Confusing Day and Picacho Peak

 Starting to get closer to 9 AM before Nick, Yuma and I get up in the mornings.  Yuma is the one that makes the first move, wanting to go outside.  We had our full three course breakfast this morning and I remembered last night to pull out a couple of rib eyes for tonight.

Nancy sent me a list of places to see around Tucson, so this is where the confusion starts. She mentioned a ghost town named Ruby and Silver Bell Mine near Red Rock.

I put Red Rock in Google maps but my mind was thinking Ruby the ghost town.  I noticed Picacho Peak was near by, so we decided to hit both today.  Only about an hour up I-10 towards Phoenix.

We headed out around 11 o'clock and the first confusion occurred when we turned right onto I-10.  We actually turned a little short and ended up on the Frontage road running along side the interstate.

Like a dummy, I'm one to never say turn around and go back, we kept going towards the next exit about 5 miles up the road.  The road turned worse and worse and after about four miles we ran into a chained and locked fence.

Finally, I said Uncle and we turned around and went back losing about half hour of our one hour journey.😡

We got on I-10 and traveled the hour up to Red Rock with no problems passing to the west of Tucson.

Turned onto Red Rock road and there were houses all around and no sign of a ghost town.  After searching a little, we decided to check out Picacho Peak.  It wasn't until we were returning home later that I figured out I should have been looking for the Silver Bell Mine near Red Rock.😡  Great navigator I am!

We went the five miles up I-10 and stopped at the Peak.  Only $7 per vehicle.  They had two main hiking trails.  One that went to a vista overlooking the desert that was one mile round trip and a rugged three mile round hike to the top of Picacho Peak.

Being my first hike since April, we decided on the shorter hike and it was beautiful.  We're heading for the low area to the right side.

  

Picacho Peak behind us.

Nick wants to hike the Peak trail that takes about three hours, so once the White Lion is repaired we'll head this way.

Amazing, it only took 45 minutes to get home when you navigate properly.  It was now 4 o'clock and I was beat, so I rested till almost 5 o'clock before fixing dinner.  So did Yuma and Nick 😀

Grilled two rib eyes, a row of sweet potatoes and white potatoes and heated up the French beans.  Delicious, if I must say so myself! 😋  And then pudding with whip cream for dessert.

Now it is time for Survivor!  Bummer! They voted out my pick to win😝

Thanks for stopping by.

This and that kind of day

 Not one picture today, I added one from yesterday of an Indian in front of a store in Tombstone.

We slept in today till almost 9 o'clock.  I was really tired from yesterday's visit to Tombstone.  We had our full three course breakfast outside in the driveway enjoying the beautiful morning.

Made a list of groceries and Nick volunteered to go to the Safeway.  Takes a lot of wear and tear off me with the walking.  Certainly appreciate it!

At about 2 o'clock I got an email from the mobile repair shop and they gave me an estimate to fix my ripped up piping.  $170 for the main part and an estimate of $356 for other piping and the repair.  

That will teach me to stay out of ditches with the low riding White Lion 😖 The only problem is the 5 - 7 day wait for the main part. 😞 They will call when the part is in and we'll make an appointment to come out.

Not sure what to do with the time.  May stay right here or if I can think of a place to visit make a trip and then return when called.  I'll think on it.  Nancy is okay with my staying which I appreciate. 😊

When I pulled the Jeep off the White Lion, I noticed the right hand blinker would make a fast clicking sound and that means a right blinker bulb is out.  Checked front and back and it was the front one.  Of course, I had a spare for the back but not one for the front.

Today, we made a drive at 4:30 to find an auto parts store.  Unfortunately, traffic near the mall was horrendous, but we found one and a Walmart too.  Got the bulb and now we're legal once more.

Today was the day for Nick to learn how to create a blog of his own.  Did some research and finding out Nick is not a fan of Google, we looked at WordPress as an alternative.  That's nice because I would like to learn more about it too.

Time to fix hamburgers and settle in for the evening.  Already heard our first coyote so darkness is upon us.

Thanks for stopping by.

Grasslands and Tombstone

 This morning we were up and having breakfast at 9 o'clock in preparation for a day visiting Tombstone, Arizona.  At 10 we were on our way.

Heading straight south on hwy 83 over the Rincon Mountains toward the Grasslands.

It was only a 36 minute drive.  Since the Cienegas National Conservation Area (Grasslands) is on the way to Tombstone, I wanted to show Nick where I stay each year in April for the horse competition.  Also, the beautiful mountains surrounding the area.

Drove through Empire Creek

Santa Rita Mountains to the west

Mustang Mountains to the southeast

Whetstone Mountains to the east

The working Empire Ranch is in the grasslands where I stay.  We didn't go into the ranch house, but drove by and took pictures.  There are two homes.  The original ranch house and the newer more modern home.

Had a problem getting back to the highway.

We then headed on to Sonita, about two miles down hwy 83 and turned at hwy 82 for the 40 minute drive to Tombstone.

Hwy 82 heading east

It wasn't long before we arrived to Tombstone and our first stop was Boot Hill.

After Boot Hill, we went on into Tombstone and walked main street.

Tombstone Court House

At 2 o'clock Nick went to watch the gunfight at the OK Corral while Yuma and I sat on a bench to watch the activity around us.

After the shoot-out that scared Yuma to death, we headed home and arrived at 4 o'clock.  A six hour day wore me out.

As we were resting I heard a screeching outside and went out to investigate.  Finally located the source and it was a coyote.  I could see him in the ravine howling at Yuma's barking.  Hopefully I can upload a video clip.

After that, I made a quick trip to the Safeway for hotdog buns and I wrote this blog while watching the New England-Buffalo game.

Time to cook our hotdogs and call it a night.  It's already 8 o'clock.  Thanks for stopping by.

Finish Climbing Mt Lemmon

 Made it to around 8 o'clock before Yuma rousted me out of bed to go for his morning walk.  Cool, around 48, but heading for 72 for a high.

Last night, the three of us had hotdogs on the grill.  First time using the grill this journey.  This morning, I cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast for the first time too.  So, finally starting to get into the groove.

Today is Sunday and we decided to hang around camp and watch some football outside in the beautiful weather.

Time to wrap up yesterday's Mt Lemmon climb in the Jeep.

We are finally closing in on the top.  The picture below is looking off to the northeast across a valley towards more mountains in the distance.

This is looking straight north.  The mountainside is barren because they had a fire to the north that was finally stopped right before it reached Summerhaven.

At the top we turned a corner and there was a town.  The name is Summerhaven and it has shops and lots of cabins.  As we passed by the Cookie Cabin, Nick said he was hungry, so we decided to go to the end of the road and stop there on our way back down.

It was only about a quarter of a mile before the road ended for us tourists.

We turned around and went back to the Cookie Cabin.  I took care of Yuma and sat outside while Nick went in.

There was a long line I guess, because it took quite awhile before Nick returned with pizza, no cookies!  I think he enjoyed his pizza.  Still a growing young man.

After lunch, we headed back down the mountain towards home.  Much fewer pictures going down.

Now that is being dangerous.  Hope those guys know what they're doing!

Finally at the bottom and heading home.

Another beautiful sunset on the mountains.

Thanks for stopping in.