Hope every is having a great Summer. We know the weather everywhere this past summer has been just crazy. The flooding in Texas, over 100 people dead, flooding in NY, NJ and NM and probably many other places. It’s tragic. We have some wildfires out here in Colorado and now California again. The sad news of the north rim of Grand Canyon National Park; up in flames…. The historical lodge and Visitor Center has been totally destroyed. The lodge was rebuilt in 1936 because of a past fire that destroyed it back then, now destroyed once again. It will be a long while before it gets rebuilt again. I am sure the funding is not looking good for many of our National Parks.
These rainbow fish are considered our pets. The size of some of the rainbow fish that this fish hatchery has range from 6 inches to 20 inches. Some in the picture below are some of our biggest. The nets over the raceways for to keep out the eagles, blue herons and ospreys. The trucks are taking fish out of the raceways and putting them into the stocking trucks to take out and stock over 53 lakes in Colorado.
We have been to music in the Park, went to the Flower Trial Gardens in Fort Collins.
Jodi and I are doing great here at the Bellvue-Watson Fish Hatchery. We are going to miss this place because we have had a great time working here and with such awesome staff for the past two summers. We want to thank Chris and Steve who run the hatchery for having us volunteer for the past two summers. Loved it. Thank you… and we are now heading to Sierra Vista, AZ for the Winter. We were here last year and had a great time and that is why we’re here again this summer. We went to Rocky Mountain National Park 3 years ago and we went again this year. We had a great time. When we went last time we got caught in a snowstorm coming off the mountains of the Rockies, and was very scary, but had a great time just before the storm. This year we went a little farther into the park, since we did not have bad weather. We did climb to an elevation of about 12,000 feet to the highest point in the park. We saw much more of the beauty of the Rockies this time.
Here are a few Pictures of the Garden of the Gods that is just outside Colorado Springs. This is a very interesting place. We visited Garden of the Gods just before we got here to the Bellvue-Watson Fish Hatchery.
We are heading to Lake Pueblo State Park, CO in a few days, then eventually heading south to our Winter location in Sierra Vista, AZ., Vista View RV Resort. Arriving on the 1st of October. We plan on being there for the next couple of winters. We plan on about 4 to 5 Winters or maybe for many many years to come. We shall see. We love this RV Resort. The people are great, the staff are great, and they have lots of fun activities. They have a fitness center, a nice swimming pool, Jacuzzi, and mountain view all around us. The summers for the next few years we plan on heading up north to see Wyoming, Montana, the Dakotas and maybe Washington and Utah again. It starts to get real hot in Arizona in May and June, so we will pack up and head up north. Our Winters will start about October in Arizona and last till about May or June every year. That is our plan for now. We shall see. We do hope all is well with everyone and please drop a comment or two and stay in touch, so we know you are doing great. Thank you for following us and stay safe and healthy….
We are still here in Florence AZ at Desert Gardens RV Resort working our butts off. We are just over midway through our 6 months Winter work camping. It has been a while since we have put out some information on our Blog. We have been working hard and have made it through the Holiday season with no problems, so to say… The work here is demanding and tough at times. There is a lot of tree trimming & landscaping- a LOT. There are many cacti throughout the park and we constantly get pricked by them while trimming and throwing the debris into a big dumpster. During a project we were digging using pickaxes and Jodi hurt her arm. We thought it was a small fracture, but instead it was a strained tendon and took weeks to heal. She is fine now somewhat. She is also painting murals on square electric boxes in the park. You know Jodi and her artwork. She really enjoys doing her artwork in places we work. We have to open and close the pool on one of the days we work. We work two 8 hr days. That is what kicks our butts, such a long, long day. Not doing that ever again.
We have decided to cut this work camping position short. We were supposed to stay here till April 19th and head to Bellvue Colorado. We are not staying because it is hard hard work, and it is taking a toll on both of us physically. It is getting hard on Jodi’s health. We are leaving the 1st of March and heading to our Winter location for our future winters. Vista View RV Resort in Sierra Vista, AZ. We need to recover from this place. We were fortunate that they had an opening for us. It’s not in the same spot that will be “ours” later in the year, but we’re still excited to be able to be there for a while.
The Sunsets and Sunrises are so spectacular here. I will get a few more beautiful pictures while here of those sunsets and rises.
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We have not really been outside of Florence much to really do anything fun or enjoy ourselves. We went to Boyce Thompson Arboretum, and the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.
Boyce Thompson Arboretum
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Casa Grande Ruins
The Great House
Multistory towers, such as the Great House, are the ultimate expression of the classic period. At Casa Grande Ruins, construction was completed in a single episode around AD 1350. The Great House contained 11 rooms, the central tier, is four stories high.
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We plan on ending our work camping or volunteering at parks after this coming summer. We are soon heading back to the fish hatchery in Bellvue, CO this Summer and after we finish up there, we will head to Sierra Vista, AZ for our Winter stay. We stayed at Vista View Resort last year and fell in love with the place and the neighborhood. We liked our RV spot # 1, so we reserved it for this October of 2025 for the Winter. We plan on staying there for future Winters to come. We would stay till about late May or June and head out of the heat of Arizona and explore other areas up north that are a little cooler like Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, the Dakotas for the Summers. Then we’ll head back to Arizona for our Winters. That is our plan for the next few years and we’ll see how we do. A lot depends on our health. We want to keep this life style for at least 10 more years….
We will let you know how things are going and when we arrive at Bellvue, CO. Stay healthy and safe to all of our readers, friends and family.
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