The Adventure from NM to California

I haven't meant to neglect you all - just been busy having fun living the retired life. We spent 2 nights in Benson, Arizona - that's in the southeastern part of the state. The family spent several months at Fort Huachuca just north of Benson, so we had to visit again. Sierra Vista has certainly grown and Bisbee is still there - a bit more gentrified than when we lived there, but so beautiful. We also visited the Coronado National Monument - yes, that Coronado visited the area. The funny part is that we'll be visiting Salina, Kansas in a few weeks and that's the northern most place he visited and we'll have pictures for you then. So, here are the pictures I took in Arizona:

Big B for Bisbee

Here's a great example of Bisbee architecture and it's for lease/sale. There were great antique shops and I bought lots of books to deface and rebuild - don't worry Librarian friends, they aren't value.

 And once you finish shopping, visit the Bisbee Breakfast Club for lunch (it's not open for dinner.) I read about it on roadfoodblog.com.




We left Benson, Bisbee, Sierra Vista Arizona and moved on to Blythe, California. We camped on the Colorado River - the shore on the left is Arizona and California is the right shore - Southern California exists because of water from the Colorado River but I think Arizona won a big suit getting "custody" of its water but don't quote me on that:

We traveled through a big wind farm at Palm Springs. Haven't been there since I was a little kid and perhaps we can go back. Next, we landed in Banning, CA. What a great campgound - a KOA. Larry and I both  want to spend a lot more time there. We could see Idyllwild - a mountain community and you can see it still has snow on the mountain. We're looking at it from the high desert - I love the fact that you can be in the snow one minute and the desert an hour later. Enjoy Idyllwild:

And we arrived in Anaheim CA home of Disneyland. We were fight behind Disneyland and could see The Matterhorn Mountain and the fireworks each evening



We visited family and they visited it - great seeing all the Harpers and Aunt Mary. Lora and I antiqued in Orange and Scott, Pam and Greg joined us at Disneyland. We rode some of our favorites - Pirates of the Caribbean, Mark Twain Paddle Steamer among others - and 2 new ones - Star Tours (Star Wars and wasn't it fun) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (another one that I'll do again.). Thought you'd like to join us too:

Entrance to Disneyland

It's a Small World - didn't go on this one because we didn't want the song in our heads for the rest of the trip

R2D2 and C3PO

Well, we found California had changed a lot - like we have. Nothing we remembered still existed as we remembered it. But then we've changed, too. We ate at favorite places of yore but things didn't taste the same as we remembered it. Family haven't changed and it was wonderful seeing them all. Thanks you guys!! We really had fun. We left Anaheim today and are now outside of Barstow California near Daggett. Both Larry and I love the Calico Ghost Town/Mine and will visit tomorrow. Now we KNOW that will have changed since it was purchased by Walter Knott (Knott's Berry Farm) and he added lots to it. I think we'll also go rock hunting and if there's time and we feel so inclined, we'll see the Petroglyphs - or perhaps save that for another trip. It's time for me to stop now - more adventures tomorrow. Bye!