Arizona

 19 Mar   Desert Hot Springs, CA - Lake Havasu, AZ     225 miles   4 hrs 45 mins

We had to go back to 3T's RV Repair in Lake Havasu because our jacks was still not working correctly.  The sensor needed to be moved. They took about 2 hours to complete the job and now it seems like the jacks are working the way it should be. 

  19 Mar      Lake Havasu, AZ - Parker, AZ     40 miles     1 hour

We decided to try boondocking at Bluewater Resort & Casino in Parker, Arizona. They allow dry camping up to 7 days. That's pretty long and some rigs and vans looked pretty comfortable, like they were exceeding the limit. They had two huge parking lots but there was a slope. Most rigs were parked along the edge of the parking lot, this seemed the best to level. So we found our spot and settled in for the night. 

We found that the casino had all you can eat ribs for $9.99 at one of the restaurants. Of course, we had to check it out. When we arrived at the restaurant there was a 45 minute wait. So we went to play blackjack while we waited. We both lost, so instead of a $20 dinner, it cost us $220. But that's okay, the ribs were pretty good and we had fun. 

20 Mar    Parker - White Tank Mountain Regional Park     158 miles   3 hrs 40 min

White Tank Mountain Regional Park covers 29,572 acres over 45 square miles. The range rises sharply from its base at 1,400 feet above sea level in a series of rocky ridges and fault lines to its highest peat at 4,083 feet. Infrequent heavy rains cause flash floods to plunge through the canyons and pour out upon the plain where they lose their momentum. These torrential flows, pouring down chutes and dropping off ledges have scoured out a series of depressions, known as tanks in the white granite bedrock. These white tanks give the mountains their name. 

White Tank Mountain Regional Park offers about 40 miles of hiking trails. Horseback and mountain bike riders are welcome. Picnickers have use of 240 picnic sites with table and grills. The Family Campground offers 36 sites, each having electric, water, a table, grill, and a fire pit. A restroom with showers and a dump station are located in this area. 

The Willow Campground consists of tent sites and non hookup back-in sites with a table and fire pit. It has restrooms, showers, and a dishwashing station. 

We have reservations for the Family Campground for 4 nights. Reservations are required, nightly fee $32 plus $8 reservation fee. The sites are very nice with a lot of space between sites. We're in D10, I think we have the best site here. 

Sunrise view from our site

We spent our time here with a hike every morning. All the hikes were very scenic with spring flowers starting to bloom and cactus all over the place.

The most spectacular hike was Black Rocks Trail connecting to Waterfall Canyon Trail. This is the most popular trail in the park and we could see why. The trail leads to a dark pool in a narrow granite box canyon.  It was dry when we went but after a good rain there really is a waterfall. 

    

This trail also houses the Petroglyph Plaza, some of the finest petroglyphs found in the park. 

We enjoyed our time here at White Mountain Regional Park. We're moving on to Camp Verde, our kids are coming to visit us....so excited!

24 Mar  White Tank Mountain Park - Camp Verde     103 miles    4 hours

We're staying at Verde Ranch RV Resort at Camp Verde for 6 nights. The rate with Passport America is $196.19. Nice park and very family friendly. When we pulled in there were kids everywhere! All over the roads on bikes, skateboards, scooters, running around with kites...just everywhere.

25 Mar   Our family flew into Phoenix this morning and drove out to Camp Verde. We haven't seen them for over a month and really miss them. They were all very tired because they came in on the red eye and didn't get any sleep on the flight. The weather today is very cold and windy so we just stayed in and had a nice visit and caught up on things. So nice to see all of them, especially JJ and Jade. Everyone stayed in our RV so it was kind of crowded but very cozy. Tomorrow they will check into a cabin.

26 Mar  Out of Africa Wildlife Park, Camp Verde

It was very cold and windy today but we went to Out of Africa Wildlife Park near our campground. Little pricey but I think it was worth it. Children $23.95, adults $38.95. They have a special, if its your birthday month you only pay $11.00. Josh and I have March birthdays so we could take advantage of that, in fact, today is Josh's 32nd birthday.

Watching the tiger show

This white rhino was huge!

Josh & Family

This is not your typical zoo. We got on the safari ride and got to see a lot of animals up close. We did lots of walking because everythings pretty spaced out. Good time for everybody, JJ and Jade really enjoyed it.

27 Mar    Oak Hill Snow Play Area, Williams

We drove all the way to Williams to find snow today. This is the first time for Casey, JJ, and Jade. They were so excited. We had a lot of fun building a snowman, snowball fights, and snow angels. I can't wait to take them skiing.....maybe next year.

That was hard work!

Afterwards, we drove to Slide Rock State Park and hiked around a little. The water was freezing but the kids had to stick their feet in and Josh ended up jumping in and went sliding down the rocks.

Pooped out

We didn't plan on this stop so Miki was bummed because she really wanted to jump in but didn't bring her suit. We had such a full, fun day. We went from playing in snow to a dip in the water at Slide Rock.

28 Mar   Hiking in Sedona

Josh, Miki, and I got up early and drove to Sedona to go hiking at the Devils Bridge Trail. This is a very popular hike and we thought we got up early enough. We were there at 6:20am and there were so much people there already. It was very cold, about 39 degrees. When we finally got to the bridge, Miki and Josh didn't want to get in line to take a picture on the bridge because it was so crowded. It was still worth it, very, very scenic. 

Sedona is so beautiful

We met Joe, Casey, JJ, and Jade at Big Bear Diner for breakfast. The breakfast was okay, some of the food was cold like it was sitting on the counter for a while. 

We went to the pool later in the day. So nice but lots of kids around and it started to get crowded real quick. JJ has a broken arm but he still could get in a little bit of pool time. 

We loved the pool

Josh helped us clean the roof of the RV. It was real dirty from being in the desert in California. I get nervous getting on the roof so it was good that Josh was here to do it. 

The kids leave early tomorrow morning. It was a fast trip but we really enjoyed their visit. We got a lot done in a very short time. Next time they come to visit it needs to be longer. 

We're going to miss them.

Ice cream break

The cabin was nice