Pio Pico, CA

We had a wonderful 8 days at Pio Pico outside of San Diego.  We ended up spending most of our time touring around the immediate area and hiking. The first 2 days we were there we got a lot of rain on and off.  The rest of the time the weather was great in the 70's and mid 80's.  The nights are cool but by 9:30 we are back in short sleeves.
We met a lovely couple there Scott and Leeandra from Washington state. Hope to meet up with them again.
The campground sits at the base of the mountains and cell and Internet is almost non existent.


The picture above shows where we camped our last night at Winterhaven, CA.
We camped on BLM land and paid nothing and look at the gorgeous view we had.

This was the view out my kitchen window.

We drove through this windmill farm on the way to Pio Pico near San Diego.

We drove through these rock pile mountains on our way to Pio Pico campground.

These are the mountains we drove through on our way to the campground.

We went to visit this gorgeous lake just down the road from the campground.

Our camper is the one on the right hand side just across from the pool and hot tub. How convenient is that?

This is the mountain we hiked to the top of.  What a day and what a view.

Lee and Nick on our way back down the mountain.

How totally gorgeous is this?

No matter where we drove we were surrounded by this beauty.

You see where the campground sits so you can understand why cell and Internet are almost non existent.

You can see San Diego in the distance which is 30 miles away.

This is just about at the top of the mountain.

Nicky turned 10 on Dec. 21st. We took him to Petco and let him pick out his present and then we took him to a nice park and played ball. Next we went to the store and got him beef strips for his birthday dinner. No, he is not spoiled!!!!

We did not go into San Diego this trip we were having too much fun hiking. The next time we come to this park we will visit the city.
Nicky, Lee and Judy wish all our friends and family a very blessed holiday. Look forward to visiting again with you soon.

Winterhaven,CA / Yuma, AZ

We have had a lovely week here at Pilot Knob campground in Winterhaven CA. Most of the people in the RV park are here to go over to Mexico and get dental work done.

Running along the mountains just across the street is the train track which is moving goods all day and all night.  We haven't seen this active a railroad in a long time.

Driving here we passed several very large solar fields. Found out that Arizona has more solar fields than any other state in US.

The other thing that is so beautiful is the mountains surrounded by fields of lettuce. It's just such a pretty sight.

This is one of the views from the campground.

I am standing out in the desert looking out over the campground.

This camper is parked on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land. You can pull in there and park for 6 months for $180. Of course, there is no electric, water or sewer. You need a generator and would have to dump from time to time.

We went into Yuma and visited the Yuma Territorial Prison. Very interesting nice day trip.

Three of our days were spent in Mexico having dental done and glasses made.  Lee had 3 crowns and 1 filling and a cleaning. I had 1 crown and a filling and our total bill was $1,130. dollars.We both also had a pair of glasses made. Mine were half what I paid at Costco.

We packed a picnic lunch and our bikes and went to two lovely parks in Yuma along the Colorado River.

The weather was about 78 and a gorgeous sunny day.

As you can see, when we stopped for lunch Nicky found a spot of shade and thanked this gentleman for providing it.

A pretty sight along the river.

The mountains are ever changing as the light on them changes throughout the day.

The sunsets are beautiful and it's a treat for me because I don't get to see the sunsets when I am home since I live in the mountains.

Another week has gone by. It is hard to believe. Hope all of you are well and happy and that you enjoy the upcoming holidays with your families.

More soon, Judy

Just added this picture. We spent yesterday running around the foothills in our jeep. The mountains are awesome.

Apache Junction,AZ

 Hello friends and family

The mountains in Arizona are much like New Mexico. You fall in love with them. As the light strikes them at different angles throughout the day they change so much. You get en entirely different perspective throughout the day.

While in Arizona we did a lot of hiking and driving around in the mountains. The scenery was incredible. The weather was great in the mid 70's and cool at night.

Are these not gorgeous?

While driving around in the mountains we cam across this old mining town, Goldfield, established in 1893. Some of the original buildings and the ones that aren't original were reproduced through photos of the town.

We packed a picnic lunch one day and drove to Canyon Lake in the near by mountains.

What a beautiful drive we had.

You begin to get an idea of how the Grand Canyon came to be. Also look at the variety of colors beginning to show in the rock.

On our way back down the mountain we came across another mining town.

This is just so typical of the Arizona terrain.

We hiked to the top of this mountain. The dark spot you see just to the right of the straight cactus in the foreground is the cave we hiked to.

This is pretty typical of the desert floor where we were hiking. It definitely has it's own beauty.

You can see here how high up we were and you are looking at the good part of the trail.  At times we were climbing over boulders. When we got back down I asked Lee,"Did you ever look at the difficulty of the hike?" Well no. I looked down at the trails guide and yes it was listed as the most difficult. Nicky is 10 now and had no difficulty getting up but slipped on a boulder coming down and hit his hip. Lee ended up carrying him over some of the boulders going down.

And we came up here why???????
Just kidding it was worth it.

You are in this arid country but look at all the colors.

This was our campground.  countryside and Encore park. The view of the mountains from here was gorgeous.
I will next to talking to you from Winterhaven,CA which is just past Yuma, AZ. While there we will be crossing the border at Los Algodonos into Mexico and having some dental work done. We have worked with this same dentist before. Dr. Ramous, our dentist says he does excellent work.

Look forward to sharing with you all again soon. Love to all.