HOME

“Home isn't where you're from,  

it's where you find light when all grows dark.” 

Pierce Brown

We consider ourselves lucky as we have many places we call home; our northern home where we live 80% of the time, our southern home where we thaw out our bones and our home where we grew up.  Each place is special where we have family and friends...friends that we consider part of our family.  As we start our journey back to the north I reflect on these places as they make my heart smile.

During our final days in Yuma Craig's parents joined us in spending a good part of the day with our friend Barb.  She took us to Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, the four of us have been through it before as we spent some time at Castle Dome but Barb brought us INTO the refuge.  We never knew what a fantastic place this is, we searched through some washes looking and gathering quartz.  Barb showed us where and what to look for, we are now proud owners of quartz that are so clear they look like glass, green, pink and blue.  She showed us some old mines and a cave where bats call home.  Just before the turn off we saw a coyote but by the time the Jeep stopped and I got out he was long gone.  Funny thing is on the way home a roadrunner ran across the road and it brought back fond memories of the Bugs Bunny & Roadrunner cartoon. 

This was the typical landscape of Kofa and it shows 

the wide range of cacti; Saguaro, Cholla and Ocotillo

Cholla Cactus

Another Cholla with Castle Dome in the background

One of he many washes

Craig, his mom and Barb searching for quartz

The next few pictures are of the many abandoned mines in the area.  Some of them you could not see the end as it went on forever but some were not that deep. 

To give you an idea of how small of these mines were here's Barb

showing off one.

Found this old Klik can with the key still attached

This was the cave we went part way in - I wanted to

go all the way through but everyone else got a bit

nervous as they saw a suspicious looking spider

We thought Easter Sunday was going to be spent with just mom and dad but Barb invited us to her home for a fine dinner of steaks with all the fixings.  Barb not only opened up her home and pool to us but also to Molly & Blitz.  I think she is their favourite auntie now plus Blitz was pretty happy that he found a new friend in Rufus her cat. Rufus is a very relaxed cat and I think he was just as happy to have some animal company as Blitz was.  It was a perfect Easter as we woke up to our usual bacon & egg breakfast but we added a couple of glasses of mimosa for each of us.  After a bit of shopping we headed to Barb's to spend the afternoon with her...it was the perfect day to end our time in Arizona.  Thanks again Barb for such a fantastic weekend.

The dogs sure had fun in the pool

Molly was pretty funny as you can tell she is just

floating in the pool as her legs were just dangling

Not sure who had more fun, Molly or Craig

A pool, a tennis ball and a life jacket = a very happy senior GSP

Blitz coaxing the tennis ball closer

Too funny not to share

I wonder what the conversation was between them

Craig and I left our Southern Home on Monday and spent the night in Phoenix as we didn't want to miss our flight.  Since mom and dad were leaving from Yuma we left them in charge to close up the house and we met them in Phoenix later the next day before we went our separate ways.  It's an early night for us tonight as we leave Edmonton for Cambridge Bay early tomorrow morning.  Even though we already miss Yuma it will be good to be back in our home in the Arctic. 

Talk soon!

From Tundra to Desert

After two years of having a place in Arizona I have come to the realization that the Arctic Tundra and the Arizona Desert are very much the same.  I know some of you are thinking sure it is but in all seriousness hear me out.  The tundra has extreme weather and so does the desert,  wild flowers grow low to the ground in both places, when heading out to explore each place you have to be prepared and  the animals living in the tundra adapt and so do the ones living in the desert.  They both have vast open spaces that seem to go on forever and I love each place. 

The road to Picacho State Park, CA

Another view

A large wash just outside of Winterhaven, CA

This is where we like to bring the dogs for a run

The ocotillo cactus is still blooming in the desert

This one is large and full of blooms

They live to be about 60 years old and can grow about 33 ft high

The flower of the ocotillo

These daisy like flowers remind me of the ones 

that grow in the tundra

Another flower that is just about done for the season

We found just a couple of prickly pear cacti in bloom

Most look like this

We said good-bye to some of our friends as they headed back to Canada and also to Bernie and Al who were visiting for a week and are now in sunny Florida.  It was really fantastic to see them, Debbie & Art and of course Norma, even though it was for a short period we made it count. 

Here are Al, Bernie, Craig, myself and Norma

having dinner the night before the Thompsons left.

Here's Norma all loaded up and ready to drive back to Canada

We are so proud of her as this was her first drive back doing it solo

As we said good-bye to our friends, family arrived to spend the last days with us in Arizona.  Craig's mom and dad arrived and we have been busy ever since.  The arrived a week ago and the following day we headed to the Yuma County Fair, we of course had to eat the junk food but we didn't go on any rides or played any games.  

Here's Craig and his parents at the fair

We have taken the dogs out for a desert romp at Picacho State Park in California a few times and it's just a short drive over the bridge.  They love it out there and we head out in the mornings before the desert heats up.  

We found this gravesite out in the desert

Not sure if it's a marker or an actually site

Picacho - is the highest range in the park

Craig looking for some wildlife

Craig's mom at one of the large washes

We went into one of the slot canyons at Picacho and Blitz had to climb up on the ridge

It was easy for him to climb up but he was very unsure coming down and I had to guide him 

in the right direction

This picture was taken with a bit of a zoom

Blitz in the slot canyon

Just outside of the canyons is this tree that was 

great for taking a photograph of mom & dad

Cooling off a bit but they wouldn't let go of 

their tennis balls

Looking over a wash

On Monday we took a drive to Gadsden, AZ a short drive south of Yuma and close to the Mexican border.  The population of Gadsden in 2000 was 953 people and we met two of the nicest ones who live there. Luis & Delia Gradias not only run this small museum packed full of artifacts but they also have built, collected and live in the museum.  For a mere $5.00 you not only get to walk through the place but you also get a personal guided tour from both of them.  You can hear it in their voices and see it in their eyes...they love what they are doing. 

Here are Luis and Delia after our tour just sitting around 

chatting about anything and everything

This was part of the adobe house that has been part of Luis' family

and if I am not mistaken his father built it

The old post office

This is the front of the adobe house where they 

added a chapel and a mission bell

They even have a brothel

These old keys caught my eye

The place is surrounded by all kinds of cacti

And she has 3 turtles that live there and will come out 

for a visit when they hear Delia's voice

Yesterday Craig and I returned to Senator's Wash with the parents and dogs on board.  It was another gorgeous day here and the dogs really enjoyed the time in the water.  Unfortunately, our little Molly over did it and was really sore this morning but after a good hip massage and her medications she is pretty much back to normal this afternoon. 

This American Coot was from our first visit to the area

I love how he pranced around

Look at this small fire hydrant

Mom and Dad overlooking the area

Craig hanging out with the dogs

Miss Molly and Craig playing ball

Here's just some odd and end pictures of the past couple of weeks.

We dropped off mom and dad to the Cocopah Casino

for an afternoon of gambling

Along the canal where we take the dogs for our morning walks 

there are some old cool looking fences

My view every morning

This beast was for sale 

Happy Easter Everyone from the rare

Tundra/Desert GSP Bunnies

Talk Soon!