Trip into AZ on Hwy 89A

This is an old Fort at Lee's Landing. Notice the colored rock wall, there are so many different colors in the rock walls here.




These are some of the Condors that have been re-introduced into this area. They're at the Navajo Bridge here.





This is the visitors center at the Navajo Bridge in the Vermillion Cliffs area. Those are some of the cliffs in the background.





This is the Colorado River before it gets to the dams that have built in Page, AZ and Las Vegas.




More of the Vermillion Cliffs.


This area is truly some of the most beautiful scenery in the whole country. It's a shame it's so hot all the time. We end up being house potatoes cause it's so hot away from the air conditioning. We love this area but just can't live here again.

We had a fun party at our Campground Club House the other day. It was a Margarita Game night. We made different kinds of Margaritas and played games and laughed a whole lot. We've got a good bunch of neighbors here.

We're counting down the days here already cause it's been so hot. We've been asked to come back next year but said no cause it's just to hot to enjoy our time here.

Lexi has been having a great time with her new friend Rock and his parents. She goes to Doggie Day Care with him once a week to play and enjoy the swimming pool.

Next week we're going on a dinosaur tour up in the Grand Staircase Escalante area beyond Bryce Nat'l Park. They've uncovered dinosaur bones and other artifacts so the scientists are doing tours, should be very interesting.

News from home.

Got news and pictures from my brother today. The gravel company finally put the gravel down on our driveway. That will get rid of some of the mud. The grass is doing really well, that was one big mud pit when we were there last. Butte has been getting lots of rain which has been great for the grass.

It's still hot in the afternoons here in Utah. It cools off at night so we can sleep with the windows open but about 2:30 in the afternoon we have to close up and use the air. The air conditioner we thought was breaking seems to be limping along which is good since no one knows of anyone in the area that works on RVs anymore. We did buy a little window air conditioner in the event the RV one completely goes out. We'll find a use for it at the house if we don't use it here.

I've been sewing for a craft table that several of the ladies here have at the Farmers Market. I'm making microwave baked potato bags. Last week I sold one and I haven't heard today if they sold anymore. It gives me something to do on those hot afternoons when I don't want to be outside.

100 degrees in the beginning of June!

I don't think it got this hot this early the last time we were in Kanab, 3 yrs ago. We seem to be having some trouble with our air conditioner again, always when we get to these hot places. Yesterday we drove to St George and bought a small window air conditioner in case the problem persists and we can't find someone to repair it. 3 yrs. ago there was an RV repair place here but it has since gone out of business and we don't like to have to drive someplace for repairs when we're trying to work and have to do something with the dog as well. Maybe we'll be able to limp along until we finish this season.

Utah is just as beautiful as I remembered it. The red rock is something as are the mesas. 2 weeks ago they were having snow here and now it's in the 90-100 range.

Where we're working has changed some. We've been welcomed back by all the employees that worked with us before and are still there. They have all been waiting for Richard's biscuits and my bread pudding. They've also said they were looking forward to us cleaning the kitchen up a bit, the level has dropped a lot. They now serve lunch 5 days a week and dinner 3 nights a week in addition to the breakfast buffet 7 days a week so it's much harder getting everyone on the same page of clean-up duties.

We just had our first 2 days off and got a little early morning hike in to look for wild flowers, they seem to be almost done blooming after having such a late winter and then no spring and right into real hot weather. Lexi likes to hike if it's not to hot but she's not a big fan of hiking in this heat, she did ok this morning cause we kept it short enough and early enough before it got to hot.

I'm doing some sewing. Four of us women are going together on a craft table at the Kanab Farmers Market each Sat. I found a pattern for microwave baked potato bags that are at my skill level so I'm getting some of them ready for when they set up the table. Since I'm done with work at 11 am it's giving me something besides taking a nap in the hot afternoons. We get up at 4 am so my body would like to nap more than sew but I'm trying to get my body into the new sleep routine, so far I only sleep 4-5hrs a night on work nights. Hopefully I'll get adjusted soon. I did sleep really well on my days off though.

We like our new RV park for employees. We're just 3 miles outside of town but it's much nicer than being in town like we were last time. In each corner of the house shoe layout there's room for a nice big garden. Next to us our bosses have a real nice garden and then at the other corner my friend Chris and another couple have another real nice garden and are trying some veggies. Some of the veggies are planted in the ground but most are in containers with good soil. I brought a bunch of extra plants my brother didn't have room for so I planted in containers broc., caul., brussel sprouts and a couple mystery plants that didn't have labels. I've never tried those type of plants in containers so we'll see how they do. It's fun to have a little bit of garden anyway.

The summer may be busy with friends visiting, another friend has just said she and her husband may visit, maybe end of June or early July. Another friend is coming for a week the end of Sept. They're both very interested in visiting Best Friends Rescue Ranch which is just a couple miles away from us. Sounds like we all made our plans at a good time so we can cross paths again.

Murphy family

Spring cooled down for us.

Well, our warm weather ended this past week. It's been cooler and raining off and on. We're still waiting to put the new sewer system in because of the weather. It has to stay dry for several days in order to do it cause of the clay soil in this area. My brother connected the water in the rest of the bathroom which brought on some new problems cause the bathtub faucet started dripping and the tub drain leaked also so we had to shut the water off so we don't have the use of the toilet again which means we're having to dolly our black water tank to the neighbors. We've got the new parts for fixing both problems and are just waiting for my brother to have time to install the new parts.

Richard's been working on the taping and mudding of the dry wall in the kitchen. It's been going slow since he's never done it before but he's now sanding the first layer. We picked up our last new window for the livingroom and it's going to look so nice cause it's a great big double casement. It will open that room up so much. One day soon we'll be installing it when we don't have to worry about rain.

I'm still working on the stripping of the old pantry in the kitchen. I've had to make a lot of changes in the plans for the kitchen since our builder installed the windows to low and I'm having problems finding enough room for cabinets and countertop and my washer and dryer. I've had to give up the idea of using the farm house sink cause it would just take up to much space that's badly needed for workspace. That change will make it easier for my brother to install the sink and washer and dryer so every change isn't bad.

Once the sewer system gets done I'll be so happy to get some grass seed down so we can get rid of all the mud we've got now as the aftermath of the building last summer. Lexi's paws collect mud every time she goes out and she deposits it all over the inside of the RV for me to clean up.

Tomorrow we're going to a big estate auction near by which should be fun. They're showing lots of furniture so maybe I'll get lucky and find some kitchen chairs to go with my antique kitchen table. I'll let you know what we find.

Leaving TX

Well, it's time to leave TX again. It's been an interesting season here since we spent part of the winter in the Big Bend area. I really like the Lajitas and Big Bend area. I can see why people like to spend the winter there, lots of sunshine and blue skies. I'd like to go back another winter but not to work at the Lajitas Resort, to disorganized. Richard has received a contract for another Santa Season at the Highland Mall in Austin, TX. We were really surprised since business was so bad last year we thought they for sure wouldn't have a Santa next Xmas but, they decided they would so, we'll be back to Austin in Nov.

Tomorrow we head for our little house in Neb. to get some more work done on it. We've got one more big window to install and new exterior siding to apply. That should keep us busy and deplete our savings again. The end of May we head to Kanab, UT for a second season at the Parry Lodge. We're looking forward to seeing a few friends we made 3 yrs. ago when we worked there before that will be working in the area again which will be very nice.

March in Big Bend

The weather continues to be beautiful here. It's getting warmer by the week. It's been cloudy for a day or two but the blue sky is starting to peek through again. We made another trip to Big Bend last with week with a few of the interns from Brazil. They hadn't gotten the chance to see the park while here and were heading back to Brazil in the next few days. They felt the same as I do about the park being beautiful.

Now that the Brazilians have left us we're really short of staff and Spring Break is upon us. I'm sure I'll be really ready to leave by the end of March after working Spring Break and being so short staffed. I am looking forward to getting back to the Austin area and seeing my grandkids before heading up to Neb. again.

In the deer picture can you see the one standing on her rear legs eating the tree? These pictures are from our second trip into Big Bend. The second picture reminds me of the Blue Ridge Mts. with that blue haze. The canyon is where the Rio Grande runs through. It would be wonderful to do a float trip through there, it's 7 miles long.

Big Bend Area

We've been in the Big Bend area for a month now. This is the Rio Grande River in Big Bend National Park.

I find this whole area very beautiful, there's something about the mountains and desert plants all around.







These mountains are actually in Mexico, the Rio Grande runs right in front of them.
















This is some of our wildlife, a Javelina or wild pig. A whole bunch of them crossed our path when we were walking in Big Bend.















You can see how the mountains just go on and on in this area.


The weather has been nice most of the time. When we first got here it was in the 80's every day but, then we did get a cold spell and lately it's been in the 60's during the day and cold at night, 30's. We've had some severe weather this past week with very high winds and some rain. We've lost power twice in the past week for from 4 to 6 hours at a time. The restaurant I work at has a generator so we haven't had to close. Business is real slow right now though. I'm down to working 3 days a week for the next couple weeks they say. When spring break gets here we'll be real busy.