We have been very busy since our last blog post. This weekend we made an offer on the house we like, and after a few rounds of counter offers we settled on a price and signed the papers yesterday afternoon (Sunday). Our two realtors, Carolyn and Audra, have been fantastic and were available all weekend for the process. Although it’s been tiring, it has also been exciting, exhilarating and fun. After we signed the final offer we drove by the house and took the following pictures of the front of the house.

Gravel and cactus are us!

This morning has been hectic – talking with our credit union back in Pocatello, visiting a title company for some more paper work, talking with the home owners association to get copies of covenants and other important documents, and another visit to our realtors for some tweaking of our offer (after talking with the credit union we made a minor adjustment in some of the terms of the agreement). More fun and excitement.

When we first visited the house last Friday we took a few other pictures of the inside and the backyard.

Sharon in the kitchen.

Living room.

Southeast corner of the backyard from the small patio.

Small back patio from the southeast corner of the yard.

And more photos can be viewed on the internet through the several real estate web sites. This link is for realtor.com.

Photos of the swimming pool and other facilities at Cottonwood Ranch can be viewed on their web site at this link.

We are trying to get everything down here done before we are scheduled to leave on Wednesday, May 7; and everyone we have worked with is trying hard to make that happen. We’ll see. Fortunately, before we left Idaho we purchased a small portable printer/scanner/copier so we receive documents via email, print them out, sign them, scan them and send them back. We have been printing so many pages that we had to make an emergency run this morning to Office Max for another ream of paper. Tomorrow we have a home inspector coming at noon so we’ll see how that goes. An appraiser hasn’t been scheduled yet but we don’t need to be there when that happens. Hopefully there won’t be any sucker punches or curve balls through this process but there always are so we’ll deal with them as they happen.

It’s been a while since our last blog post partially because we are lazy and really enjoying the nice weather, but also because the internet has been down much of the time here in our RV park. So this post is being uploaded via our smartphone hotspot. Oh, we've also been catching up on chores.

We spent much of the last week continuing to explore the various nooks, crannies, and neighborhoods of Cottonwood and surrounding communities like Cornville (where Sen. John McCain lives) and Clarkdale. The purpose of this exploration is to decide what we really want to do in the future. Our journey prior to returning to Cottonwood this winter helped us realize that there is no place like the Verde Valley. It suits us much better than any other place we have visited throughout the Southwest from Southern California to Central Texas, and this place feels like home (or, at least, a second home). So we drove around looking at land for sale – some of it out in the boonies and some actual building lots in town.

Everywhere we go we find spring-fed creeks and marshes.

And Abby enjoys fetching sticks even out of the smallest stretch of water.

We took breaks from exploring by taking walks in one of our favorite places – Dead Horse Ranch State Park.

It was Easter Sunday and there were lots of people fishing (even a few fly fishermen) and there are lots of fish.

And our heron friend from previous visits kept an eye on us (see some previous blogs for heron pics).

Back to our property explorations. We have looked at new developments where you pick out a floor plan and a lot and they build you a house (with your own finishing touches). We even looked at a new development designed for manufactured homes (i.e., “doublewides”). After looking at lots and floor plans and calculating the costs we decided to look at existing homes.

This process actually started last winter when we were here and our interest has been reinforced this winter - we really want something permanent here as a winter residence. We’ve driven through just about every neighborhood we can find and we keep returning to one that we discovered last year. So we contacted a realtor and met with her last Friday. She was recommended to us by our friend and summer Pinehaven neighbor, Bill Hurst, who recently bought a large view lot at the base of the Mingus Mountains (southwest side of the Verde Valley). We met with him for lunch at the Village Tavern in Old Town Cottonwood last week and picked his brain about real estate here. He is from Arizona and recently sold his home in Falgstaff but still owns a home in Scottsdale (which he would like to sell if the market there ever gets better). The market here in Cottonwood is very strong – sale prices have increased by at least 10% over the last year and it looks like this trend will continue so if we are going to buy something now is the time to do it (actually, last year would have been the time to do it). And, interest rates are increasing and are expected to continue to increase.

The neighborhood we like is called Cottonwood Ranch and it is a Del Webb development started in the mid 1990s. Below is a small house like we want but this one sold before we could look at it (it was only on the market for a few days). The development has a swimming pool and walking trails throughout.

We looked at a couple of houses in our size range (2 bedrooms, 2 baths) and our budget. We really like one of them which only came on the market late last week. One of our greatest wishes is to share this beautiful place with family and friends, especially Grandma Shirley.  We’ll keep you posted.

The last couple of days have been dedicated to exploring new areas around this part of Arizona and catching up on our chores (grocery shopping, mucking out the trailer, etc.). On Sunday we drove to Tonto Natural Bridge State Park about 1.5 hours east of Cottonwood. Part of our interest in going there was we would follow a highway that we haven't driven before. We were thinking that we might leave the Verde Valley via that route when we head back to Idaho to avoid climbing to over 7000 feet in elevation going up the freeway through Flagstaff. However, the highway to Tonto also climbs to over 7000 feet just to get out of the Verde Valley. So we will probably drag the trailer up the freeway as originally planned.

Tonto Natural Bridge is a very interesting and beautiful place. It is believed to be the largest natural travertine bridge in the world. The bridge stands 183 feet high over a 400 foot long tunnel that measures 150 feet at its widest point.

Dogs are allowed on the trails around the rim.

But dogs are not allowed on the trail that descends into the canyon.

Therefore we did not experience the view from under the bridge. But if we had we would have seen the following (downloaded from the internet).

There is also a waterfall over the top.

Complete with rainbow.

And where there is water, Abby has to enjoy it (it's spring fed a few hundred feet up slope).

And Abby makes friends everywhere we go.

We took a picnic lunch and pretty much made a day of the trip.

Yesterday (Monday) we decided to check out a trail head that we have noticed for the last couple of years but have not taken the time to follow it. The trail head is near the east end of Cottonwood and it climbs south out of the Verde Valley up into the Mingus Mountains. It afforded beautiful views of the valley and of the red rocks around Sadona to the north.

The cactus are just beginning to bloom in the area so it is about a month behind where we were farther south and much lower in elevation (the white blossoms are sego lilies).

The trail is nice and is for foot traffic only (although horses are allowed we didn't see any horse droppings so it must not be a popular ride).

Can you find Sharon and Abby in the picture below? Remember you can click on the picture to enlarge.

We started the hike in the afternoon not knowing what the trail was like or where it went. We hiked uphill for about an hour, took a selfie, and returned to our truck.

Some limited information at the trail head said it was 3.5 miles long climbing a couple of thousand feet but didn't mention why anyone might like to hike the distance. Back at the trailer we looked at Google Earth on the computer and discovered what is at the end of the trail attracting hikers (this photo was downloaded from the internet).

There is a big waterfall and pool of spring water 3.5 miles up so we will definitely attempt the hike. But this time we will wear our hiking boots and we won't start the journey in the heat of the afternoon. But we haven't made a 7 mile hike yet this winter so we don't know if we could make it the whole way. And even our short hike of yesterday pooped Abby out so much that all she has done since is sleep and eat. We'll see.

We haven't been keeping up with the blog for no reason other than laziness. Since the last posting we have done a number of things. The most interesting is we road on the Verde Canyon Railroad on Thursday afternoon. It is a forty mile round trip that takes about 4 hours and it travels through some very remote and scenic terrain. Plus they have a full service bar - after a glass of complimentary champagne Sharon started off the trip with a prickly pear margarita (and Rick had a beer - the train has it's own label of both beer and wine).

Sorry the picture is fuzzy. Rick finally discovered he had a blob of gunk on the lens of his smart phone camera.

The train has both interior seats and exterior platforms for passengers to enjoy so we moved from indoors to outdoors and back in.

The train is surprisingly long but it needs to be because they sell out every day (six days a week). The following looks toward the engines:

And looking back toward the caboose:

After being outside for a while (and getting a little sunburned) we returned to our table and shared a bottle of Verde Valley Railroad Chardonnay.

Verde, of course, is Spanish for "green" and green it is around the river. The cottonwoods are a fresh green and the sycamores add a lush element (sycamores on the left and cottonwoods from center to right - the dark branches that have not yest budded are mesquite trees).

While we enjoyed the train ride and the scenery Abby was being pampered at the Canine Country Club back in Cottonwood. She got a bath, a nail trimming, and a grooming. She looked very pretty when we "rescued" her and got her back to her familiar territory.

Yesterday (Friday) we took a hike in the morning. We walked north (away from the river) from our RV park through the desert following a well used trail (the building in the center of the photo below is a casino on Indian land).

However, after a mile or two we ran into this:

The sign says "State Trust Land - No Trespassing" although the sign doesn't appear to have stopped a bunch of other folks. But being the good citizens that we are we turned back and bushwhacked off the trail up to a low hill where we could get a good view of the valley.

The hill in the foreground to the left of center in the photo above is the Sinagua ruin just above our trailer (located on the other side of the hill). We didn't photograph it but on top of the hill (where this picture is taken) at a fence line all the fence posts had a shoe stuck on top. Back in Pocatello this would mean that the location was a drug distribution place - and trails came to the spot from both sides of the fence. Down below the hill we saw a couple of camp sites with tons of junk including mattresses and clothes. Our Pinehaven neighbor and Arizona resident, Bill Hurst, told us that 10 years ago Cottonwood was known as the meth center of northern Arizona - but most of that now seems to have moved elsewhere.

Today (Saturday) we went to Old Town Cottonwood just to walk around and check out the shops. The place keeps getting nicer and nicer each year we return (and busier and busier). Around lunch time we dropped by a winery we hadn't visited before - Burning Tree Cellars. We shared a wine tasting of both whites and reds - some were really nice and were reasonably priced so we bought a few bottles to share with folks back in Pinehaven.

We don't know what we'll do tomorrow but we still have a long list of places to go and things to do. The weather continues to be nice - highs in the high 70s to low 80s, and lows in the 40s to low 50s.

Our niece Stacey came up to visit us yesterday (Sunday). We had lunch in Old Town Cottonwood at the Tavern then went to Dead Horse Ranch State Park for a nice leisurely stroll and chat.

Looking closely at the picture above we can see the old copper mining town (and now tourist destination) of Jerome high on the hillside.

Somehow, we failed to take a picture with Stacey in it so that will have to wait until we visit her home in Tempe sometime in the next few weeks. But we did get a picture of a blue heron that kept following us around.

After strolling around Dead Horse for a while we returned to the RV park and hiked up on the Sinagua ruin above our trailer. Beautiful day and not too hot.

Our negative opinion about our RV park has mellowed somewhat and we would now replace the park simply into the quirky category. This developed because last Friday the scary people with four dogs in the old wreck of an RV next to us packed up and left (after apparently being here for months). Today some very nice people from Alberta in a mega motorhome pulled in and will be here for about a week. Our neighborhood just took a big step up. Plus, right now our wifi is working well.

We are going to go exploring to areas we haven't been to before over the next few days, and this morning we booked first-class tickets on the Verde Canyon Railroad (check out their web site at http://verdecanyonrr.com/). It seems unbelievable but the train sells out everyday. We have not taken the train before because it takes all afternoon and we haven't wanted to leave Abby alone for that long. But we made an appointment for doggy-day-care at the Canine Country Club just up the street along with a grooming. We dropped by the place a few days ago and it is very nice. This will only be the second time in her 10-year life that she has been professionally groomed.

So maybe we will have some interesting photos and observations later this week - or maybe not.

We are settled into our RV spot in the Rio Verde RV Park in Cottonwood, AZ. We originally had planned to spend six weeks here before we head back to Idaho (arriving there in mid-May). However, the park is getting run down with lots of very old and poorly maintained RVs. We have liked the park because it is “quirky” but now it has reached the seedier side of quirky so we may cut our stay short and try a few other RV parks (but still planning to return to Idaho in mid-May).

One of the quirky aspects we like is the Mexican taco truck – the Sonora Taqueria - which parks here over the weekends. So last Saturday we decided to pick up some take out.

Check out the menu – yes you can purchase cow intestine tacos, brain tacos, and tongue tacos along with the boring beef and pork tacos. We purchased some green chili and a beef quesadilla and took them back to the privacy of our trailer.

On Sunday we took a short hike up the hill behind our trailer.

If you remember from last year the hill top is a collapsed Sinagua (500 to 1425 AD) pueblo consisting of around 75 rooms and plazas, etc. Looking up at the hill from the trailer we can see the top above the highest band of vegetation is covered with white rocks. Those rocks are the collapsed walls of the pueblo.

In the picture above, about half way up the hill is a band of dense vegetation which is a terrace. On this terrace directly above our trailer is a small 12 to 15 room annex to the pueblo.

Looking down from that terrace we can see our trailer and to the right all the collapsed wall rocks scattered about (and the whole thing is covered with thousands of pottery fragments).

On Monday we took a short hike along the river. The trail starts at the old jail (now a tea room) in Old Town Cottonwood and ends up at Dead Horse Ranch State Park.

As usual, Abby has to play in the water.

And someone decided to protect this little flower.

A storm front came into the area on the weekend and has really cooled things off. With it has been some very gusty winds which seem to be the culprit in crashing the RV park’s wifi. After a couple of days without wifi we proceeded to do something that we have talked about all winter (because most parks we have stayed in have had very limited/week or even non-existent wifi). We started using our smart phones as mobile hot spots, and this blog post is our first real experiment (other than dealing with some email, etc.). It is so much faster than any wifi we have had and the signal is supper strong (because the phone is just a few inches away). Our phone’s family plan allows us to use up to 10 gigs of data each month without additional cost, but we have no idea how connecting the laptop to the web through the phone will consume data. But we can monitor that so this is an interesting experiment.

The wet and windy weather front is supposed to be out of here by tomorrow so we will probably get out and have some more interesting comments and pictures to share with you – so check back soon!

ADDENDUM:  After logging out of this site and turning off our mobile hot spot on our phone, we checked our data usage. We used 52 mb of data over 15 minutes uploading text and 8 images. That equals 5% of our 10 gig monthly allowance. That sounds like a lot but that includes 25 mb of images off our phones. Plus we opened the updated blog to make sure we didn't screw something up. The obvious answer is to downsize the images before uploading to the blog - that could save a lot. OOOOPS!  Bad math. The 52 mb of data for this post is not 5% of 10 gigs but is 5% of 1 gig. Therefore, we used 0.5% of our 10 gig monthly allotment which isn't bad at all.