Read earlier entries from March.
When we were walking down the street here in Tombstone, I saw O.K. Corral re-enactors crossing the street, horse-drawn stagecoach tours on the street, and old style shops and storefronts everywhere. I could tell they were re-enactors because they wore all black (even the black fedora hat) with .45 revolvers in their waist holsters (or shoulder holsters). The buildings look like they did 150 years ago (at least, that's what my mom said). We hope to see everything tomorrow. We didn't see it today because Mom is feeling sick.
Tucson is part of saguaro (sa-WAR-o) cactus country. They're big, and they're everywhere! In 15 years they stand a foot high; in 60 years they can start to grow their first arm. The saguaros in Tucson are so big they must be hundreds of years old.
I've been sick since Saturday (sick being nauseous). I went swimming Saturday. Dad thinks that's where I might have gotten sick.
Pinnacle Peak, where we ate, has a "no tie policy enforced by our scissor wielding waitresses," says the brochure. After they cut your tie off, they string it to the rafters. There were almost 1,000,000 at last count.
I lost a tooth yesterday and today it had split in half.
Old Tucson Studios looked like what it was, a old western movie studio (we didn't go in, they charge $14 admission).
They also had a "Cat Canyon" (ocelot, bobcat, and
jaguarundi), prairie dogs, beavers, bighorn sheep, hummingbirds,
snakes, birds, owls, and an underground mineral gallery.
I liked the hummer aviary best. You'd walk in and they would fly all around you and sing. They were everywhere and so colorful! I liked the broad-billed hummingbird best. There was one who would stare at me and sing.
You won't believe this. I found somebody I met at the Williamsburg Pottery Factory Campground. His family, like ours, is touring the US, only starting from Michigan. He had been four miles from us in New Port Richey, had stayed in Secret Lake in Orlando after us, and had stayed in Gilbert Ray campground four days before us.
Today we went to a gun show. We saw a stand selling rubber band guns
so I bought one. What I like about this gun is the semi-auto shape,
the beaver tail, and the sprockets are beige instead of black so it
matches the wood better. They also had a rubber band Gatling gun that
they called "The Dominator." 12 x 8 = 96 shots -- you can't miss! But
it was $200!Tonight we had a BBQ with the Mousseaus (the people we've been playing tag with across the US). It wasn't planned so they had hot dogs, burgers, sodas, chips, salsa, and beans, and we had steak, chicken, cantaloupe, watermelon, and potato salad.
At the supermarket we saw prickly pear cactus leaf for $2.00 apiece. I wonder what you use those for?
Dad and I shot archery today. I adjusted a pin to 15 yards and when I shot at a duck target, I got two in the tail, one in the head, one in the chest, one in the foot, and one missed. Dad finally got to try out his new toy.
Dad shot an IPSC match at the club across the street tonight.
A guy who tried to start a conversation with Mom tried to do it while Mom was on the phone. When she said, "Listen, I'm on the phone, long distance. I can't talk now," his parting words were, "Do yourself a favor, go back to Massachusetts."
Mom was keeping Dad's gun because he couldn't bring it into the county office. One beggar asked, "Got any spare change, any drinks, oh don't shoot me!" and ran away.
Today we went on a two-hour trail ride. Dad stayed behind
because he weighed too much. My horse's name was Spider. I had to
struggle to keep her head out of the bushes so she wouldn't get spines
in her face. We rode at the base of the Superstition Mountains. The
base of the Superstitions is BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land and
the Superstitions are Federal land.
The trail boss wasn't good with names. The other couple on the trail with us were from Kansas City so they were Mr. and Mrs. Kansas City, and mom was Ms. Boston.
He quizzed us on plants and beasties in the desert. We were so good. He said, "What's that tree?" Mom said, "a Palo Verde." Then he said, "What's that in the tree?" "Mistletoe," came the reply. "What kind of mistletoe?" "There you got me," said Mom. He seemed happy to stump Mom and said "Desert mistletoe!"
He thought he stumped me when he asked me what a bird was. When I replied, "Mourning dove," he said, "No, it's a turtle dove." I said, "In Massachusetts, it's a mourning dove." He said, "Mr. Kansas City?" Mr. Kansas City said, "Mourning dove."
Does anyone know what Palo means because we don't (hint: it's Spanish and the adjectives come after the nouns in Spanish. Hint: Verde is green.)
If you can think of any way to improve my website, e-mail me.
We saw some calves at one watering hole. One was what Mom and Dad
called a cute and adorable chestnut brown color (I don't think it was
cute and adorable, after all it was a cow).
We ate at a restaraunt on Route 66 in Williams, the town where we went to pick up our mail. We saw the Grand Canyon train parked at Williams.
The color of the rocks around Sedona was blood red. We saw Coffee Pot Rock, Steamboat Rock, Capitol Butte, and Chimney Rock (no, not the one on the Oregon Trail).
We went over the Midgely Bridge crossing Oak Creek Canyon. Someone put some letters on so the sign said "Midgely Bridgely."
When I tried to ride my bike I found that one wheel was flattened because an ocotillo thorn 1" long got stuck in it. We're going to fix it tomorrow.
[We finally developed our roll of film, including some new pictures from March.]
On the way here yesterday, we saw signs saying "Entering Elk
Country," but we still have had no luck seeing one. We climbed 3,000
feet and it snowed at the campground. I ended up in the snow until it
melted.
We are staying at Railside RV Ranch.
We are right next to the Grand
Canyon Railway tracks. The Grand Canyon Railway is a train that
takes tourists to and from the Grand Canyon. If you're not up by
9:30, the train will wake you up!
My first reaction was "wow," because I had been looking to the right and the Canyon was on the left. I wonder, the canyon comes on so fast, did any Spanish explorers fall into the canyon?
The strata were completely horizontal. The rocks and dirt were blood red.
The ravens are so big, my dad asked what kind of a hawk one was and my mom asked if another was a turkey vulture.
We met some campers that are also camping in Williams with us.
We saw the mule stables and they were full. I bet there were 25 or 30 mules there, and I saw at least two palomino mules. They were back from carrying tourists down to the bottom of the Bright Angel Trail.
