Balloons and the Pipeline Canyon Trail

After the Fiesta Bowl Parade last weekend, we took the boys to see Grudge Match (which was pretty good), and on the way home we started to see colorful balloons in the sky over the desert.

Just down the road from our park is a small airport in the middle of the desert, and we see hot air balloons almost every day.  On this night, though, there seemed to be a higher than usual number of balloons around.

They also rent these parasailing contraptions powered by fan motors (they sound like an airboat in the sky!), and on this night they were all over the place!

We pulled over on the side of the road so we could out and watch for awhile.  A couple of them kept buzzing right over our heads!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sky was alive with colorful hot air balloons and parasails buzzing around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at home, we finished up the evening with another beautiful sunset.

On Sunday afternoon, the boys were taking the bikes to the north end of the park to ride the Pipeline Canyon Trail, so I went along with them to walk part of the trail.

 

The trail follows the rim of the canyon, with the first half-mile pretty much all downhill to where the river meets the lake.

 

The guys like to ride fast downhill, so I told them to go on ahead and that I’d meet them at the bridge at the bottom.

I carefully made my way along the cactus-lined, rocky trail,

 

 

and down to the bridge that crosses the river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nicolas said that the water is higher now than it was the last time they were here – it was only up to this tree before.

 

The boys continued across the bridge and back up to the top of the canyon on the north side of the river.

 

 

 

 

 

After taking a few pictures, I went back the way I had come from.

 

 

The wild donkeys like to hang out in this less-populated area of the park, and the boys have seen them on the trail in the past.  As I walked back toward the truck, I heard them braying, not too far away, but they did a good job of staying hidden in the brush and the shadows.

 

I made my way pack to the parking area, and took a few pictures of the lake while I waited for the boys to get back on the bikes.

Before too long, the boys were back and we loaded the bikes into the truck and headed back to the campground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a great afternoon for a hike and bike ride!

2013 Travel Recap & Happy New Year!

Gimmarro Family Travels

January – December, 2013

We covered a lot of miles in 2013, and had many beautiful homes.  2013 started out with our volunteer position at Lover’s Key State Park, through the end of February.

Lovers Key State Park – Ft. Myers Beach, FL

Leaving SW Florida, we travelled north and west, following the Gulf Coast, and celebrated Easter in New Orleans.

Spanish Main RV Park – Thonotosassa, FL

Homosassa River RV Park --  Homosassa Springs, FL

Torreya State Park – Bristol. FL

Magnolia Springs Golf & RV – Foley, AL

Bayou-Segnette State Park – New Orleans, LA

Tom picked up a workamping job for the month of April in the Texas Hill Country, which gave us a good home base for exploring the area around San Antonio and Fredericksburg.

Top of the Hill RV Park – Boerne, TX

After 3 weeks, we’d had enough and were back on the move, travelling all the way to the Texas/Mexico border, and back up to our next workamping job in Colorado for the next 2 months.

North Llano River RV Park – Junction, TX

Marathon Motel & RV Park – Marathon, TX

Brantley Lake State Park – Carlsbad, NM

Leisure Mountain RV Park – Tijeras, NM

Echo Basin Ranch – Mancos, CO

After exploring at a slower pace in Colorado for 2 months, the boys finished up their school year and we got into serious “vacation mode”.  We hit some serious tourist spots – Moab, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, Badlands -- and then started making our way back toward “home”.

Okay RV Park – Moab, UT

Golden Spike RV Park – Brigham City, UT

Teton Valley RV Park – Victor, ID

Yellowstone Holiday RV Park – West Yellowstone, MT

Bighorn Canyon Recreation Area – Ft. Smith, MT

Heartland RV Park -- Rapid City, SD

Arrow RV Park – Wall, SD

Walnut Creek City Park -- Papillion, NE

As we moved into familiar territory, we met up with family and friends, and got some maintenance work done on the RV before finally arriving back in Michigan.

Blue Springs Lake Campground – Blue Springs, MO

Mark Twain Landing – Monroe City, MO

Jellystone RV Park – Goodfield, IL

Camp Newmar – Napannee, IN

Shipshewana South Campground – Shipshewana, IN

Silver Creek RV Resort – Silver Lake, MI

We settled into Camp Lord Willing in Monroe, MI and spent September and October re-connecting with family and friends and taking care of lots of little details.

Camp Lord Willing – Monroe, MI

Autumn in Michigan was beautiful, and fortunately for us, the nice weather held out until nearly the end of October.  After 25 years at Ford, Tom retired, and we were back on the move!

Our winter destination was Arizona, and at Nicolas’ request, we would be following Route 66.

Camp A While – Lincoln, IL

Ladybug RV Park – Cuba, MO

Coachlight RV Park – Carthage, MO

Kiva RV Park – Tucumcari, NM

Route 66 RV Park – Holbrook, AZ

Grand Canyon Railroad RV Park – Williams, AZ

On November 15th, we arrived at our winter destination, just north of Phoenix, AZ.  We’ll be here for 4-1/2 months -- our longest stay so far -- and we’re looking forward to doing lots of exploring as we volunteer as camp hosts.

Lake Pleasant Regional Park – Peoria, AZ

On this last leg of our journey we also added 5 more National Parks to our list of Parks visited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that was our 2013 . . . it was quite a year!!  We have been blessed with much good fortune in our first full year of fulltime travel – including lots of exciting adventures, great friends, and breathe-taking scenery!  We’re looking forward to even more in 2014!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!