THE BUS STOPS HERE

Saturday November 1st 2025

We camped by Bryce Canyon National Park for a couple of weeks. Thank goodness Utah has kept open their five parks during the government shutdown. There were so many tourists from all over the world admiring the wonders of these awesome National Parks.

It got really cold and rainy during the last week so we had to burrito up with the layers.

A window into the desert.

Bryce has a few ancient Bristlecone Pines. They are not as old as the ones in California but still over a thousand years.

It’s good to hug something older than me.

The rock formations never fail to impress.

We moved down to St. George for a few days. We managed to play a little pickleball and hunt for walking sticks. SCORE!! This was a beauty.

Dean had his mini folding saw to trim up the stalks.

The base has VERY sharp serrated leaves.

I did my bit providing foot support.

I kept one of the dead flower heads. Gonna have to figure out what to do with it.

Four great sticks.

We checked out a couple of slot canyons near Kanab.

My usual view of Dean on the trail.

It was an interesting stop checking out this pet cemetery. The Best Friends Animal Sanctuary owns over 3700 acres and leases another 33,000 acres from the BLM in southwest Utah.

Pets of every description are buried here and people come from all over to volunteer at the sanctuary.

Yes! I color complemented this mini cave.

Our final red rock destination. Lees Ferry is part of The Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

We had a couple of free nights in the campground.

Dean took a little dip in the mighty Colorado river.

It’s been quite a while since we had breakfast cooked over a wood fire. It was smoky but delicious.

Dean couldn’t figure out what this old truck was but he liked it anyway.

Nothing like a roaring fire and glass of wine to end our red rock adventures. Moving closer to Tucson.

Thursday 2nd October 2025

Our stopover in the Idaho mountains was pretty nice. There were a lot of jagged peaks everywhere although due to smoke from Canadian fires most of them were lost in the haze.

Arnica was just about finished blooming.

I am always happy to get a pic of a shroom.

There were quite a few of these flowers near a stream. I had never seen them before so had to look up the name. It’s called Fringed Grass of Parnassus according to Wikipedia.

Nothing like a cold brewski on a hot day.

We moved to Provo, Utah just in time to catch a bit of Autumn leafage.

Dean is a good trail blazer. Also snake and dog blocker.

Butterflies and bees were dining on thistle flowers.

I should have worn my orange and red outfit!!!

This Morman Cricket was enormous. With the black armor it has a very alien look.

Sunflowers are still blooming. Heading slowly south towards Tucson for the winter.

Thursday August 14th 2025

We have new hiking buddies! Pri, Chris, Vivaan and Rian really enjoyed their first family hike. The mountains all cooperated so we had great views. Mount Hood still had plenty of snow in early July.

July the 4th was pretty nippy but a great day for a hike near the Columbia River.

Bird Creek Meadows, at the base of Mount Adams in Washington opened up for hiking towards the end of July. There have been 2 major wildfires since we last visited in 2013. A lot of the area looked like a skeleton forest.

There was still plenty of Beargrass.

Indian Paintbrush was filling in the open spaces.

I am a certified tree hugger.

This is my usual view of Dean on the trails. Yellow Mountain Arnica was blooming on this hike.

Also quite a few Mariposa lilies were peeking out here and there.

Oregon has so many waterfalls.

Our group had another good day out.

Pri’s first experience crossing a fast running stream on a log. She was a real champ.

The lads kept us entertained the whole time.

It’s an Oregon thing!

There was nothing better to end our time in Oregon than being surrounded by a field of daisies.

Moving on to the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho.

Sunday July 6th

We have hiked through many slot canyons over the years. Since we were passing through the high desert of Oregon we thought we had better check out the Crack in the Ground.

It was a bit slotty and canyony but pretty mild overall.

Dean was doing his best to keep the rock from falling down.

Yikes! We woke up to snow on the ground. Time to leave.

It was blizzard conditions until we dropped in elevation.

We are camping in Hood River and really enjoying the area. It’s cherry picking season and we have already picked and eaten our weight in the delicious goodness. $2.50 a pound for both Bing and Rainiers.

We thought Brutey would be able to handle a bit of snow but he got stuck and it took a looong time to dig him out. The 4 wheel drive (transfer case) had conked out. He has been at the Ford dealer for over a month waiting for parts that are on back order.

Since we had no car, it was time to work on the Beast. We gave him a wash and Dean painted the roof with some marine stuff to smooth out the finish.

A coat of wax and we have a lovely clean home.

Dax has loaned us his car until Brutey is fixed. Now we can get to the hiking trails.

Mount Hood still has plenty of snow but the lower meadows are greening up.

I think this hiking shelter needs a little TLC.

The woods were full of Bear Grass.

The cushiony pompoms are made up of masses of tiny flower heads.

Shooting Stars and Buttercups were busting out in the meadows.

Deans sister, Minita came up for a visit.

Mount Hood made a nice backdrop to our three fluffy heads.

The lads said it was time for a raft trip. Jay has become quite the expert at captaining the raft. Maya loves being at the front even through the rapids. I don’t know how she manages to hang on.

Dax and Paula kayaked the river.

One section is too gnarly to raft so we had to walk around it. Jay portaged the boats. I am always amazed at how nimble he is with flip flops over dodgy terrain.

Getting ready for the next stretch of river.

We hit a hidden underwater rock and it sliced a big hole in one side of the pontoons. Thank goodness we were nearly at the end as it was tough paddling. Hopefully Jay can manage to fix it.

It was still a pretty awesome day out though. Thanks lads.

Sunday 18th May, 2025

We stopped in Bishop California for a couple of weeks. This giant place is a real fixer upper.

The built in shelves were a nice touch.

I wouldn’t want to clean all those windows.

This is more our size.

I wanted to hike across the river and this bridge looked pretty good, it even had a rope bannister. Dean gave it the thumbs down. We are trying not to do too much stupid stuff this year and Dean is the voice of caution.

The bark on this Jeffrey Pine was very gnarly.

Schat’s bakery in Bishop is a real tourist draw.

I have never seen so much baked stuff.

The place was packed on the weekends.

I noticed this sign on a walk around town.

There was still too much snow to hike very high in the mountains.

The road to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest was open. We were able to drive in just a bit before it got too snowy.

I don’t feel quite so old when I’m hugging a several thousand year old tree.

Bodie Ghost Town was interesting to walk around.

Dean really liked this old Ford truck.

Fancy ironwork was around the graveyard.

A great 9 mile hike had a lovely alpine lake. We found a comfy log to sit and eat our lunch and admire the view.

The bugs were getting bad. Not biting but gazillions of them and they all wanted to move into the camper with us! Time to head north

Saturday 26th April 2025

We stopped in Yuma for a quick visit to our dentists across the border in Los Algodones. My choppers were in good shape but Dean needed a root canal and a new 2 crown bridge. His root canal tooth had an infection so he had to take a week of antibiotics before proceeding. He finally got all the work done for a reasonable $1320 which also included a cleaning.

That meant staying an extra week in Yuma which had turned into a fiery furnace. Thank goodness our roof air conditioners were able to keep us nice and cool. We played pickleball for an hour in the mornings and then hunkered down inside the camper.

There were a couple of Saguaro cactus in the RV Park that had started to bloom. This one is full of buds.

Saguaro flowers bloom for less than 24 hours. They open at night and stay open through next day. During the night they are pollinated by bats and the next day by bees and doves.

We moved on to Tucson to meet up with our best friends Leslie and Stuart. First order of business was a hike into the desert.

I accidentally let my walking stick drop and it slid down the rocky slope. Dean volunteered to do stick retrieval.

It was a spiky, thorny job!

He had wounds on top of wounds. Now that is what I call true love. Thank you dear husband.

My stick was bashed up but with some skillful putty insertion, sanding and multiple coats of varnish it is fully healed.

There were lots of Ocotillo blooming but not much else.

We took this pic in Smith Rock State Park in Oregon in 2023.

Here we are 2 years later and still happy to be “twinning up”. Thanks for a great visit guys. Tucson was starting to get a bit too toasty, so time to head to the mountains. We are gonna be traveling up the east side of California and hope to get some hiking in the Sierra mountains on the way.

Friday 28th March 2025

It’s been a bit dreary this winter traveling down the coast. Quite a lot of rain and cold. When everything is wet and brown I lose my blog motivation.

Finally Coastal Lupines are starting to bloom a little bit. I am hoping we get some good spring flowers as we move along.

A Kumquat tree beckoned my name. Pick my fruit, it’s free!

I just had to buy a bit of sugar and Kumquat marmalade was up and running.

Yippee! we are in for a nice stretch of warm sunny weather.

Mr. Pelican let me get pretty close and posed for this pic.

Imperial Beach Pier looked good even on a rainy day.

I tried to get Dean to squeeze into the crack but he said he would have to be smoking some crack to do something that dumb. However he got me to….

…squeeze into this tube.

There are some nice bike trails around San Diego.

More than a million tons of salt have been harvested from the South Bay Salt Works over the last 150 years. I would have filled my salt shaker but the salty mountain was fenced up.

California Brittlebush is busting out.

We took a nice stroll along the waterfront. The cruise ships are piling in.

Finally a lady with bigger feet than me.

There was a huge queue for the grilled half crabs, even at $30 a piece.

Coral trees are in full bloom.

Our last day in San Diego. It was a bit cloudy but nice enough for a bike ride. To top off the goodness there was an awesome colour display on one section of the bike path. I am getting to my happy place. We hope to follow the bloom.

Moving onwards to Indio for a week and then onto Tucson to meet up with our bestest friends. Leslie and Stuart be prepared for some Rose hugs!

Tuesday 31st December 2024

It has been pretty cold and rainy during our time on the central California coast. We still managed to have a few beach picnic lunches.

I felt like a burrito with several layers of jackets.

We even managed a few nice hikes. This one involved a very cold stream crossing but the hike was worth it.

Pinnacles National Park always impresses us.

It took a lot of work to chisel out all these steps and install the bannisters.

We saw several California Condors flying about and some just relaxing.

It was a 10 mile loop trail with plenty of ups and downs but the weather was great and our knees didn’t give out!

Our first Christmas as a foursome in 1986.

The lads were considerably bigger in 2019.

2025 here we come!!!!