HEART ATTACK

Jeri & Terry come up with some great places to eat - but this one was definitely an experience.

This is the menu - we all ordered the single bypass. Each burger patty is 1/2 lb. The fries were the highlight of the dinner for me. They are fresh potatoes fried in lard. What more could you ask for.

Now this is a diet I could follow.

Drink anyone?

I don't remember nurses like this when Jim was in the hospital for bypass surgery.

TEMPLE LIGHTS

We went to the Mesa Temple to see the beauiful light display. Our camera does not take pictures of beautiful lights at night. So you will just have to take my word for it that they were beautiful.

BLOCKADE

We love our girls but we are also aware that they like to bark. So when we leave them alone during the day we try to make the motorhome as barkproof as possible. We pull all the shades and turn the radio on so they can't hear the noises outside. The dash really creates a problem because they love to sit up there and sunbathe. So we had to blockade their access to the dash. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

PICACHO PEAK

It felt like coming home to see this peak.

TUCSON TO PHOENIX

The road between Tucson and Phoenix offers some of the most beautiful views and strange rock formations.

REX ALLEN MUSEUM

The Rex Allen Museum is located on Railroad Avenue in Willcox, AZ. It is located in one of Willcox's oldest commercial buldings which was constructed in the early 1890's of adobe. It operated as the Schley Saloon from 1897-1919. The front of the museum has been restored to resemble the original saloon storefront.

Across the street in Rilroad Avenue Park is a bronze sculpture of Rex Allen which was dedicated on July 4, 1991. His horse, Koko, is buried there at the park. Koko was the most beautiful horse to ever star in the movies and he co-starred with Rex in 30 films.

Rex died on December 17, 1999 at the age of 78 and his ashes were scattered in Railroad Avenue Park per his request.

WHAT IS THIS?

Can anybody tell me what this is?

CHRISTMAS

I don't usually post my thoughts in my blog but today I needed to say thanks to my Father in Heaven and my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Today was Christmas day and I was able to spend the entire day with my Dad at the nursing home. The staff did their best to make the place cheery but nursing homes are not what we think of as happy places. So many of the people here had no one to visit them on this day and for many it was just another day to get through.

It was also very lonely for me because this was the first Christmas I had ever spent away from Jim. Sitting with my Dad while he slept, gave me time to ponder on life and death and the true meaning of Christmas.

Christ was born so that He could be crucified so that each of us could have eternal life. Today we celebrate his birth. We rejoice in His great love and the even greater love of our Heavenly Father who sent His Son to earth for us.

The Christmas's we remember best are those we spend with loved ones. They are not about what presents we got or the food we ate or the clothes we wore. It is the love we felt. The pure love of Christ. What a truly wonderful gift we have each been given - our life here on earth with the opportunity to live eternally with our Father in Heaven.

My wish for this Christmas season is that I may closer follow in my Savior's footsteps and become more Christlike in my dealings with my fellow men and also the beautiful animal companions we have been given to cherish and love also.

My prayers are with all of you that you may be safe and know you are loved.

FARAWAY RANCH

Faraway Ranch is the pioneer homestead and later cattle and guest ranch of Swedish immigrants Neil and Emma Erickson and their children located in Chiricahua National Monument. The Erickson family lived on the ranch for 91 years before its purchase by the National Park Service in 1979.



The ranch was operated as a guest ranch from about 1917 into the 1960s, and it owed much of its success to the establishment of Chiricahua National Monument as part of the national park system in 1924.

The ranch was named by their daugher Lillian who said that it was Awful Far Away From Everything.

MEXICAN JAY

The Chiricahua is a great habitat for these Jays which I think are so pretty. But they are jays and are bossy and pushy. So enjoy the video which I think is so neat.

CHIRICAHUA NATIONAL MONUMENT

The Chiricahua Mountains are one of the many "sky island" ranges in southern Arizona. They rise like islands from the surrounding grassland "sea". The Chiricahua Apaches called this land a Wonderland of Rocks.

This forest of rock spires was eroded from layers of ash deposited by the Turkey Creek Volcano eruption 27 million years ago.

During the 1860's and 1870's, the Chiricahua Mountains provided a refuge for the Apache tribe who, led by the famous chiefs Cochise and Geronimo, carried out the last major series of attacks on white settlers before finally being defeated in 1886.

The Chiricahua National Monument occupies an area only 5 by 6 miles. The scenic drive ends at Massai Point (elevation 6,870 feet) where several trails branch off, descending into canyons and towards the main rock formations, which are not visible from the road. On the way, the scenic drive follows the course of a stream along Bonita Canyon for most of the route.

The Organ Pipe is a sloping cliff face, weathered into many rocky columns.

NEW NEIGHBOR

I love our new neighbor in our RV park here in Apache Junction.

JUNKIE

This Roadrunner is located outside of Las Cruces, NM and is made entirely of junk. He is about 12 feet tall and nobody is sure why or who made him.

NOTHINGNESS

The 550 miles of West Texas.

PAISANO PETE

World's largest roadrunner in Fort Stockton all dressed up for Christmas. He is 11 feet tall and 22 feet long.

GUARD HOUSE

The guard house at Fort Stockton was one of the first buildings completed. It contains jailer's quarters, three solitary confinement cells, and a larger holding cell.