It's Sunday and a football day. The games start at 1:00 local time so they will take up all the afternoon and into the evening. Ellen started us out with a breakfast of fried potatoes, peppers, and onions with eggs over easy all cooked on the cast iron griddle outside. Coffee with Baileys, V-8 juice, and fresh squeezed orange juice were the beverages.
Before cleaning up she made baked Spicud (Italian Wedding Soup) for dinner tonight. Good thing I brought her along.

Yesterday we took the dogs on a short 2.5 mile "Canyon Loop" trail hike here in the park that follows a stream for about half of its distance. It was busy being a weekend (the campground was full) and there were a lot of people with their dogs also on the trail. But the girls got to swim and splash around in the cool water and get some of the dust off. It was really a hike for them but we enjoyed it just as much seeing them have such fun. We have been so busy getting ready for traveling SOB that it was our first, and probably our last hike, here. Tomorrow we want to take a long drive up Mt. Lemon, the highest peak in the Catalina Mountains.

Those of you who have followed our prior Southwest trips might remember that this is the park where we took the "50 year trail" once, missed a turn, and ended up on a 7 hour journey that ran us out of water and almost out of daylight before bushwacking our way back. Last year while here, Darren and Ava visited and all three dogs got out at night when we forgot to shut the door. They chased a skunk under another RV in the middle of the night. What a smelly mess that was.

This area north of Tucson, Oro Valley, where the park is located is really getting popular. We've noticed remarkable growth in just the three years we have been visiting here. For example, the first year a huge vacant area was across the highway. Last year bulldozers were grading the site, but no one knew what was going to be built. This year there is a stop light at the entrance to the park and on previously was the vacant site is a huge mall with Wal Mart as the major store with miscellaneous restaurants, banks, pet store, sporting goods, clothing outlets, and much more. It's still only about 1/3 occupied so there is a lot more yet to come. It's a little sad for us because it's encroaching on the remoteness of the park but have to admit having all that just across the road is convenient. Turning off the highway into the park, however, is still a walk into the wilderness and an area to really enjoy the beauty of the dessert.



Ellen trying to eat as the girls await the "dish cleaning" duties


Pictures along our hike yesterday














This is a picture of the trail map. We did the short Canyon Loop Trail. Two years ago we got on the 50 Year Trail seen in the upper left. We wanted to do the 2.6 mile stretch to the trail junction and turn right and return back to the trail head. Instead we missed the junction and stayed on the 50 Mile Trail for god knows how long before we realized something wasn't right and we just made our own trail back - finally!

The next two pictures are for Brother Tim and Sista Dea. They bought me a ND hat for Christmas and I want to see how good it looks on me.



Just a picture at the trail head in Kartchner Cavernes State Park about 80 miles Southeast of Catalina. We stayed here one night, Monday, and did a hike on Tuesday morning before leaving. There is nothing special about me in the picture, just wanted you to see the blue sky and dessert landscape of the area