Snow in Apache Junction

I know others have already posted their pictures of the "snow" in the area, but I'm still posting the ones I took on Sunday morning before it all melted away.

I'm staying behind the Moose Lodge in Apache Junction and here is what the cars looked like after the ice pellet storm. No, it wasn't snow, and it wasn't hail. When I lived in Colorado we called it 'ice pellets'. It looked like hail, but was soft, not hard.

We drove out Hwy 88 towards the Elks Lodge and here was a view of the Superstition Mountains covered in Snow. Yes, this was the real thing, snow. The weatherman had predicted snow down to the elevation of around 2000 feet and Apache Junction is 1752 feet officially (according to their sign). A pretty site, but it was all gone the next day.

Squaw Peak

Once the dance rally was over it was back to Apache Junction. Usually I start the day with a 3 mile walk to a local convenience store for coffee. The coffee is just an excuse, it is really for the purpose of walking the dog. But sometimes, it's more fun to actually go somewhere for a real hike. One day we took Fancy and hiked Usury Pass Trail at Usury Park, a 7.5 mile loop around Usury Mountain. But Fancy was left at home the day we headed for Squaw Peak. Dogs are not allowed on the summit trail and that was our goal.

Summit Trail is 1.2 miles and 1000 feet straight up. Or at least it feels that way.

Although there is a path, most of the time I felt like I was a billy goat scrambling over the rocks.

But we did make it to the top. And what a view of the entire Phoenix area.

Look real hard and you will see me across at the top of the hill. I saw someone else over there and had to go see for myself. No path, so to arrive at the top, I truly had to 'scramble' up the rocks. Too bad it was so far away, almost 40 miles one way, it would be fun to do this hike more often.

2011 WIN Dance Rally

Every year the WINs gather in Casa Grande for a dance rally. This years theme was "Hawaii in the Desert". But in addition to all the dancing, there are other activities as well.

One tradition is to go bowling. There were 15 who spent a great morning trying to knock all the pins off the alley.

There are lessons during the day and and evening dance nightly. One night has a live band, while the rest are with a D.J. Saturday night was costume night where everyone dressed up Hawaiian.

It was too windy for our 'happy hour at the gazebo', so we moved it inside this year.

And of course we had the annual Talent/No Talent Contest with the No Talent Band.

On Saturday we had a full catered luau from Moki's in Mesa. Oh, the food was great.

But I just loved these Hawaiian maidens bringing in the ice cream for desert.

For more pictures of the dance rally I suggest you check out Diana and Claudia's blogs:

www.sadieshouseonwheels.blogspot.com

and

www.lifeontheopenroad.blogspot.com

Snow in Oklahoma and Ohio

Early in February most of the country was having massive snow storms. I was complaining here in Arizona about the cold, until I got these pictures from family and friends in Oklahoma and Ohio. I guess Arizona's cold wasn't so bad when I heard about the below zero temps back home.

This picture was taken at 8am.

This is the same shot an hour later. Way too much snow for me.

That is a patio table where the snow has drifted almost to the top. I know I never saw snow like that when I was growing up in Oklahoma City.

And here is my son, Aaron, and my grandsons, Adrion and Gavin, playing in the snow in their backyard in Ohio.

Quartzsite-Jan 2011

Upon arriving at the usual location out off Plomosa Road at Quartzsite, AZ, I found a group of bluegrass musicians holding a rally. It was the last day, so I only got to see a few groups, but one group was great and I even bought one of their CDs, Mark Phillips and the III Generation.

They had tents set up and even a stage.

Mark Phillips and the III Generation. Someone said they have been nominated for Bluegrass Band of the Year.

 An annual tradition at Quartzsite is to head out to the Desert Bar outside of Parker, AZ.

Here, we are heading to the Desert Bar the back way on the Gray Eagle Mine Trail. Although its not a lot of miles and not too rough a 4-wheel road, it did take us over an hour to go only about 4-6 miles.

 

We always stop here to admire unusual rock formation. Notice the change in the rock structure halfway up.

Along the way we pass the leaching tanks of the Grey Eagle Mine.

Here we are finally. Ahead are the cooling stacks at the Desert Bar.

Notice Randy almost vertical? He likes his own spot which no else bothers to take.

Dancing, good friends and live music on a Sunday afternoon. This bar is all solar powered, so it is only open on the weekends, during the day.

Max and Gord are challenging each other on how low they can go doing the twist.

The solar even powers all the bands equipment.

Until this year, the hamburger menu was all that was served.

But this year they added some additional food vendors. You could get brats, chicken sandwiches or tri-tip sandwiches along with kettle corn.

They also added additional seating for this year. Notice then entire roof is made up of solar panels. I wonder how many batteries they have?

Someone said this was the owners home, which is also solar powered. The 2 stacks are the cooling towers.

At the entrance there are several older antique tractors, machinery and this old car.

The chapel sits in the middle of the parking lot.

But notice, it is only about 6 feet deep. But they do have weddings here they say.

After leaving the Desert Bar, we stopped at 'the floating bar', officially known as The Roadrunner Bar and Grill, located in LaPaz County Park in Parker, AZ.

Their Sunday evening special was prime rib with all the fixin's. Several of us thought this would be a beautiful way to end the day, eating prime rib as the sun set on the Colorado River. Life just can't get better than this, can it?

I had to leave Quartzsite and return to Mesa one day, so I drove the car. I filled up with gas in Bouse, got on the highway and drove to Mesa, transacted my business and returned to Quartzsite. I didn't believe what my speedometer was telling me so I took a picture. I really did get 41 mpg, avg speed was 57 mph, and this was over about a 240 mile trip. This car was only rated for 34 mpg by Chevrolet. I love my HHR.

Desert Golf is also an annual tradition while at Quartzsite. There were 4 groups of 16 playing over several days. It's only a 4 hole course and takes about an hour to play.

If you haven't ever played desert golf, it isn't like real golf. I mean, you would never try hitting a tennis ball in real golf. But that is what you do in desert golf. Using regular golf clubs, you are trying to hit this tennis ball and get it into the coffee can buried in the desert. At one time my team was winning, but alas, another group went out after us and beat us.

Another annual tradition is to head to the Somewhere Bar in Bouse, AZ. I don't know why, but people just kinda look at you funny when you tell them you are going to Somewhere in Bouse. And they ask, "Where"? and you reply "Somewhere". Millie is singing with several members of the original Silver Buckle Band. Although Millie doesn't belong to our club, the club has unofficially adopted her. She owns property along the Green River in Utah where the WINs have launched several week plus river trips.

I am hosting the WINs Annual Dance Rally in Casa Grande in February. Several of us were promoting the dance rally at circle one day.

About six cars decided to check out the ghost town of Swansea.

The map had an arch located along our route. And here it is. A window arch. I almost missed it because I was looking up along the ridge of the hills, but is was down almost at road level.

Swansea really was never a town, but a mining community. Originally founded in the late 1800s, it wasn't really developed and mined commercially until the early 1900s and only for less than 20 years. Today, ruins like these are about all that is left.

A couple of walls are left on the old copper mill. At its peak, they smeltered 50 tons of copper out of this mine per day. Although they could get copper out of the rock, it was costing more to get the copper than it could be sold for, so eventually, the mine closed down.

There are piles of tailings next to each of the mine shafts. In the last few years the state has come in and covered all the old mine shafts with these metal mesh coverings. There were 6 major shafts which were between 200 and 500 feet deep.

I thought it was spooky to walk on top of these grates covering the shafts.

But it didn't stop me from climbing up there and taking this picture of the shaft down below.

Do I need say more?

About 4 miles further along a 4-wheel drive road was supposed to be the remains of the original power plant.

Now all that is left is the well where they stored the water. All the water needed to smelter the copper came from the Bill Williams River, so they placed the power/water plant close to the river and piped it back to the smelter.

The Bill Williams River has been damned since then and probably changed course too, but about 1/4 mile from the power plant we did find water.

Back towards Swansea we found the remains of the old train station. There was a special spur through the canyon linking the mine to the outside world. Now there is a 4-wheel drive road following the old railbed through the canyon. All in all, it was a great day!

One afternoon some of the group brought Pete Bonine up from Yuma. He is a special WIN and the group did a tribute to him.

Here is some of the group from his houseboat from the Lake Powell Houseboat gathering in Fall of 2008.

Randy even wrote a poem for the event.