Places We've Been

A Walk In The Desert

I was restless today, after having done little but sit or sleep for the past week. We had both been sick again, just a general “blah” feeling and no energy. Our trip to Parker yesterday included a visit to the pharmacist at CVS, who suggested some Claritin and a cool mist vaporizer. She explained that even though we had spent the spring, summer, and fall here in Arizona, we were still in a very dry climate, with winter being the driest. Some allergies are aggravted by the dry climate.

We brought the vaporizer home and plugged it in. It brought the humidity in the trailer up from around 26% to 51%, and we are both feeling much better. That lady really knew what she was talking about.

So, in the afternoon, I set out for a walk in the desert. Like most people, I always thought there was not much life going on in the desert. But I found lots of animal tracks, and other evidence that they had been there. The plants are turning green quickly from the little bit of rain we got this week.

I walked out about a 1/4 of a mile off the road. This picture was looking to the northeast of the campground:

This one is looking west:

I walked back over to the dirt road that goes past the campground, and walked about 1/4 of a mile to the south. There was a smaller, narrower dirt road that went off to the west, so I took that one for a way:

There were lots of animal tracks here, probably cows and javelinas. I found some seashells in a wash area, and a pretty rock, and brought them home to examine more closely.

It was getting late when I got home, so I made some dinner. Actually, I heated up leftover eggplant parmesean. After dinner, I went outside again, to get some shots of the sunset. I never get tired of seeing it:

It was a grand end to a great day:

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Going To Parker Arizona

Karen · 8 Comments

We had some business to take care of today so we had to drive over to Parker. It’s about a 50 mile drive so it took most of the day. It was overcast, threatening to rain. The countryside in the desert looks like they already had some rain as everything is getting green.

Here you can see the rain over there. Since it’s mostly flat out here, you can see the rain for a long time before it gets to where you are.

I love this photo, it shows how flat and straight the road is, with the mountains in the distance.

We took a wrong turn and wound up over by the Colorado River. This is the railroad bridge. It looks rusted, and still has wooden trestles.

Another shot of the railroad bridge over the Colorado River.

Isn’t this beautiful? That’s California on the other side of the river. The palm trees were huge here.

We had some lunch here. I had a combo with a taco, an enchilada, rice, and beans. FabGrandpa got the fish tacos. No beer, though, just diet cokes.

Then we went across the street to this little place. I got some garlic stuffed olives and some of the freshest pistachios I have ever had.

They also had these, but I didn’t get any of them:

And on the way home, we finally did get into some of that rain. It didn’t last long.

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It Must Be A Sign

Karen · 8 Comments

You’ll have to click on the picture to get the full effect of this–it’s a real gas!

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The Gem And Mineral Show In Quartzsite

Karen · 10 Comments

If you ever get a chance to go to a gem and mineral show, you need to go. I have heard about them from my in-laws, because they are both jewelry crafters. My father-in-love even went to a school to learn silver smithing. They both make some really nice jewelry, and they are the ones who inspired me to give it a try. They used to go to Quartzsite in the winter and go to the gem shows to buy supplies for their craft.

Last week I got my chance to go to my first gem show. There was everything imaginable: rocks, gems, pearls, wire, jewelry findings. There were also other crafts such as quilters, metal work, leather handbags, and stuff like that, but we were there for the jewelry stuff.

On Thursday, my friend Gaelyn from Geogypsy called to ask if I was planning to go to the show. I said I was, so she came and spent the night on my sofa so we could head out early and get a good parking spot. We met Gaelyn at the North Rim this summer, where she worked as an Interpretive Ranger and lived across the road from us in the employee campground. Our paths didn’t cross much because she had a weird schedule and our days off weren’t the same. But about a week or so before we left, she came over for dinner one night and we really enjoyed her company. We were delighted to have her as a guest.

On Friday morning, Gaelyn, Lynda, Charlie, and I got up before dawn, and took off for “Q”. We got a primo parking spot and started looking at all the stuff. This show is huge. As in blocks and blocks of vendors, on both sides of the road.

One vendor had these awesome fossils.

Another had gigantic crystals. These are quartz. I love these but really have no where to put them so I only took pictures.

This is called desert rose. It is gorgeous!

The show was out in the desert at Tyson Wells. Look at that big ol saguaro cactus:

Oh My God! Look at all those beads! How do you chose just a few????

Then of course you have to have wire to make things with. We got silver and copper.

Another bead store. I got some nice Swarovsky crystals here, and some copper beads.

We walked around that show in the desert for 6 hours! We were all tired and dusty, and hungry. Here we are at lunch: Me in the pink sweatshirt, Lynda next to me, Charlie across the table, and Gaelyn beside Charlie. FabGrandpa had a cold and didn’t feel good, so he stayed at home. (better for me, to be able to buy what I wanted, hahahaha.)

And I was so excited when I got home that I made this necklace first. Yes, I got the idea from a magazine, but I did intrepret in a different way.

It was a great day. I had a lot of fun with my friends, and bought a lot of supplies to be able to make some pretty things. And we are going to another one next week. I can hardly wait!

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I’m Getting Ahead Of Myself But I Gotta Show You This!

Karen · 8 Comments

I want to tell you about my visit from Gaelyn from Geogypsy, and how we went to the gem and mineral show in Quartzsite, but I am just too excited about the stuff we Lynda and I have been making that I am jumping ahead to show you:

I love pink things, and this here necklace is pink. It is made with rose quartz and glass and crystal beads. It turned out really good, better than I thought it would.

(click on the pictures to see them better)

This one is made with Chinese turquoise nuggets. I like to take old things apart and use the parts in new pieces, so the chain used in this necklace came from a junkstore find. It looks really good, too.

A few years ago, my mother-in-love, Nana, gave me some lessons in wire wrapping, (Thank you, Nana!) but I have not done much of it until now. I made the bracelet below with the green beads, then Lynda made the one with the purple beads. Mine turned out pretty good, except that the beads I used were too big so it made the overall bracelet too big. We are going to a wire wrapping class next week to learn how to do some other things, and we can hardly wait to go!

I bought these 18mm turquoise beads at the show, because I had an idea for a necklace in my head (yeah, that happens too much). I spent today making all those little curly links for a chain, then Lynda showed me how to make jump links, which is a pretty handy thing to know. I have been making each one separate, which is a major pain in the arse! But look how easy it is here:

And here you can see a little bit of the chain and how the beads look with it. And I put that tape measure in there so you see how big the beads are. It is going to be awesome!

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Sunset In The Desert

Karen · 4 Comments

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A Drive To Wickenburg

Karen · 2 Comments

We had to drive over to Wickenburg the other day to pick up a prescription for FabGrandpa’s thyroid meds. It is about a 75 mile drive with some fantastic scenery along the way.

I loved this sign, out in the middle of nowhere, for a now defunct business:

In one of the tiny towns on the way, Aguila, Arizona, there was a flea market on the side of the road. We stopped to take a look. There was a produce vendor there with these great peppers:

Red, yellow, and orange bell peppers. All the peppers on a plate, one dollar:

Habaneros

Dried chilis:

More dried chilis:

And MORE dried chilis:

No wonder that southwestern food is so hot!

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Lake Havasu City

Karen · 11 Comments

We left Parker and Parker Dam, and drove on up to Lake Havasu City. Our first stop in Lake Havasu City was at Basha, a grocery store, to pick up a few supplies to take home, and get some lunch. We all got some Chinese take out and ate it right there in the cafe. On the way out, we saw this:

That’s not something you see every day! They also had covered parking in the parking lot there, which is something I have never seen before. Of course, it does get really hot there in the summer, so I am sure that is why they have it.

I did not realize that Lake Havasu City is where they moved London Bridge! We drove over the bridge, then turned around and drove back over.

We were waiting for our friends, Terri and Rob, to call us and tell us where to meet them, so we went to Hastings, a book store, and hung around for a while. When they called us, the place where they wanted us to meet them was just on the other side of London Bridge. So, we drove over again.

Barley Brothers Brewery was the place. They make a coffee beer that FabGrandpa loves! He says it is just the right combination of caffeine and alcohol. See how dark that beer is? We ordered lunch and drinks, and had a wonderful time visiting with our friends.

I ordered the Grilled Salmon Cobb Salad. It was delish!

Lynda and Charlie ordered the nachos. They said it was very good, too.

We had such a good time with our friends. Here we all are, FabGrandpa, Rob, and Terri on the left; Charlie, Lynda, and me on the right. And you can see London Bridge right out the window.

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