We continued west to the Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort, near Judy’s brother’s house in Phoenix. It is a beautiful resort for snowbirds. We were the smallest rig there, but we spent most of our time at Ron’s house and visiting sites in Phoenix so,it worked out for us. Here is an image of our spot amongst all the big rigs!

Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort

Our next stop on the winter trip was Lake Havasu to visit Jerry and Karen, old friends from Minnesota, well they’re not old, it’s just that we’ve known them a long time.😉

We stayed in Lake Havasu State Park, a beautiful, quiet park along the Colorado River. Since it’s not spring break, the river only had a few boats, probably not so quiet with all the large, noisy boats though.

Here are some of our images…

Judy and Jerry at Lake Havasu State Park, Arizona

Lake Havasu State Park, Arizona

Lake Havasu State Park, Arizona

This spring we attended our Airstream Rally in Death Valley National Park. February is a good time to avoid the heat and yet not have too cold of temperatures. We stayed in the Furnace Creek Inn campground and explored a very small part of the park – it’s huge!

Here are some images…

The group at Devil’s Golf Course

Devil’s Golf Coursework

Bad Water

Artist’s Palette

Scotty’s Castle

Ubehebe Crater

Travelers in the desert

Evening sky

Our next stop was the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, the quieter side. It’s is a long drive to get there, but the feeling is much calmer than the south rim, and fewer people (and tour busses).

We haven’t been here in a long time and having only stayed in cabins on previous visits, the campground was new to us. We found a beautiful, quiet, spacious campground with all sites “pull-around” configuration. The “pull-around” was around trees! Nice paved sites, except almost all were “bowl” shaped and sloping to the one side – hard to see in the reservation photos. That meant it was a bit of a challenge to get situated and to arrange blocking – LEGO expertise was needed.

The hikes were beautiful, we hiked 2 ½ miles down into the canyon one day, and even out again! Here are a few images of the canyon landscape and lodge.

We had beautiful sunsets and starlit nights!

We spent three full days in Zion National Park, one of our favorites. The first day we drove through the tunnel to the eastern edge of the park and hiked the East Rim Trail for the first time. Beautiful, with clouds moving in and the forecast of rain.

That night we took the shuttle into Springdale, had a nice dinner at Oscar’s, and watched the rain move in. After dinner we took the shuttle up the canyon and watched the waterfalls come down into the canyon – something that only happens during a hard rain or in the spring with snowmelt.

That evening we listened to 2.7 inches of rain come down on Ari! The next day the rain continued in the morning and then cleared. The Zion river was angry and very full!

The day turned beautiful by 11:00.

Day three was a typical Zion day.

We have Ari ll all ready to head for Zion National Park tomorrow! Cleaned, fresh water, all aired up, and windows cleaned to enjoy the views!

We left South Beach Campground in Oregon, drove down highway 101 to Florence, Oregon and drove inland to catch Interstate 5. Following the GPS, we were “told” to turn on Territorial Road to go around Eugene, it looked shorter on the map too. Well, it is a great road for the BMW, not so much for the Tundra pulling the Airstream! Although a beautiful country road, it was very narrow, very curvy, and rough in many sections. We kept saying, it’s got to get better, but it didn’t.

Finally we found the freeway and stayed in the Railroad RV park near Dunsmuir, California for the next two nights. It was recommended by our Airstream friends and was a fun stop for a couple nights. We explored Castle Crags State Park the next day.

The next day we drove home taking Interstate 680 around San Francisco, what terribly rough roads! Having traveled 4,600 miles through 8 states, these roads were some of the roughest we encountered. Maybe they will be better next time through!

We’re all cleaned up and ready for Zion National Park, Utah in September. Ari ll worked great except for a couple of gremlins in Cedar Breaks National Monument, it could be the 10,500 ft. Elevation though…

We left Vancouver and crossed the border back into the US at Aldergrove, a smaller border crossing. They even let us back into the States!

We stayed one night in Lacey, Washington, near Olympia, at the Washington Land Yacht Harbor before driving to Corvallis, Oregon to visit with Lu and Joe for a few days. Their garden…

Our next stop was South Beach State Park near Newport, Oregon to camp for three nights. We camped again with Lu and Joe and explored the Oregon Coast.

Here is the South Beach campground…

The bridge at Florence.

The Florence Harbor.

Our next stop was Vancouver. We found another urban campground in Burnaby, 20 minutes from downtown by the Skytrain, a commuter train for the Vancouver area. The campground was built for Expo ’86 in Vancouver, explains why it was so tight. Many of the people staying at the campground hopped on the train each morning to explore Vancouver.

Here’s the Burnaby Cariboo RV Park and Campground.

The weather was hot and clear for the two days we were in Vancouver. We
walked all over the city exploring all the neat places and parks. Here are some of our many images…