Category: Airstream Travel

Family Adventures in Phoenix: Memories Made in Arizona

~ Wandering Cindi ~ 2 Comments

Murphy is always ready to hit the road, find a new adventure, and see new things. Sometimes, though, we also revisit places we have been to before. We had a reservation at Tortilla Flats, but we needed a place to stay for a few days before that, so we went back to West Pinal County Park for a few days. This is a conveniently located park to Phoenix and Maricopa, Arizona.

Murphy likes to help whenever Aaron and I are doing work on our computers. He thought he had some good ideas to help with photo editing.

After West Pinal County Park, we made our way to Apache Junction. We had been to Apache Junction once before, in July. At that time, we were able to stay at Lost Dutchman State Park. No campsites were available this time, so we found an available spot at Tortilla Flats, which is located northeast of town off of the Apache Trail.

The Apache Trail was a stagecoach trail that ran through the Superstition Mountain Range. Before it was a stagecoach trail, it was a trail used by the Apache, and before that, it was used by the Anasazi and Hohokam tribes for trade and migration. The road is a windy mountain road that is paved for the first portion, and then turns to a dirt road after Tortilla Flat. There are beautiful views of the rugged desert mountains in every direction.

While we were there, I had to make a quick trip to Iowa to take my dad to a doctor appointment. While there, I had a fantastic visit with my mom, my brother and his family, and as a bonus, my Uncle Darrell came down for a quick visit. I was able to attend a Burns Brunch, where all the many, many cousins (mostly my mom’s generation) gather every month to touch base and keep the family connection. It was really cool to be able to meet family that I had only seen as a small child. Of course, did I take any pictures? Nope…not one…total fail on my part.

The only picture I took was of my brother, Chris. Over the years, he has done so much to help our dad with his health issues and needs. My older brother, Sean, and I wanted to show Chris how much we appreciated him being there when we could not. There is a car museum in Ohio that Chris had stumbled on while driving back from New York that offers people the ability to adopt a car displayed there. Chris thought this was a fantastic way to support the museum, and there was a car there that he had fallen in love with. So, Sean and I decided to gift him the adoption of this car as a small way to show our appreciation. Chris was surprised and over the moon. I was lucky enough to be there when his adoption package arrived.

A man sitting at a table holding a photo of a classic car and an adoption certificate, with a Christmas tree in the background.

Since we could not make it back to Florida for Christmas, we decided that the whole family, including my mom, would spend Christmas in Phoenix. Mom and I flew from Iowa to Phoenix together to start the Christmas holidays. We rented an Airbnb large enough for the whole family to stay together. Well, almost large enough. There were only 4 bedrooms, and since we have three adult children and my mom there, they each got their own room, and Aaron, Murphy, and I stayed in the Airstream, parked in the driveway. It worked out perfectly.

The house came with a heated pool, batting cage, putting green, and a fire pit. We had a blowup Christmas cactus, and a week filled with love, laughter, and the simple joy of being together. Murphy and Lola enjoyed being together again as well.

Mom gave all of us a fantastic gift. She gave us an experience. She booked all of us a desert ATV tour for the day after Christmas. It was so much fun! We had three ATVs, and we each got to drive on some really fun trails.

Aaron and Jenna took one UTV

Mom and Gage took the second one.

Mason and I jumped in the third one.

Mom and I also took a drive up the Apache Trail so she could experience the mountain road. The sights were great, and she and I had a great time exploring.

Sadly, the week had to come to an end, and everyone had to disperse to their homes and jobs. It was a wonderful week full of love and laughs. Our wandering life limits our time with our kids, so every moment we have together is precious and held closely to our hearts.

Aaron and I still needed to be in Phoenix, so we went back to where we started the month, West Pinal County Park to finish the month of December.

A shiny Airstream trailer parked in West Pinal County Park, with mountains in the background and clear blue sky.

Next week will cover our adventures for the month of January.

White Sands National Park

~ Wandering Cindi ~ 4 Comments

On our way west to Arizona, we stopped at White Sands National Park. We decided a quick drive through was necessary. It was not the best time of day to take pictures, due to a very bright sun, but I did the best I could using a polarized filter. I am a bit sad that our timing could not get us there at sunrise or sunset. I can only imagine how the white dunes would glow in the dawn and dusk of the day. Hopefully, we will get a chance later on to experience that.

This national park is the world’s largest gypsum dunefield, covering 275 square miles of desert. It offers sand dune sledding, self-guided tours, and is super pet friendly. There are hiking trails and picnic areas to enjoy a meal with incredible views.

Our dog, Murphy, is part Siberian husky, and we adopted him in Washington State. So, he was accustomed to cold and snow. When he saw the giant white sand dunes, he got extremely excited. He thought it was snow. Aaron had him on a long, retractable leash, and he went running up the closest dune. Aaron could hardly keep up. Sadly, in his excitement, Murphy tried to eat the “snow.” Poor pup was spitting out sand and giving us a perplexed look. He still had fun running in the soft white powder.

The park is vast, with dunes of sand stretching as far as the eye can see. In this picture, in the distant right is a tree, and to the distant left is a person with a sled. When I was taking the photo, I did not even notice the person in the distance. The gift shop in the park sells sleds so that people can sled down the sand dunes. I think that is brilliant.

This is one example of a trail left by someone sledding down the dune.

The patterns in the sand mesmerized me.

This is one of the most dog friendly national parks, so it really made me angry to come across this bag of dog poop left on one of the dunes. If people continue to disrespect national parks, monuments, and national forests, they will ruin it for the people who actually care, that clean up after themselves and their pets. Sorry, rant over.

As we explored, we saw snake trails and other prints from animals that live in the dunes. It was like art that would change with the shifting wind and sand.

I also really enjoyed the reflection of the dunes on our Airstream. They looked very Vincent van Gogh. This work would have been titled The Sandy Afternoon instead of The Starry Night.

We had a great time briefly exploring White Sands, but we needed to get back on the road and into Arizona. Aaron had an office to get opened, we had family coming in for Christmas, and we wanted to get further south before winter really settled in.

We stopped at our usual Arizona standby, West Pinal County Park. We spent a few days here relaxing and working before heading up to Tortilla Flats just north of Apache Junction. My next blog will cover our time there and our Christmas spent with all three kids and my mom in a house…well, mostly in a house.

Catching up with our Travels. Sorry for my Prolonged Absence

~ Wandering Cindi ~ Leave a comment

I would like to begin this post with a sincere apology. I have been absent from this blog space for way too long. I honestly am not sure why. I think I may have been a bit burnt out, and once I missed one week, it became easier to miss the second week. Now, it has been quite a few months, and I am attempting to get back into the swing of things. I am working on getting back into a routine with photography and my blog writing. I may post every two weeks instead of once a week, but we will see. There is a lot to catch up on. I suppose I’ll start with November.

Due to the needs of Aaron’s job, we spent most of the month of November outside of Kansas City. We found a really nice Hip Camp called Lake Georgia Sue to park the rolling house. We were surrounded by horse pastures on one side and a crop field on the other. There was plenty of space for Murphy to run, horses to admire, and beautiful sunsets.

The best part of our time in Kansas City was the time spent with our son, Mason. He was also there for work, and we had some great evenings together. Mason has a really cool hobby of astrophotography. He brought all of his equipment, and spent some time showing us how he finds his subjects in space to photograph. He really took some amazing pictures while we were all out there.

Some of Mason’s equipment.

This is the Heart Nebula that he took while we were there.

The following pictures are a few more from his collection. I don’t think he took these when we were together, but I just have to share them anyway. They are too beautiful not to share. (He gave me permission.)

The Jellyfish Nebula

The Orion Nebula

The Seven Sisters Nebula

We enjoyed several evenings around the campfire, sharing good meals together, and simply spending quality time with Mason.

Another good thing about being in Kansas in November was that we could drive about 5 hours and be in Iowa to spend Thanksgiving with my mom, brother, sister-in-law, and my nephew. Mason came out to the campsite, picked up Aaron, Murphy, and myself, and we headed to Iowa for a few days without the camper.

As usual, when with family, I forget to take many pictures. I was able to grab this one of Murphy playing with my brother’s dog, School Bus. Murphy and Bus had a great time together. My mom and Murphy also got along quite well.

We had fantastic food for Thanksgiving. My nephew, Will, and my brother, Chris, smoked a turkey and a brisket. They did an amazing job. Mom and my sis-in-law, Brenda, made all the delicious sides, and we had wonderful deserts. It was great to have this bonus family time with everyone.

After we got back from our Thanksgiving in Iowa, Aaron and Mason went back to work, and Murphy and I hung out at the camper. I looked out of the window and saw a horse on the wrong side of the fence. He had a halter on, and reins dangling from it, and he was just grazing away.

We got in touch with the property owner to let him know one of the horses was loose. He said it wasn’t a problem, and someone would be around to bring him back where he belonged.

He was a very handsome horse, and very sweet. I went and talked to him, and pet him for a while. He wandered into the field behind us, which is not fenced in. So, I went and grabbed his reins and brought him back closer to the pasture and camper. With multiple pastures and lots of horses, I didn’t want to put him in the wrong pasture, so I just hung out with him and made sure he didn’t wander too far. When one of the horse handlers arrived to take him to his pasture, she told me that his name was Murphy, too. She also told me that Murphy threw off his rider and took off. I guess he was not as sweet as I had thought. I enjoyed my time with the two Murphys anyway.

The weather in Kansas was starting to get cold, with snow in the upcoming forecast, and it was time for Aaron and me to hit the road again. We started driving southwest towards Arizona.

Our last stop on our way out of Kansas was in Meade City. It was free camping in the city park, with a cool small town holiday light display. It was a great park that also offered a free dump station and free potable water.

Our next stop was back to Santa Rosa Lake State Park in New Mexico for a quick overnight. We have been here at least twice before, and knew it would be a nice spot to spend the night.

After a quick night at Santa Rosa Lake, we headed southwest to Alamogordo, New Mexico. We stayed at Oliver Lee Memorial State Park. Alamogordo is home to the world’s largest pistachio. It was a beautiful town in the New Mexico desert.

We enjoyed our stay in New Mexico, but had to keep moving on towards Arizona. We had White Sands National Park to visit, a reservation in Apache Junction, Arizona to get to, and it was now December. Next week, I will share the pictures of our time in White Sands National Park and our stay in Apache Junction at the Tortilla Flats campground. I will leave you with a sneak peek of our drive through White Sands.

South Fork State Recreational Park, Nevada

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We said goodbye to Idaho and made our way into northeast Nevada. We set up the trailer at South Fork State Recreational Park just outside of Elko, Nevada. Elko is known for its gold mines and UFO sightings. We did see quite a few mines driving to the campground. Unfortunately, we did not see any UFOs, mysterious lights, or aliens.

The campground sits above South Fork Reservoir, a man-made reservoir for water-based recreation. Boating, fishing, and swimming are encouraged. Murphy and I spent quite a lot of time down at the water’s edge. He swam every day, and I took too many pictures of the beautiful landscape.

The campground is also close to the Ruby Mountains. They provided a gorgeous view every day, which changed with the light.

It was a quiet week for us. Aaron worked quite a bit, and Murphy and I enjoyed our surroundings.

Here are a few shots of the landscape, the ducks, and the dramatic skies. We did have some rain, which was nice.

The campground was never really crowded, but we did have neighbors with small kids for a few days. Murphy would watch them play from the windows of the camper. Once, he fell asleep watching them and gave me one of my favorite pictures of him.

After a week of enjoying our site, it was time to move west again. Next stop- back to Tahoe National Forest in California. We stayed there last year and decided it was the perfect stop on our way to Fremont, CA.

Back to Idaho

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Plans change. A big part of our travels is our ability to adapt to Aaron’s job’s changing needs. We had planned to head east into Wyoming and then south, but he needed to spend time in his company’s office in Fremont, California. So, we headed west out of Montana for one more trip through Idaho, leading us west to California. We decided to check out Massacre Rocks State Park in American Falls, Idaho. That was a really good decision.

Massacre Rocks State Park is situated on part of the Oregon and California Trail, which pioneers used in the 1800’s and early 1900’s to emigrate west to Oregon and California in their covered wagons. This park was named for a fight between the Native American tribe, the Shoshone, and settlers in 1862. The Shoshone lost at least 20 people, and at least 8 people from wagon trains were also killed in this fight. Regardless of its bloody history, the park is beautiful. It sits above the Snake River with hiking trails, a museum, large boulders, and a hilly campground.

There were a lot of rabbits for Murphy to chase. All the boulders and rocks were formed from volcanic eruptions about 14,500 years ago.

Register Rock is part of the state park and is a few miles from the campground and the rest of the park. This spot was a regular stopping point for a night’s or a few days’ rest. Quite a few of the emigrants that stopped here carved their names into a large boulder and other rocks in the area. The rock has a protective shelter built over it and is fenced in so that people do not deface or destroy this piece of American history. I find it amusing that even back then, people were putting graffiti on rocks. It makes me wonder what future generations will think of the graffiti that will be left behind from our age.

The carvings are not easy to make out, and because they sit in a hole in the ground, they are hard to photograph.

The park also has a trail that leads across an interstate to a set of wagon ruts that still exist from the pioneer wagon trains of the past. It was inspiring to see part of the perilous journey thousands took to find/make a better life for themselves. Many, many people died along these trails trying to manifest a better life for themselves and their families. On the flip side of that, the Native Americans who already lived on these lands were displaced, their homes and lands invaded, and lots of bloodshed occurred due to this drive west. Entire cultures were changed and lost. I had lots of conflicting emotions, standing in history, encompassing loss and gain for both sides of the perilous time of wagon trains, Native American and pioneer battles, displacement of tribes, and growth and expansion of American culture. These themes are still controversial today, and I do not want to get into debates, especially on this site.

We also visited the museum on-site in the park. It had a nice display of some fossils found there, a journal of a pioneer on the Oregon Trail, and some recreations of what covered wagon travel looked like.

When our stay was over, we packed it up and started west toward Nevada. While looking at our route, I noticed that we would be passing very close to Shoshone Falls. This waterfall is called the Niagara of the West. So, we decided a short side trip was in order. The falls are controlled by damns, so sometimes their water flow is high, and sometimes it is low. The flow was low the day we went, so we did not witness the full power of the falls. Even with low flow, the falls were beautiful. We also saw a mountain goat just hanging out, watching cars come in and out of the park.

After an hour of taking pictures, we continued heading west into Nevada. We had been to Reno the year before, just for an afternoon of laundry and lunch. So this was to be our first time camping in Nevada and we were looking forward to another new state and experience, but still in a desert environment. Next week will be all about our stay at one of Nevada’s beautiful reservoirs.