Monday, January 12, 2004
North Ranch SKP Park, Congress, AZ - Jan 4-12
This was our first time at this SKP Rainbow park. Congress is located just a little northwest of Wickenburg, about 60 miles west of Phoenix. This is a nice park with friendly people. It is the type of park where the residents own their sites (a deeded lot) rather than a co-op like the Benson park. The Escapee organization runs a campground on the site, but they are not directly connected. It is a strange relationship and also one that seems undesirable to us. There is somewhat a love/hate relationship between the Escapees Inc and the actual Escapee members who own at North Ranch.
There were GREAT Line Dance lessons every day, which we enjoyed very much. We actually have several new dances we can even remember!! The park is surrounded by desert, mostly BLM land, so there are miles of trails for hiking, biking and ATVing. We enjoyed a couple of miles of hiking one day, finding our way to the so-called "Lonesome Saguaro". In a desert garden area of the park, there was a Western Screech Owl that would sleep in a hole of a Saguaro Cactus. It was fun to see him sleeping there, though we never saw him out at night.
For anyone that thinks of AZ as all desert, you should have accompanied us on our drive from Congress to Prescott Valley to visit friends Jenny & Ed Williams & their 2 1/2 year old daughter Julia (who will be getting a new brother in April!!). This drive turned out to be more of an adventure than we thought due to the steep winding mountainous road between us & them, worse than any paved road we've been on in Colorado. On our way up we passed a Porsche club, one of who had recently slid over the edge, apparently unhurt. On our way down we had to ootch by a jack-knifed 18-wheeler who had ignored the 40-ft limit. It sure looked simple on the map!! The return trip after dark was literally breath-taking -- especially for Willie. Doug was concentrating so hard, he may not have been breathing at all.
About 20 miles away towards the northwest, we were able to take a much calmer drive and see Arizona's Joshua Tree Forest. These unusual "trees" are a tall and branched form of the Yucca/lily family that grow up to 30 ft tall.
The cats are doing well and are appreciating our slower rate of travel!!
There were GREAT Line Dance lessons every day, which we enjoyed very much. We actually have several new dances we can even remember!! The park is surrounded by desert, mostly BLM land, so there are miles of trails for hiking, biking and ATVing. We enjoyed a couple of miles of hiking one day, finding our way to the so-called "Lonesome Saguaro". In a desert garden area of the park, there was a Western Screech Owl that would sleep in a hole of a Saguaro Cactus. It was fun to see him sleeping there, though we never saw him out at night.For anyone that thinks of AZ as all desert, you should have accompanied us on our drive from Congress to Prescott Valley to visit friends Jenny & Ed Williams & their 2 1/2 year old daughter Julia (who will be getting a new brother in April!!). This drive turned out to be more of an adventure than we thought due to the steep winding mountainous road between us & them, worse than any paved road we've been on in Colorado. On our way up we passed a Porsche club, one of who had recently slid over the edge, apparently unhurt. On our way down we had to ootch by a jack-knifed 18-wheeler who had ignored the 40-ft limit. It sure looked simple on the map!! The return trip after dark was literally breath-taking -- especially for Willie. Doug was concentrating so hard, he may not have been breathing at all.
About 20 miles away towards the northwest, we were able to take a much calmer drive and see Arizona's Joshua Tree Forest. These unusual "trees" are a tall and branched form of the Yucca/lily family that grow up to 30 ft tall.The cats are doing well and are appreciating our slower rate of travel!!
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 5:26 PM 
