Prescott Time

Constellation Trail, Prescott

Greetings to whoever is left out there reading this. It's been a while but there hasn't been much going on other than trying to avoid getting COVID. We'll probably be okay as long as we stay away from the White House!

We did get to spend almost two weeks in Prescott, AZ recently, taking care of Hans and Lisa's cat Rosie while they took a trip to Oregon. We miss having a cat around the house but not sure we are ready for another just yet. 

Rosie loves food, and was always in the kitchen if we were, hoping it was time for her next meal. She is one of the most vocal cats we have been around, constantly meowing at us, which was very cute. And her fur is silky soft.

How can you resist that face?

She likes to go outside in her huge fenced yard under supervision and was very good about coming in when we were ready.

So besides hanging out with Rosie, we hiked, biked and walked the neighborhood. We managed to find several trails we hadn't done there. Just a mile or so from the house is the Williams Valley trail, where we did a pleasant loop hike.

Another day we started at the Cayuse trailhead in the Granite Basin Recreation Area and did a loop of about 5 miles on various trails. 

Thanks to our friend Sandy we found another nice network of trails off Iron Springs Rd, where we put together another loop.

And our last hike was on the Constellation trails in the Granite Dells, the site of an Air Force training plane crash in 1959. This is a very scenic area with 3.5 miles of trails winding through and over huge boulders. It was fun doing some rock scrambling for a change.

Debris from the crash

It was getting hot by the time we finished so we drove another 20 miles up to the top of Mingus Mountain and had our lunch there.

We saw this very optimistic display on our way.

Although we've biked on the Peavine/Iron King rail trails a few times before, we always enjoy that ride and wanted to check out the progress on some new subdivisions being built near the end of the trail. And we love the views of Watson Lake.

Perfect spot for lunch

On a neighborhood walk we discovered one of the best political signs we've seen in this divisive election year.

Speaking of voting, we mailed in our ballots yesterday, which gave us a good feeling of doing something positive in this negative world we live in.

A few days before we were scheduled to leave Prescott the hot water heater quit working. Jim talked with Hans and they both agreed it was most likely the thermocouple but Jim wasn't confident enough to attempt to replace it, so Hans and Lisa left a day early and we heated up water on the stove for dishes and bathing for a couple days, like during our tent camping days many years ago. Despite that little glitch, we enjoyed our stay and Rosie's company!

While going through photos I found a couple from over the summer, this one being one of several threats of monsoon rain that never made it to us. All we got was higher humidity and a few drops.

Haze from the California wildfires gave us some interesting sunrises.

And finally, after doing a few bike rides in Prescott I got inspired to start riding more again, so this morning I went out to McDowell Mtn for an early ride. Although the desert is dry and brown this year it was great to get back on the trails in what is still one of my favorite places.

Till next time, hope you are enjoying autumn!