XMAS GIFTS

One of the friends we made when we worked at the Imperial Wildlife Refuge is a woodcarver.  He takes tree and bush limbs and carves them into walking sticks.  He personalizes them with small carvings to match things you love.  Jim got a stick with a walleye chasing some little fishes.  He also carved an eagle a bear and a plane on the stick.  He adds little bits of shiny rocks in some of the little holes in the wood.  My stick had a hummingbird carved into it and on the very bottom he carved a boot.  He even adds a little cushion to the bottom and a wrap where your hand holds onto it.  

We have received other gifts in the mail with Christmas cards and always are very grateful for those.  I love Christmas cards because it is the only time of year I keep in touch with a lot of friends and family.  Love the pictures, the emailed Christmas greetings and now the texts from friends wishing us a Merry Christmas.    It makes life on the road a little more cheerful around the holidays when we still can feel connected to everyone.   MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Gold Nugget

Our first gold nugget found digging for gold.  It was very exciting to actually find a nugget laying in the top of our drywasher.  It was actually lying in the "nugget trap" just like its supposed to if your come across one.  This one weighed a gram which is worth about $40.  When your running the drywasher the rock is so dirty and there is a lot of dust flying but the nugget actually stood out and caught your eye.  It didn't quite shine but when you picked it up and looked at it closely you knew it was gold.

Of course, we haven't found anything else like it or even close to it since we found this piece.  We go out several days a week now digging.  We are trying to get as much digging in as we can because it will rain soon and then we will be done for quite awhile. 

Its starting to look a lot like Christmas with everyone decorating their RV or home.  There are several streets where every place on the street has an abundance of decorations.  Its quite pretty and sure brightens up these dark days.  I kind of miss the tumbleweed snowmen they had in New Mexico.  No tumbleweeds here just cactus and dust. 

Rock Club Outing

I went with a girl friend to a rock club outing in Wickenburg.  We made it a girls weekend spending three days in the cowboy town of Wickenburg.  We are members of the Yuma Gem and Mineral club and they put together the outing to find Apache Tears, Pastelite and quartz crystals.   The scenery was beautiful with a forest of Joshua Trees like the one in the picture.  The weather couldn't have been nicer and we found some nice specimens.  I have them soaking in acid to clean them up.  I will try to take some pictures once they look like something. 

We had a great time in Wickenburg.  It ended up being the same weekend all the cowboys come through on their way to  Las Vegas for the  National Rodeo Championships.  It seemed like there were more horses than people in town.  Everywhere you looked were big trucks pulling horse trailers.  We also got to enjoy the annual Christmas parade through downtown Friday night.  It was a very cute small town parade.   Even though Wickenburg is a cute town with lots going on we still prefer Yuma because it is warmer.

Still no camera

I still have no camera just the one on the phone.  The phone camera is alright but I really miss a good camera.  Hopefully Santa will bring me a new one.  Our friends went to a ghost town east of of Parker, AZ.  Parker is about two hours or more north of Yuma.  The Swansea Ghost Town is known for the Nellie E Saloon close by it.  The saloon was started back in the 80's in the middle of nowhere and that's why people like going there.  The five miles of very rough, primitive road make it a challenge to get to the place. 

I'm hoping to check it out sometime.  We are thinking about investing in a sidebyside 4 wheeler so we can explore places off the beaten path.  It sounds like the bar is an interesting place to get a cold one and some pretty good food.  The ghost town is from the copper mining days back in the early 1900s

Metal Detecting by Quartzite

I'm still learning how to take pictures from my new smartphone and put them on my computer.  Somehow these pictures turned into little videos.  I hope they work if you click on them.  We had a great Thanksgiving with friends we worked with at the Imperial Wildlife Refuge and are all staying in Yuma this winter.  We bought a big Weber grill so I could cook a turkey on the grill like I used to do.  It turned out good and we had quite a feast. 

We had to drive up to Quartzsite for some gold mining supplies so we decided to do some metal detecting along the way.  When you get close to Quartzsite there are lots of open camping areas that you can hike, drive a 4-wheeler, metal detect, gold prospect, etc.  We didn't find anything but its nice to get out and hike around the desert.  It was a very nice day but it did get a little hot -- close to  90 degrees.  It's supposed to start cooling down and by next weekend be in the 60's. 

Having a View

Our friends are renting a lot close to us.  We worked with them at the Imperial Wildlife Refuge and have stayed friends because they keep coming back to Yuma for the winters.   The lot they are on has a building with a room for gathering.  It has a large tv and some seating.  It also has a bathroom and washer and dryer.  Jim is very jealous of the dryer since he has to hang all of our clothes on our clothes line.  What is really neat about the building on their lot is that it has a rooftop seating area.  You go up spiral metal stairs to the top. 

The view over all the lots here in the foothills is very nice.  You can see a virtual sea of RVs, homes and park model type homes.  The view west at sunset is great especially when there are clouds full of dust to pick up the color.  The view west is also over the open desert so even though we are in a little subdivision it doesn't feel overly crowded. 

Creepy Crawlers

Had to get a new hard drive for my computer so I had it in to the Geek Squad for a few days.  The camera is also having issues so its in being fixed -- maybe-- it may be too old.  My WIFI hotspot died so I thought I would get a smartphone with hotspot already in it.  Now I'm using my phone for pictures and can use it for WIFI.  It was lucky I had the phone or I would have missed taking a picture of Mr. Tarantula.  I was sitting outside on the patio and he came crawling right toward me. 
He went under the 5th wheel and tried to hide but Jim hit him with the water hose.  He came out from underneath so I captured him in a coffee can.  I took him down the road to the open desert and let him go. I guess its migration time for the tarantulas.  They aren't poisonous and they don't bite but they can jump at least six feet and they can fling tiny hairs on their back that are irritating.  They don't  creep me out so much anymore.

We have had a few beautiful sunsets and sunrises.  Its cooling off a bit.  Its only in the 80's now.  We are trying to find a little gold and have had a little bit of luck.  After last year and the dirt being too wet we have decided to dig like mad while we can.  It usually rains sometime in December -- just enough to make the ground too wet to use a dry washer. 

Quartzsite Gold Mining History

Miners have been working the area in and around Quartzsite for a very long time.  Every time we go hiking around in the desert here we find old mines and holes in the ground.  Most of these were dug long ago.  Its very difficult to get a permit these days that allows mining with heavy equipment.  We've been gold mining on some claims that the local metal detector club has.  Once you join you have access to the claims.  We've had fun and found about $10.00 worth of gold.  We don't work very hard so that's all we got. 

We have seen local folks with nice nuggets they found.  If you want to find more gold you need to dig down and in this area that means at least a four to twelve foot hole.  That's a lot of work and we aren't ever here long enough to try it. 

We are headed to Yuma now and will be trying our luck there this winter for a little bit of the yellow stuff.  Its something to do but we'll never get rich!

The Quartzsite area

We are spending some time in Quartzsite, Arizona.  The weather is perfect right now.  It gets in the 80's maybe 90's during the day and 50's at night.  We've been out hiking checking out some back country.  There was a nice rain this summer and you can still see some of the growth from a little rain.   Normally this time of year it looks very brown but there is actually some green grass and green leaves on the ocotillo bushes.  I had to take a picture of the vultures.  It looked like part of a migration there were so many vultures in the air. 

Its very quiet in Quartzsite this time of year.  So we enjoy checking out the area.  Once all the snowbirds get down the desert will be full of 4-wheelers and the dust will be swirling in the air. When the "big tent" show happens in January there won't be a bare spot of desert because it will be covered with an RV.  Everyone comes and camps out in the desert (dry camping) -- no hookups for water, sewer and electric.  They live using their generators or solar for electricity and fill up their fresh water tank.  When its time to dump all the waste they have to drive the rig to a dump station.  No thanks we like staying in parks with full hookups. 

Valley of Fire State Park

I was able to take a few pictures when we went through the Valley of Fire State Park by Lake Mead.  This was the scenic route we took to avoid going through Vegas.  Its a beautiful drive (in a car) -- you can see how the road just disappears going up and down and around these impressive rock features.  There were a bunch of Japanese tourists going through the park when we were.  When we stopped to do the self pay thing at the entrance they gathered around our RV.  I think I could have charged money for tours inside if we would have had the time. 

Of course I got these few pictures and then the camera decided not to continue working.  So when we got to the Lake Mead Rec Area and tried taking pictures of more gorgeous rock features no luck.

We are enjoying our time in Quartzsite not working too hard at gold prospecting just kicking back and relaxing mostly.

Heading South Fast

We headed south as fast as we could with the threat of snow in the high country.  We stopped at a rest area north of Ely, Nevada.  Its called the Pony Express station rest area.  It was a stop along the famous Pony Express route.   The rider looks like he's trying to beat the snow coming just like us.  When we got south of Ely and at a much lower elevation we were back in warm weather.  Las Vegas is full of road construction and heavy traffic.  We opted to go the long way around by going through a state park and the Lake Mead Recreation Area.  It was an extra hour of driving and the road in the state park was not fun pulling an RV but we didn't have any traffic or road construction.  We met people later that went through Vegas and said they missed their exit because of poor signage with the construction and spent an extra hour on the road.

We enjoyed some time in Kingman, Arizona.  The weather was perfect -- 70's and 80's.  We went and picked up our boat out of storage.  It survived nicely and Jim already has the batteries charged up.  We are now in Quartzsite, Arizona where it is still in the high 90's.  We are enjoying doing a little gold prospecting -- early in the AM while it is still cool.

Leaving Cascade, Idaho

We had a very nice summer working at Arrowhead RV Park in Cascade, Idaho.  The park was pretty with lots of trees and the North Fork of the Payette River running past along with mountain views.  We had great managers who couldn't do enough for us and the lady that owned the park was a dear.  They wined and dined us to try and get us to come back next year but we miss walleye fishing too much.  Next year we have to spend some time, somewhere walleye fishing.

We left Cascade when it was raining as you can see we looked like drowned rats.  We don't usually drive in the rain but the weather was only going to get worse.   We got down out of the mountains and went to Mountain Home, Idaho.  The folks at Arrowhead sent us the picture of the snow in the mountains.  It snowed the day after we left.  We had to wait out the weather in Mountain Home for several days.  We finally headed south through Nevada.   We spent a night in Ely, Nevada and had just missed all the snow they got.  It was just finishing melting off the picnic tables.  Needless to say it was cold even if the snow was mostly gone. 

We are now in Alamo, Nevada where we found some heat. We are back in shorts and should stay in shorts until mid December if not longer. YEAH!

Birds

We were surprised to find quail up here.  They looked fat and healthy.  I just don't know how they survive the winters here with the deep snow they get.  The campground is full of trees and many of them are infested with bugs.  This attracts every kind of woodpecker.  The darn things even peck at the totem poles which also get infested with bugs.  This pileated woodpecker was going after the bugs in the logs that had been cut up.  I don't know if this was easier pickings for him or why he liked these logs so much. 

We are packing up and heading out of Idaho.  We will slowly make our way back to Yuma.  We have to get out of the mountains here because they are talking snow this week.  Time to go!

Chalk Art

The town of Cascade had a chalk art contest.  Most of the artists were kids and many of the artworks were pretty good.  I really liked the ones that celebrated Cascade.  The town is 100 years old this year and enjoyed a total eclipse.  We were certainly lucky to be here at the right time.  The only bad thing is all the smoke from the fires here in Idaho and Oregon and Canada.  All the focus was on Houston but in Oregon they were evacuating areas because of the fires.  We just have a lot of haze which spoils the mountain views so we haven't done any more sightseeing. 

We leave here in two weeks and the time has really gone fast.  This was the last big camping weekend and we were full to capacity.  Good for business but it kept us hopping.  We are looking forward to escaping and heading south.

The Great Eclipse

We were working the day of the eclipse but we got to close the office and go to the river to watch the big event.  It got cold as the sun got more and more covered by the moon.  It was amazing how light it stayed right up until only the tiniest sliver of sun was still showing.  Then when the sun was totally covered you could see stars and it was dark enough for all of the automatic night lights to come on around the campground.  Totality lasted just under 2 minutes here in Cascade and they had warned it would seem to go very fast and it did.  It took another hour for the sun to become uncovered and it was still fun to watch with our eclipse glasses.  We were very glad we got to be here and enjoy this  event.

The traffic was never bad before the eclipse but then everyone left at once a two hour drive turned into 8 hours to get back down to Boise.  We heard the traffic leaving the eastern part of Idaho and heading back to Utah was worse.  So glad we didn't have to travel anywhere to enjoy it!

Idaho Goodies

For my birthday they gave me a party here at the RV park.  I got a bunch of stuff to remind me of our stay in Idaho.  I got a jar of huckleberry jam and a huckleberry muffin mix.  A t-shirt with the logo for Cascade, ID and a t-shirt with the data on it for the total solar eclipse.  We are within the 70 mile wide band where we will have 100% total solar eclipse.

 You will have to click on the picture of the earrings to see them up close.  The stones are the sapphires we found at the sapphire mine in Montana some years ago.  I had the stones cut and heat treated and have been trying to find someone trustworthy to put them in earring settings.  I found a dear old lady here in Cascade that makes gemstone jewelry for a very reasonable price.  She did a great job and I love them.

We are getting ready to observe the eclipse.  The campground is full but the town of Cascade escaped the craziness and is not inundated with people so it should be a very nice day.  We've heard that the eastern part of Idaho by Idaho Falls is flooded with people from Utah.

Then and Now

I had to show a picture of Warm Lake when we first got here with all the snow on it and what it looks like now.  The picture without snow isn't real clear because of all the smoke in the air.  We are getting smoke form fires in eastern Oregon and one local fire north of Warm Lake.   We haven't gotten tired of the mountain views.  We have been exploring mountain roads and enjoying the beauty everywhere we go.  Its so nice and peaceful up in the mountains.  We can't say the same for the little town of Cascade.  The weekends are filled with traffic.  The worst is yet to come.

We are gearing up for the Solar Eclipse here.  Cascade is right in the path of totality so people are coming from all over to view it.  Our little campground is going to be filled to overflowing because all the people with RVs here for the season are inviting all of their friends and or relatives to join them here up in the mountains.  All of our overnight spots will have more than the usual number of people with lots of extra vehicles.  We are trying to come up with enough parking for everyone and to keep non guests out of the park.  Our internet and cell service probably won't hold up to the onslaught and they predict traffic will be at a standstill because there is only one road in and out of town.  It should be interesting! 

Very Pretty

 

The wildflowers are blooming everywhere.  This deer hangs around the campground eating as many flowers as possible.  The totem poles are getting fresh coats of paint so they look very nice now.  The wood carvers have been busy creating a new totem for this year.  The agreement they have with the park is that they have to produce one pole a summer for the park.  They can work on other projects for themselves after they are done with the new totem. 

We took a drive up to Warm Lake and stopped at a nice forest service campground and spent some time down by the river that runs by it.  We brought a bucket of dirt to pan out in the river to find the gold that was in it.  We found  a little bit so it was fun.  The dirt came from the owner of the park's son in law.  He owns a gold mine in Montana and brings the dirt back to his place in Boise for the final cleanup.   He likes to show us pictures of the gold his mine has produced -- some very pretty pieces.  We haven't found any very pretty pieces -- we think he just gives us a little bit to play with that he knows doesn't have much in it.  Oh well its still fun.

Huckleberry Time

The huckleberries are ripe.  Everyone is crazy about them.  Its a big deal around here to go berry picking.  People come to the area to spend several days picking as many berries as they can.  One group of ladies who stayed with us picked 3 gallons.  You just find a forest or logging road up in the mountains and you are bound to find them.  We picked our first batch but weren't certain they were huckleberries.  We brought them back to the park and yes we had found them.  I have enough in the freezer to add to muffins, coffee cakes and waffles (or ice cream).

Even though the locals all deny it I think they do taste like a blueberry (almost but not quite.)  They grow on taller bushes than blueberries and don't get as big-- at least not the ones we found.  The bushes aren't scratchy and there aren't thirsty mosquitoes trying to get a drink from you so it is much easier than picking berries in Minnesota.

Hunting for Food

Sandhill Cranes are huge birds with pretty red feathers on the top of their heads.  They seem to like to hang out by the lake here.  They make a very distinctive noise and once you've heard it you will remember it.  This coyote was just standing there on top of a stump looking like he was posing for us to take a picture of him.  We thought he was being very cooperative for us so we could take pictures until we saw the ground squirrel he was eyeing for dinner take off running.  The coyote looked at us like we ruined his dinner plans and also took off.

The campground is full pretty much every day now.  The woodcarvers had an auction to raise money for more wood carving equipment.  They had a raffle for the grand prize -- a Christmas tree filled with hand carved wooden ornaments.  Each ornament was beautiful.  They also raised money by auctioning off plates of homemade goodies and other hand crafted items.  We had a potluck dinner to go along with the festivities.  Lots of good food with a smoked turkey as the centerpiece. 

River of No Return

We took a drive up to Riggins,  Idaho.  This is a small town that lies along the Salmon River.  This river is famous for salmon fishing -of course- but also for river rafting trips.   It also is called the River of No Return.  It flows through the Frank Church River of No Return wilderness.  This area was made famous by the movie of the same name.  There is a raft like the one used in the movie on display at a riverside park in town.  I'm not sure if its a replica or the one from the movie but it looked kind of puny to navigate this river.

The Salmon River is one of the longest rivers in the country without any form of dam on it.  It dumps into the Snake River and then these rivers go through Hells Canyon and on into the Columbia River.  Riggins is at only 1800 feet elevation while Cascade is at 4800 feet.  As we dropped down to Riggins we noticed how much drier the area looked.  Its still fairly green around Cascade but around Riggins it was bone dry.  It was kind of scary because you are down in a canyon surrounded by very dry mountains.  If there were a fire in this area it would be hard to get out of the area in a hurry.   A raft might be the best way!

Arrowhead Totem Poles

Arrowhead RV Park (where we are living this summer) has dozens of totem poles throughout the park.  There are a group of wood carvers that stay here all summer and they have created these works of art.  I love the bear stuck in the stump.  You can see his foot sticking out.  Old Saint Nick got a fresh paint job this summer.  Several of the carvers adopt old totems to renew them.  The totem poles are attacked by woodpeckers and carpenter ants so its a constant battle to keep them looking nice.  If a totem pole is beyond saving they are taken to our totem graveyard.  Native Americans believe they have spirit power so they can't just be thrown away or burned without a ceremony.
We survived the 4th of July weekend here at the park.  The town was packed for the 4th because they have a very cute parade and very nice fireworks.  I was lucky enough to see both but didn't have my camera.  The best part of the parade was the excavating company's dump truck full of snow.   They must have gone up to the top of a mountain and filled the truck with snow.  Kids were on top of the snow in the truck throwing it down at the bystanders.  Of course the kids on the street grabbed handfuls that came down and threw them back.  A snowball fight in July!  It was great. 

Historic Roseberry

Twenty or so miles north of Cascade is the ghost town of Roseberry.  It was a thriving little town in the late 1800's filled with logging and farming families.  The railroad came through but it bypassed the town.  The track went a few miles west of the town so the town of Donnelly thrived while Roseberry failed.   The local historical society has been trying to save the town as a living history museum.  They have actually moved old buildings onto the land that made up the town.  The barn is now a theatre and venue for weddings.  There is an old general store that is open on weekends for ice cream.  This old Episcopal church was moved three times -- the third time back to Roseberry where it started.  There is also an old Finnish farmstead complete with sauna. 

Once a year in the summer they have a little festival here to try and bring awareness to the history of the area.  It is an all volunteer effort which I always find amazing.  When we visited the town there were a group of painters sitting at their easels all around the buildings painting what they saw.  It is a beautiful spot with mountains in the background -- very "picturesque".

Cascade Lake Dam

 

 

The water levels in the lake and the Payette River have fluctuated a lot since we arrived here over a month ago.  When we got here the lake was only 70% full now it is at 98% full.  The river was running very high and then they dropped it practically over night and it went down several feet.  Then it rained and warmed up so there was lots of water draining down from the mountains from snow and rain runoff.  They opened the dam to make room for all the water and ended up filling the reservoir (Cascade Lake) and the river.  They had way more snow last winter than in a very long time and didn't quite anticipate how much water they would have to manage. 

 

We've been lucky at the campground because the river never quite reached any campers or cabins but it did get close.  Downstream in Boise and its suburb Eagle they have had flooding.   Now the river is down to a safe level but the lake remains full.  Of course the tourists aren't happy because the beaches are under water.  The fishing has been hit or miss with the crazy fluctuations.  So far we aren't sorry we didn't bring the boat.  Its just now getting warm -- maybe summer is finally here.  

Payette Lake

We took a scenic drive up through the very touristy town of McCall which borders Payette Lake.  The lake is just a dammed up part of the Payette river but it is very pretty.  I guess its a big deal to have a lake home on this lake.  Half the lakeshore is part of the Payette National Forest and a lot of it is part of a state park so there isn't a lot of lakeshore that can be privately owned.

We headed north of McCall following the lakeshore.  It was a nice paved road with lots of rushing water from the Payette River running alongside the road.  That seems to be the story in the mountains everywhere in Idaho.  They had an unusual amount of snow last winter and its taking a long time for it all to melt.  We saw this road that was still closed because of the snowpack and its mid-June!