Lost Dutchman State Park (day 2)

Tuesday March 15, 2011 (Day 179)


Superstition MT take 1



Today Rick and Candy tackled the tough mountain hike. Tough because of the very rocky trail which many times felt like walking on marbles. The plan was for them to take the much more strenuous hike while Judy and I took a much more leisurely (rated moderate) 2.4 loop trail hike. We took the left fork and walked clockwise.

Superstition MT take 2



We coulda shoulda taken the right fork and gone counter clockwise. Our choice started nice and gentle and toward the middle point became much steeper, but when we reached the apex of the trail we had steep steps to navigate on our downward return. We also ran into those pesky rocky sections due to winter washouts. The upside was that we were now into the shade for the return. Next time we’ll know better! I can’t say enough about this state park. Everything is wide open with views toward the Superstitious Mountains and huge camping sites.

Lost Dutchman trail map



We had a stupendous breakfast that Rick made with eggs, a left over burrito from last night’s dinner, onions, bratwurst, and toast, a fruit bowl, juice. Wow! It was time to geocache around Apache Junction. We found several and then it was time to visit our soon to become a daily stopping place, McDonalds—gotta love their free wi-fi (and shakes to cool off with) to check email and upload the blog.

Can you find Goldie?



We headed back to camp to try out a version of making a Cosmos without triple sec. I overdid the vodka vs cranberry juice and so it was a hit. I ended having to drink Candy’s (she switched to wine) as we sat in the shade and chatted while watching the changing light on Superstition Mountain

The chairs followed the shade around the van



Dinner was pork tenderloin cut thin to cook faster, pre-made chef’s salad, and sweet potatoes complemented by a red wine carefully chosen by our wine steward (Candy). It turned out to be another yummy meal.

Judy and Harris at local museum



Cards tonight was Oh Hell once again (Harris won it yesterday and was going for a streak), but Judy got an early lead and kept it all night.



A couple from Nebraska in Howie2



High temperature was in the mid 80’s.

Evening shot

Lost Dutchman State Park

Tuesday March 15, 2011 (Day 179)

Goldie, our travel chariot for the 4 of us



We were number 2 on the list and were assigned spot 57 by 8AM. These spaces/pull throughs are huge; on some of them we could have parked 5 Howies. After breakfast we drove in Rick and Candy’s Eurocamper van (Goldie) to Apache Junction for some food supplies and to check out the visitor center.

Candy, Rick, Judy, Harris at a viewpoint along the way



One of the recommended day trips was to see Tortilla Flats, a place 20 miles out but similar to the road to Hana (but not nearly as bad). It takes over an hour to reach it via a winding road with many 15mph turns. It’s very scenic and at Tortilla Flats there is a stretch of tourist shops/stops featuring ice cream, several restaurants, and a few novelty stores. We played tourist on the road stopping at several vistas and pull-outs. We didn’t do much in tortilla Flats other than purchase ice cream (the line was long!)

Our final destination for the day



Once back at camp we placed our chairs in the shade and caught up some while watching the ever changing light on the mountain. Rick and I partnered up on cooking dinner tonight. I grilled the steak and took care of preparing the store bought cob salad while he did the potatoes and cooked some carrots, zucchini, and onions.

Tortilla Flats tourist stop



To top it off we had some blueberry pie that was turned into a semi blueberry cobbler thanks to falling from the back of the van. It still tasted great! The temperature was a very nice 83 degrees. We all turned in early after playing a game of “oh hell” so we could take an early morning hike.

Candy and Rick breaking out the wine



Lost Dutchman in the afternoon light

Judy and Candy arrive! (yeah)

Monday March 14, 2011 (Day 178)

Cool board showing flight info @ phoenix airport



The day started with an abbreviated version of the Rick Lubansky workout. Then it was cleanup time for both Howie and myself. I told Rick that once again I enjoyed the baseball rendezvous and that we must continue this now 3 year tradition. Then I was off to have the tires checked (5 pounds over due to the much warmer climate here in AZ compared to WA). While waiting in the great cell phone waiting area (where there was a scoreboard showing flights enroute/landing/arrived) I stumbled upon a guy who was on the Mariners/Padres spring training baseball board. I learned that many of the clubs are now doing their own spring training where they pay people to run concessions, parking, and the park rather than paying a lump sum to a board that relies on volunteers like in Peoria or Surprise. The new Rockies is one such as well as the Giants. I suppose teams are looking for any way of making a buck!

Taking Judy to a Mariners game...





Spring Break brings many more people to games.



And then the call came; Judy is ready to be picked up! Of course it was great to see her once again and also good to take her to Peoria to see the M’s one last time… What a difference Spring Break makes. The park was packed. We did manage to find a couple of seats in the H&R shady section which is adjacent to the Japanese Ichiro video station. This is where Rick and I found ourselves whenever possible while at Peoria park for baseball. We left before the crowd attendance was announced, but there must have been 9000 plus. Traffic on the 101 was heavy and we arrived at the Lost Dutchman State Park just after it closed. Turns out that once again Spring Break gave us a screwball. The park was full! Off we went to overflow for the night and to await the arrival of the Lubanskys. We met a great couple that have been Full Timing for 10 years (only 8 years together since they met while traveling solo). John and Mariann (not sure on spelling) offered us wine and plenty of great conversation while awaiting Rick and Candy. When darkness came we separated to start our respective dinners. We are number 3 on the list for tomorrow. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.


Check out our "overflow" parking view!






Full-Timers John and Mariann that we met at the overflow.





Sunset at Lost Dutchman State Park

Our last Spring Training game

Saturday March 12, 2011 (Day 176)

We decided to do a cache that was just on the other side of the airport “just down the road”. It turned out to be 3+ miles to get there (and the same back). By the time we returned we felt pressured to get to the Mariners game in time so we hustled and found ourselves at the game with an hour to kill. We people watched and spoke to those around us as we waited. Fortunately, a group that we spoke to told us about the Univ. of Washington VS Arizona basketball game that started at 4PM. After the game there was a stop to pick up root beer float makings and dinner (in that order of importance) and then we turned on the game. I have to say that this was one of the most exciting basketball games I’ve seen. The Huskies were behind after the first half and finally took the lead in 2nd half. Isaiah Thomas was phenomenal to watch! UW sent the game into overtime just before the buzzer with a 3 point shot and won the game at the buzzer with Thomas taking a jump shot 2 seconds before the end of time. There was another RVer watching the game just across the path because we heard a yell and then he came out shouting and high-fiving anyone within range including us. Another good day here in Arizona!

Sunday March 13, 2011 (Day 177)

We finally made it to Denny’s! We both ordered build your slam breakfasts, and when I saw the fruit cup that Rick got I changed my bacon order to a fruit cup. That guy influences me in sooo many ways! We decided to see the Brewers play against Kansas City at Maryvale since we hadn’t made it out there yet. It’s good that we did because there were 31 hits in the game (and they gave out 21oz designated drivers soft drinks!) which was a good way to end our baseball watching for this year. We stopped at the grocery store to stock up for the wives’ return. One last brats dinner and it was laundry time so our vans would be nice and pretty for the spouses. Rick creamed me in bocce (what else is new) and I squeaked another victory in cards. The spouse countdown ends tonight!

Let’s play two today

Friday March 11, 2011 (Day 175)


Our wives are arriving Monday (yea) and so we decided to go for a double header! The first game was in Goodyear where we were yesterday and we watched along with 3300 others the Mariners take on the Cleveland Indians. It was a 5-5 tie at the end of 10 innings which turned out to be our longest game of 4+ hours. We took a dinner break at a nearby Mexican restaurant (average fare) and we were off to Peoria for the Giants and Padres. Luckily we had bought tickets earlier in the week as the game was sold out! The Giants fans bring electricity to the game (it probably helps that they won the World Series last year). Rick and I ended up sitting in the Japanese camera area since it wasn’t being used to film Ichiro. We saw great pitching and hitting in the first 2 innings by both clubs! The game ended just after 10PM at about the same time I put on a light long-sleeved shirt. What a great night for a game which ended 6-4 in favor of the Giants. What a great day for two games!

Rick and me at our 1st game in Goodyear





Fellow fan that reminded me of my neighbor Tom from Orofino





Packed house in Preoria for Giants/Padres





Still going strong!



Souse count down= 2 nights!

We visit Goodyear Park

Thursday March 10, 2011 (Day 174)




A Navy plane practicing daily touch and go's at nearby airport



Rick and I started the day with breakfast and then our geocache walk. The day was already warmer than any so far and proved to get up to 87 degrees. We’ve noticed that the caches take us on different daily walks which makes them more interesting than simply doing the same one over and over. Lunch was McDonalds to grab fish sandwiches which is another shared interest we both have. I was less healthy and added a strawberry shake.

What I look at while Rick leads us through our daily workout.



We like Goodyear Park because it is sunk into the ground thereby reducing the wind’s influence on the game. We have both become SF Giants fans (as a secondary team) after watching their pitching and hitting over several games. It doesn’t hurt that my first baseball game was watching Willy Mays in center field in Candlestick Park.

A neat part of Spring Training.



We were treated to seeing Aroldis Chapman (Cincinnati’s 30 million dollar Cuban pitcher) fire away for a couple innings. Edgar Renteria, (the SF Giant’s hero of last year’s World Series who signed with Cincinnati this year) came up to bat in the 8th inning and received a standing ovation from the 3000+ mostly Giants fans that were here. It was cool to watch!


A $30,000,000 rookie arm



After the hard day watching bb, we headed back to camp and relaxed after picking up a cooked chicken and Cobb salad at the store. I came up with an ingenious way to keep the chicken warm while waiting for dinner by putting it on top of Howie’s engine while we had our drinks and relaxed.

Hero Edger Renteria at bat





Planes parked behind Goodyear Park





Keeping the chicken warm on engine



Short takes:

Rick won the twilight bocce games (by a lot).
I squeaked a win in Phase 10


Relaxing after a hard day of baseball in 87 degree weather...



We were told by RV neighbors that the space station was due to come across the sky and around 7:45 Rick and I joined them searching the skies. There was a group decision that one non-blinking object streaking across the sky must be it and we marveled at the speed of its arc. Time to prepare for tomorrow’s double header!


Can you find the space station?



Spouse countdown= 3 nights!

Chapman's motion video

Ichiro and I break our losing streaks!

Tuesday March 8, 2011 (Day 172)

The short takes:
The Mariners won one against the Giants (1-0).
Got in another brats dinner!
No bocce or Phase 10 update.


Wednesday March 9, 2011 (Day 173)


Rick took charge of breakfast today. He scrambled 4 eggs, mixed in 1 bratwurst , and some onions that were cooked up last night—delicious! We may have to buy some more brats just to do this again. Afterwards, we took a gps with us on our walk to do a couple of caches. We found one and couldn’t find another. We did get in a nice 1.5 hour walk though.

Entering Camelback baseball park



Then it was time to go to a ball park we had never been to, Camelback Park (home of the Dodgers and White Sox). It’s a nice park, but it has the longest walk from the parking lots of any field in the Phoenix area (about a ¼ mile)! There are very few seats with shade. We found some just behind home plate and on this 80+ degree day they were welcomed.


The view from our seats in the shade



Ichiro broke his hitless streak of 14 at bats w/o a base hit as the Mariners took command today. There was a grand slam by Alex Liddi who is on the 40 man roster this year. In fact, my scorecard was full of filled-in diamonds for the runs. We ended up wining 9-4 at the end of the ninth—a good game!

The messy but filled in diamonds representing runs!



I also ended my losing streak to Rick in bocce (it may have helped that I had a 5 point handicap). We had grilled chicken thighs for dinner along with the rest of yesterday’s chef’s salad and baked beans. After dinner I was able to squeak out a win in Phase Ten when it came down to the final hand (breaking another losing streak). Like I said earlier, today was a good day.

Spuse countdown= 5 nights!