AirstreamTour: Goodbye Tucson, Hello Sedona

The last couple of days in Tucson were pretty low key. Friday saw us wandering around the RV sales lots while Heinz worked out a case of Class A envy. Actually, we did check out a few because, who knows, if we continue to like this full-timing lifestyle, we may need one of those behemoths some day.

Friday afternoon found us back up at Rose Canyon Lake for a spot of fishing. I did a little spin casting and managed to catch nothing but my line on some reeds. Heinz worked on his casting and caught one...I'll let you be the judge of whether or not it could be called a fish.

Rainbow Trout, catch and release for sure!

On Saturday we got up and lazed around some, then took off for Oro Valley (a suburb) and the Oro Valley Artists Coalition Arts and Music Festival. Saw some really neat jewelry, some fabulous photography, and some pretty good painting, along with the usual arts festival kitschy stuff. Kept the purse strings shut, but our eyes open.

After leaving the festival we spent some time down in the Lost Barrio doing a little window shopping. This is an area of town with some import/export shops, art galleries, and outright junk shops. Kind of a cool place to wander around in.

On Sunday we packed up and moved on, sort of, we managed a whole 120 miles north to Phoenix. We camped at the McDowell Mountain Regional Park. It's a county park just outside of Fountain Hills, a suburb of Phoenix. We arrived just in time for cooler temperatures and rain. But the view from our door was gorgeous and hard to beat.

Tucked in for the night by a saguaro

Sunrise in the McDowell Mountains

Sunrise from the trailer doorway

We only stayed in the Phoenix area for two nights. Monday it rained all day and we spent most of it doing some shopping at all the best shops...REI, Bass Pro Shop, Cabela's and The Desert Sportsman. Gotta be sure you have all the right ties to catch those big trout. Tuesday we stopped in at Taliesin West in Scottsdale on our way out of town. We've both wanted to see this creation of Frank Lloyd Wright's for years and it didn't disappoint us at all. What a marvelous bit of architecture that tucks itself down into the desert as if it's always been there.

Front of house

Breezeway, designed so that the convective breezes from the valley floor flow up the mountain side and through the breezeway, creating an area with temperatures that can be up to 20 degrees cooler than on the valley floor.

Heloise Crista Sculpture

We are now camped out at the Distant Drums RV Park in Camp Verde. Yes, aren't you proud of us, we managed to travel another whole 92 miles! We got in just in time for the Indian casino across the highway's $10 prime rib night. While waiting for a table (people came out of the woodwork for this deal), Teresa managed to more than double her money at the quarter slots and therefore got to pay for dinner. Don't get too excited for her folks, her $20 investment climbed to $40.50.

Today we drove around the Sedona area, scoping it out and planning for the next few days. If you've not been to Sedona before, add it to your bucket list immediately. I'm planning my tours of the shops as Heinz plans out his fishing expeditions. We're also researching which hiking trails to try. We have only a mere 300+ miles of them in the area according to the forest ranger at the Coconino National Forest. There's also an old copper mining town that is now a ghost town that my camera and I are itching to check out along with all sorts of all other attractions to choose from.