Who done it?

Mar. 28 - Apr. 10, 2013 Dead Horse Ranch State Park - Cottonwood, AZ

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PETS:
What a mess! This is what we came home to after visiting with fellow bloggers David & Suzi of Beluga's Excellent Adventure.

So? Who done it? Was it the butler? the maid? Maybe a bear? More likely one of the resident dogs left behind while we went visiting. Well? Which one? The calm, well behaved 9 yr old or the wack-a-doo, goof ball 2 yr. old?  Well since we've been crating the 2 yr. old for fear of getting into trouble, it HAD to be our sweet, calm, we thought well behaved 9 yr old English Setter, Lyla. She has done this 2x's recently. Well duh for us not putting the garbage in the shower or bathroom. We are very disappointed in our little "angel". Maybe we'll have to start crating her and leaving Devin loose.

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UPDATES:

I have been using Bloglines for a couple of weeks now and am very happy with this program to replace Google Reader. I find it very simple to use and easier to organize than Google Reader. Try it, you may like it.

Sir Basset: In my post of 3/10/13, I spoke of our beloved mascot, Sir Basset having been blown over in the wind and breaking. Not only was he broke, my heart was broke also. I'm happy to say that with some Epoxy glue and some Great Stuff Big Gap Filler, Sir Basset aka Humpty Dumpty has been put together again.  He's not perfect, but is still up for the responsibility of mascot.

Before

 

Broken

Spray foam needs sanding and black paint

 

He looks pretty good from the front. Plus when he holds our sign, his sensitive, scarred areas will be covered.

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RV LIFE: 

When I read that David & Suzi of Beluga's Excellent Adventure, were going to be at the same campground as us, I had to decide whether I forge ahead and try to meet them, or do I just covertly do a walk by. I really enjoy their blog. They are +(plus) rated by me. Oh hell, we'll only be in the same campground for one day. We could put up with them for that short a time. So I put on my "big girl panties" and emailed Suzi.

I have a love/hate relationship with meeting fellow bloggers. Both Scott & I are introverts and basically loners. Scott 5x's more so than I am. I do like to socialize here and there, but then I get my fill and NEED some alone time. When I mention to Scott that I contacted a blogger and we're going to meet, he slumps, makes a face and makes me feel like I'm an idiot. We didn't get married until we were 38 yrs old, so I am used to doing things on my own. So there Mr. Party Pooper!

I'm so glad we got together. Upon their arrival, I did walk by with my dogs, to introduce myself. Well we stood there talking and talking and talking. Finally had to stop and meet up later for cocktails.
I was excited to meet their black Standard Poodle, Lewis. Many photos of him are posted running around and playing.

I stopped by their site (only about 100 feet away) around 4:30pm and Suzi asked me if I wanted a "lake" drink or a regular drink. Huh? You've got some splainin' to do.

Dave & Suzi like to have a Gin & Tonic at happy hour. Somehow they knew I liked Gin & Tonics. They must have cram studied my blog. They limit themselves to ONE drink, but that one drink holds a wallop! They would drink Gin & Tonics while sitting out on their lakeside property in NY. Thus "lake" drink. Since I had to make a good impression, I stuck with a regular drink. One drink and I feel pretty good and more sociable. Anything more and I could become too talkative.

I met Lewis and Sasha. Both are sweet, sweet dogs.

Suzi, Lewis, David

Oops, maybe I did have too much to drink. I cut off their heads! 

Conversation was easy and really enjoyable. The company of not only humans, but canines also was great. After about 45 minutes - an hour, Mr. Unsociable aka Mr. Party Pooper aka Scott aka Hubby, made an appearance. More chatter. More petting of the dogs. 

The sun is going down, it's getting cool. Suzi brings out a hoodie for me. I KNEW I liked her. Thank you. Much better. But we've been visiting for about 1.5 hours and that's enough for me. Hurry up Scott and finish your drink so we can go back home. Nope, both Suzi & Dave invited us to come in for more conversation. I said I was planning on leaving, but they had us x-penned in, so we had no choice. (That is sarcasm, I'm glad we stayed). 

Their rig was much too clean and unlived in. But they defended their neatness by stating, they just arrived that day, with no time to settle in yet. Their black lab, laid his head on my lap while I while sitting on the couch. I had to let him do that since he was allowing me to sit on HIS dog bed (couch). 

Great time, great people. I hope we meet up again and I'll be sure to ask for the "lake" drink! And even Mr. Downer said he really enjoyed himself and would like to do it again.

Catch me before I faint!

Our time is ending here in Cottonwood, AZ. We have really enjoyed our time here. Beautiful weather, beautiful sights, interesting towns, good restaurants, lots of hikes.

We finally saw some green after too much time in the desert. Cottonwood is part of the Verde (Green) Valley. All along the Verde River is greenery, lush trees and GRASS. Then hike up to higher elevations and we're back to rocks and dirt with just dots of green here & there. But the view is beautiful.

Of course Devin loves being near any water so he can splash and cool off.

The temps have dropped the last couple of days here. See what arrived in the morning?

Snow on the mountains by Jerome

From our campground, Jerome looks like a little "hobbit" town snuggled into the side of a mountain. See the "J" on the mountain? I think that is very cool. J for Jerome. There is also a C for Clarkdale by their town also.

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SIGHTS: Speaking of Jerome, AZ

Our rating 4 out of 5

A quick history. Jerome was originally a settlement of the Yavapai Indians. In the 1870's, copper mining was taking over and starved Native Americans out and built stucco structures in the town of Jerome. Very sad, how the Indians were pushed out of THEIR land. (Stay tuned for politically INcorrect Pet Peeve in my next post).

Jerome ended up having two devastating fires within a year or two and it was just too much to rebuild again and Jerome became just about a ghost town.

Today, it is a funky, artsy town and I would think is surviving on tourism. Jerome is less than 1 square mile with just over 300 residents. The streets are narrow and one way only. You can get quite a workout walking from one street to the next with many stairs in between.

View from the Asylum restaurant, which is 1 mile elevation.

Since this was considered a ghost town at one point, the tourism really plays up to that theme. There are haunted ghost tours, rumors of ghosts in buildings, restaurants, etc. 

At the entrance of a restaurant

There are plenty of artists here and Indian Art, as well as some good restaurants. 

View from Jerome

Streets of Jerome

  

Being a retired US Postal Worker, I'm very interested in old and odd Post Offices. Jerome's PO did not disappoint. It looks like they still use combo locks Post Office boxes. I didn't see any key slots. 

There is no home mail delivery in Jerome. All mail is delivered to Post Office Boxes.

My home away from home.

Above is the old "cash book", which is the accounting book. I worked in the Finance Dept. of the USPS for 5 yrs. I actually used a "cash book", only by my time it was just slightly more modern, but still very similar. During my time in the Finance Dept. they were just starting to use computers. I didn't even know what "menu" meant in computer terms.  My supervisor refused to use the computer or even a calculator! That was around 1990. Damn, I'm old!

It's worth a day trip to window shop and stop in for lunch or dinner.

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RESTAURANT REVIEW:

Haunted Hamburger, Jerome, AZ

Our rating 4 out of 5

Very small place. We walked in and the bulk of the dining area is the bar. You also walk right into view of their cake display. Huge cakes and huge slices to tempt you to order dessert.
Tables over in one corner and very loud atmosphere. Luckily it was a fairly nice day, maybe a little cool, but nice enough to sit outside on the covered deck. Overhead heaters helped keep us warm. The wonderful view of the mountains also distracted us from any chill.

Service was good, but abrupt. But there were only two waitresses and it was busy at lunch time.

Hubby ordered 1/2 rack of ribs which came with veggies and steak fries.  I ordered the special which was Meatloaf sliders.

RIBS: Very good. The bbq sauce was good, but not sure if it was homemade. Ribs were smoky and tender. A nice touch was the small bowl of warm lemon water supplied to clean your hands of the sticky bbq sauce. This meal also came with a basket of bread and whipped butter. The bread was excellent. Crispy crust and soft centers.

STEAK FRIES: Average. Tasted frozen put in deep fry.

VEGGIES: Now, this was the highlight and showcased the potential of the chef. Shoestring sliced zucchini  yellow squash and carrots. Grilled & seasoned, with still a crunch to them. Excellent! 

MEATLOAF SLIDERS: Thick slices of good meatloaf with "frizzled" onions, cheese and bbq sauce. Excellent. The frizzled onions were excellent. Just like really good skinny onion rings. Could have done without the bbq sauce. The mini rolls were very good also.

CARROT CAKE: We took this to go. Excellent. 3 - 5 layers of rich, moist carrot cake with cream cheese icing. Icing in between all the layers and of course on top. I especially liked that the icing was not smeared on real thick. It was the perfect balance of cake and icing.
Either the owner or manager was walking around a making sure everything was ok and taken care of. You could see he was keeping an eye on things, but he was also friendly and made us feel very welcome.

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BUSINESS REVIEW: 

Knit 1 Bead 2, Jerome, AZ

My rating 5 out of 5
What an unexpected surprise! In this little less than 1 square mile town of Jerome I find a great yarn shop! A pretty good selection for such a remote area. I ended up spending $70. just on yarn, but ohhhhh, the yarn!

The clerk (owner?) was very nice without being pushy. Answered my questions and suggested pattern combos with the yarn I purchased.
Many sample pieces on display were cool to see that I only saw photos on Ravelry.
There are also lots of polished stones and jewelry making supplies.
There is open knitting on Thursdays. Too bad I'm leaving for my next adventure on Thursday morning.

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 WHERE WE'RE GOING

Apr. 11 - Apr. 17, 2013 Trailer Village - (Part of Grand Canyon Park), AZ

Apr. 18 - Apr. 24, 2013 Meteor Crater RV Park - Winslow, AZ

Apr. 25, 2013 (Tentative) Calizona RV Park, Needles, CA

Apr. 26, 2013 (Tentative) Sierra Trails RV Park, Mojave, CA

Apr. 27 - May 5, 2013 (Tentative) Sequoia RV Ranch, Three Rivers, CA

NV, CA, OR, ID, WA, MT, ND, SD, WY, then south for the Winter of 2013/2014

Pleasure through so many ways.

Mar. 28 - Apr. 10, 2013 Dead Horse Ranch State Park - Cottonwood, AZ

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PLEASURE: A feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment.

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RV LIFE:
Pleasure #1: The weather in the Southwest has been so consistently the same...dry, 70-80° for the past 2 months, I miss having a stay in jammies, stay in bed, watch movies or read and drink tea kind of day.Today is that day.
Today is very high winds. We woke up at 5:15am to the sounds of flapping. Better roll up that awning! It can be quite disturbing in a RV with such high winds. Our slide covers flap, items around our site need securing, the RV shakes, but it's worse for the guys across the way in tents. If they weren't inside those tents, they'd probably blow away! So even though it's a nice 68°, the wind is really preventing any enjoyment outside. That's ok. I've been wanting a "snow day", meaning a lousy weather day so I can just stay inside and laze around. Yes, it is a totally different feeling than lazing around outside.
I finished a book and I actually watched a movie! Reviews further below.
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SIGHTS:

Tuzigoot Nat'l Monument, Clarkdale, AZ  $5.00/per person
Our rating 3.5 out of 5
I think $5. is a little steep for what little we see, but on the other hand,this is a real (no reproduction) Pueblo ruins. I'm sure the upkeep and security costs a pretty penny.
There is a paved walk uphill to the ruins. The museum in the visitor center is quite interesting. Great pieces of pottery, tools, garments, etc found while digging up the ruins.
This is before excavation. Just looks like any other mountain. Makes me wonder what could be found under all the others mountains we see.
Only one of these multitude of rooms has a doorway. It is thought that you entered via the roof.

Old Town Cottonwood

Our rating 5 out of 5

What a cute little town. Very close to Dead Horse Ranch State Park. There is on street parallel parking, but also a dirt lot for public parking at the beginning of town.
There are fancy restaurants, to cafes, to deli's. There are winery tasting rooms, a tea house, upscale consignment & a craft consignment shop, as well as a very nicely laid out thrift store with the proceeds going to a local Animal Shelter.
Take an afternoon stroll and enjoy some wine tastings, some olive oil and balsamic vinegar tastings. Then stop in for a sandwich or dinner at one of the many restaurants.
We only went to one wine tasting room, Pillsbury. We stopped in because we had an Irish Setter named Pillsbury. Be forewarned, it costs $10.00 for a tasting of 5 or 6 wines. $12.00 if you want the glass. It's a beautiful large, long stemmed wine glass, but we don't need more glass in our RV. Pillsbury wines were actually quite good. This is the first wine tasting that I've been to that doesn't really have sweet wines (for Scott). The dry reds I tried were really nice, but at $29.-$38.00 per bottle, was just too steep for me.
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BUSINESS/PRODUCT/FOOD REVIEW:
Verde Valley Olive Oil Traders, Old Town Cottonwood, AZ
Our rating 5 out of 5
Pleasure #2: What a great experience! After our Pillsbury wine tasting and being disappointed at the high price of the wine, we venture into this olive oil and balsamic vinegar shop, with prices just as high, but well worth it.
$16.00/ per 325ml bottle or $12.00/per 200ml bottle or  $30./for 3, 200ml bottles
I have never been one to "pair" wine with food. I drink wine before dinner to get a slight buzzzzzz. I do not enjoy wine with dinner, so no "pairing" needed. But, I never thought of pairing certain oil & vinegar flavors. What a joy to my tastebuds!
We walk into VVOO Traders and are met with approximately 50 silver vats with little spigots at the bottom. The sign says free tastings, but I am at a total loss. Is there really that much difference in oils and vinegars? Oh yes, YES, YES! Sorry, got carried away
After a time, we were approached by an employee asking if we know what we'd like to taste. I admitted, I've never experienced this before and am totally lost as to what to try. I did start her off by saying I'm looking for an Oriental, ginger type mixture for salad dressing. That's all she needed and we're off!
Whole fruit Persian Lime Olive Oil, paired with Honey Ginger White Balsamic Vinegar
First we taste separately, very nice, then mixed together. Pow! Pop! OH MY GOSH! It is wonderful! I'm in heaven or the Land of Oz! I'll take a bottle of each, no matter the cost!
After this first pairing, it was difficult to compete. We did not find the same wow factor pairing after that, although we did get the wow factor for some stand alone tastings.
The only oil I really disliked was the Blood Orange. It tasted like an orange peel. Scott liked it, but he also likes orange marmelade and I don't.
We also tried
Cinnamon Pear Balsamic, which I liked and Scott did not.
Grapefruit White Balsamic, light, nothing special. Did not taste grapefruit at all.
Vermont Maple Dark Balsamic, this was very good and a contender for purchase. Definitely taste the maple. Would probably make a nice topping for pancakes.
Cilantro & Roasted Garlic Olive oil, another contender. Strong roasted garlic flavor without being bitter.
Fresh Basil Olive Oil, very good, we just wanted a more complex flavor.
Tucson Herb Blend Olive Oil, very good. We had to decide between Tucson & Herbs de Provence.
Our "hostess" was more than willing to let us taste more, but by this time, we couldn't remember which we liked best. The shelf life is only about 9 months, so even if we wanted to spend more money, it may have been wasted by not using the product within that time.
Besides the Lime & Honey Ginger, we also bought.
Tuscan Herb Olive Oil paired with 18 year old tradition Balsamic Vinegar
Herbs de Provence Olive Oil
Blackberry Ginger Balsamic Vinegar
We ended up with 6, 200ml bottles and thankful they will ship.
This would be a great "date night" activity or ladies afternoon out. And after the great service and the wonderful tastings, the bottles were wrapped like a present to us.

This is all a part of the wonderful Old Town Cottonwood.
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RESTAURANT REVIEW:
The Orion Bread Co., Old Town Cottonwood, AZ
Our rating 4.5 out of 5
Make sure you read this right this is the oRion bread co., like the star, not oNion bread co. as I kept referring it as.
A couple of the local restaurants use their bread in the establishments.
Pleasure #3: We stopped in at first to just buy a loaf of bread, but ended up ordering sandwiches for lunch. We were greeted with a familiar accent behind the counter. Very loud, very fast talking. Of course! He's from the NY/NJ area. Who could mistake that accent! We ordered our sandwiches and Joe, yes Joe who is Italian (how stereotypical), proceeded to talk a mile a minute. He's from Lodi, NJ which is just outside NYC, he was rich, now he's broke, he has alopecia, and on and on. To a local yokel, or a midwestern, he may be off putting, but to me he was "home". What a character.
The Mediterranean Sandwich: Consisted choice of bread, which I chose Honey Multi-Grain, peppered turkey, provolone cheese, spring mix, tomato, cucumber, olives, avocado, red onion, & mayo. Delicious! Fresh sweet bread, the sandwich had no ingredient overpowering the other. The mayo was enough to moisten the sandwich but not globby.
Old Town Classic Sandwich: Another great sandwich with roast beef, havarti cheese, spring mix, tomato, red onion, roasted red pepper, horseradish mayo.
They would have gotten a perfect score of 5 if they had the "today's special", Cinnamon Raisin bread ready.

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GEOCACHING:
Scott has been taking hikes to find geocaches. He is having a blast! The caches are so much easier to find in the desert. You basically see a bunch of rocks piled up un-naturally and there's the cache. Back East, caches are hidden in logs, under leaves, in the brush. They are very difficult to find.
Dead Horse Ranch State Park is a geocacher's heaven. He's found probably a dozen all within walking distance of our RV site.

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BOOK REVIEW:

Pleasure #4: The Island by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Chick lit and I like it.
2 sisters in their 50's and the 2 daughters of 1 sister escape to a remote island off Massachusetts for a one month vacation that is more for rest, relaxation, figuring out where they are in life and hoping to bring their relationships close again.
Each woman is at a stage in life asking, What is next? Which road should I take? We all can probably relate to those questions, but it is somewhat difficult to really relate with these women since they are all successful as far as wealth.
Overall it is thought provoking, a romance, and a vacation get away book.


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MOVIE REVIEW:
Pleasure #5: Hysteria, Historical, Romantic Comedy, 2011 (Available on Netflix)
My rating 4.5 out of 5

Scott recorded this for me. Our DVR has been filling up, so I thought I should start watching some movies to clear space. I did not know what this was about. I clicked play and saw that is was set in the late 1800's. That's usually a good sign for me that I'll enjoy it.
My, my, my! Do you know where the term "hysteria" developed from? During ancient Greek times, it was thought that a woman's uterus was a living being. This being inside the woman may sometimes cause trouble by blocking her breathing, or blogging passages in her body. Also it was thought that this was the storage area for women's semen. If a woman's semen wasn't mixed with a man's semen, or released through climax, the woman's semen would grow angry and take out it's revenge on the woman's body. The cure? A Hysterectomy.
This is a cute movie about a young doctor trying to find his niche in medicine. He ends up working with a doctor who deals with women's problems of hysteria and has found an alternative solution to hysteria other than a hysterectomy.

This "remedy" is still used today!
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COMPUTER:
I use Excel spreadsheets everyday. I use them for the data keeping I do for A&B English Setter Rescue, I use spreadsheets to keep track of what books I've read, what movies I've seen, campgrounds, restaurants, where things are stored in the rv. After years of using these spreadsheets and having multiple "sheets" in each spread sheet, I just figured out how to change the name from "Sheet 1", "Sheet 2", etc. How stupid I can be sometimes. You should always try to right click on things. That opens up a whole new menu of possibilites. I KNOW that. Why I never tried this on the Sheet name, I do not know except I had a stupid mind block? So now instead of trying to remember what sheet # is what, I actually have names! What a concept! Duh!

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CRAFTS: 
Pleasure #6: I finished my Alexa short sleeved cardigan. It turned out pretty good, but I'll probably never wear it unless I accept my plus size figure.

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Pleasure # 7 - ?: WHERE WE'RE GOING

Apr. 11 - Apr. 17, 2013 Trailer Village - (Part of Grand Canyon Park), AZ

Apr. 18 - Apr. 24, 2013 Meteor Crater RV Park - Winslow, AZ

NV, CA, OR, ID, WA, MT, ND, SD, WY, then south for the Winter of 2013/2014

Local eats

Mar. 28 - Apr. 10, 2013 Dead Horse Ranch State Park - Cottonwood, AZ

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RV LIFE:
Cough, cough, hak, cough, spit.
 That's the sound cutting into my beautiful peaceful afternoon. Our neighbor has been having coughing fits. It's very disturbing.

I've spent almost every day outside. I love Arizona in the Spring! I enjoy a cool morning walk with the dogs, then have some coffee, read, catch up on blogs and then head outside. While outside, I have some wine, read, catch up on blogs. Ahhh, what a life!

Bloggers:
While on my afternoon walk with the dogs, I had seen a truck that said 
How can you forget a name like that! I knew about their blog Boyinks 4 Adventure, although don't really follow it. They are a family of four living on the road in an RV for a year. So I shot them an email stating we were in the same park and just wanted to say "hello". They emailed back explaining they were just visiting Dare You 2 Move bloggers, who are also a family (of 5) RV'ing for a year. I met Kevin of Dare You 2 Move, while on our morning walk with the dogs. As I was walking toward him, I knew who he was but too shy to say anything. Kevin stopped, looked at us and said, "Can I ask you an question?", I answered, "Yep, that's me". We laughed, spoke shortly about meeting bloggers, etc. and on our way to finish our walk. They have a huge 5th wheel. I guess for 5 to LIVE in it semi-comfortably, you need as much room as you can pull.
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PETS: 
Devin has been having a blast trying to catch the little lizards scurrying around our site. He's also been keeping a careful eye on the silly quail running across the road.
I'm not sure if I mentioned the present I picked up for Devin while in Tucson. Nope, not biscuits, nope, not a tennis ball, nope, not squeaky toy...

 A kiddie pool! And yes, the water is brown. I can only change the water so much. While we were at Four Paws Kingdom in NC last year, we couldn't keep Devin out of the pool. He was very entertaining.

So even if Devin doesn't have Doris to play with, at least he's got the pool to wade in. He also is lucky enough to have Cottonwood Dog Park, just 2 miles from our RV site.

Those two dogs in the background are my Irish Setter, Devin and a local Irish Setter. They both can't keep out of the water buckets.

This is our English Setter, Lyla pleading with the woman to Pleeeeeeease, give me a treat that's in your backpack.

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DOG PARK REVIEW:

Cottonwood Riverfront Dog Park

My rating 3 out of 5

Size: Fairly large park, probably about an acre. L shaped which makes me have to get off my fat you know what to check on my dogs when they go around the corner.

Water: Water is only supplied in one end of the park. The dog "bowls" are really large plastic 5 gallon tubs that spackle, etc come in. This makes it difficult for small dogs to get a drink or even for large dogs if they are not filled to the brim.

Poop bags: No bags officially supplied, but park goers have hung up totes with plastic grocery bags stuffed in them. 

Shade: There is some shade. Remember this is Arizona, so don't expect too much for shade.

Land: grass, flat

Seating: Very little seating for such a large area. A couple of cement garden benches.

Atmosphere: I've been there three times during the week, and people have been nice as well as the dogs.

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FOOD:
Nope, not happening yet. I thought I was going to start cooking more, but that hasn't developed...yet. I am a put together something in the fridge in 5 minutes kind of girl. Scott is the plan it out, go to the grocery store specifically for what he wants to cook, start it too late to have for dinner (for Deb). Scott doesn't mind eating at 9pm. I'm in bed by then, maybe not asleep, but all comfy in my jammies.

The Southwest has definitely started to influence my way of eating.  My new must always haves now are tortillas, which are thin flat breads/burrito wraps
 and pico de gallo, which is tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, cilantro and lime juice. I've been on a vegetable wrap kick, consisting of cabbage slaw mix, avocado, & pico de gallo wrapped in a tortilla. How can something so simple be so delicious!?

FOOD PRODUCT REVIEW:
El Super Leon Pepitoria Mixed Seed
My rating 5 out of 5
This is similar to a brittle only lighter and not as difficult to eat or bad for your teeth. This is a rice cake size but thin wafer that is easy to break and chew. The Pepitoria I had was mixed seed which consisted of peanuts, sesame seed, almond, pumpkin seed, coconut and sugar. Simple ingredients and DELICIOUS. I picked this up at the local convenience store reviewed below.
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RESTAURANT REVIEW:
Verde Lea market, Cottonwood, AZ
Our rating 4 out of 5
This is basically a convenience store with a grill. But oh the food they make! We had passed by this while driving into town and laughed because it looked like a small family run...run down...market. We weren't going to set foot in there until I read reviews on Yelp. We ventured in and was pleasantly surprised. Your typical convenience store items as well as beer and wine. They had a deli case filled with pre-made wraps and sandwiches. With so many pre-made they must be expecting a good business to sell all that. Sure enough, as I was looking over the menu, some regulars stopped in and all they had to do was give a couple of hand signals and the woman behind the counter knew exactly what they wanted. I asked if they sold tortillas and she said, "Just a second, I have one coming off the grill now". She gave me a freshly made delicious tortilla. I was sold! Who gives samples anymore?
I then asked what Horchata was. Again, she gave me a generous sample to try. Yum! Horchata is a cold rice milk beverage. It tasted like liquid rice pudding. Delicious.
We ordered a chicken Torta and a Carne (beef) Torta. Love the roll it was served in. Nice hearty sandwich.

Chicken Torta

I bought a package of homemade tortillas that were on display at the register. I will crave these when we move on out of this area. They are wonderful. I'm using these tortillas to wrap all my meals with.
Overall a friendly place with delicious food. There are also a few tables in the middle of the store if you want to eat in.

Georgie's Cafe, Cottonwood, AZ
Our rating 3.5 out of 5

Nice bright atmosphere. I like the way the tables have different print material and then covered tightly with a heavy vinyl. Looks clean but homey because of the fabric.
Wait staff was very nice.
We were here for breakfast.
Corned beef hash was real corned beef, which was nice, but the hash itself was unremarkable.
Eggs over easy cooked perfectly.
Home fries were fresh sliced potatoes grilled. Very simple but whatever seasoning they may add, just gives the right touch.
Pancakes were average. I probably would not order again, but not because they were bad, just that I'll wait for a lighter, fluffier pancake somewhere else.
Coffee was good for a little homey restaurant.
A decent breakfast at a decent price. We would return.

The Tavern Grille, Old Cottonwood, AZ
Our rating 4 out of 5
This is really a nice sports bar with booths around the walls. Many, many TV's but the sound was off, so didn't bother us. Scott was happy to watch hockey while we waited for our meal.
Wait staff was very good. Our waiter was efficient and there was a bus girl that as soon as a plate was empty and pushed aside, she stealthly passed by and cleared it away.
We don't usually order alcoholic drinks but for some reason Bloody Mary's called to us. I highly recommend the Bloody Mary. Rich, thick, with a bite. A big hunk of celery stalk, 2 olives on a pick and a slice of lemon and a slice of lime on the rim. A great looking Bloody Mary as well as a great tasting Bloody Mary.
There were so many interesting items on the menu, but we can only eat so much. We opted for onion rings and French onion soup as appetizers.
Onion rings: above average. The onions were not as sweet as I'd like. The ranch style dipping sauce was very watered down. When we dipped the rings in it, the dressing just slipped off.

Onion rings

French onion soup: heart and absolutely excellent.
House Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette dressing: Nice salad with fresh sliced mushrooms. Dressing was light and pleasant.
Prime Rib: Very, very tender. Unfortunately, it was not as tasty as others we've add. It needed a more robust rub or seasoning.
Stuffed Meatloaf: Disappointing. According to other reviews this was good, so I ordered. Bland all the way around. When I finally found the cheese (by sight), I never really tasted it. Supposed to  be wrapped in bacon, but I barely tasted that also.

Stuffed meatloaf & cheesy mashed potatoes

Cheese mashed potatoes: Good. Although they were doctored up instant, they were doctored up nicely.
I upped my rating from 3 to 4 simply because the wait staff was excellent and I'm intrigued by the menu. I would return just to try other items on the menu.
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WHERE WE'RE GOING

Apr. 11 - Apr. 17, 2013 Trailer Village - (Part of Grand Canyon Park), AZ

Apr. 18 - Apr. 24, 2013 Meteor Crater RV Park - Winslow, AZ

NV, CA, OR, ID, WA, MT, ND, SD, WY, then south for the Winter of 2013/2014

RV PARK REVIEW: Dead Horse, Cottonwood, AZ

RV PARK REVIEW: + means good    - means bad   / means neutral                                                                                                

Mar. 28 - Apr. 10, 2013

Dead Horse Ranch State Park - Cottonwood, AZ  

Site#109   $25./day

Our rating 4 out of 5

 + SITES: Nicely spaced. Red Hawk loop seems a little larger spaces. Site #56 is a pull thru by itself.

/HOOK UPS: Water & Electric only. Dump station at entrance

/BATHROOMS: OK. Showers seemed aging.

- LAUNDRY: None

 + PETS: Pet friendly. Lots of places to walk the dogs. Nice city dog park 2 miles from campground.

- WIFI: None

 + VERIZON INTERNET: Worked well

 + SPRINT INTERNET: OK

 + VERIZON PHONE: Very Good

 + AT&T PHONE: Very good

- BOOK EXCHANGE: No

 + ACTIVITIES: Lots of hiking from sites, geocaches, small mountain bike park. Ranger programs on weekends.

- MAIL DELIVERY ACCEPTED: no

 + AREA/TOWN/SIGHTS: Cottonwood is becoming well known as the cheaper, more down to earth Sedona. Plenty of restaurants to choose from. Some Indian ruins. Lots of wine tasting shops.

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AUDIO BOOK REVIEW:

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Boring! Started out very interesting. A female investigator hired about a wife possibly cheating. Well it leads to a totally different event.
The story line itself was good, but oh my gosh, it dragged on and on. I knew how it would end, so not much to keep me reading, except the confirmation of what I thought.

                          

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WHERE WE'RE GOING

Apr. 11 - Apr. 17, 2013 Trailer Village - (Part of Grand Canyon Park), AZ

Apr. 18 - Apr. 24, 2013 Meteor Crater RV Park - Winslow, AZ

NV, CA, OR, ID, WA, MT, ND, SD, WY, then south for the Winter of 2013/2014

Where am I?

Mar. 28 - Apr. 10, 2013 Dead Horse Ranch State Park - Cottonwood, AZ

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RV LIFE:
Have you ever woken up in the morning and couldn't remember where you are?
That happened to me this morning. I just couldn't place what the RV park looked like. Am I in Deming? Maybe Tucson? Oh yea, Cottonwood. Plenty of areas to walk the dogs.
That's just part of living the nomadic life.

Just thought this was a cute sign.

My philosophy is no news is good news! RV life has been going smoothly. No satellite problems, no computer problems, no RV problems, etc. Ahhhh. No complaints. Which leaves not much to blog about. I AM NOT COMPLAINING! I don't want something bad to write about.
We have been full timing for almost 2 years! It doesn't seem that long. I still feel like we have a "home" to go back to, but we don't. Which doesn't bother me...it's just weird!
It has taken me this long to settle into this lifestyle. I am truly relaxing. I'm finally starting to cook again, although I seem to have lost my patience for anything with more than 5 or 6 ingredients and anything that involves a lot of watching and stirring. Scott is normally the cook in the family. But he tends to cook a lot of beef. I'm tired of red meat. I like chicken breasts, he likes thighs, which I don't like. We are learning to cut recipes down so there is very little leftover. So maybe I'll start adding some EASY recipes to future blog posts. We'll see. Speaking of food...

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FOOD:
I have some raspberry jam that is just blah. I'm sure it can be used in a recipe. Any ideas before I throw it out? I need the space in the fridge for things I like.
I made Beef Fajitas, but was disappointed. I marinated it for 8 hours, but the skirt steak didn't seem to soak up the flavor. Anyone try the fajita seasoning packet? Is that good? How about your fajita recipe?
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RV LIFE:
Spent a couple of hours casually planning our itinerary. The USA is just too huge! I can see how people full time for many years. We'll be heading to California in the second half of April. I personally just want to get through this state. It reminds me of NJ. There are plenty of pretty places and touristy stuff, but way too expensive for my taste. My goal is to get through California and then start to really relax again in Oregon & Washington. I'm happy to say, that I'll be able to attend the Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, OR. If you're not into sheep, wool, or crafting, this probably wouldn't interest you. My main reason for trying to plan ahead was to make sure we'll be near Eugene, OR at the end of June. Looking good! I'm very excited to go to this knitter's dream event. Just what I need...more yarn so I can knit more items that need to be hand washed. But oooooh, the yarn is so soft and beautifully dyed!
Any other crafters going? I'll be dragging my husband to this, unless I find a knitter, spinner, weaver, etc. to go with. Shirley? Terri? Want to make a trip to Oregon?
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SIGHTS:
Early Spring in the SW is wonderful. The desert is starting to green up, what little it does. But at least there is some color. The cactus bloom, but I still miss a beautiful English Garden.

Our former yard in Neptune, NJ

I've been spending hours outside. The sun is shining, the temperature is moderate. We don't need to even bother looking at the weather channel, since it's always sunny and no rain.

Montezuma Castle:
Our rating 2 out of 5
This is a 900 year old cliff dwelling. Because of it's fragile state, visitors can't really get close to it, so why bother?

This is part of the Nat'l Park Service and there is a really nice picnic area, where many families were enjoying a picnic.

Picnic tables were beneath this tree. Notice my new sun hat? I wear it every day. I don't know how I lived without it! So much more comfortable and cooler than a baseball hat, plus blocks the overhead sunlight. I picked the hat up at the Arizona-Senora Desert Museum. Nice to pick up a souvenir that is practical.
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FAMILY:
My Dad called this morning. I'm sure he was bored. My Mom has had cancer on her nose and it keeps coming back. It is past the point of just freezing off small spots. She now has to undergo radiation treatment and hopefully that will do the trick. Otherwise, they'll start cutting away at her nose. There are nose prosthetics that are amazing, but it's still the thought of her knowing what is underneath and the PIA of having to deal with it.
I'm not into praying, but for those out there that are, my Mom would really appreciate your prayers for healing.
So while Mom was having her radiation treatments, Dad was waiting. He was bored. So he called his daughter.
We won't be back to visit them until Mar of 2014. It's difficult to balance living your own life, traveling the country in an RV, and still seeing family and friends. Our parents are getting older. Will they be around in March of 2014? I sure hope so. Will I regret not spending more time with them in their senior years? Spending more time with them, means staying in Florida, then I miss out on our travels around the country. We too are also growing older and may not want to do this in our senior+ years. Of course we love our parents, but I love MY life also and do not want to spend it in Florida (my parents) or in New Jersey (Scott's parents). Guilt is an emotion that has to be kept in check or it can take over your life.

I left the Christian/Baptist lifestyle partially because it seemed all that was taught is how you should live and how we don't live up to it. So my life was just a guilt trip of not being as good as I should, not spreading "the word" as I should, etc. I have enough "shoulds" in my life without adding religion to it.
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PRODUCT REVIEW:
Keen Clearwater Sandal
My rating 4 out of 5 Higher rating if sole was a little more padded/comfortable.
Hey Cozy Girl! I too just recently bought a pair of Keen sandals.

They were highly recommended by Sharon & Miriam, who are Doris' humans.

Doris

I've been looking for an excuse to post this beautiful photo of Doris. She was Devin's playmate while we stayed at The Kingdom in NC.
Back to Keen. As Cozy Girl said in her post, they are easy to get on and off because of the elastic laces.
I like that they are close to a shoe, but so much cooler and can be worn without socks. They are sturdy enough for some light hiking, and although not a walking shoe, they are comfortable enough to walk a couple of miles in.
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Response to Comments from 3/27/13 post:
Subject: What animal? Thanks to
Tammy from It's Good to be Us
Susan from Travel bug
Judy from our motorcycle days.
They all suggested Prairie dog, which I believe is correct.
Subject: Philadelphia Indulgence. Thanks to
Tammy from It's Good to be Us for suggesting spreading it on graham crackers. Sounds good!

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WHERE WE'RE GOING

Apr. 11 - Apr. 17, 2013 Trailer Village - (Part of Grand Canyon Park), AZ

Apr. 18 - Apr. 24, 2013 Meteor Crater RV Park - Winslow, AZ

NV, CA, OR, ID, WA, MT, ND, SD, WY, then south for the Winter of 2013/2014