Arizona Spring Football Game!!

April 12, 2022 / Ed Armstrong

It was great having my photo taken in front of the famous “Zona Zoo!!” This is the student section on the west side of Arizona Stadium. This sign did not exist the last time I was at the stadium.

I had a wonderful time visiting Tucson to attend the University of Arizona spring football game! It was a beautiful day and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting an old friend Bill at the stadium. It has probably been at least a decade since I have been at Arizona stadium. It was filled with memories for me. While waiting for the game to start, I remembered major wins as well as heart-breaking losses while in that stadium. It was great to visit again!

It was fun to attend the spring game. The music was pounding loudly in the stadium!

Some of the cheerleaders were gracious and allowed me to take their picture. It was fun to see all the excitement and pageantry of college football!

Being inside Arizona Stadium again brought back so many special memories!!

It was fun to watch some of the new recruits as well as many of the established players. Coaches for the game were famous players when I had season tickets for UA football. Now, the football team hopefully will be able to win some games! They have only won one game in the past two seasons, so hopefully the team will improve their win-loss record. Is it too much to ask to have enough wins to go to a bowl game?? We will see.

After the game, I drove the motorhome to South Tucson and enjoyed some wonderful Mexican food!! I think Tucson has some of the best Mexican food anywhere in the nation!

After eating dinner, I drove to Catalina, Arizona for some boondocking camping. After getting organized, I opened the motorhome door and was greeted with a spectacular Tucson sunset! Truly beautiful!!

This was a wonderful day!! It was great to visit Tucson, I had a wonderful time at Arizona Stadium, I enjoyed seeing the football team, I enjoyed talking with my friend Bill, the Mexican food was fantastic, and the sunset was awesome. (Now, hopefully, we will win some football games!!)

I think it is important to be grateful for special times and to savor days like today!

Quartzsite, Arizona Stars!

January 21, 2022 / Ed Armstrong

This is our motorhome in the foreground with the gorgeous stars shining brightly over the rural desert skies! Awesome!

I went to a RV rally in Quartzsite, Arizona and had a wonderful time. There was a photographer that held a workshop that showed us how to photograph stars. Being in the desert south of Quartzsite there are no major cities nearby and it was beautiful to see so many stars. These were my favorite photos.

The stars are so bright above the isolated desert!

I love the flexibility of RV travel that allows the possibility to enjoy such simple and majestic scenes!

McDowell Mountain Regional Park!

February 11, 2021 / Ed Armstrong

This is a beautiful Maricopa County park that is fantastic for mountain biking, hiking, and riding horses!

I took our motorhome and headed to northeast Scottsdale to the McDowell Mountain Regional Park. It was only 90 minutes away from our house, but it was wonderful to enjoy the campground and ride my mountain bike on trails all around the area.

I love riding on trails on a beautiful day!

My first day I rode through the campground, went to the visitor center, and then rode one of the easier loops as suggested by the visitor center. The next day, I rode 15.3 mile Pemberton loop trail. This started with a long uphill route and then a mostly downhill rocky path back down to the visitor center.

At the top of the hill on the Pemberton trail is a fun place to rest and repair your bike, if needed.

I met several people on the trails. Mountain biking couples quite a bit older than myself, a photographer hiking that found deer on the trail and a couple of groups of ladies riding horses. I have learned to be extra cautious around horses on the trail. Mountain bikes can scare them and riders do not want you too close coming up behind the horses. Caution is especially warranted on narrow trails. So, I hung back on the trail to allow the horses time to find a place to get off the trail and allow me to pass.

The weather was in the 70s, so everyone was smiling and enjoying being outside on a sunny winter day in the desert.

The campground was quite spacious and each site had electricity and water. The quiet was wonderful!!

This is my second trip in the motorhome to mountain bike in a new location. I have really enjoyed this trip and need to plan another new location soon.

Lower Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend!!

March 13, 2020March 13, 2020 / Ed Armstrong

Horseshoe Bend was beautiful to see as the sun was setting with storm clouds in the distance!

I had a wonderful trip to Page, Arizona with my friends Dan and Rebecca and their son Jonathan. We first stopped by Horseshoe Bend to see it before the sun went down. The following morning we visited Horseshoe Bend again to see if we could find better light for photos.

The following morning, there was beautiful sun peeking through the clouds to highlight the rock formation!

It was very nice to enjoy such wonderful scenery!

I especially enjoyed seeing Lower Antelope Canyon! I had tried to see it last spring but ran into mechanical problems and could not make my reservation. It was especially rewarding to see such interesting rock formations and see how the light highlighted the shape and surface of the sandstone.

Our tour guide took this photo of me with my cell phone. It was spectacular to see such beautiful rock formations!

See the rock formation of the woman with her hair blowing behind her? I think this was my favorite rock formation!

I was so amazed to see the formations where the running water has created such beautiful formations!

It was very inspiring to walk through so many beautiful and unique rock formations.

See the seahorse? Our tour guide showed me this as we were near the exit of Lower Antelope Canyon.

We walked along the pathway at the bottom of this photo and simply stared at the gorgeous rock formations all around us!

I could not get enough of seeing all the unusual rock formations!

I loved all the shapes and colors in the rock formations throughout Lower Antelope Canyon!

Our tour guide had fun with my cell phone with this photo!

Water is certainly a powerful force!!

The rocks here remind me of waves, but it is hard rock!

I just had to stare at the curves and shapes in the rock walls!

I say hooray for being able to visit Lower Antelope Canyon!!

The seem to be no end to the amazing rock formations!!

Rugged and spectacular! Truly a marvel of God’s creativity!!

I marveled over and over while walking on the trail at the bottom at the huge rock formations all around me!!

I look forward to visiting other slot canyons in the future!!

Zoo Lights!

January 3, 2020January 3, 2020 / Ed Armstrong

The lights at the Phoenix Zoo were beautiful for Christmas!!

I had a wonderful time seeing the Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo. Everything was decorated for the Christmas season. It was great to walk through the zoo and see so many wonderful decorations!

This amazing lion was eating my hand!!

The scenes were amazing!

I loved all the creativity in designs!

The colors were fun!

Friends and family had a wonderful time seeing all the beautiful lights!

Apache Wash!

March 30, 2019March 30, 2019 / Ed Armstrong

I absolutely love riding my mountain bike on the Apache Trail! It is so much fun!!

The Phoenix Sonoran Preserve is spectacular!

Spring time in the desert is so beautiful!!

I have been in Phoenix for the past week and have been loving the spring weather. For the past six days I have driven to the Phoenix Sonoran Preserve and ridden my mountain bike on the Apache trail. It is a wonderful series of trails that are excellent for beginner and intermediate riders. I have loved riding on these trails! Many people hike, ride horses, or ride mountain bikes.

I had so much fun stopping to see so many different cacti!

The saguaro cacti are so magnificent!!

The yellow flowers, green plants, and blue sky were amazing!!

The weather has been spectacular this week and the desert plants are starting to bloom. I have really enjoyed riding along between all the cacti and the spring flowers.

It is absolutely amazing to see the number of arms this saguaro has!!

I love riding along such nice trails!!

This is the saguaro where I hit the cactus arm with my handlebars and caused me to wipeout!! I am glad I wear gloves when I ride!

One saguaro cactus is large and has an arm that has grown into the edge of the trail. Usually I have no problem avoiding the rocks and riding next to the cactus. However, two days ago, I rode a little too close to the cactus arm and my handlebars hit the cactus! It was like hitting a steel bar. There was absolutely no give at all to the cactus. Needless to say, my handlebars turned and I wiped out hands first in the dirt! I am glad I wear gloves when ridding! I only slightly hurt my hand and my bike was fine. When I looked closer at the cactus arm, I could see that I was not the only person that had hit the sneaky cactus arm!

This saguaro is growing in all sorts of different directions!

I absolutely love all the colors of the blooming desert!

There are blooming flowers farther than my eyes could see!

I am sad that this is the last time to ride the Apache trail. Now I need to move the motorhome to get have the yearly oil change and other maintenance items checked. After that, I continue my route west on interstate 10.

I really have to “gear down” my bike to make it up this hill!! My heart is beating fast by the time I get to the top!!

The scenary is spectacular all along the Apache trail!!

I love riding my mountain bike through the blooming desert!

Picacho Peak!

March 22, 2019March 22, 2019 / Ed Armstrong

I absolutely loved visiting Picacho Peak State Park! It was beautiful and weather was perfect!

I loved seeing so many huge cacti!

The California poppies are so beautiful! They blooming in so many places!

After the end of the Escapade RV rally at the Pima County Fairgrounds, I went on a day trip to Picacho Peak State Park. It was a gorgeous day and an absolutely fabulous time to visit Picacho Peak! I was hoping to see more spring poppies as well as a range of beautiful cacti.

I love to see the patterns in the cactus spines!

I adore the orange color of the California poppies!

There is an amazing contrast with the prickly cactus right next to the delicate beauty of the blooming flowers!

There are so many beautiful scenes in Picacho Peak state park!

The high temperature was 71 degrees, so it was wonderful weather to visit Picacho Peak! I went to a couple different sections of the park and walked randomly along a range of trails with my camera and tripod.

I love the different colors of blooming flowers!

Blooming poppies are everywhere!

I love the colors and ruggedness of the rock formations!

I had a wonderful time seeing so many beautiful scenes!

It is refreshing to simply look at all the different colors and shapes!

It is wonderful to see the enormous saguaro cacti!!

Dressage Horses!

March 17, 2019March 17, 2019 / Ed Armstrong

The horses work intently! I was surprised to see the foam frothing from the horses mouth.

The horses are trained to take very precise steps!

I came in early to the Pima County Fairgrounds to attend the Escapade. Dressage horses were in competition next to where I am parked in my motorhome. I spent quite a while watching them practice. I was trying to follow the different procedures they followed.

I thought it was interesting to see how the horses were trained to tip their heads down.

The appearance of both the horses and riders were meticulously refined.

I anticipated that most of the participants would be people in their teens and twenties; however, most of the participants were women at least my age.

I liked the contrast of the pink with the beautiful color of the horse.

There was incredible focus and determination as the riders guided their horses through the routines. Quite interesting!

I thought this lady’s pink outfit was priceless!!

Catalina State Park!

March 9, 2019March 9, 2019 / Ed Armstrong

I love the California poppies in Catalina State Park!

The mighty saguaro cactus are so impressive!

It was a wonderful day to visit Catalina State Park! I was fun to drive through Tucson and Oro Valley on the way to the state park. I have many wonderful memories from living in Oro Valley!

The poppies are everywhere! They are a wonderful way to welcome spring in Catalina State Park!

I especially love the orange poppies!

The flowers are so delicate and beautiful!

Beautiful!!

I also have many excellent memories of previous visits to Catalina State Park! I have hiked, camped, and ridden a horse in the state park. March is a fantastic month to visit! The flowers are blooming everywhere, and it is a very comfortable temperature.

I love the orange center and yellow outside colors of the poppies!!

The poppies began to close up as the temperatures started to cool off.

I like the contrast between the orange poppies and the while flowers!

These are gorgeous flowers!

I was especially enthralled with the blooming California poppies! I love the yellow and orange colors! I took many photos of all the blooming poppies!

I love the color of the poppies!

Awesome colors!

I also love the mighty saguaro cactus! Since I have been away from Tucson, it was very exciting to again see much massive and mighty cactus!

The saguaro cactus are so impressive!

There were many people in the park and all kinds of activities with different groups of people! Everyone was enjoying the wonderful weather and the beauty of the park.

These are very heavy limbs!!

I walked on the nature walk and loved taking pictures of such beauty. It was so wonderful to visit the park again after several years having moved away from Oro Valley.

I was mesmerized by the design of the spines on the saguaro cactus!

When I first arrived at the park, there was a display of different animals that lived in the area. A teenage girl asked me if I wanted to hold a gopher snake. At first I declined, but then I thought it would be a unique experience to hold it. She took a picture of me and laughed at my nervousness.

I do not like snakes, so I was amazed to find myself holding a gopher snake!

Chiricahua National Monument!

March 4, 2019March 4, 2019 / Ed Armstrong

I was captivated with the rock formations and all the different colors!

Very interesting rocks!

Amazing rocks!

Today was a wonderful step back in time. I have been to the Chiricahuas in the past, but it has to have been at least 15 years ago. I think the rock structures within the Chiricahua National Monument are awe inspiring and beautiful.

The green-yellow lichen on many rocks was striking!

Very interesting balanced rocks! It is amazing that a big gust of wind does not blow it over!

I was excited to see so many amazing rock formations!

Around every corner on the trail, there are new perspectives and new sites that seem to be even more beautiful.

I was amazed at the size of so many boulders!

These rock formations were quite unique and amazing!

These structures sort of reminded me of stacks of pancakes!

Hiking the trail was supposed to take about 2-3 hours, but it took me 4.5 hours because I kept stopping to take photos of new scenes.

This is the Echo Canyon Grotto! A unique series of arches in the rock formations.

The Echo Canyon Grotto was a unique series of arches. It was tricky to photograph because of the bright sunshine in a few spaces combined with dark shadows in most of the grotto. I combined a series of photos with different exposures using “high dynamic range.”

This seemed to be a sleepy rock formation that was resting against a close friend.

I loved all the shapes of rocks!

All these rock formations are simply glorious!

Very unique balanced shapes!

My mind was captivated with so many beautiful and amazing structures.

I thought this formation looked like a smiling person!

This formation made me think about organ pipes!

The rock formations are so unique and such a treasure!

Years ago, I remember camping in a tent with Charlene when Amy was a baby in the campground within the Chiricahua National Monument. I have many wonderful memories of this beautiful place.

What a beautiful day for a hike to such an awesome national monument!

It looks like someone simply stacked all these boulders all together!