December 17–24, 2020 - Scottsdale to

We arrived back in Scottsdale and Ubered back to the RV. Masked up, we talked briefly with the Moms from a distance, before settling in for the night in our RV. We wanted to quarantine before spending time with them.

On Friday morning we were up headed out to the Bulldog Canyon area of Tonto National Forest where we quarantined. About a half a mile in from the Bush Highway, we found a great pullout spot to camp.


The weather has been beautiful! On Friday afternoon, we took our first hike heading out on what had been an off-road trail but is now closed to motorized vehicles. (although we have seen several going around the sign and lots of tire tracks on the trail) We bush-wacked our way back to the RV then spent time in our lawn chairs with tweezers, picking the cactus thorns out of our shoes!
Everyday we have taken a hike of at least 2 miles.

We were treated to watching what we think are wild horse grazing on the mesquite trees and low shrubs near the RV.

We hiked down to the Lower Salt River a couple times and Tobey took my bike out for a 12 mile ride. (We didn’t bring his bike out here – mine is an old mountain bike so it’s a little better suited for riding here.) We were treated to some beautiful sunsets from our camp spot, too!
On Monday night we sat outside watching for Jupiter and Saturn to align for the Christmas Star. We were just a little late getting outside as Jupiter had just made the pass. It was still cool to see how close to each other the planets appeared.

We have had a good time reading, hiking, playing cards, and watching movies on the computer. We are looking forward to our Christmas holidays with our families!

December 3–17, 2020 Cancun, Mexico

Tobey and I left Penny with our moms in Scottsdale and flew to Cancun to spend two weeks at our timeshare. It had been almost ten years since we had been there!

The Moon Palace is an all-inclusive resort which made it easy for us to just chill out! The resort was limiting capacity at 40% occupancy, so that made it pretty nice - and easy to get into the restaurants. All of the resort workers wore masks all the time and they sprayed all of the beach chairs with disinfectant every night. Concrete surfaces were being cleaned, daily, as well. In the buffet restaurants, you were required to wear a mask going through the buffet and they had you use hand sanitizer. We wore our masks going in and out of every restaurant, as well as outdoors until we were settled in chairs by the pool where we were able to maintain safe distances. Several guests wore their masks when they were out and about, also, but not all. We did our best to keep our distances!The first few days were chilly and rainy.
The high temperatures were in the lows 70s – not what we had been planning for a beach vacation. It quickly warmed up and temperatures were in the high 70s and low 80s.
We made spa appointments for massages, manicures, and pedicures and took one of the offered excursions to Ek Balam, a Mayan ruin. (Temperature checks were taken when we checked in and every time we went to the spa.)


The ruins of Ek Balam started to be restored in 1997 so it is relatively new. The term Ek Balam means “black jaguar” in Mayan. The city of Ek Balam was used from 600BC to 1600AD and the heyday was 770 AD-900 AD. The site is actually 15 square kilometers large but the core of the site was a walled city and contained about 40 buildings. Ek Balaam was about a two hour bus ride away and all of the passengers were required to wear their masks. Our guide told us about the civilization which occupied the space and the importance of the different buildings. It was an interesting tour and I am glad we went! After Ek Balam, we stopped at the Chukum Cenote where our group had lunch then time to swim in the cenote. Before entering, they took everyone’s temperature. I’m not sure how much good it did, but some precautions seemed good.
There was a “zipline” set up in the cenote that we did one time. The water was pretty chilly, but we can at least say we swam there!

At the resort, we enjoyed taking out one of the Hobie Cat sailboats almost everyday and kayaked a couple times. We even gave paddle boarding a try. Tobey has better balance than me and was able to stand up. I attempted to stand, but quickly found myself in the water! It was fun and would be easier, I’m sure, if the water was calm.



We did not give the Flow rider a try, but it was sure fun watching the young folks giving it a try!

The resort has a new section, “The Grand”, that required a day pass to use. We had fun at the waterpark there going on one of the slides and floating on the lazy river.

We had lunch at their “Los Tacos” restaurant, sampling several different kinds of tacos. Our dinner was at The Jade Restaurant. We didn’t know what to order, so our waiter took over and brought a variety of appetizers, main dishes, noodles, rice, and desserts. It was a great experience!
We enjoyed the different restaurants at our section of the Moon Palace.

We ate at Agra, the Indian restaurant, a couple times. The first time we muddled through the menu, the second time we let the waiter bring his suggestions. It was delicious both times! Tobey also got his share of Sushi at lunch at the Buganbillas Buffet.

With unlimited food and drinks, we also had fun trying different adult beverages by the pool!

One day we took the hotel shuttle into the Beach Palace located in the hotel zone of Cancun. We had lunch there then took a city bus (12 pesos each, 60 cents) to the drug stores to pick up some asthma inhalers for Tyler. Almost everyone on the buses wore masks. When our shopping was finished, we headed back to Beach Palace where we had a chance to walk the beach and bounce in the waves. Tobey enjoyed that part immensely!

Every night there was free entertainment. We enjoyed the Aquatic Circus and the Pop Stars show the most.

They even had a journey to the North Pole to see Santa which was very popular with the families with children.

It was surprising how fast the two weeks went by and we found ourselves on the shuttle back to the airport heading back to Scottsdale! We had such a good time, we are going back in March!

November 27-29, 2020 - Fort Collins, CO to Scottsdale, AZ

This year's trek south started earlier than usual. We loaded the RV and hit the road on November 27 with the intention of actually doing a little sight-seeing on our way to see the Moms!

Our first night found us in Las Vegas, New Mexico where the weather was a “bit” chilly – 20 F and snow! Our furnace worked overtime that night keeping us warm! The next morning was foggy when we got up, so we didn’t start driving until almost 9am. Destination – Petrified National Forest. The north to south route took us through a small section of the Painted Desert before the road curved back to the south. We were also delighted that the park is dog-friendly and Penny could even become a “Bark Ranger!”




It was a bit chilly! Petrified Forest is the only national park with a portion of Historic Route 66 within its boundaries. Just north of Interstate 40 where Route 66 used to cross the park road stands a 1932 Studebaker marking the location. Not much to see now, but in the 1920s there was a large roadside stand, complete with a viewing tower and lions! It it is always fun to learn a little bit of history along the way.

Our next stop was Rio Puerco, a prehistoric settlement built by Puebloan people. Inhabited from AD 1250-1380, the pueblo had over 100 rooms, with a possible population of 200 people. There are some great petroglyphs and a kiva at the location.


Continuing south we passed “the Teepees.” The Tepees are a group of small mountain peaks that resemble teepees in the southern section of Petrified Forest National Park. They are located in the badland areas of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks between Newspaper Rock and the Blue Mesa trailhead.

Because it was getting late in the day, we made a quick stop at the Blue Mesa trailhead and decided to come back the next day to actually take the hike.

Our last stop for the day was at Agate Bridge. Agate Bridge features sweeping views and a 110 foot long petrified log bridge spanning a gully.

To be honest, this wasn't one of the most amazing sttops in the park because of human meddling. Originally, the massive petrified log sat on the ground, but centuries of flood waters and erosion washed out the gully beneath the petrified log to form a natural agate bridge. That would have ben amazing to see!

In 1911, visitors and conservationists, afraid the agate bridge would collapse, reinforced the fallen petrified tree with concrete. Masonry pillars supported the long petrified log for six years until the concrete slab that exists today was installed. Now the Agate Bridge isn’t really an Agate Bridge, but a petrified log laying on top of a concrete bridge. It was definitely a letdown.
Just outside the south gate of the park the Crystal Gardens Rock Shop offers free overnight RV parking. Perfect for us since we wanted to go back into the park the next day!

On Sunday morning we headed back to the Blue Mesa trailhead to take the mile hike at the bottom of the canyon. There was still frost on the plants and ground, so going down the trail was a little slippery. At the bottom, the trail took us by the interesting geologic formations. Penny loved it!





Next was the Crystal Forest Trail – another .75 miles. It was interesting to see and speculate what this area would have looked liked over 200 million years ago!

When we got to Giant Logs, Long Logs and Agate House, Penny said she would wait out these hikes! The half mile Giant Logs Trail is just by the visitor’s center and featured several “giant” logs! The centerpiece of the path is a log named 'Old Faithful', a piece of petrified wood some 35-feet in length and measuring 10-feet across at its base. It's estimated that Old Faithful weighs in at around 44 tons! The colorful variety of 'wood' seen along this hike was also quite incredible.


We also took the Long Longs/Agate House trails another 2-1/2 miles. The eight-room pueblo was built and occupied sometime between 1050 and 1300 in a location near agricultural fields and petrified wood deposits. The size of the structure and time necessary to build and maintain it indicates that this was likely a year-round residence for a single family, rather than the temporary residences or field houses common at that time. It may have even served as a meeting place for the surrounding community. The scarcity of artifacts found at Agate House suggest a relatively brief occupation.
Through excavations in the 1930s, hundreds of similar petrified wood structure sites have been found in the park. Although built using original materials, the 1930s reconstruction is not a completely accurate replication of the original structure.

We took the Long Logs leg of the trail on the return trip and saw hundreds of “long logs” along the way.

Tobey and I were both glad we took the time to stop and explore this park before completing our journey to Scottsdale! If you get the opportunity to visit this park, I recommend taking the time to do the hikes. We hiked about five miles total and enjoyed the diverse landscape and history of the region.