took the train into town and spent some time checking out Temple Square. It encompasses 35 park-like acres in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City. Inside the iron gates leading into the square, are beautiful gardens, and nearly 20 buildings and monuments relating to the Mormon religion and Utah pioneer history.

The centerpiece of Temple Square is the huge Salt Lake Temple. The Temple was built by Mormon pioneers over 40 years, between 1853 and 1893. Special ceremonies like marriage and baptism are performed in the temple, but regular Sunday services are held elsewhere. No tours were available since only church members may enter.

On Wednesday night I met some friends for dinner on the top floor of the beautiful Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The restaurant is able to retract its roof, revealing a wonderful view of the sky. It also has beautiful views of Temple Square and the city. But, in keeping with church teachings, it serves no alcohol or beverages containg caffeine. Lower floors house an immense genealogy library which is also open to non-LDS researchers. This gorgeous lobby is the site of many wedding receptions.

We had unwittingly arrived in SLC in the middle of its annual "Days of 47 Celebration" which celebrates the arrival of the Mormon pioneers to the city in 1847. A week of community and family festivities ends with a big parade and fireworks. Riick offered to take me in to the Salt Palace on Friday but we found ourselves stuck in the middle of the parade route. I got out of the car and hoofed it for the last five or six blocks. At least I got to, fleetingly, see all of the floats. It was quality stuff!

Finding ones way around in SLC can be tough. It has a bizarre system of naming and numbering its streets which is really hard for newcomers to figure out. Addresses consist of two sets of numbers and two directions. For example an address would be listed as 444 West 100 South. Hunh? Apparently you need to think of it like latitude and longitude or grid coordinates. I guess that once you get used to it it makes sense, but I've got to say, I never got used to it.

One of the most fun parts about convention isn't planned by Stampin' Up. Most people participate in card swapping. Some "swaps" are organized ahead of time and have a theme and you have to sign up for them before convention. In the hours before convention begins, thousands of women are milling around and trading cards that they have made ahead of time. I made and traded about 150 cards. There were women there who had many times that number to swap. In any event, I made about 150 of 3 different cards and came back with 150 different cards. Here are the 3 cards that I made to swap:

My friend Meredith Liebman from Boston and I met up on the day before convention began and rode a bus out to Stampin' Up's headquarters where we were able to tour the building, and the distribution center. That afternoon we participated in a "shoebox swap" where we actually made 18 cards that other demonstrators had designed.

                                    That's Meredith on the left side of the sign.

Here's a shot of my friends from my group in Florida. From left, Bev, Sandy, Sally and Janice. Janice and I forgot our shirts.

These are my 3 favorite cards that others designed and I made during the "shoebox swap."

And these are my favorite cards that I received during other swaps, both organized and unorganized. The one on the bottom right was actually given to me for my birthday while we were at convention by Sandy Mitchell, but I like it so much that I had to include it. Isn't it gorgeous? I think she even purposefully used my 2 favorite Stampin' Up colors! Thanks again, Sandy. I love it!

Arches and Canyonland

July 13 - July 17, 2015

Our next stop was Moab, UT. It's a scenic location, surrounded by red rocks and mountains. Best of all, it's centrally located for visits to both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. We landed in the Portal RV Resort, a beautifully landscaped ownership RV park. It had a nice pool and hot tub which we enjoyed.

Many movies, TV shows, and commercials have been shot in the Moab area, some inside the two national parks. City Slickers, Rio Grande, Thelma and Louise, and Wagon Master are just a few of the many.

Our first stop was Arches National Park which is only 6 miles from Moab. It contains the largest collection of natural stone arches in the country (around 2000.) It's a bizarre yet beautiful setting that might as well have been Mars.  We spent a pleasant day touring the park and enjoyed several hikes. One longer hike was to the "Delicate Arch." That's Rick in blue at the base of the arch. You can enlarge this and any other pictures in this blog by clicking on them.

This shot and the next one show different parts of the way cool hike to the "delicate arch." It was a challenging yet rewarding hike which I don't think I could have done 2 years ago on our last big adventure. Thank you Kathi Marler! Thank you Sybil Yocum! Thank you Jenny Craig!

We took another shorter hike to the "Landscape Arch."

Below is an example of the red rocks that are everywhere in this park.

We spent another day in Canyonlands National Parks' Island in the Sky district. The Green and Colorado rivers are the primary architects of this area where flat layers of sedimentary rock have been cut into many canyons, mesas, arches, and spires. We took several shorter hikes and drove the main road in the "Island in the Sky" section. It  was a full day!

But it wasn't all about national parks in Moab. Rick has been playing golf in some really different golf courses. Here's a picture he took of the golf course at the Moab Country Club where he played.

I stayed back at the RV making cards for my upcoming visit to Salt Lake City and the Stampin' Up convention. Here's what my dinette table looked like when Rick got back.

Does this Look Like a Coyote to you?

July 10 - July 13, 2015

We left Colorado Springs and headed for Montrose, CO, and a national park called Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It was a lovely drive following the Arkansas river through the mountains. We enjoyed the scenery which included rafters on the white water.

On the way we pulled into a Walmart to eat some lunch and do a little grocery shopping. When we went to leave, the engine wouldn't start. The battery monitor showed a full charge but the engine wouldn't crank. We called the roadside assistance and settled in to wait for service. While we were waiting Rick tried to start it one more time and it started! He turned it off and tried again, and once more, nothing. A few minutes later, it started again. We called the roadside assistance again and were told that if we were no longer "disabled" we were responsible for seeking repairs on our own but that they would help us if we broke down again. Afraid to turn it off again, we continued on to Montrose, leaving the engine running the whole time, even when we stopped.

We had reservations at the campground at Black Canyon of the Gunnison. We had made reservations for one campsite for the first night and another site for the next two nights. Unfortunately, the second site was way too small for us, though the website had said that it was appropriate for our length vehicle (35 feet 8 inches.) But another bizarre event made us anxious to leave that campground post haste. Several mule deer in the area had recently given birth and the coyotes had been harassing them, trying to get the babies. When Rick was walking SiSi, a doe emerged from the woods and started to come toward them. It continued to advance on them, so Rick turned and began to walk the other way. But the deer continued to run toward them, chasing them out of the area! Another camper had to put her car between Rick and the deer in order to get it to back off! After it happened again the next day we reported the incidents to the camp host and he told us that a deer had recently attacked a woman who was walking her dog, putting her in the hospital for 10 days. Apparently the deer thought that SiSi looked like a coyote.

We moved to a really nice private campground, Centennial RV Park, outside of the park in Montrose and spent a few days touring the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. The canyon is "black" because of the color of the rocks and because the rims are so close together that very little sunlight enters the canyon. Unlike most of the other western national parks, Black Canyon is relatively dog friendly (unless you count the deer.) We were happy to be able to take SiSi on one of the hikes that we went on and to the short trails to the overlook points. Here are a few pictures from those walks.

When it was time to leave Black Canyon, we got everything packed and ready to go and, you guessed it, the engine wouldn't start. Luckily we got a wonderful mobile service to come out to our RV, diagnose the problem (a bad starter), come back with a new one, and install it. And best of all, the price was reasonable. If you're ever in the Montrose CO area and need service, I highly recommend Gary's Garage. Thanks, Gary.

 

Colorado Springs

July 6 - July 10, 2015  

I've really gotten behind on this blog. A combination of time spent without an internet connection and a busy schedule has kept me away. I'll try to catch up over the next few days.

We left Santa Fe with Mark, Cristin, and Avery on our way to four nights in Colorado Springs. The weather wasn't great. We had rain off and on the whole time with highs in the fifties and sixties. What a change from the 100 plus temperatures we had had in Arizona just a few days before. We stayed in a beautiful state park called Cheyenne Mountain State Park. The park had full hookups (unusual for a state park) and gorgeous 360 degree views of nearby mountains and the city of Colorado Springs below. Unfortunately, the bad weather was accompanied by fog, and we never had a chance to enjoy the view. And although the city supposedly lies in the shadow of Pikes Peak, we never saw it! Rick took this photo of a mule deer from our campground and also captured our view of the mountains on the clearest day that we had.

We spent a fun mostly dry day at the zoo but we were all in sweatshirts and jackets. Avery wasn't too sure about the giraffes and wanted no part of feeding them.

She loved "walking" SiSi, though.

We spent another day at a county park called the Garden of the Gods. It's a lovely area with beautiful red rocks. We took a pretty lame jeep tour of the area which ended in a downpour.

Happy Birthday Sally, Irdie, and USA!

July 3rd - July 6th, 2015

     SiSi was all decked out for Independence Day

Rick's son Mark, his wife Cristin, and their 21 month old daughter, Avery, met us in Scottsdale and stayed with Matt for a few days. When we left Scottsdale for Santa Fe, the 3 of them rode along in the RV with us. It was a much longer ride than we anticipated...it took us about 9 1/2 hours door to door. Cristin is expecting another baby (Cora) in October. I think Avery and Cristin were both happy to have the extra room while traveling in the Liberty.

We were traveling to Santa Fe to celebrate my father's 90th birthday and my 60th. We stayed in a decent little RV park close to town and Mark, Cristin and Avery stayed in a Marriott Courtyard just a few doors down.

It was an amazing weekend! My daughter Emmy flew in from State College, PA. My daughter Abby and husband Joe flew in from New Orleans. My father's five children and spouses, three step-children and spouses, 13 grandchildren and spouses, and 7 great-grandchildren were ALL in attendance. Two of my step-mother's brothers came with their wives, and my son-in-law, Joe's, parents drove over from Arizona.

The weekend kicked off with a fun cocktail party at my parents' house. Here's dad with one of many birthday cakes he had that weekend!

The next morning my two beautiful daughters organized a small birthday brunch for me at a local hotel where we had good food and good times. We then spent the afternoon at a big party hosted by my step-brother Ronnie and his wife Karen, at their amazing house. Ronnie and Karen have a huge walled back yard which is half flagstone patio and half sandbox. Where the patio ends they have several flagstone benches around a firepit, and they have, literally, made the rest of the yard one huge sandbox.

Avery had a blast in the "sandbox." Between it and the birthday cake she was happy for hours.

 Did I mention that the party was on Independence Day? We even had live entertainment at the party by one of the guys who plays in Ronnie's band.

And here's one of the favors that I made for the tables.

   A good view of the sandbox back yard with my daugter's Emmy and Abby in the foreground.

              Dad posing with most of his grandkids and one of the great-grandkids.

                              The birthday boy and my step-mother, Florence.

Most of the family left town on Sunday morning, but a few of us stayed on. We had a great dinner that evening at the restaurant where Ronnie's country band was performing. 

                Ronnie's in the white shirt on the keyboards and that's Avery dancing.

Arizona in July

June 29 -July 3, 2015

When we left the New Mexico mountains we were headed for Scottsdale, AZ to visit Rick's son Matt and our daughter-in-law, Trish. It was a steep descent from Cloudcroft, but the Liberty's tow/haul function kept us off the runaway truck ramps. 

We use a GPS that is made for RVers. We program it with our height, weight, and length and it is supposed to keep us on appropriate roads. We also can tell it to avoid u-turns and ferries (it tried to put us on a ferry on our way to Galveston.) It's a wonderful tool, but it's not infallible. There is a tendency for the navigator (me) to become complacent and rely on it too much. So I was very nervous when we rounded a switchback and saw this tunnel.

It turns out that we had plenty of room to spare, but I'm always nervous about low clearance. Early in our RVing career we had a bad experience with a low clearance on the American side of Niagara Falls, but that's a story for another day.

Once we got to the bottom of the mountain and headed west, the landscape became less and less green and more and more brown, red, and desert-like. It also began to be hotter and hotter. We passed through the White Sands National Monument. We considered stopping for a look, but it was hot, and we missed the entrance because the navigator had her head in a AAA guide book instead of looking out for the visitor's center! But even from a distance we could see the huge snow white sand dunes that are created when rain and melting snow dissolve gypsum from the surrounding mountains. According to the AAA guidebook that I had my head in, the runoff turns into a seasonal lake. "Desert heat evaporates (the lake), causing gypsum crystals to form. Dry winds expose the crystals, eroding them into sand-sized particles that are blown into the dune field." The area is also home to the White Sands Missle Range which is where the first man-made atomic explosion was made in 1945.

As an Easterner, I am always shocked when I find myself in a roadblock where I'm questioned about my citizenship while traveling in the southwest. These checkpoints are not at the border. They are on various roads that are wholly within the US. We were quite annoyed at the long line we had to wait in in New Mexico.

After spending a night on the road, we finally landed at our RV park in Scottsdale. Did I say RV park? This place was really more of a trailer park! I usually do a pretty good job of finding a good place to park the RV, but sometimes I don't. I use a combination of the Good Sam campground listings and reviews on rvparkreviews.com. I rely heavily on the reviews since they are more likely to tell you the things that you really want to know, like "does the wifi work", is there a Verizon signal", or "is there a train nearby." But this time the reviews failed me. Twice.

After leaving our idyllic campground in New Mexico's Sacramento Mountains, we had to find a place to overnight on our way to Scottsdale, and I found a well-reviewed campground in Benson, AZ. The Cochise Terrace RV Resort mostly caters to "snowbirds" but has a few spots for those who are just passing through. None of the reviewers mentioned that the transient spots were an actual parking lot with hookups. And that blacktop held the heat for quite a while after the sun was finally down. But the real problem was that they required dogs to be taken to a wash behind the campground for them to do their business. Oh and watch out for the rattlesnakes while you're out there and don't go after dark.  And don't let your dog pee on any of the landscaping. How you're supposed to stop a dog who's been inside overnight from peeing is beyond me. The beautiful views, hot tub, and $19.50 rate (with our Passport America discount) made up for Cochise Terrace's other shortcomings.

My big screw-up was with our parking place in Scottsdale. There should have been a red flag when I found that there was no listing in the Good Sam book. And I should have questioned why the most recent review was from 2013 and why every review was written by folks who stayed for a few months. But, in any event, we spent 3 nights in a trailer park in downtown Scottsdale with no shade and 105+ temperatures each day.

It's easy to get dehydrated in the desert heat in Arizona. When we went out to grab some lunch the waitress left these two pitchers on our table! I guess that was enough to get re-hydrated!

Matt took this shot of me with SiSi and his sweet new puppy, Quinn. SiSi wasn't amused with her puppy antics. She just didn't get why SiSi didn't want to play

Here's a shot from Matt's back yard.
  

Searching for Higher Ground

June 25 - June 28, 2015

After a night on the road at a KOA campground in Carlsbad, NM, we spent the weekend with Rick's brother Mark and our sister-in-law, Carmen. Mark and Carmen live in El Paso, and they suggested that we meet in the tiny town of Mayhill, NM, elevation 6700'. We stayed in a wonderful little campground called Deer Spring. It was at the top of a mountain. High temperatures ranged from 78 - 82 and we needed a quilt at night. We were happy to have the first cool temperatures of our trip!

We took turns entertaining each other for dinner and visited a quaint little town called Cloudcroft which, at 8600' elevation, was, literally, in the clouds. We spent a pleasant afternoon shopping at some cute boutiques and lunching at the local pub.

Here we are in front of Mark and Carmen's new RV. I knew I should have bought that selfie stick!

                    The deer that gave the campground its name came out at twilight.