We fried the brakes going down the steep grade out of Sedona as the smell of burning tires filled our lungs. The RV is no longer drivable and we're going to fly out of Phoenix today and come home early.
April fools! (heh, heh)
No, really, after my awesome birthday Heartline Cafe dinner, we carried the sleeping kids back to the Moho and got GPS coordinates to a nice, close RV park in Sedona that didn't answer the phone when we called. When we got there, we discovered why. It didn't exist anymore. A state trooper pulled up to us as we sat confused and indecisive in the anti-camp and told us to head back up the winding, treacherous mountain road about 10 miles. It was after 11 when we pulled in and discovered everything was full. Dug was crabby and ready to just drive to Phoenix. I told him I was DONE with the shear cliff drop offs in the dark and to just park in one of the spots with reserved tags on and pay in the morning. They were the only empties and we found one not technically reserved till 4/2 and squatted. I said, "Fine, let someone knock in the night and move us if they have to! What are they really gonna do--tow us down the mountain?!" and talked him into staying. Nobody came and in the morning we found someone and paid and it was no big deal. Glad I won that one.
We awoke to fleece weather and the smell of campfires amid gorgeous red rock walls. There was time for a short explore before check out. This camp ground almost rivaled Big Basin. The kids scaled cliff walls into a small cave, hopped rocks in the stream and had a great time balancing on fallen logs. Dugan even spotted a well camouflaged lizard and the most enormous crows I've ever seen.
Then we drove a couple hours down to Tempe for a relaxing visit with my Aunt Jan and Uncle Dick. It was HOT in the desert, so we changed into shorts at long last and ditched the morning's warm jackets. We had a great Mexican lunch in the back yard and the kids tried their hand at picking citrus for the first time. We have 2 bulging bags of the world's best grapefruit and oranges, from our relatives' trees, for their efforts. Du, Sage and Dug all played with the remote control boat in the lake behind their home, fed the ducks and gathered giant pine cones for our growing nature collection on wheels.
Aunt Jan even made me a Swedish Kringle coffee cake in the shape of a "40"! My Mom got the recipe from her when we were kids, so we always called it "Aunt Jan Coffee Cake", but Jan originally got the recipe from Jewish neighbor friends in Arizona. Every year my Mom would wake us on our birthdays with our age coffee cake, and she still makes them in Christmas tree shapes for the holidays. I hadn't had a birthday one since my teens. Then this year my Mom made me a 40 one and drove with it 6 hours in the car from Cincinnati when they came for Dugan's b-day party on St. Patrick's day. Then Jan made me a 2nd one the day after my birthday. I feel suitably celebrated! Fun fun.
Around 7pm, we drove about a half hour north to Scottsdale to Dug's Dad's new winter home. We enjoyed the sunset over a "manicured desert golf course" with lots of giant saguaro cacti, which their backyard backs up to. Their yard has a small pond with a waterfall, big patio and tasteful rock and cactus landscaping. They lit candles and a gas fireplace to take the chill out of the night air and we wrapped up in Mexican blankets. The sky was clear and the moon and stars were stunning. We saw quail and heard tales of visits to the subdivision by bobcats, javelinas & rattlesnakes, who don't respect the boundaries of the gated community within the wider desert home they've inhabited for eons. We hoped to hear the coyotes who live near by howl at the nearly full moon, but we slept so soundly we didn't hear a thing.
April fools! (heh, heh)
No, really, after my awesome birthday Heartline Cafe dinner, we carried the sleeping kids back to the Moho and got GPS coordinates to a nice, close RV park in Sedona that didn't answer the phone when we called. When we got there, we discovered why. It didn't exist anymore. A state trooper pulled up to us as we sat confused and indecisive in the anti-camp and told us to head back up the winding, treacherous mountain road about 10 miles. It was after 11 when we pulled in and discovered everything was full. Dug was crabby and ready to just drive to Phoenix. I told him I was DONE with the shear cliff drop offs in the dark and to just park in one of the spots with reserved tags on and pay in the morning. They were the only empties and we found one not technically reserved till 4/2 and squatted. I said, "Fine, let someone knock in the night and move us if they have to! What are they really gonna do--tow us down the mountain?!" and talked him into staying. Nobody came and in the morning we found someone and paid and it was no big deal. Glad I won that one.
We awoke to fleece weather and the smell of campfires amid gorgeous red rock walls. There was time for a short explore before check out. This camp ground almost rivaled Big Basin. The kids scaled cliff walls into a small cave, hopped rocks in the stream and had a great time balancing on fallen logs. Dugan even spotted a well camouflaged lizard and the most enormous crows I've ever seen.
Then we drove a couple hours down to Tempe for a relaxing visit with my Aunt Jan and Uncle Dick. It was HOT in the desert, so we changed into shorts at long last and ditched the morning's warm jackets. We had a great Mexican lunch in the back yard and the kids tried their hand at picking citrus for the first time. We have 2 bulging bags of the world's best grapefruit and oranges, from our relatives' trees, for their efforts. Du, Sage and Dug all played with the remote control boat in the lake behind their home, fed the ducks and gathered giant pine cones for our growing nature collection on wheels.
Aunt Jan even made me a Swedish Kringle coffee cake in the shape of a "40"! My Mom got the recipe from her when we were kids, so we always called it "Aunt Jan Coffee Cake", but Jan originally got the recipe from Jewish neighbor friends in Arizona. Every year my Mom would wake us on our birthdays with our age coffee cake, and she still makes them in Christmas tree shapes for the holidays. I hadn't had a birthday one since my teens. Then this year my Mom made me a 40 one and drove with it 6 hours in the car from Cincinnati when they came for Dugan's b-day party on St. Patrick's day. Then Jan made me a 2nd one the day after my birthday. I feel suitably celebrated! Fun fun.
Around 7pm, we drove about a half hour north to Scottsdale to Dug's Dad's new winter home. We enjoyed the sunset over a "manicured desert golf course" with lots of giant saguaro cacti, which their backyard backs up to. Their yard has a small pond with a waterfall, big patio and tasteful rock and cactus landscaping. They lit candles and a gas fireplace to take the chill out of the night air and we wrapped up in Mexican blankets. The sky was clear and the moon and stars were stunning. We saw quail and heard tales of visits to the subdivision by bobcats, javelinas & rattlesnakes, who don't respect the boundaries of the gated community within the wider desert home they've inhabited for eons. We hoped to hear the coyotes who live near by howl at the nearly full moon, but we slept so soundly we didn't hear a thing.
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