Ready for the Next Adventure

It has been a very busy 5 days. We flew back to SD on Thanksgiving Day and spent 4 hours with the SD kids and grandkids, getting lots of hugs and snuggles before driving the 100 miles home. On Friday we did some shopping for the upcoming trip, for Christmas gifts and ended the day with dinner with friends. On Saturday my brother, his son and my Mom arrived for a weekend visit. I cooked and we played 5 games of pinocle with Mom and me winning 3 games. On Sunday my other brother and his wife stopped for dinner. It was so good to see them. Monday was washing clothes, packing and geocaching. Tuesday was just like Monday, but with last minute details on the agenda. Oh, and our local book club met Monday night to discuss A Man Called Ove. Excellent book, by the way.

So now it is Tuesday night. I am feeling ready for this trip to Europe.

weighing in at 38#s

all the 'extra' stuff

Hubby's suitcase; his weighs more

passport pouches & tickets

some of the Christmas shopping

We head to Minneapolis at 8 in the morning, flying out at 7:30 PM for London. Stayed tuned for the NEXT ADVENTURE!

Coolidge Airport

We had time for one more Geocaching Adventure last week. It had been two years since we had visited the Coolidge Airport near Florence. Some new geocaches had been placed and we had nothing urgent or pressing on the calendar, so we did another little day trip, heading south. 

Lots of activity at the airport that day

we had no idea it was a practice ground for skydiving

three on the ground

two more in the sky

we thought the skydiving took place at Eloy

an airport 20 or so miles south of this one

Flatiron & the Superstition Mts. in the background at the airport

one of several small planes landing and taking off

we watched them come down 3 times in the 

two or so hours we were there

last flight had colored parachutes

this airport is the home of the Pinal County air support

the hummingbirds have really grown in size!

I wondered why the liquid in the one hummingbird feeder 

was disappearing so quickly. This is why. The Flicker

is stopping by to get breakfast.

The next posts will be in December when we are on our next adventure...Europe! Check back now and then.

Inmate Program

On our first trip through Florence last month, I thought I saw a big white billboard type sign that said "Wild Burros." But since I wasn't expecting such a sign, I wasn't certain I saw it correctly. Coming back into town on a back road on the second or maybe third trip through Florence we did indeed see burros and horses. LOTS of burros and horses in corrals. Next to one of the prisons.

Florence is home to at least 7 prisons, detention centers and correctional facilities. It is the county seat of Pinal County and has one of the largest judicial buildings I have seen for a community of 25,000 to 30,000. Driving through the town does not indicate that population. The city limits include a couple of 'middle of nowhere' housing developments which make that population number possible. In fact, we noticed a couple of years ago the Florence hospital complex was closed. A new hospital was built in one of the 'middle of nowhere' developments, northwest of the town proper.

On the last Florence area trip, we purposely took that back road again to checkout the wild burros and horses.

Visitors? Adoptions every Friday.

there was a viewing area where we could stand and

watch the burros and take photos

these two ambled over to the fence

no one else came to check us out

variety of colors

most with the same shoulder markings

all tagged, including this baby

there were several little ones

since 2012?

I am positive that sign on Hwy. 79 was not there last year

WHIP provides for the inmates

alfalfa bales were lined up outside the corral 

the horses must have had enough to eat as no one

was bothering the bales

some of the wild horses were huge

a variety of colors

they all looked healthy

there must have been at least a hundred horses in the corrals

I had no idea there were that many wild horses on the AZ BLM land. I know there is a herd along the Salt River some CV people have been fortunate to see. I have seen only the evidence of said wild horses. Maybe some of the horses at the Inmate Program (WHIP) are from the Salt River herd. I know the burros did not come from Oatman as those guys were VERY friendly and would have crowded the fence looking for treats. No one was around to ask questions and I wasn't about to knock at the gate. Another geocaching surprise with at least a little explanation.

Another Trip into the Back Country

Since earlier this month, the 300 geocaches on the F2K have grown to 405. We went back to the Florence AZ area to collect the other 105 and travel some roads we had not driven before this adventure.

This crested saguaro was 0.33 miles from the road. It was a comfortable day to hike in the desert. No snake sightings.

no two mutations are alike on these cactus

 

Christmas Cactus???

grows in the wild around here

one of several hawks we saw 

caching in the rock piles

a colony of saguaros

a ghost ranch

these saguaros had to have been placed

as they lined the road at the 96 Ranch

remainder of the corral

once a working windmill

some other ranch buildings

some folks were having a picnic in the one building

amazing the saguaro skeleton is still standing

and with proper arms

second crested saguaro of the day

this one was right along 96 Ranch Road

can't imagine camping out there

no water, no electricity, no sewer

not my idea of camping

another hawk

a saguaro with twisted arms

I called this one sisters

maybe twins?

setting sun and colorful mountains

one more stop before we headed home

that will be another post

you just never know what you will see geocaching