Saturday, January 30, 2010

An Unexpected Arizona Adventure, and a Promise of More!

Friday started out like so man days: get up, Suzy sets up the day’s pills while I check e-mails and blogs; then we have breakfast, get ready for the day’s duty, this time a trip to Sierra Vista to pick up my new hearing aid. My hearing continues to deteriorate, and fortunately Miracle Ear continues to improve their aids.

One different thing about breakfast: we bought a microwave bacon cooker. Doing bacon on paper towels on a plate in the microwave was OK, but it left the bacon sitting in grease. Our new cooker, a Presto Power Crisp, is designed to let the bacon cook while suspended on racks, so the melting fat drips into a catch-pan, out of the way. One nice thing: it collapses into an easily stored size. Here’s the cooker before and after quick assembly,IMG_5144

IMG_5148 Holding the raw bacon. IMG_5150 With bacon cooked and ready to serve.IMG_5155 If you think this is a good idea, Google “Presto Power Crisp.”

Our unexpected adventure began after getting my hearing aid and then having lunch at the New China Buffet in Sierra Vista (gigantic selection of a great variety of excellent food!). It occurred to us that our blogging friends Al and Kelly, the Bayfield Bunch, (click to see their blog) are leaving the area this weekend, so we decided to head over to the ranch where they are “ranch-sitting” for a visit. We turned south out of Tombstone, then east on Davis Road for 22 miles, and pulled into the ranch while Al was out getting stuff ready to travel.

We had a nice short visit, said our “See Ya Down the Road” mantra, and started for home. We didn’t even take pictures while we were there! Coming out of the ranch, we turned east instead of west to take a look at some of the country Al’s been showing us in his blog. So, up to the tiny town of Elfrida where we stopped for a potty break and some coffee for the road. IMG_5161 Just north of Elfrida, we took Gleeson Road toward the ghost town of, how surprising, Gleeson. That’s where we found the old Gleeson Jail, part of an apparent reconstruction project. It was getting late, so we took a couple of pictures and moved on, heading toward Tombstone.IMG_5163

IMG_5164 Along the “primitive” road we came across a sign that directed travelers to “Rattlesnake Crafts.” This is a spot that Al and Kelly wrote about some time back, and a definite item on our must-do list, but not this late on a storm-threatening afternoon! We were trotting right along and didn’t stop to visit or take pictures.

From there home, we only stopped about twenty-five times to get pictures of the snowy peaks of the Huachuca Mountains further west, the stormy clouds, and the setting sun.IMG_5167

IMG_5174 IMG_5177IMG_5180IMG_5193 As we edged into Benson, the full moon was rising above the Dragoon Mountains and we had to stop again for a series of shots.IMG_5207

Back into the park, we again “shot the moon” before realizing that this was the evening that Mars would be closest to the earth and fully visible near the moon (that’s relatively near, a few light years to be exact.).IMG_5217IMG_5223 Unfortunately, our best efforts failed to capture Mars, but we feel we have been adequately “mooned” for a while!

IMG_5229 So, this trip home took two hours after leaving Al and Kelly, instead of the expected 45 minutes, and it left us promising each other that we would spend days visiting Elfrida, Gleeson, and especially Rattlesnake Crafts in the near future of … Our Life on Wheels!

5 comments:

  1. Looks like you had quite a full day of adventure, Jerry. Good to know you got the new, improved hearing aids. No more saying, "Huh? What?" to Suzy anymore. :)

    Those moon pics were beautiful. We could see Mars here at the beach quite clearly, but I didn't take any photos of anything.

    Have a good weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice photos, in particualr I like the ones with the moon :)
    I think Al and Kelly are geat, we just got to know them this last week.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's about time you posted a blog again!! Worth the wait though as those moon shots were spectacular! I might try some tonight myself. That bacon maker looks like a neat little gizmo, thanks for posting that info. I guess Al will be hitching up and heading west tomorrow, hopefully, we'll all be able to meet up somewhere in his travels.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great pics Jerry & yes, this is a great part of the country you folks live in. The cloud cover here was too heavy for any moon shots so missed it. You got some nice ones. Take care & we'll you folks over in California soon...:))
    P.S. Thanks for dropping by the other day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great pictures. You will enjoy Rattlesnake Crafts, we have been there a couple of times. Our grandson thought it was great. Also the little ice cream/bakery shop/resturant in Elfrieda is a neat place to stop. Cannot wait to meet you guys at New China buffet.

    ReplyDelete

Here's your chance to tell us what you think!