Tucson LDS Temple

 This temple has a bit different design to reflect the Southwest.  The desert gardening reflects this as well.  It was Monday when we visited and there were men their working.

design above the window

Catalina State Park Camping in Tucson

It was a bit warm the first day in Tucson and we put up a shade, but after that the weather was nice.  Catalina State Park is inthe foothills to the Catalina Mountains.  There was a big saguaro cactus close to our campsite.  Only bad thing is they were redoing the restroom on our side.  They did have port-potties in place, or the restroom on the other side which had showers.  The mountains were pretty an I understand there are many trails.  

Charlie was in the same campground but on the other side with the good bathrooms.  He invited us over for s'mores.  He had a portable fire with propane for the marshmallows.  

Miami and Claypool Arizona--Mining Towns

 We didn't stop but I got a fw pictures from the car.  This is country to return to; especially in light of Globe having a museum Besh-Ba-Gowah Museum featuring the Salado People.  It includes the ruins of an ancient pueblo as well as the museum. 

Miami and Claypool are copper mining areas and I tried to get a picture to reflect this.  

mountains and cliffs along Highway 60.

Five-Year-Old birthday boy

 Look who had a birthday last week.  His day we went to the zoo, swimming at the Lied Activity Center pool and had dinner and cake.  He chose homemade chicken noodle soup.  The cake was chocolate with an almond flavored frosting which was very good.

Weekend of March 13 to 15th

 This is a journal entry for this week.  A couple things I have already written about but a couple other things I missed.  

The weekend started early as we decided to have movie night on Thursday instead of Friday.  we watched Zootopia 2.  This freed up Friday for me and I went to the Croatian Community Center fish fry and also took cardboard to the recycles and saw San Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church.  Friday also my sister called to inform us that her son had passed away.  He was found up Logan Canyon by some snowmobilers and had frozen to death.  The police found his car stuck by Tony Grove Lake 3 1/2 miles from where his body was found.  His death changed our travel plans as we decided not to go camping in California but to go to the funeral in Logan, Utah.  Consequently instead of leaving on Sunday we left on Wednesday.  Ironically my sister was at a gender reveal party for her daughter Natalie when the police called.  She is having a girl.  

Saturday the 14th started with a pie-for-breakfast Elder's Quorum activity at the church.  I had a lemon pie and a chocolate pie.  I also had good conversations with other members.  Sad part is that the Kanes are moving to England.  

Sunday was my first time leading the music in church.  I went well but one sng the down bat as always off.  After the first verse I realized I was beating 4/4 for a 3/4 song.

We had dinner at our house on Sunday.  It was cold and freezing, nd we had had a skiff of snow.  Consequently the road was so frozen Miranda and Anthony couldn't get up the hill outside our house.  They had to go down and around to the next road which isn't as steep.  

Scenery and Fauna at Tonto National Monument

 Tonto National Monument preserves two sets of ruins, the lower and the upper.  It also preserves the surrounding area, the hill side and many cacti.  The saguaro are very numerous and the ocotillos add a touch of red.  Most of these pictures were taken on the half mile climb to the ruins.

view of the lake.  This was not there in ancient times.

View of Kingman from the White Cliffs South Trailhead.

 The south trailhead to White Cliffs is behind the courthouse.  It is best accessed off of third street.  There is construction behind the courthouse which limits access.  I took Tony with me as he had never been there before.  He was pleased with the view it gives of his high school.

construction on I40 and the highway 93 interchange

court house and Palo Christi School

view down Third street and Catholic church

Lee Williams High School on the right side

Lee Williams on the left, looking towards the monuments

Windy Hill Campsite, Lake Roosevelt

 Windy Hill Campsite is one of the few that was open around the lake.  It is toward the southern portion of the lake.  It has about 300 campsites.  When we got there, the first night it was pretty open but then Friday and Saturday nights it was very full.  It did provide showers and flush restrooms.  However our site did not have electricity so we were dependent on the solar panels.  The work well when the sun is shining but the evenings were usually overcast.  Thursday to Sunday, April 2-5.

evening

sunrise

lots of mesquite trees