A Visit To Geogypsy, Part I

FabGrandpa had an appointment at the Veteran's Adminisiration Medical Center in Prescott for his yearly physical and bloodwork. Yarnell, where our friend Gaelyn lives, is about half way between where we live and where we were going, so we drove up there the day before his appointment and spent the night.

Before I get into the story of our visit, I will take a moment here to say that everything checked out ok for the Fab guy--his TSH for his thyroid was very good, his blood pressure was good so still no need for blood pressure meds (Dr. Singh, his endocrinologist in Atlanta, told me last year his bp was "borderline" and told me not feed him so much sausage, so we have cut down on it a lot!), no sign of that pesky cancer AT ALL. The did make an appoinment with an optamologist for them to look at his eye, because he has been having some trouble with it, but we think it is because of all the dust in the air out here in the desert. He had the same problem with in Texas. I'll update on that after we see that doc on Thursday.


Ok, where was I? Oh yeah:

The road to Yarnell goes right over that mountain:


At times, it looks like you are going to drive off into the sky:


The two directions of the road go on different paths, with the southbound down the mountain lanes on the upper road, and the northbound up the mountain lanes on the lower road.


This is looking out the window on the passenger side, at the road where we have been. I am glad I don't get car sick:


At the top of the mountain is Yarnell. It is like a littel paradise in the middle of Arizona. After seeing it I can understand why Gaelyn wants to live here in the winter months, even if they get snow from time to time. It is gorgeus. This is the yard between Gaelyn's 5th wheel and Berta's house:


This is the "Little House" where FabGrandpa and I spent the night. It was cozy and very comfortable. Thanks Gaelyn! and Thanks Berta! We really enjoyed our stay, our visit, and the company. We felt so special!


Gaelyn took us on the Grand Tour of Yarnell. This is the yard of one of their neighbors. He has lots of metal sculpture animals there.


One local attraction is the Shrine of St. Joseph. It has several statues of Jesus set amongst the huge rocks. It is a place for quiet meditation. Lots of people visit it.

There are several stone paths and stairways here that you can climb. Or you can just sit in the garden on a bench.

But, the best was yet to come! Check in tomorrow for Noah's Ark....

Forbidden Rice and Sauteed Kale

We drove up to Yarnell on Sunday afternoon and spent the night with Gaelyn, of Geogypsy because FabGrandpa had an appoinment at the VA in Prescott for his physical and yearly bloodwork. More about the trip tomorrow, but tonight I want to tell you about this yummo meal.

While in Prescott, we went to the Frontier Natural Foods store. Among other things that we bought, we got some Forbidden Rice and some lacinato kale. I have been reading about the forbidden rice on some vegetarian and gluten free forums that I read, and have been wanting to try it. But because it is relatively expensive, I didn't want to buy a one pound bag of it and then find out we didn't like it. To my delight and surprise, the bulk food section had some of it and also some Red Bhutanese rice. I got about a cup and a half of each one.

Our dinner tonight was the black forbidden rice, kale sauteed with garlic, and a nice tomato-fresh basil-fresh mozzarella salad. The rice was very good. It was not at all like the black wild rice, which I really don't like. It took a little longer than white rice to cook, about thirty minutes. The flavor was a little bit "nutty", but mild, and it had a little bit of "chew" to it, not exactly like al dente, but not as chewy as wild rice. We will be buying some more of it.

To cook the kale, I sliced it about a half inch thick in shreds, and steamed it for four and a half minutes in the microwave. Then I peeled and sliced up about half a head of garlic, and added it to about four tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. When the garlic had cooked for about three minutes, I added in the kale and sauteed for about four more minutes. Salt and pepper to taste, and it was done. The kale was still a little chewy, too, but I think that really made up for there being no meat in this meal.

The salad was made up ahead of time, and refrigerated. It was the other half of the head of garlic, diced up; a ball of fresh mozzarella, diced up; a can of diced tomotates drained, a few leaves of fresh basil cut up, salt and peppr to taste; and about a 1/4 cup of olive oil. Mix well and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Tomorrow I am going to try the Red Bhutanese rice with some pork shoulder steaks. And then I'll tell you the rest of the story about our trip to Prescott.

Forbidden rice may not save you from getting a mortgage bond.  But it will make you a favorite with everyone in your house. 

Taking Care of Bidness

Time for an oil change.

While I was waiting for them to finish the job, I was wandering around the shop taking pictures. The owner walked up behind me and said "HEY! you can't take pictures in here!" Then he laughed because he was just joking, but I jumped a mile.

All done and good for another 3000 miles.

Cactus Ranch Trailer Court

As soon as we got back from vacation, we hooked up the trailer and moved about 80 miles east to Morristown, Arizona. We had been looking at campgrounds in the area for a couple of months, and we liked the looks of this one. The fact that it only costs $185 per month and they only charge 11 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity made it that much more appealing. The tiny little office is cute, but no one is ever in there. The manager and his wife live in a mobile home in the back, and transact business there.


Our site is pretty flat, and has a nice concrete pad. There are no trees, but there are not many trees here at all. There is a large tree-like yucca plant in between our site and the one next door.

There are lots of native plants nicely landscaped around the park including saguaros and other cactii that I don't know the names of. There is actually a Cactus Nursery right next door to the campground that has seven acres of different species of cactus. Some of them are quite unusual.


These small cacti are in bloom all over the park. The flowers are about three inches in diameter, and there are lots of them.

Here is a picture of the yucca--those things get pretty big out here.

And as usual, the desert sunsets are gorgeous!

Vacation IV: The Last Day

On the last day of our vacation, we headed over to the Tijuana Estuary National Wildlife Refuge. It is the slough, or wetlands, formed where the Tijuana River flows into the Pacific Ocean. The Tijuana River is the border between California and Mexico.


When FabGrandpa was a kid, he and his brothers and friends would go there hunting for bait for fishing off the pier. It wasn't a park then. He said they learned where they could gently step their feet up and down, to make shrimp like creatures come up out of the mud. Those things, according to him, were the best bait around. They would also swim across the river to the Mexico side to body surf because the waves were better there.



Now there is a fence there, so you can't get to the other side. At the refuge, there are trails, and picnic area. The place is run by a co-operative of the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and California State Parks department. We couldn't go very far on the day we were there because there had been some damage to the roads and trails from a storm, but we did enjoy some fabulous views from the visitor center area.


All the flowers growing here are native to the area. The little white ones smelled sooo good!



Because of the variable wetness of the area due to the tides and scarce rain, there is quite a mix of vegetation.


After we left the estuary, we decided to drive over to Mission Valley to go to Best Buy. FabGrandpa has been wanting to buy the game Left for Dead, and they didn't have it at the National City store. They told us there were 20 copies of it at the other store. I wish I had taken some pictures of that area! Where I-8 goes through Mission Valley, the bridges are awesome! They are so high off the ground it is amazing. But, I am not a very good passenger when we are going fast in lots of traffic. I was so busy watching the traffic that I didn't have time to get the photos.


Since we were already on I-8, when we left the store, we kept going west on I-8 until we got to the end, and wound up driving through downtown San Diego. It is really a very lovely city. I did get a shot of one of the highway bridges there. I guess I am just weird that I like bridges.



Here is a shot of the downtown San Diego skyline as seen across the harbor. I love the contrast of all the boats against the tall buildings.



We saw Border Patrol EVERYWHERE! They seemed to be more of them than San Diego police cars. When we were on California 94, we passed one almost every mile.



Another picture of downtown San Diego. I just love this one because of the palm trees.


Every time we come to San Diego, we have to drive over the Coronado Bridge.

It is one of the longest, tallest bridges I have ever been on. This next picture is the view from the top of the bridge:

Looking back:

Looking ahead:

We drove through Coronado and past the Silver Strand State Park, and back into Imperial Beach. We ate a late lunch at El Tapatio, where I had shrimp that was stuffed with crab, wrapped with bacon, and baked. Very good!


This was the last sunset of the vacation. I hope we get to go back next year.

Vacation III: Uncle Jr., Mexico and The Pier

The first order of business on Wednesday was to drive through the streets of Imperial Beach, going past the places where FabGrandpa lived and played. This picture shows the entrance to the trailer park where he lived for several years with his parents and brothers. If you look closely, you may see The Wing sticking up there on the hill. The official name for it is the John J. Montgomery Memorial Park.

We went by Mar Vista High School, Emory Elementary School, the drive-in theater that has a flea market during the day. The water tank where there used to be a grove of eucalyptus trees, and past the place where he used to hide in a fig tree and eat until he was sticky all over. It was great to see him so happy that he could see this place again, and that so many of the places were still recognizable to him.


We also went by to visit Uncle Junior, as he is called by everyone in the family. He has lived here since 1979. His wife, Terry, died last year so he is living there alone now. He told us he is trying to get things in order so he can sell the house and move back to Georgia. He's looking pretty good for 82 years old. We had a nice visit with him, then left on our way to Mexico, less than 10 miles away.


We parked at a lot on the U.S. side of the border, and walked across the bridge to Tijuana. It was a pretty long walk compared to other places where I have crossed into Mexico. There were lots of people walking over that day. In the picture below are cars at the border stop going into Mexico:


After we crossed the bridge, and went through that revolving gate, we stopped to take my picture with this cow statue. Just because I thought it was pretty. There was also an information booth here where we were able to find directions to the places we wanted to go.


We didn't stay very long--we only wanted to go and get my prescription for metformin ($6.00 for 100 tablets, for my diabetes type II), some amoxicillian ($7.00 for 100 capsules, we like to keep some on hand) and a couple of Z-packs($6.00 each). I know when I get an ear infection that is the only thing that will knock it out. We also got a 5th of Herra Dura Reposado Tequila. It was $32 in Mexico, and unaffordable here. That 5th will last me 2 years.

Then we walked back over the bridge, showed our passport cards, and went home. Easy peasy, and no gunshots were heard. All the cars in the picture below are people entering the United States through Tijuana. There are armed border agents down there inspecting the cars and checking passports and other documents. It looked like a pretty long wait.


We got back to the inn just around lunch time. FabGrandpa was wanting to walk over to the pier, which was good news to me because he hadn't wanted to do anything until that day. So we walked over there, and went to the Tin Fish Restaurant at the end of the pier for lunch.


He had a fried fish and shrimp combo, I ordered grilled shrimp. I could eat shrimp every day, and I did while I was on vacation. It was really good, and the atmosphere on the pier was excellent.


Yep, here I am in my signature orange traveling shirt. It is not the same one I usually wear, I have three, but still, it IS orange.


These guys were out there surfing every day, from morning til sunset. Mostly they just sat on their surfboards waiting for 'the wave', but when they did get a good wave they rode it all the way in.


This picture shows just how close to Mexico we were. If you click on the picture to make it larger, you will see that the top arrow is pointing to the bullring in Tijuana, and bottom one is pointing to the end of Seacoast Boulevard in Imperial Beach.


After lunch we walked back over to the inn, and just relaxed on the deck for the afternoon. This sea bird just sat there posing for me.



More of the beautiful flowers. These were actually growing on the sand dune below the deck of the inn, and climbed over the railing.


Another one by the pool. I don't know the names of these but they are gorgeous.



And again, the sun sets on the Pacific Ocean, bringing us the end of another day.



The lights on the pier seen from the deck outside our room: