4/15/09 Today we are camped at Beaver Creek Forest Service campground, with Mike & Marilyn again, not far from Sedona, AZ. It is VERY WINDY, so we are sitting tight except for driving in the car to nearby Cliff Castle Casino for the discount senior lunch. Getting as old as we are definitely has its difficulties, but also some advantages, such as senior discounts and camping for half price using the Golden Age Pass. We have to use these perks quickly before someone in charge gets the idea to eliminate them. Elaine is very happy because she finally was old enough in January to get this pass and now she is using it. This is a fairly nice little campground with only 12 sites and right on Beaver Creek. The first night we were here, Elaine went over to the campground hosts to give them some lemons from her aunt's tree in Tucson, and they gave her 2 nice trout which Jerry had caught in the creek right here. Then he, and his wife, Greta, joined us several afternoons at our Happy Hour campfire.
Here is a picture of the creek area:

Just about 1/2 mile from here there is a Sinagua Indian petroglyph site called the V bar V Heritage Site. There used to be a big ranch here but way back on the property are some red rock cliffs with flat rock faces where there are good petroglyphs. Here are a few of the pictures.


The interesting thing about this site is that the sun comes through a notch in the nearby rocks and hits the drawings at different places depending on the time of the year. So when the sun hits certain drawings at the various seasons, the drawings tell them when to plant, harvest, etc.
Another day we went with Mike & Marilyn to drive through Oak Creek Village and Sedona to see some of the very impressive red rock formations. It is always amazing to approach the area and it is fairly flat and boring and then up pops some of the monoliths, such as Bell Rock, or Cathedral Rock, and you are just bowled over with the grandeur of it all.
Here are a couple of the pictures we took on that drive:
Mike & Marilyn


Yesterday Elaine and I drove over there again and took a 4 mile hike which started on one side of Cathedral Rock, went along Oak Creek part of the way, and went around to the other side of Cathedral Rock where some people were climbing up it. We decided to skip the climbing up part because we were already a bit tired and didn’t want to have a fall. It was a somewhat windy day, which worked in our favor because it helped keep us cool as we hiked. At a spot near Oak Creek, someone had hung a big swing and it was really fun to try it out for a few minutes. Here are a few of the pictures from the hike.
Mary & Cathedral Rocks

Elaine On The Oak Creek Swing

Monday we four drove through Cottonwood, Jerome, and over to Prescott to visit our old friends, Art & Sammie Wilson. They used to be members of Park Sierra and have now purchased a place in a mobile home park in Prescott, and have sold their RV. It was fun to see that they are doing very well physically, have done a wonderful job of fixing up their new home, and are so happy with Prescott. They showed us all around and we saw that Prescott is a charming place, especially in the old town. There has been lots of growth there too, so every major store is also there, plus a huge Veteran’s Hospital, and many other facilities for retired people. We had a delicious pizza lunch at a place called Bill’s Pizza, right across from the old courthouse building in the main square. The pizza might be the best I have ever had, and there were lots of good beer choices too, plus homemade root beer. If you are ever in Prescott, eat here!! Then we had Key Lime pie at Sammie’s – yum. Art has been spending 2 days a week doing volunteer work, driving people to medical appointments for the Red Cross and also the Veterans Admin. Sammie is taking a gardening class and also helps feed some elderly shut-in people at their mobile home park. Such great friends and wonderful people, and always full of laughs and fun.

Mary Holds Art & Sammie's Dog, Abby

It will be sad to leave Mike & Marilyn again but they have to head for Phoenix for a medical appointment and we are going to head north. I am trying to see my sister, Marsha, in Denver on our way to Illinois to see Elaine’s family. Normally by now the weather would be very Spring-like and warm. But we are finding that every few days it seems like another big storm goes through here and dumps more snow in areas we have to drive through on the way to Denver. In fact, there is a 70% chance of snow there again this weekend! While we are waiting for better weather, we are heading over to Meteor Crater to visit our friend, Frank Pease, who was one of the camp hosts with us at Lake Kachess 2 summers ago.