Junior Ranger Austin at Montezuma's Castle

Here is Austin receiving his official certificate from the NPS Ranger.  Below he is told what he needs to do at the park in order to recieve his badge.

 Mother pinning the "official" badge on a proud new junior ranger!  Below, the cliff-dwelling Castle.

 Caught this butterfly on a cactus flower just outside the visitor center door.

Here are more pics of the Castle.

 Jennifer, Nancy and Austin enjoying a beautiful, relaxing day in the park.

 Austin, proudly showing his newest badge, and he is wearing his junior ranger hat from Yellowstone NP.  Below he is running up the road to the motorhome, as we stopped along the way to Flagstaff/Williams.  We visited Grand Canyon later and I will blog that later as well.

 Looking back from where the MH was parked down at the visitor's center.  Below, Jennifer, Nancy & Austin.

Sometimes, words are hard to come by in describing a moment in a young man's life.

 Grandma filling in the blanks on Austin's work sheet that will be used to grade his accomplishments for his badge.  Below, Mother thinking about how nice it is to get away once in a while.  We were so glad to have her & Austin visit us for the week.  Just wish all our grandchildren and parents could be with us sharing the precious memories.

 I will always be amazed at our early Native Americans and their accomplishments in building & construction as they survived many generations in this Verde Valley of Arizona.

 Austin in front of one of his items needed for identifying on his worksheet:  Prickley Pear Cactus.  And below, he is signing his certificate.

What a fun side trip to Montezuma's Castle.  Now, on to Williams RV Park and further adventures (and more badges) to far away places.  Till then and our next blog, Joe & Nancy, the RVing Beach Bums.

Jennifer & Austin in Phoenix

Jennifer, Austin and me at the Reds spring training facilities in Goodyear.

 Austin with his newly acquired baseball given to him by Sam LeCuere and signed by Drew Stubbs.

 Above, Sam and below Drew signing autographs for the fans.

 Yours truly trying to get a ball up the fence and over the top.  It was trapped between the roll of tarp and the fence.  I was able to handle it up and some little girl scaled the fence at the top, reached over and grabbed it, and she kept it.  Hmmm!

 Having a chat with Nick Massett as he did some laps around the warning track.

Austin showing off his baseball.

 Jennifer & Austin at the pool at Leaf Verde RV resort, where we stayed for a month in Buckeye.

And finally, ending the blog on an up note, I just sank a 25 foot jump shot to win the game in overtime....loud cheers enveloped me, as I walked off the court.  Oh, Nancy was able to catch me shooting this game-winning shot.  :-))

Until the next blog, RVing Beach Bums.

Organ Pipe Cactus NM, AZ

Before we left Phoenix, we decided to make a day trip down to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.  This park is located about 2 hours south of Buckeye, where we are camped, and very near the border (Lukeville).  We took the 21 mile loop road drive (dirt/gravel) which wound up taking us about 5 hours, as we stopped at one of the ramadas about half way and had lunch.

We saw many different varieties of cactus, and can recognize some of them.  I guess we need to get us a guide book on cactus.

 Organ Pipe cactus above saguaro below.

The temp in the park during our drive hovered around 90, with a very slight breeze at times, and humidity was around minus 20.  It felt awfully dry as we chugged Aquafina bottles like shots of tequila.  :-)

 Avove, Ocotillo, below, not sure, and below that, Teddy Bear (Cholla).

 The drive was just beautiful, in a strange way.  You just don't see this type of landscape in Virginia, so we were just mezmerized at the wild, strange scenery.

The pic above will give one the perspective as to how large these cacti can be.

Below are a couple of pics of the rustic ramada where stopped for lunch.  We were about the only ones in the park.  We did see a Border Patrol Helo cruise around the southern edge of the park, and then up one of the canyons, on the lookout for illegals.  We understand that this park is a major route for them as well as drug cartel runners.

 Nancy chugging down an orange drink.  One can get real thirsty out here.  Below, she is talking with one of our daughters.  Strange we had cell service here.  Never saw a tower.

 Nancy and another Organ Pipe Cactus.  This one had an unsual growth-like crown in the center of the plant.

 An arch atop one of the mountains.  This was about a mile away, so I had to really use a long lens, 300mm.

 Above, the canyon looking south into Mexico where we saw the helo.

We saw this guy late in the day wondering around looking for a tasty dinner.  I found out later it was a Gila Monster and that he can "spit" venom a considerable distance.  We were about three feet away taking pics and crowding it's space.  Guess we were lucky to not be spit at. 

 The border crossing at Lukeville, AZ.

 On the way back to Buckeye, after a long day in the park, we just had to stop and shoot the sunset.  The sunsets are so beautiful in AZ.

So, until the next blog, RVing Beach Bums.