Friday 30th October 2020
Goodbye Colorado! We have had a wonderful time hiking in your mountain ranges this summer.

There are several Ancient ruins near Flagstaff.

The National Park Service has done a great job preserving the integrity of the ruins.

I found a nice cool shady spot.

It always amazes me how flowers can grow in adverse conditions. These hardy bloomers are thriving in a lava field.

Montezuma Castle is 100 feet above the valley. I wonder where the escalator attaches to the rock face.

Many shops are back in business. This hair salon was busy.

We took a quick trip up to the Grand Canyon and walked along the rim for a bit.

It never fails to impress.

There are a lot of areas close to Flagstaff that have suffered from wildfires in recent years. I guess there will be many more crispy forests out west after this fiery summer.

Someone creatively attached fallen wood to make a nice comfy bench. I really appreciated the sit down.

On our way south we we stopped for a few days near Phoenix. Hiking in the desert took on a surreal look.

Large swathes of cactus were burned to a nub in this area. Wildfires have taken their toll on so much this year.

We moved down to Yuma for a week. Time for dental work. I had two chipped front teeth and Dean had two disintegrating old crowns to replace. We’ve gotta stay away from the super crunchy stuff.
It was super easy crossing the border and returning was a breeze . Not too many snowbirds in Yuma at the moment.

Most of the people in town were masked up.

The waiting room has some seriously red furniture.

Dr. Ernesto did great work on both of us. We are back to dental goodness.

Finally a nice cool day so we took a hike round Muggins Peak, a few miles east of Yuma. I think we must have hiked round this mini mountain at least 6 times over the years.

I spotted a neat looking barrel cactus growing horizontally out of the cliff. I asked Dean to take a closer look.

He being the good sport scrambled up the rock face to confirm the the spiky succulent was indeed growing out instead of up.

Moving on to Indio California. We will be settled into one campground for the whole winter. It will be the first time we have spent 5 months in one place since we started full time traveling in 2004. I hope I don’t get too twitchy.