Quick Trip to Ohio

I decided to make a quick visit to Ohio to visit my family and friends, Dave said he didn't want to see snow - so have a good time! I also wanted to see snow. I do miss seeing snow, seeing the seasons change, grass, hardwood trees, seeing Lake Erie, wasn't happy with experiencing chuck holes in the road or seeing how I forgot to drive in ice and snow - had to relearn this. And was I lucky or what? Saturday night we had 12 inches of snow and I caught this picture of my brother-in-law Danny using the snowblower. This was taken at my sister's house and she and I were standing in the computer room staring at Danny and making fun of him when he would come back for another swipe at the snow. Was good to see my family and to get caught back up on all their lives. Was especially great to see my niece Christine who had a preemie baby last January - born 3 months early, weighing in at 1 lb 17 oz - and seeing how Little Erich is doing now. He's just a beautiful, happy little boy who just loves musical toys. I saw my father in him - red curly hair, clear blue eyes, and a sunny disposition. No problems from his early birth and the doctors are quite pleased with him. He's below average for height and weight but mentally his progress is exactly where he should be for a 1 year old. Doctors told Christine that he should be at the 'normal' range by the time he's two. Was able to get back to the condo to get some things out and have shipped back to Arizona, lots of my sewing things, some clothes left behind. Stared out at Lake Erie for a very long time, taking in the views and the sounds and the sights. Weird to be back in the condo and knew that this place was not ours anymore. We are having too much fun RVing all over the country that we know we would not go back to the condo. Dennis and Peggy are loving living there and Dave and I are so happy for them. All in all great trip. Spent a day with my sister Loretta shopping and hanging out. When I flew out of Cleveland yesterday, the sky was bright blue, a warm 38 (warm for Ohio's winter) and was a nice send off. Forecast for Cleveland for today was another 3 to 5 inches of snow. However, when I landed in Phoenix last night it was a balmy 68. Today - rain, blessed rain! We last saw rain on the 12th of December and that rain was light but constant. Today's rain is hard, pounding, and things are flooding. We will get an awesome spring with flowers now. Good to be home to start planning our next adventure.

Catalina State Park, Arizona

One of the hikes we did a day before I left for Ohio was to go to Catalina State Park which is about a twenty minute drive from Picacho. We both agreed that we need to make this park one that we go to alot. Biking, hiking trails, camping if we wanted to move the RV there, historical ruins are there. One trail we saw goes up to Mount Lemmon where we went to the previous week. However, the trail is rated extreme - don't think we will do that one. One of the trails is a birding trail and was told that March and April are the best times to go along this trail for watching birds and to take pictures of flowers. Since we are in winter mode now, everything is kinda dull and not much life. However, we could hear birds all around us, even caught a lizard sleeping on a rock. If you zoom in on the picture above, you will see the lizard with it's eyes closed. The ruins we walked reminded us of the hike we did to the Presidio near Tombstone. Informative, but had to use your imagination as to what you were looking at. Definitely will go back there soon.