Leaving Arizona heading East into New Mexico April 8 through April 15, 2019

Santa Rosa Lake State Park New Mexico

They had some hiking trails near the campground.

It was very rocky, the trail was a 3 mile loop around the campground.

This hiking trail over looked the lake created by the dam.

Our jeep is parked in front of the motor home, we have a tornado heading straight for us, the rain turned to hail.  We were so lucky, the tornado warning was called off just before it reached us.

The hail was the size of grapes.  We were camped at Enchanted Trails RV Park just outside

of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

After leaving Arizona we first camped at Bluewater State Park, New Mexico.  The elevation was 7,400 feet.  We were going to camp 2 nights but after one night I became very sick and found out it was the elevation making me sick.  We pulled camp and headed to a lower elevation and luckily there was a Walmart to spend the night.  We spent 7 days crossing New Mexico.

Were back in Michigan

It's hard to believe our last post was from Winslow Arizona in April. I'll be back tracking to show you some of the cool places and things we did between there and here.

We traveled 8,600 miles in the motor home (Moose) since October 2018 those miles do not include miles we drive in the jeep.

Were on a mission to visit all the National Parks. 

The black pins on the map represent their locations.

Winslow , Petrified Forest and Grand Falls, Arizona/Santa Rosa Lake,New Mexico

 Winslow, Arizona

Here's the corner in Winslow

Downtown Winslow, Arizona

Petrified Forest, Arizona

Entrance to The Park 

Information board on the petrified forest process

The flowers were just starting to bloom

Gives you an idea on the size of some of the trees

Had plenty of these Raven's in the park

Panoramic of the petrified valley

The color variations were beautiful

 Couple more panorama's

Grand Falls, Arizona

Grand Falls,Arizona is taller than Niagara Falls

Panoramic view

It almost looks like chocolate milk falling

Standing at the edge

Santa Rosa Lake, New Mexico

Nice pull through site

Pretty good sized man made lake in the desert

Lots of rock surfaces on the trail

This gives you a feel of the hiking trail

Some parts of the trail had juniper trees and cactus

Lots of dry debris waiting for a spark

Montezuma Castle National Monument, Montezuma Well, Jerome, Arizona Copper Art Museum

We spent 5 days in Camp Verde Arizona.  Above the Verde Valley sits the town of Jerome.  To the north is Sedona, Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.

Montezuma Castle
Southern Sinagua farmers built this five story, 20-room dwelling sometime between 1100 and 1300. It occupies a cliff recess 100 feet above the valley.  This area is referred to as the Verde Valley.

Montezuma Well has all the surprise of a lake and lush vegetation in the midst of desert. It is a limestone sink formed long ago, still fed by continuously flowing springs. The Southern Sinagua irrigated crops with its waters. The pit house on view dates from about 1050.

Above the water is the Pit house.

As we walked around the lake we came upon
another  door leading into another dwelling. The Rothrock Graffiti was done as advertising from the late 1800's.
 

High above the Verde Valley is an old copper mining town named Jerome.  In 1899 Jerome was the fourth largest town in Arizona.
1929 Jerome population reaches 15,000.

Much of the town has crumbled down the mountain.  Behind the facade of this building was a glass blowing shop.  Population in 2013 was 451. This is a tourist destination south of Sedona,a really fun place to visit.    

Looking from Jerome across the mine. 
We toured the Douglas Mansion, it is now
the museum at the Jerome State
Historic Park.

Deck and I are in this picture it was taken with our taleidescope.

Arizona Copper Art Museum.
Mentioned in the museum was the
copper mines in Michigan.  

These copper bathtubs were made for two
people to talk while bathing.

There were so many beautiful copper pieces from jewelry, cups, vases, decorative pieces, tin ceilings, and so much more.  These copper and brass pieces were called "Trench Art" made by soldiers from the shell casing during war.

Cibola Vista Spa & Resort ,Peoria AZ,

Were on Vacation! 

We were able to park the Moose across the street from the Blue/
Green resort.  The weather was sunny and in the 80's. 
We enjoyed hanging out at the pool and just relaxing for 3 days.

It was a beautiful place.
The barbecue area and one of the pools
was on the other side of the fence.
We didn't really take many pictures we were
on vacation from the road and had all ready
made to many trips back and forth
to Moose grabbing stuff.

Organ Pipe National Monument

This park is located in southern Arizona along the Mexican border.

The organ pipe cactus are the ones on the left of the picture.

We toured the Ajo Mountain Scenic Loop, a 21 mile
round-trip dirt road.  We stopped and enjoyed a picnic
with a family from Canada on the drive.

An organ pipe cactus.  Just before and during the summer rains, the
organ pipe fruit ripens and splits open to reveal its red pulpy flesh.  An organ pipe
cactus produces its first flowers at around 35 years.  The bat pollinated flowers
blossom at night and are closed by mid-morning the next day.

We considered taking a 6-8 hour drive but after reading this sign at the entrance
 to the one-way road we decided to heed this warning.  This is what the
sign says on it.

Travel Caution
Smuggling and illegal immigration maybe encountered in this area
Do Not travel alone
Avoid encounters with suspicious groups
Avoid traveling at night
Dial 911 to report illegal activity

Our campsite at  Hickiwan Trails Rv Park which was the closest
campground to Organ Pipe NP.

We had a full hook up and it was very well kept with a mountain view.