Wednesday We drove the 60 odd miles further west to arrive in Bodega Bay, we are camped on a large sand spit at the mouth of the Bay. It is cloudy and foggy, the temperature is down to about 60, however the Ranger's greeting included 'and the weather is real good here today'. This part of the coast is always shrouded in mist, if not downright foggy. Only a few miles inland it will probably be bright sunshine. It is so green after all the desert we have been in. Misty is one step away from myst'eri'ous, which includes eerie, leaning towards spooky. The houses are all dark brown or green (to reduce impact on the visual environment). All this goes to creating, or self fulfilling, the atmosphere for which this town is most famous. It is the setting for Hitchcock's 'The Birds'. We are here partly to see how much reality there is in the Hollywood creation. Having arrived by lunch time we took a ride out to Bodega Headland in the afternoon, where we could look back across the bay to the town. It is very pretty. In fact this is probably the most Yorkshire looking landscape we have seen this side of the Mississippi.
Showing posts with label Arizona State Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arizona State Park. Show all posts
Friday, April 26, 2013
Bodega Bay
Wednesday We drove the 60 odd miles further west to arrive in Bodega Bay, we are camped on a large sand spit at the mouth of the Bay. It is cloudy and foggy, the temperature is down to about 60, however the Ranger's greeting included 'and the weather is real good here today'. This part of the coast is always shrouded in mist, if not downright foggy. Only a few miles inland it will probably be bright sunshine. It is so green after all the desert we have been in. Misty is one step away from myst'eri'ous, which includes eerie, leaning towards spooky. The houses are all dark brown or green (to reduce impact on the visual environment). All this goes to creating, or self fulfilling, the atmosphere for which this town is most famous. It is the setting for Hitchcock's 'The Birds'. We are here partly to see how much reality there is in the Hollywood creation. Having arrived by lunch time we took a ride out to Bodega Headland in the afternoon, where we could look back across the bay to the town. It is very pretty. In fact this is probably the most Yorkshire looking landscape we have seen this side of the Mississippi.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
April 4th - Buckskin Mountain and Lake Havasu
Thursday We are now heading North along the East side of the Colorado River to visit Lake Havasu. We took AZ Highway 95, which is long and very straight, cutting straight through the Yuma Army Proving Grounds to Quartzsite. (not to be confused with the CA Highway 95, which runs up the West side of the Colorado River, although at one point, in Needles they actually meet on a bridge cross the Colorado). WE now left the Sonoran Desert, seeing that last Saguaro somewhere south of Parker. We stopped just North of Parker at the very pretty AZ Buckskin Mountain state Park, right on the edge of the river. A beautiful park only marred by the enormous number of recreational boats moving up and down the river, jet skis, ski boats, pontoon boats, power boats. Good fun to watch, but a constant noise. We discovered that the river from Parker to Lake Havasu is one enormous water activity centre. Footnote. Interestingly the weather in Yuma was getting noticeably warmer, with the temp creeping above 100F, so the tourist season was winding down for the hot summer. Whereas in Parker, 150 miles North, the temperature was getting noticeably warmer, with the temperature creeping above 100F and yet the summer tourist season was just starting! Go figure. (as they say over here). Lake Havasu and its links to London On Saturday, after our two nights at Buckskin Mountain, which were very pleasant, we were ready to move on. We planned to take a very short drive to Needles, just 70 miles north, but to stop off in Lake Havasu to visit the Famous London Bridge. We found the bridge without any trouble. It was bought by a man named McCulloch in 1968 , dismantled, stone by stone, transported to the middle of the desert and rebuilt by 1971. (Now a theory exists that the guy must have been insane, can’t imagine why). Then they dug a channel beneath the bridge to connect two more bits of desert together. Then they waited until the tide came in (a bit like Noah), in the form of Lake Havasu, which is a reservoir about 50 miles long which has been made by damming the Colorado at the Parker Dam. Now the bridge sits happily spanning a beautiful blue expanse of water. A far cry from its dirty damp days in the middle of London.
Buckskin Mountain and Lake Havasu
Thursday We are now heading North along the East side of the Colorado River to visit Lake Havasu. We took AZ Highway 95, which is long and very straight, cutting straight through the Yuma Army Proving Grounds to Quartzsite. (not to be confused with the CA Highway 95, which runs up the West side of the Colorado River, although at one point, in Needles they actually meet on a bridge cross the Colorado). WE now left the Sonoran Desert, seeing that last Saguaro somewhere south of Parker. We stopped just North of Parker at the very pretty AZ Buckskin Mountain state Park, right on the edge of the river. A beautiful park only marred by the enormous number of recreational boats moving up and down the river, jet skis, ski boats, pontoon boats, power boats. Good fun to watch, but a constant noise. We discovered that the river from Parker to Lake Havasu is one enormous water activity centre. Footnote. Interestingly the weather in Yuma was getting noticeably warmer, with the temp creeping above 100F, so the tourist season was winding down for the hot summer. Whereas in Parker, 150 miles North, the temperature was getting noticeably warmer, with the temperature creeping above 100F and yet the summer tourist season was just starting! Go figure. (as they say over here). Lake Havasu and its links to London On Saturday, after our two nights at Buckskin Mountain, which were very pleasant, we were ready to move on. We planned to take a very short drive to Needles, just 70 miles north, but to stop off in Lake Havasu to visit the Famous London Bridge. We found the bridge without any trouble. It was bought by a man named McCulloch in 1968 , dismantled, stone by stone, transported to the middle of the desert and rebuilt by 1971. (Now a theory exists that the guy must have been insane, can’t imagine why). Then they dug a channel beneath the bridge to connect two more bits of desert together. Then they waited until the tide came in (a bit like Noah), in the form of Lake Havasu, which is a reservoir about 50 miles long which has been made by damming the Colorado at the Parker Dam. Now the bridge sits happily spanning a beautiful blue expanse of water. A far cry from its dirty damp days in the middle of London.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Yuma Crossing
Tuesday April 2nd
We arrived in Yuma and are staying at a very nice RV park, quite quiet as many of the Canadian Snowbirds have now left to return home for the summer.
Yuma is tucked right into the bottom left hand corner of Arizona. It is there because it is one of the few places where one could reliably cross the Colorado river. It is also the highest navigable point on the Colorado, so food and material could be shipped from the sea some 240 miles to here. These two factors meant that in the 19th Century it became the East West Route of choice to get to California. It also became the army supply depot for the whole South West, stuff was sent round the Horn and then distributed via mule train to the army forts. Once the railroad came the geographical reason for it went away, but it still remains a very important army base. It has the famous Yuma Proving Grounds, where military equipment of all sorts is tested. The original supply base, or Quartermaster Stores, is now a State Park, so we visited it in the morning, which is of course where we found out all this information. We were also fascinated to learn that Yuma is the place where the Colorado was first dammed to provide irrigation for the agriculture. The city proudly boasts that it grows 90% of the leaf salad in the U.S.A. It is the Lettuce Capital of the world!.
Today we had fixed up to visit with some British people we had met in the laundry at Whispering Palms in Tuscon. We arranged to meet in Applebee's, where we had a very pleasant lunch, talking over the travels we had been on. Talking away the day is very tiring so siesta time called.
We arrived in Yuma and are staying at a very nice RV park, quite quiet as many of the Canadian Snowbirds have now left to return home for the summer.
Yuma is tucked right into the bottom left hand corner of Arizona. It is there because it is one of the few places where one could reliably cross the Colorado river. It is also the highest navigable point on the Colorado, so food and material could be shipped from the sea some 240 miles to here. These two factors meant that in the 19th Century it became the East West Route of choice to get to California. It also became the army supply depot for the whole South West, stuff was sent round the Horn and then distributed via mule train to the army forts. Once the railroad came the geographical reason for it went away, but it still remains a very important army base. It has the famous Yuma Proving Grounds, where military equipment of all sorts is tested. The original supply base, or Quartermaster Stores, is now a State Park, so we visited it in the morning, which is of course where we found out all this information. We were also fascinated to learn that Yuma is the place where the Colorado was first dammed to provide irrigation for the agriculture. The city proudly boasts that it grows 90% of the leaf salad in the U.S.A. It is the Lettuce Capital of the world!.
Today we had fixed up to visit with some British people we had met in the laundry at Whispering Palms in Tuscon. We arranged to meet in Applebee's, where we had a very pleasant lunch, talking over the travels we had been on. Talking away the day is very tiring so siesta time called.
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| From Drop Box |
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Picacho State Park and on to Royal Palms
Wednesday
Having pulled into Picacho State Park we found our site, a large flat site, but then when you are in the middle of the desert space is not really at a premium.
We spent all of Wednesday doing nothing but relaxing in the sunshine, with a short drive to the visitor centre and I had a short walk through the desert, checking out the local birds and the giant Seguaro. Very pleasant.
Thursday
Time to move on, we want to make sure that Phoenix it self is not missed out of our itinery so we are returning to Royal Palms (where we finished our last trip) for a few days, mostly to take advantage of their pool.
We drove the 85 miles and arrived in time for a dip and then took up the invite to play bingo with the residents.
Bingo
US bingo is different. they use a grid of 5 x 5 numbers (free in the middle), each column has a letter above Col 1 is 'B', col 2 is 'I'' etc. then the numbers are split into 15's which are distributed at random in each column, so col 1 can be 5 numbers from 1 - 15 in any order. So when they call it is a letter and a number.
I don't know if it was just this caller, but there were no number descriptions, like "two little ducks 22", "Two fat ladies 88". However as wit most bingo the people we were with were lovely and welcoming and there were home made cookies and coffee while we played. I felt really, really bad by scooping the rolloever jackpot, which had been standing for a few weeks, of $60!!!!! But again everybody seemed very happy for me to have won.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Sunday
A short drive along Grant takes us to the Tucson Botanical Gardens. We took a picnic and hoped for a pleasant day. we were not disappointed. The gardens are well laid out, though rather specializing in desert type plants. There were lots of succulents and cacti as well as a lot of aromatic plants and herbs.
Of most interest was the butterfly and orchid house. We spent a fair amount of time there trying to identify butterflies and take photos.
We had our picnic in the shade of a grapefruit tree then explored some other areas. We stumbled across an landscape gardening competition, a bit like Chelsea Flower show, but only four local entrants, still it was interesting. The last area of note was what is termed a community garden, quite common in mexico, what was attractive was the prayer tree, on which people hang trinkets and icons as a prayer request. This had been simplified to small wooden hearts which had been decorated. It was a very peaceful area.#
Quite an enjoyable excursion.
I get hung up on taking nice pics, so here are some more.
Monday was designated a quiet day, we lazed around in the sun and then mid afternoon took off to the local Texas Roadhouse for our first steak of this trip! Very nice meal, then a quick waltz round Walmart, which happened to be next door.
Tuesday
Time to move on, having sucked Tucson dry of all its tourist adventure potential we are starting our drive West, not far, Picacho State Park is only 34 miles away, but is an isolated State Park in the middle of the Saguaro Desert, even if it is only a few miles from the Interstate 10 and a railway. We plan to try and chill out for a couple of days in the heat of the desert before moving on to see a bit more of Phoenix at the weekend.
A short drive along Grant takes us to the Tucson Botanical Gardens. We took a picnic and hoped for a pleasant day. we were not disappointed. The gardens are well laid out, though rather specializing in desert type plants. There were lots of succulents and cacti as well as a lot of aromatic plants and herbs.
Of most interest was the butterfly and orchid house. We spent a fair amount of time there trying to identify butterflies and take photos.
We had our picnic in the shade of a grapefruit tree then explored some other areas. We stumbled across an landscape gardening competition, a bit like Chelsea Flower show, but only four local entrants, still it was interesting. The last area of note was what is termed a community garden, quite common in mexico, what was attractive was the prayer tree, on which people hang trinkets and icons as a prayer request. This had been simplified to small wooden hearts which had been decorated. It was a very peaceful area.#
Quite an enjoyable excursion.
I get hung up on taking nice pics, so here are some more.
Tuesday
Time to move on, having sucked Tucson dry of all its tourist adventure potential we are starting our drive West, not far, Picacho State Park is only 34 miles away, but is an isolated State Park in the middle of the Saguaro Desert, even if it is only a few miles from the Interstate 10 and a railway. We plan to try and chill out for a couple of days in the heat of the desert before moving on to see a bit more of Phoenix at the weekend.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Patagonia Lake State Park and its birds
We are now camping for a second night at Patagonia Lake State Park. A pretty lakeside campground up in the Coronado Hills, south of Tucson, about 15 miles from the Mexican Border. We have had a very relaxing day. we had a ramble round the campground this morning seeing lots of different birds, Hummingbirds, Orioles, Gold finches and hawks. One of the RV's here has a whole load of bird feeding stations and a couple of chairs with a notice to invite anyone passing to sit and watch the birds for a while, so we did.
Tomorrow we move on to Tucson to test the delights of that city.
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