Having to have all of us out of the RV all day long is really difficult on all of us - but especially for Mike as he has to do all the planning. The temperature was to be in the upper 80's today so we decided to hike early before it got hot.
We drove quite a ways out into the desert to Catalina State Park. Dogs were allowed in the park but were required to stay on leash the entire time. So while it wasn't what they were hoping for, at least they got to take a walk.
There are quite a few trails at this park however we found that even the ones that say they are easy and flat are not. The first trail we tried was Canyon Loop. It actually was very nice most of the way - but for some reason right in the middle of the hike they decided to put in about 50 stairs. I don't know why they couldn't have just had the trail do a bunch of switchbacks.
Other than that it was a pleasant hike with some nice views of the desert. At the beginning of the trail we had to cross a river. Take a look - do you see any water? Me either. They need to be a little more creative and find a different word for these things they call rivers. It just looks like a flat place with rocks to me.
Anyway, after we crossed the "river" the views became very nice. As you can see, there were many saguaro cacti around us - and not much else!
As we got higher we had some nice views of the surrounding area.
There wasn't much sign of any kind of wildlife. I did however notice a curved billed thrasher perched on the top of this relatively young saguaro.
The only flowers I saw on the trip were this flowering cholla...
...and this flowering yucca.
When we got to the top and could see over the other side we saw a very pretty and colorful sight.
As you can see though, there is no shortage of mature saguaro over here either.
We finished that short loop trail and needless to say the dogs weren't at all tired - and we hadn't used up that much of the day. There was another trail that was labeled as flat and easy that Mike really wanted to do. So we drove to the trailhead and after we had walked less than a minute we came to the loop. It didn't matter which way you went, the first thing you came to was a huge staircase. I told Mike I'd wait in the car while he and the dogs walked but he was disgusted about the write-up for this trail so we all piled back into the car.
It wasn't even noon yet - what were we going to do to pass the rest of the day? It was now way too hot for the dogs to go hiking. We drove back into town to go to a friend's vet to see if they would do Wazzu's blood test. Once again - no luck. Ironically enough, once we got to Arizona/New Mexico, we haven't been able to find anyone that will do the VF at the correct lab.
Since it was so hot, the only place we could eat lunch would be a covered drive-in. We'd never been to a Sonic restaurant but we'd seen them many places around the country. We figured if there are that many around, they must be good. We don't understand at all how these restaurants stay in business. The burgers were extremely dry and the shakes were not good at all. I ordered a hot fudge shake and it tasted totally like a vanilla shake - it looked white too. Well, the dogs like it. The only way we'll ever go back is if we're desperate for shade...and we're not very hungry.
I'd been needing a haircut for quite some time. I'd been trying to wait until we got back to Washington but it was obvious that plan wasn't going to work! We came across a Supercuts...and wouldn't you know there just happened to be a Cold Stone Creamery right next door.
Since my milkshake had not one bit of chocolate in it, I ordered a scoop of dark chocolate ice cream and had lots of hot fudge sauce on it. Okay, so that was a big mistake. It was WAY too chocolaty even for me. And since it was chocolate I couldn't even share it with the dogs. That only left one person to eat it - Mike. Too bad he'd just ordered a double scoop for himself. He didn't want dinner as he was feeling really sick well into the evening.
We couldn't think of anything else to do so went back to the service center on the off chance they'd be finished with the rig early. We found some shade just outside the office in a small patch of grass. As luck would have it there was even an electrical outlet. So Wazzu and I laid in the shade and I worked on my computer. While lying there I found out they have free internet here. Bonus!
Mike took the other dogs over to a small off-leash area on the other side of the office. They played as long as they could. We then all loaded into the car as it was late afternoon - almost closing time.
Our hopes of them being all finished were dashed when they told us they had tried and tried but still hadn't found the cause of the leak. Come back again in the morning they said.
Another day of this! We couldn't even think of enough stuff to do for one day! Oh my.
Debbie
11/13/07
